America's First African Cartridge Feature - HuntNetwork

Feature
Feature
America's First African Cartridge
H
Historically, the.405 dates back to
1904. The model 1895 Winchester
lever action rifle was already nine
years old and had successful chamberings
in .30-40 Krag (also called the .30 US
Army), .38-72, 40-72, 303 British, and the
.35 WCF. The standard barrel length for
the .405 calibre was 24 inches of a heavier
than normal weight, and a magazine
capacity of four cartridges. If a customer
ordered a .405 without specifications, a
shotgun butt stock was shipped due to
the recoil factor. Apparently, many
Page 10
The .405 Winchester
By Cal Pappas
Volume 4 Number 1 featured an article on the .450 Watts cartridge - America’s first
cartridge developed for the dangerous game of Africa. The Watts round and its
smaller and vastly more popular cousin of the 1950s, the .458 Winchester Magnum,
opened the door to the Dark Continent for Americans wishing to hunt there.
However, it was approximately fifty years prior the .405 Winchester was noted as the
first American calibre that was suited for African dangerous game as well as the
huge brown bears of Alaska.
The author’s semi-deluxe Winchester Model 1895, number 71630, at rest in an English
case with a full complement of cleaning accessories.
crescent-butted rifles were returned to
the factory for restocking with a shotgun
butt. If a buyer wanted a peep, or aperture,
sight, Lyman designed the Model 38
receiver sight. The long bolt travel made
traditional tang sights unusable.
The English and Scottish gun and rifle
makers chambered many double rifles for
the .405. This was due in no small part to
Teddy and Kermit Roosevelt’s 1909
Safari. The Roosevelt’s took at least three
(maybe four) .405s on the year long trip
and this popularised the calibre in the
United Kingdom’s favourite hunting hot
spots: Africa and India. Eley and Kynoch,
the English ammunition makers, loaded
the .405 in their cordite-charged cartridges.
Since the English developed and perfected
the double rifle, they had to formulate a
standard loading; one that would
duplicate the factory ballistics of the
Winchester load, and one that would be
consistent in velocity to function properly
in all double rifles.
African Hunter Vol. 4 No. 4

Today, prior-owned plain grade boxlock
double rifles in .405 can be purchased for
USD6-9000, with higher quality sidelocks
costing upwards of twice that. They can
be found from most of the English and
Scottish makers.
The .405 rapidly gained fame and was
used by some of the best known and
proficient hunters of the early 1900s.
Without doubt, Teddy Roosevelt’s praise
of the calibre was its best endorsement.
Well-known as a conservationist,
Roosevelt nearly doubled the size of
America’s national parks and developed
over 50 wildlife refuges. In March of 1909
Teddy put up enough supplies to spend
a year in Africa. He chose not to seek a
third term in office but felt secure with
William Howard Taft as the President;
Taft promising to carry on with
Roosevelt’s progressive domestic and
economic programmes. (That was not to
be, and Teddy developed the Bull Moose
party to later unseat Taft. The Republican
vote in the 1912 election was now split
and the victor was the Democrat, Wilson).
Always having a love of fine firearms,
Teddy ranched and hunted the Badlands
of the Dakotas in the 1880s with, among
others, a .45 Colt Single Action Army
revolver, a .45-75 Winchester Model 1876,
another ’76 in .40-60. a .45 calibre Sharps,
and an English double rifle in .500 Express.
Later, he was to state his favourite rifle
was the .45-90 Model 1886. For his 1909
safari, Teddy’s rifles were a .30 calibre
Springfield which he "...stocked and
sighted to suit myself,” a .500/450 Holland
Nitro Express double rifle, and a Model
1985 in .405. The double rifle was given to
him by a group of English hunters and
conservationists. This big stick of
Teddy’s was recently sold at auction for
a half-million dollars.
The big double, however, did not push
the .405 out of Teddy’s safari picture. “I
cannot say how much I like these two .405
rifles you sent me. Now, my belief is that
in Africa those will be the two rifles my
son and I will habitually carry in our own
hands; the rifles upon which we will most
depend”, Teddy wrote to the Winchester
company before his departure. He did
send at least one .405 back to the company
for the rear sight to be adjusted to his
liking.
Roosevelt’s safari began as a
$75 000(US) expedition (over one million
in today’s dollars). When he ran short of
money, he wired Andrew Carnegie for an
additional $30 000. Carnegie replied to
“rest easy”, that he would take care of the
need. Scribner’s magazine paid Roosevelt
$50 000 for his story, with an additional
20% royalty on the book (a first edition
sits on my desk as I pen this). And it was
in Scribner’s, and other books and
magazines, that Winchester received some
of its finest advertisements. Hunting with
Lesile Tarlton, one of the best
professionals of the day, Roosevelt
commented. “Tarlton took his big double
barrel and advised me to take mine, as the
sun had just set and it was likely to be
close work; but I shook my head, for the
Winchester .405 is, for me personally, 'the
medicine gun' for lion”.
Lion were not the only game that fell to
Teddy’s .405. Rhino and elephant fell too,
as did lesser game, but Teddy preferred
the heavy double for the thick skinned
pachyderms. Of the 4 900 mammals and
2 000 reptiles (plus 4 000 birds and 500
fish) Teddy and Kermit sent to the
Smithsonian Museum, many were taken
with the .405. His son, Kermit also hunted
with a .405.
The .405 rapidly gained
fame and was used by
some of the best known
and proficient hunters of
the early 1900s.
Charles Cottar, the first American to
become a professional hunter in Africa
(1909), chose a .405 as his rifle. This was
a replacement and a better choice than the
.32 Special Model 1894 he brought with
him from his native Oklahoma. Hunting is
a rough and dangerous profession and
Charles was mauled by a leopard three
times, gored by a buffalo, run over by an
elephant in his career, and later partially
paralysed by a stroke. He died in 1940
when his .405 failed to stop a charging
rhino that he shot twice. The rhino gored
Cottar’s femoral artery and he bled to
death along with being crushed as the
dying beast fell on him. As his son raised
a canvas to protect him from the hot sun,
he refused, stating, “No, I want to see the
sky” with his last breath.
In Stewart Granger’s greatest film, and
perhaps the best film on Africa, King
Solomon’s Mines (1950), Granger finds
the rifle of an explorer he has been tracking.
It is a battered Model 1895 with a 24"
barrel he finds on a pile of rocks in
uncharted country with a message carved
into the stock: “Ammunition gone,
heading NW, inform Elizabeth Curtis, 73
Grosvenor Sq., London. Henry Curtis.”
The actual calibre of the rifle is not
mentioned, but it makes a statement that
the Model ’95 was an African rifle.
In the late 1920s, Mr Hurlburd Johnston
and a friend went on safari in Ceylon.
Johnston purchased a used .405 for $25
and proceeded to take buffalo, crocodile,
wild boar and antlered game. He spoke
highly of the performance of the rifle and
calibre.
During the same decade, Martin and
Osa Johnson lived a life of adventure in
Africa and the jungles of Asia and the
Pacific Islands. They chronicled their
experiences in several books and carried
a .405 Winchester with them. “When we
got back to camp she (Osa) had the bullet
cut out to prove that it was my .405 that did
the trick, and not her Springfield (.30-06).”
Belgian hunter Dr. Robert Danis,
speaks quite favourably on the .405 and
other Winchesters in Africa. His 1908
safari in French Central Africa with some
friends put Winchester’s smallest big bore
to a good test. He states the gun was
“...superior to everything by strength,
accuracy, killing power, (and) quick and
easy shoulder repetition...” Danis’ .405
printed two-inch groups at 100 yards, had
“reasonable” recoil, and he stated full
patch bullets must be used for elephant.
Four .405s performed on this safari and
one, used by a woman hunter, was quick
to drop a rhino.
The .405 enjoyed popularity in the
States, too. Perhaps the largest brown
bear taken (body size, not skull size) was
shot by Alaska adventurer and pilot Bob
Reeve on the Alaskan Peninsula at Cold
Bay in 1948. Taken at a distance of 275
yards with an open sighted .405, the bruin
measured 12 feet from front paw to front
paw across the shoulders. A bear this size
would have weighed well over 1800
pounds! And, with this being a spring
bear, by fall it could have weighed nearly
a ton!
American hunter James Purdy wrote,
“For shooting elk in thick, brushy and
timbered country, the .405 shows up a
great advantage, as it is as good a brush
cutter and carries enough weight and
shock... If I could have but one rifle for big
game hunting, I would surely choose my
.405”.
Elmer Keith, arguably the high priest of
American gun writers, had this to say
about the .405 when hunting elk: “...none
of them went over 200 yards... they are
African Hunter Vol. 4 No. 4 Page 11

simply too sick from the impact of the heavy
slug to travel.”
Townsend Whelen, who was a strong
advocate of the .30-60, stated the .405 was
the best American cartridge for bear and
moose. He stated of all the common hunting
cartridges available, the .405 would be the
least to require a second shot on big game.
Not all agreed on the effectiveness of the
.405. John ‘Pondoro’ Taylor wrote in his
African Rifles and Cartridges that the
“.405’s calibre compels it to be included in
this group (.40 calibre), though it does not
otherwise deserve to be”. He goes on to
write the sectional density is “none too
good” and it “lacked penetration on all the
larger species”. Taylor believed Roosevelt
had his professional hunter, R.J.
Cunningham, back him up with a large calibre
rifle when Teddy was shooting lion with his
Winchester. In closing, Taylor says “I would
not advise anybody to invest in a .405 if they
can get anything else for African hunting.”
Ballistically, the .405 can be as simple, or
as complex, as one likes: the straight case
makes down loading easy for target shooting.
To begin with factory ballistics, the 1916
Winchester catalogue lists the .405 with a 300
grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 2204.4 fps
for an energy figure at the muzzle of 3236.6
ft.lbs and a figure of 38.8 for Taylor’s knock
out value. To compare, the .375 H&H knock
Page 12
out value is 41 with
a muzzle energy of
approximately 1000
ft.lbs more than the
.405. (The calculation
for KO value is
bullet weight x bullet
diameter x velocity
divided by 7000 - see
following article
for full description)
A sample of .405
loadings with American
powders:
Winchester's Model 1895 in
Manton's catalogue.
Winchester Repeating Rifle, Model 1895.
TR, the .405, and a lion.
Photo: African Game
Trails.
weight weight feet/sec
bullet grains powder grains velocity source
cast .................... 290 ............... 2400 ................. 25 .................... 1500 ..................... Lyman
cast .................... 290 ............... 2400 ................. 32 .................... 1850 ..................... Lyman
cast .................... 290 .............. hi-vel ................. 40 .................... 1704 ..................... Lyman
cast .................... 290 .............. hi-vel ................. 53 .................... 2200 ..................... Lyman
cast .................... 290 ............... 3031 ................. 40 .................... 1500 ..................... Lyman
cast .................... 290 ............... 3031 ................. 45 .................... 1775 ..................... Lyman
cast .................... 290 ............. unique ................. 16 .................... 1460 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 ............... 2400 ................. 32 .................... 1840 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 ............... 2400 .............. 34.4 .................... 1940 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 .............. hi-vel ................. 40 .................... 1695 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 .............. hi-vel .............. 53.4 .................... 2260 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 ............... 3031 ................. 45 .................... 1750 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 ............... 3031 ................. 57 .................... 2250 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 ............... 4320 ................. 52 .................... 1905 ..................... Lyman
jacketed ............. 300 ............... 4320 ................. 62 .................... 2220 ..................... Lyman
Sporting Rifle, Model 1895, .30 Government
Models 1903 And 1906, .35 And .405 Winchester.
Twenty-four Inch Round Nickel Steel Barrel, Weight about 8 1 /2 pounds, Magazine Capacity 4.
My favourite loads are:
1) Target: 45 to 50 grains of 3031
powder and a 300 grain cast gas check
bullet.
2) Hunting: 57 grains of 3031 and a 300
grain Barnes bullet. .032" jacket for general
hunting and .049" jacket for dangerous
game.
I have done limited work developing a
load with a 400 grain solid or soft point
bullet when I return to Zimbabwe for
buffalo. Average velocities are as follows
using 3031 powder: 40 grains = 1500fps.,
45 grains = 1675fps., 50 grains = 1875fps.
I plan to try slower powders such as 4831,
but the work is not complete as this goes
to print.
Since factory ammunition is
unavailable, handloading is the only way
to go. It was the hope of every .405 fan that
Browning would chamber their Model
MODEL
1895
The .405 was Winchester’s big game
calibre in 1916.
African Hunter Vol. 4 No. 4

1985 in .405, thereby
prompting factory
loaded ammunition
from one or more of
the major manufacturers.
However,
this was not to be.
Jacketed bullets
can be purchased
from Barnes Bullets
in several varieties:
spitzer, semi-spitzer,
and round nose, in
jacket thickness of
.032 and .049", in 300,
350, 400 grains. Solids
of 350 grains and 400 grains are available
also, as well as Barnes’ famous X bullet. A
low velocity target and plinking load can be
used with 41 calibre handgun bullets of 210
grains at 1000 to 1200 feet per second.
Cast bullet moulds can be purchased
from LBT of Moyie Springs, Idaho and
NEI of Portland, Oregon. Antique moulds
(for the purists) of Winchester or Lyman
make, may be located through collectors.
Wheelweight alloy is satisfactory for those
not wanting to go to the time and trouble
to mix batches of tin, lead, and antimony,
and is suitable for velocities under 1600
fps. Drop the hot bullet from the mould
into a bucket of room temperature water
and 2300 fps is possible with gas-checked
bullets, lubed with LBT Commercial Blue
bullet lube. It will take 24 hours for the
hardness of the lead to come up to
specifications, so wait a day before using
a lead hardness tester.
Manton’s 1927
catalogue featured a
double rifle
chambered for the
.405.
Brass cases can be made by stretching
.444 Marlin brass or blowing out and
stretching .30-40 Krag cases to the correct
length of 2.583 inches. Robert Pomroy of
Corinth, Maine has been my supplier in
the past. .30-40 Krag cases seem to work
best in my rifle. However, the primer pockets
loosen after a few loads at full throttle. It
may be possible to find BELL brass in .405
basic and trim to length. Due to the
excessive amount of brass that needs to
be removed, I would suggest a power
case trimmer from one of the major
manufacturers.
Primers and Powder are readily
available, but may I suggest magnum
primers? While they may not be needed,
I use them to ensure maximum powder
ignition in all my shooting, but I drop the
powder charge one-half a grain on
maximum loads.
MATETSI WILDLIFE
2/5P
F/C
REPEAT 4 - 3
(STEWPOT)
Gas checks for 40 calibre are available
from Lyman and reloading dies can be
purchased from RCBS and CH Tool.
Because of the popularity of the .40
calibre in the C. Sharps single shot rifles,
both C. Sharps Arms and Shiloh Sharps in
Big Timber, Montana, are excellent
sources for moulds, gas checks, and brass
as well as other reloading and shooting
supplies for the 40 calibres.
My personal .405 is a semi-deluxe model
with sling eyes, checkering, recoil pad,
and above average wood but lacking any
burl quality. The bore is near perfect and
an unusual rear sight was married to the
barrel long ago. The shotgun butt and recoil
pad decrease the felt recoil a great deal.
The original recoil pad was hard as a
rock and in very poor condition. The
excellent gunsmiths of Griffin and Howe
in Bernardsville, New Jersey replaced it
with a correct solid rubber pad with a
leather cover. The underside of the original
pad had the following: “Jun 14, 1912” was
stamped in ink and “W.K. 7.20.12” was
hand printed in ink. The dates on the
recoil pad are two years prior to the 1914
production year of the rifle.
PLEASE NOTE: Since Mag-Set
Publications and the author have no control
over the use of the loading data listed in this
article, or of the condition of the firearms it
may be used in, Mag-Set and the author
disclaim any responsibility for use thereof. The
author has only used a few of the loads listed
here in his personal rifle so it is also the
responsibility of the reader to check the
original references of the loading data.
African Hunter Vol. 4 No. 4 Page 13