Reloading for .405 Winchester

[trk]

I'm just starting to load for it.
Anyone doing it?
Recommendations? (Looking for 100-200 yard target loads - MOA is my objective.)

[Glen]

My favorite load for the .405 Winchester is 55.0 grains of 4895 underneath a 300 grain GC-FP cast bullet from Mountain Molds. Does a little over 2100 fps from my Ruger #1 and about 1900 from a 14" Contender.

[Freischütz]

The biggest problem I had with originals was oversized bores. By the time the bullet properly fit the the barrel, the loaded round's diameter was too wide for the chamber.

The second problem was undersized Lyman moulds. Happily you can buy another brand and avoid that problem.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Using Lyman mold #412263 a round nose 290-300 grain bullet you can use 40 grains of IMR 3031 for an MV of 1500 fps. 45 grains 3031 will give you 1750 fps and 55-57 grains of 3031 with a MV of around 2200 fps. This is for a Winchester 1895 rifle. There is quite a bit of recoil with the higher loading LLS

[The Virginian]

What kind of groups are you all getting with these loads? Who makes brass for the 405 WIN?

[Southern Son]

Hornady was making 405 Win cases and loaded ammo.

[The Virginian]

Yes, I looked it up and I am wondering if they are the only company doing this now?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

According to my last Midsouth catalog Hornady makes them and they are going for $45. for 50 cases. Bertram (imported) makes and Midway sells them. Midway is showing them for around $50 for 20. They are listed as 3&1/4 basic so they would have to be trimmed down. I once made my own by fireforming 30-40 krag cases to straight. I made 50 of them that way and still have them. They worked fine except they were a quarter inch (approx) too short and they made for a pretty dirty front of the chamber after a fair number of rounds. Nothing that a good cleaning didn't take care of, but the annealing and the fireforming was a bit tedious so in the end I opted to buy a good supply of Hornadys. The furthest distance I shot with my Winny 95 has been 100 yards off the bench and the best accuracy I got was 2-3" groups. Reasonable for hunting, but It can probably do better, maybe MOA, but it will take some tinkering and patience. I dunno about 200 yards as I never tried. Iron sights and aging eyes would make that a real challenge at least for me. But its certainly worth a try so go for it.. LLS

[405]

trk

Very good cartridge. Very good for cast loads. Don't see too much about it save a few of the old Winchester 1895s, some of the new repro 1895s and a few single shots so chambered. My tinkering with it is restricted to an original 1895. Like Glen, I used the Mountain Mold program and designed a cast bullet for my gun. With the 300 gr Hornady FP J bullet really no problem getting good accuracy with mediums loads of milsurp 4895.

Cast?.... required finding the right bullet. My gun has a groove diameter of .414". To take advantage of the box magazine and to keep with the longish roundose design of the original J bullets-- I designed a kind of very small meplat semi roundnose using the MM program with gas check, sized to .415 and weighing 320 gr. Best accuracy with cast is obtained in my gun with medium loads of milsurp 4895 or 5744. The 5744 loads are topped with low density dacron filler. Both loads would probably meet your criteria of target loads out to 200. I've kept the velocity down to around 1400-1500 fps with the cast loads. Good sights would be a big factor.