.405 Winchester Molds

[ticket machine]

Curious to see what folks are using for the .405 Winchester with cast boolits. I have a new one made by Miroku in Japan and haven't slugged the barrel yet but when I do I hope it is .411. Molds are not very popular so I could use a couple of recommendations.

[elk hunter]

I'm using Lymnan # 412263 a plain base round nose listed as 288 grains but casts at .413 and 294 grains with air cooled WW metal in my mould. Best load so far is 20 grains of 2400.

[Blkpwdrbuff]

Ticket, check with Tom over at Accuate Moulds.
He has a whole bunch of .411 moulds.
I got one of his for my .400 Whelen, which is actually .411.
Uses the same bullets as the .405 Winchester.
Blkpwdrbuff

[ticket machine]

Lyman doesn't list the 412263 and if I can't find one on eBay I will have to go with something else. I had already looked at the Accurate Moulds and he does have an endless supply of choices.

[lotech]

I've had good results with an Accurate mould (don't recall the number) that casts a 320 grain (WW alloy) flat nose gas check design in a Winchester / Miroku 1885 reproduction high wall. I'm pretty sure other Accurate moulds will work as well, depending on what weight and design you prefer.

[muskeg13]

I recommend the RCBS 416-350-FN. It's a gas checked design for the various .416s that casts a 360 grain (lubed and checked) with ww alloy. These are sized down to .413 to fit the .412 bore of my Miroku M1895 .405 WCF. Most off the shelf .40 caliber molds for black powder cartridges are going to be too small in diameter and weigh around 400 grains or more. You can achieve 2100-2200+ with Reloader 7, Benchmark, Varget and H322 and I've chronographed loads that averaged as fast as 2300fps without signs of excessive pressure. You can easily match the .405 jacketed bullet factory standard of about 2200 with a cast boolit weighing 50-60 grains more. To prevent all signs of leading when pushing air cooled ww slugs this fast, I double lube the boolits by applying ALOX beeswax lube in the grease grooves when sizing and then tumble lube the slugs with the Lee Liquid Lube/Johnson's Paste wax/mineral spirits concoction often recommended on this site. https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/13849

[lotech]

Regarding the RCBS mould...I used such bullets cast from wheelweight alloy in my .405. They weighed 369 grains gas checked and lubed, a bit heavier than what I had anticipated, but they were reasonably accurate. As cast from the mould, bullets had a diameter of around .418"; sizing to .413" may have had a detrimental effect on accuracy, but I don't think it was much. I guess the mould was intended for users of .416 rifles rather than .405s. Recoil can be a significant factor with bullets of this weight if they're pushed very fast.

[muskeg13]

I know sizing them down more than a few thousandths usually isn't recommended, but with multiple grease grooves filled with alox lube, there doesn't seem to be much/any distortion if you take things slowly. The actual weight of the last batch I cast was 363 grains. As for recoil, I don't think it's much different from factory equivalent 300 grain jacketed loads. Speaking of recoil generically in a .405 M1895, I don't find it nearly as bad as in several .45-70s I shoot with stiff loads (~400 grains @ 1800). In the 1895, I believe buttplate design is a key factor in being able to tolerate recoil. Replacing the cheap stamped flat steel buttplates on both the Miroku M1895 and an M1886 I got in 2003 was one of the first things done. I can't even imagine trying to shoot an original M1895 with a crescent buttplate! The .45-70 M1886 got a soft rubber Decelerator, and the .405 now has a nicely shaped steel Niedner. Even with the rubber Decelerator, the M1886 kicks much harder than the M1895 in .405. Incidentally, I recently shot some of the 363 grain RCBS loaded .405s in a very heavy barreled M1885 (over 10#) and was surprised how manageable the recoil was, plus I routinely strap on a recoil shoulder pad when shooting off of a bench.