A lot of you will remember that this 405 Winchester obsession all started with a 16” barreled Competitor pistol. In one of my “moments” I swapped the Competitor pistol for a Thompson Center Arms Encore, this left me without a platform for the 405 Winchester. The 405 Winchester cartridge had already left its impact on me and before I could have On Target Technologies (OTT) build one, TC had committed to doing a special run of stainless steel 405 Winchester barrels for Cabelas!

The Arrival

Upon arrival, I gave the new stainless barrel a brutally quick “CHOP & CROWN” which left me with a 16.5” handgun barrel! The excitement overwhelmed me and off to the range I went. The first few shots confirmed that the Encore was handling the recoil of the 405 Winchester much better than the previous center grip pistol. Someone once said, “the 405 Winchester kills on one end and maims on the other” and this new 405 Winchester HANDGUN was no exception!

Time For Components

Now we’re cooking, barrel in hand with Leupold 4x set on a standard aluminum cross slot base in three vertically split aluminum rings. Life is good! Time to get busy with load development and some range time.
Hornady Manufacturing Company has almost single handedly brought the 405 Winchester back to life from a loading component and ammunition standpoint. An exchange of email with Steve Johnson of Hornady brought several packages to my door. The packages contained 405 Winchester brass, .411” bullets of 300 grain weight in Pointed Soft Point and Flat Point configuration, a die set/shell holder (Look for a future review of the die set by Specialty Pistols Staff Writer Jeff Bright) and Hornady Sixth Edition Loading manuals. NOW I am ready!
Using the data in the Hornady manuals and from an older Ken Waters article I settled on two powders, Reloader 7 and Accurate Arms 2015. I prepared the brass in normal fashion, a full length resize followed by belling the case mouth and a trim to minimum specification. I prepared load ramps for both of these powders and the bullets. The Hornady bullets were seated to the canalure and crimped in place. I am typically never satisfied with anything and the 405 is no exception.
I cast some 305 grain Round Nose Flat Point Gas Checked bullets from my custom Mountain Molds mold, cast some plain base 360 grain Pointed Flat Points from my Saeco mold, and obtained some Hornady .410” 210 XTP’s. These bullets would be tested with Reloader 7, Accurate 2015 and Blue Dot.

Range Time

Ammunition prepared, its time to put some down range! Initially all loads were shot in 5 shot groups at 50 yards and I then moved out to 100 yards. 50 Yards groups with most loads were satisfying BUT that story changed once I moved to 100 yards. The following chart tells the tale. Group sizes are averages, rounded to the nearest ¼”, of all shots fired. Why did I measure and record groups this way? Lets face it, number one, we are shooting a 405 Winchester in a handgun, number two, distances aren’t going to be over 200 yards and a .983” 100 yard group, plus or minus an ax handle, is still minute of deer. I apologize for the lack of chronograph data but it was (and still is) on the blink.

Notice a trend there? Nothing to write home about, right? Well, I have a couple of theories on this. Recoil at the upper end of load development is downright serious. One shot actually resulted in a loud “POP!” in my left wrist! No pain, but some stiffness for a week after that session. I believe that the recoil is such that “minute of gnat’s butt” isn’t possible without a muzzle break. I also believe that the muzzle crown I applied to this barrel just wasn’t getting the job done. Accuracy with the Hornady 300 grain PSP is still satisfactory for deer size game and that’s the bullet I decided on. Time to go huntin’!

Optics

A quick note on the optics used on this project. The scope I originally started this project with is an old standby for me, a Leupold M8 4x EER. The entire line of Leupold EER scopes has proven themselves to me time and again. I am also currently wrapping up a year long test of a Nikon Monarch UCC 2.5x-8x 28mm Handgun Scope. The Nikon had proven itself to be a high quality scope worthy of its purchase price when it comes to tracking, maintaining zero, clarity and its light gathering ability. The only thing that had yet to be proven was its ability to resist recoil. Yes, with a big evil grin on my face, I mounted it on the 405! Several hundred shots later and I moved the unshaken Nikon onto its next home. That Nikon proved itself worthy of Leupold class durability in my opinion.

Hunting

A quick trip to the range a couple of days before the opener found the 405 still on target with the Leupold 4x EER back in place. First day finds me atop a tripod stand at a good friends place searching the woods for activity. Around noon I spot an anterless deer moving along a trail in the 80+ yard range. The direction it’s heading does not leave me with a lot of time for a shot so I must make ready quite quick! I find the deer in the scope, attempt to make a “grunt” to stop it, but it continues on. I give a slight lead and drop the hammer. I recover from recoil to find the deer half running back the trail from which it snuck in! A short time later I recover the deer. The Hornady 300 grain PSP had entered just behind the ribs on its left side and exited in front of the right shoulder. The bullet appeared to have not expanded and gave complete penetration. Did the bullet fail, you ask? I highly doubt it. I believe that these bullets were designed for larger game than an approximately 90 pound whitetail deer. Would I use one again, you betcha’!

Can a 90-pound deer be a trophy? You bet when it’s taken with a handgun/cartridge combination of which you are quite fond!

Final Thoughts

I am sure many of you noticed I mentioned On Target Technologies at the beginning of this article. The reason? Since that successful hunt I sent this barrel to OTT to have the muzzle recrowned and a “shark gill” brake, of their design, installed to reduce recoil and improve accuracy. I mentioned previously that I believed that these two issues were inhibiting accuracy, so these improvements will prove or disprove my theories. I will be writing a follow-up to this article after I receive the barrel back and have had the opportunity to give it a complete test. Even if I am unable to achieve better accuracy, the 405 Winchester is still a winner in my book!

A HUGE thanks to all the companies that made this project possible:

Hornady Manufacturing, Inc.
Box 1848
Grand Island, NE 68802
http://www.hornady.com/

Mountain Molds
http://www.mountainmolds.com/

Nikon, Inc.
1300 Walt Whitman Road
Melville, NY 11747
http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/

On Target Technologies
PO Box 1098
Dover, NH 03821
http://www.ottllc.com/

Saeco (Redding)
1089 Starr Road
Cortland, NY 13045
http://www.redding-reloading.com/pages/saecoprods.html

Specialty Pistols Bulletin Board
http://specialtypistols.infopop.cc/eve

Thompson/Center Arms Company, Inc.
Farmington Road
Rochester, NH 03867
http://www.tcarms.com/

Back To SP Articles

Back To SP Home