Winchester 1895 405

Texas Shooter · Post by **Texas Shooter** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 12:13 pm

Sean:

How would you compare the recoil between the two? What is the weight of your 45-110?

Ty
Texas Shooter

Crazy Horse · Post by **Crazy Horse** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 1:19 pm

Sean, Sounds like we have the same taste in guns. I have an 1895 405 on order from Winchester and plan on getting a Hartford model in 45-110 soon. I also would like to know how the recoil compairs between the two.

Sean Thornton · Post by **Sean Thornton** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 1:20 pm

Recoil of the .405 Winchester in the 8 pound model 1895 rifle I feel is more felt recoil than my Sharps .45-110 which weighs just under 13 pounds. The 110 is loaded with a 535 grain bullet and 96 grains of Swiss 1 1/2 Fg. Both kick a lot but the .405 has a sharper recoil.

Texas Shooter · Post by **Texas Shooter** » Fri Jan 09, 2004 2:43 pm

Sean:

have you tried any load with 105 - 115 Grains of powder? How had did they hit?

I hope the 405 gains in popularity. It's a Hoss, and I bet many recoil insinsitive shooters woud enjoy hunting/shooting it.

Thanks,

Ty
Texas Shooter

Crazy Horse · Post by **Crazy Horse** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 9:51 am

I went ahead and put a 1885 single shot on order. Is the 405 win about the same as the 40-70 or 40-90 sharps? The max. case length on the 405 is 2.583". Is this close to the length of any of the sharps cartridges. I wonder if anyone shoots cast and BP in their 405's? I might want work up a BP/cast load that does not kick as much as the hot loaded factory jacketed/smokeless loads.

MLV · Post by **MLV** » Sun Jan 11, 2004 10:59 am

The .40-70 Sharps Straight is the same basic case as the .405 WCF. It is 2.50 inches long as opposed to the 2.58 inches of the .405. You can make .40-70SS cases by cutting the .405s back and then loading them in the proper dies.

Crazy Horse · Post by **Crazy Horse** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 7:49 pm

I got the 1885 winchester .405 yesterday and got to shoot it today. The recoil was not to bad even with the cresent buttplate. However I am sure a few from the bench would get your attention. The fit and finish was very good as was the trigger pull. I shot it twice today at 25 yards and the sights were dead on.

I read an artical that a fellow wrote on his .405 ruger #1. He was shooting 41 cal 210 gr pistol bullets in his and was getting good 100 yard accuracy with them. That would be some cheap shooting compaired to shooting the 300 gr hornadys. He said he was using reloader #7 but he did not publish the load. Does anyone have any data I could use on a load like this?

Sean Thornton · Post by **Sean Thornton** » Sun Jan 18, 2004 10:26 pm

When I got my first .45-70(Marlin 1895) I used to load .45 caliber pistol bullets for it because it was cheaper to shoot. After shooting several rounds I thought if I was going to shoot these watered down loads I would be better off just shooting my .22 or something as light. The .45-70 was a big boomer and I wanted it to shoot and sound that way. I went out and bought a bullet mold and started casting .45 caliber bullets, 400 grains. I guess that this line of thinking has carried over to my Winchester 1895 in .405. When I shoot a .405 caliber I want it to be a .405 and not a watered down caliber. It cost a little more to shoot 300 grain Hornady but I figured that if I could afford the rifle in the first place I could at least afford to feed it. I bought 5 boxes of factory ammo and 500 Hornady 300 grain jacketed bullets. I thought that would last me for a while. This is not meant as a slam on any that choose to shoot pistol bullets in a rifle but just my own opinion and what I have been doing since purchasing my first .45-70 in 1973. Good shooting to all.

Crazy Horse · Post by **Crazy Horse** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 5:49 am

Sean.....I would not have thought a 45 pistol bullet would shoot very accurate in a 45-70? The 45 pistol is .451 and the 45-70 is .458. Were ther accurate? A 405 win is a .411 and the 41 mag pistol bullets are .410 so I figured they would work pretty good. I was planning on loading the pistol bullets up pretty hot. I figured the speed combined with the light construction would blow things up pretty good. :>) How is the accuracy of your cast bullets in your 405 and what mould do you use? I am going to order some of the Hornady 300 gr FP and the new 300 gr spitzer along with some 210 gr pistol bullets to try. Do you ever shoot any BP loads or are they all Smokeless I was planning on loading some with Reloader #7.

Sean Thornton · Post by **Sean Thornton** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 8:36 am

The .45 caliber pistol bullets I used were .454 and did shoot reasonably well for what I was shooting at and distances of under 100 yards. These were mainly plinking rounds but did not give the satisfaction I was wanting from a .45-70. I do not load lead bullets or BP in my Winchester 1895 lever action in .405. I prefer to shoot factory or at least its equivalent in it. That is why I bought 500 of the Hornady 300 grain jacketed bullets. With these I feel it has excellent hunting accuracy at around 2.5 to 3 inch groups at 100 yards. I also use these loads to do some serious plinking, like blowing up those renegade milk jugs full of water when they attack. They can have a terrifying charge much the same as a lion when TR faced them and decided that the .405 caliber was "Big Medicine" for lions. I encourage everyone to shoot the bullets and loads that they have the most fun with, as I do. For me it is full power in my .405. Have a great day of shooting. Today it is 8 degrees so I think I will stay in.

Bearbait2 · Post by **Bearbait2** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 9:01 am

Howdy Crazy Horse,
Though it is not Reloader 7 the following may be of interest:
.405 Winchester 24" barrel
10.0gr Unique .409 (.41) Speer 200gr HPJ 1144fps 1/2" @ 50yds
26.0gr XMP5744 .410 Hornady 210gr CL-SIL 1566fps 1" @ 50yds
BP loads are ready for testing and the Sun is finally back up high enough for velocity checks but it is -46 degrees below zero and too hard on the chrony (range is outside). Just as soon as it gets up to a very comfortable -20 below (and not snowing) will get back to playing with further load development.
Shoot Straight

Crazy Horse · Post by **Crazy Horse** » Mon Jan 19, 2004 1:16 pm

Sean and Bearbait2, Thanks for the info. It is about 40 here now and I thought that was cold! :>)

Crazy Horse · Post by **Crazy Horse** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 6:08 pm

There are 2 new grade 1 1895 .405's on gunbroker now if you want to pay about $600 too much. They sure look good to me but I would not pay what they are asking.

Michael Johnson · Post by **Michael Johnson** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 7:36 pm

Here's a hunting load I worked up two weeks ago in my 1895 405 Winchester. #300 grain Barnes XFB bullet in front of 53 grains of IMR4895. Chronographed velocity of 2120 fps and good accuracy with barrel sights at 100 and 200 yards. This was one of the 5 loads suggested by Barnes bullet tech support. Still waiting for the Parts Unknown Lyman 38 receiver sight. - Mike

BWoos · Post by **BWoos** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 12:37 pm

FYI for anyone looking for a modern 405win. Cabelas is offering a 405win barrel for a T/C Encore rifle. I think it is a Cabelas exclusive because T/C doen't offer that caliber on their site or their custom shop. I've been thinking about a barrel for mine, maybe, just maybe.

Brian