I have a 1895 (Miroku/Browning/Winchester...) and I would like use cast bullets.
What is the best mold and the best sizing .412 ,.414 ???
Thank you for your assistance.

Hello Pat,
Several things affect your choices.

1. The velocity that you want to achieve affects which mould you chose.

2. Weight and bullet length you want to shoot vs the twist of your rifling.

3. Groove diameter of your barrel.

You might check at castboolits.com.

I have used the NEI 325 grn gas check bullet designed for the .405 in a .40-65 single shot.
It is a mold that cast under size for the .405 at .410 but it works really well in my rifle. However I only shoot it at about 1300 FPS.
The load is 23 grns of SR4759. The twist of my rifle is one turn in 16". Your .405 will probably be 1 turn in 12" may require a different velocity to work well.

From an article I have it shows the following loads:

All with IMR 3031.
316 Lyman 412263;
39gr for 1740fps
43gr for 1902fps

352 Saeco 537
40gr for 1730fps
42gr for 1761fps
44gr for 1910fps


414 Saeco 580
37gr for 1410fps
40gr for 1624fps

These were shot in an 1895 with a 24" barrel.

Hope this helps.

Thank you for your answers.
About the groove diameter it's .412 on the "new" 1895.
About weight I think that a 300 ,350 grains will be good.
It's for shooting at 100 and 200 meters and perhaps for hunting (french boar).
RCBS have a mold in .416 with GC ,do you think that will be a good bullet if I resize to .412?
Sorry for my bad english....

Pat:
Did you actually slug the bore of your rifle or is the .412 dimension from the manufacturer? It may well be correct but doesn't hurt to check your self. A mould that drops bullets at .414 or .415 would allow you to do a smidge of sizing to compare results with as cast diameter and reduced diameters.

Pat
For my Winchester 95, 405 I size my bullets .413. My mold is a custom mold from Mountain molds. The bullet weighs 350 grains from Wheel weights and 50/50 soldier, water cooled.
My powder is IMR 3031, gas checks are annealed .416 checks, primers are Winchester LR.
Loading dies are Redding, neck expander is Lyman.
I chucked the neck expander into a drill and polished it down a bit so that the case has a real tight grip in the bullet.

Thank you for all your councils.
I think that I will take a 416 RCBS mold for 416 Rigby and resized the bullets at 412.
About manufacturing bullets do you think that the 400 gr Hornady bullet DGX .410 cal works in the 1895 ?

Pat
If you get a mould try the bullets as cast.
Smear lube on them or pan lube them and load as is. You may not have to size them.
Even if you do size them leave them .002 oversize compared to what the groove diameter measures.
You might consider a custom mould from Mountain Molds like arky has.
I do not care to pay for anything like a DG bullet for a .405. You can use the standard Hornady bullet to break in the bore if you want but I would just stick with cast bullets at moderate velocity.

The groove diameter of my 405 (new build) measures 0.4125 and others have reported similar results.

Quite a few people run RCBS 416350 in their 405's. It should work fine sized 2 thou over your groove diameter.

Most people using heavier jacketed bullets generally have their barrels throated and magazines altered to accept these bullets. The problem is that you cant load a full magazine because of the sloping magazine.

If you do a search on here you should find a few threads with info.

I was fortunate to find a 300 grain NEI mold on EBay, as well as a 290/ 300 Lyman grain mold like wise.
The big flat nosed Mountain molds bullet feeds great and is very accurate.
I can't see there's anything to be gained from using jacketed bullets.

Jim

PatM1

Welcome to AR. Do NOT let your English worry you one bit. I took French for 4 years, and can barely speak it.
Your English is plenty good.

If you decide you need a real tough bullet for the 405, take a look at the North Fork 300gr or the Barnes X 300gr.

Unless you are trying to shoot elephants and need a solid, I would not hesitate to use the above bullets on any game to include BIG bears, cape buff, or Aussie buffalo...