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I'm taking my Winchester 1895 in .405 to Africa this summer. I've lengthened the throat a few thousands of an inch and can now chamber Woodleigh 400 grain solids and (now obsolete) Barnes 350 grain X's. They shoot to the same point of aim with the Woodleighs about 2000 fps and the Barnes a little faster. I think it should be "wild bovine" capable... and I guess I'll find out.

I have a repro Lyman 21 sight on it and get really good accuracy for my aged and poor eyesight. It even has a flip "ghost ring" feature!

I also have ordered a special run of North Fork cup points and solids at 320 grains. They will have a SD of .279 or so and if they shoot well, I may dump the former and go with the latter as I expect I'll get 2150 or better with them.

To get the Barnes to fit in the magazine, I turned a tiny grove above the factory one and I see no pressure problems with the round seated a wee bit deeper (but took off a quarter grain of powder... Varget.. from the longer load.. and found the velocity to chrony exactly the same).

So. What game can you take with a .405? I'll pass on an elephant and leave that to my .470 (which worked just fine in November, btw) or my .450/.400 at somewhat faster velocity (but I feel pretty confident that a 40 yard shot buff won't really worry about the 100 fps difference).

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JudgeG
Old and getting older, I hope. But once I was young.

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