Daryl, Thanks for that info. The reason I said I would make it 9 pounds if building for myself is that we used 300 grain jacketed flatnose bullets to regulate this at 2100 feet per second. I see no need of more bullet weight for my own hunting and neither did he. He did say he was going to try some 400's in it and report back to me, but so far, he hasn't. 8.5 to 9 pounds is plenty of weight to handle this kind of recoil and at my age, I see no sense in carrying a gun that is any heavier than needed. I don't know about the .405, but I have found that I can make up a load for the 45-70 using 405 grain cast bullets and get them to regulate just as well as the 300 grain jacketed that were used to get the gun regged in the first palce. It also shoots 350 grain flatnose to the same POA.
Here is a question for you guys out there that cast alot. I have a BUNCH of dead soft pure lead, great for muzzleoaders, but not so good for pistols and high powered rifles. Where can I get some reasonably priced Tin or Antimony to mix with some of this to make it more useable in my rifles?
One guy on FleaBay had some tin ingots for sale but he wanted $16.95 a pound for it and a bunch of money for shipping it to me. I passed on it. In the same vain, here's another question. For using in big bore doubles, how much pure tin should be mixed with pure lead so that I don't get leading problems, assuming that I drop them in cold water from the mold? Thanks Bob H.