.405 Winchester rifles.

Cole

Cole

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Hey all. I have a question. Here goes.
Now, we all know that the Lee-Enfield rifles such as the SMLE , MK4 et all are to be used with rimmed cartridges, right? So , I am wondering if it would be possible to get an Enfield and stick a .405 Barrel on it. I would imagine that there would have to be some other mods as well, such as reworking the magazines and the extractor and bolt guides and such. But would it be possible and safe?:canadaFlag:
 
Interesting idea. Have you compared the overall lengths of the 405 compared to the 303?

I'm considering the 405 for a rolling block action but the idea of putting a Winchester cartridge on a Remington action doesn't quite sit right somehow...
 
I've heard of Lee-Enfield conversions to .38-55, .45-70, .45-90, .444 Marlin, and even 7.62 x 54mmR. I think you could get it to work, with the right knowhow and some patience to get the feeding characteristics right. I think a .405 Win would be very fun in a quick-handling bolt gun.

Erik.
 
I just did a no4 mk1 to .45-70, but the guy had a lee-metford, single column box magazine that was utilised. Waste of a Metford mag, but the guy started the job before he died, and the guy I know bought-it semi complete. You can make anything work, but you have to look at practicality. The .405 was designed with the 95 winchester in mind; and since the 1895 winchester also came in .30-06, you can imagine the pressures generated by the .405. Case life would be poor and you'll never get-it to feed right. Your best option is to put-it in an Enfield P-14. You could get a shot-out P-14 or better yet, a Ross m-10 and just have-it re-bored and re-rifled, and tweak you're feeding yourself. The M10 Ross have meaty barrels of good quality steel and the chamber cleans-out perfectly. You could re-bore and re-rifle a Lee-enfield in the same way, but you will have pressure limitations that are moot in either the ross M10 or the P-14. Hell, I would consider re-barreling an 1895 Steyr-Manlicher or mosin Nagant before bothering with the Lee-enfield. Why limit yourself? I have a Shilen .405 Barrel and a Ruger no.1 Stainles in .405.I also have a 1895 winchester action but just have too many choices. The Ross Rifle company did make M-10 sporters in .405, and the .303 military magazine should feed the .405 like s**t through a goose. The only guy I know who rebores isn't set-up for .405, so you'd have to send-it out west I think.
 
The 405's case is 358 thou longer than a .303's case. Won't fit in the mag. The rim is 3 thou bigger.
It'd require a cu$tom made barrel as well. Proper headspace guages and chamber reamers would be required as well. Those can be rented. The barrel will be the difficult part.
Pressure won't be an issue. The 405 with a 300 grain bullet runs at 44,900 PSI with max loads. That's about the same as a 180 grain out of a .303.
Uses a .411" bullet. Hornady makes two 300 grain bullets, but they'll likely be a special order.
Find the brass and dies before you do anything else. Hornady and Winchester load the ammo.
"...putting a Winchester cartridge on a Remington action..." Like .308 Win?
 
I think if I get any $ out of those WCB AS%#@les, I might just attempt it. Of course , I will be picking a Ruger #1 in .405 regardless. I have heard of some people over in South Africa converting Leee-Enfields to some pretty stiff cartridges, I will research this further.
Nothing is impossible, I saw an Enfield rifle that had been shortened and chambered to .219 Donaldson Wasp. Neat little gopher zapper.
 
Why not a 405-303British?

Will fit the mag, and function. I am sure it has been done before.

With the moderate pressures the 405 Win was orig designed for, you will have no issue using the Lee. And I am confident you can duplicate orig performance.

The No4mk1's were reworked to fire the 7.62NATO. I had one of these conversions and it handled pretty stiff loads well. Not idea but the LE's are not made out of wet noodles.

Jerry
 
mysticplayer said:
Why not a 405-303British?

Will fit the mag, and function. I am sure it has been done before.

With the moderate pressures the 405 Win was orig designed for, you will have no issue using the Lee. And I am confident you can duplicate orig performance.

The No4mk1's were reworked to fire the 7.62NATO. I had one of these conversions and it handled pretty stiff loads well. Not idea but the LE's are not made out of wet noodles.

Jerry
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One of the original 40-60's (Ballard I think) is made from blown out 303 brass. Dies and reamers would not have to be custom made if a person wanted to go that route.

The 405 was a smokeless update of the 40-82 Winchester that was developed in the 1880's.
 
Right on !!!!!!!!!! I just got the P-17 I was dealing on yesterday all cleaned up and for a goof , I put a .405 CARTRIDGE IN THE MAGAZINE AND IT FIT PERFECTLY ! ! !
There was even room enough to seat bullets out a bit farther than the factory stuff. That is good because I fully intend to handload for it. I think from looking at the way the cartridge was sitting in there and how it faced up against the bolt when I pushed the bolt forward to see if the cartridge would feed, only opening up the bolt face a little bit and modifying the extractor to snap over the rim of the shell would not be to hard to do. Of course , I will have to get a barrel made up for it and I want to get a new stock as well. I think when I'm done with this , it will be a real nifty heavy timber rifle for elk and moose. And it will leave any .45-70 load in the dust, I have a load that will push a 400grainer out of a 24" barrel at 2150fps.
 
I share your joy in the .405 Win. a good cartridge then and now, but to say it will leave any load in the 45/70 in the dust is just not accurate. The .45 Cal. with comparably heavy (480gr.) bullets, and comparable pressures, will have quite a bit more killing power then the .40. The only cals. that trump the .45/70 are larger cased .45s, and even then they are usually in less handy guns, heavier, slower bolt actions etc.The various .475 Wildcat and .50 Wildcat levergun loads also have more stomp but at the expense of much more recoil.
 
This ought to be a good match-up. Would be neat to see which would out-penatrate the other. We would have to limit ourselves to solids only and hits at 100 yards. No limits on vel or bullet weight . Wet newsprint or phone books
 
The best thing to do is put a P-14 in .45-70 and be done with-it. 350-grain Hornady RN with 59 grains of 3031. End of story. but put a P-17 box in a P-14 and try-it-out just to make sure.
 
"...will have to get a barrel made up for it..." Yep. Cost you more than the rifle. The stock will need to be opened up in the barrel channel. That's not a big deal though.
Is the P17 still in full military configuration? If it is, find another one that has been sporterized. Changing an original will drop its value by half.
 
sunray said:
"...will have to get a barrel made up for it..." Yep. Cost you more than the rifle. The stock will need to be opened up in the barrel channel. That's not a big deal though.
Is the P17 still in full military configuration? If it is, find another one that has been sporterized. Changing an original will drop its value by half.
Click to expand...

No, It has already been to the "chop shop". But, who ever did it did a fairly nice job of it. I am researching it as we speak.
 
You could just chamber existing barrel. Na I'm being silly. I think your boogalood on length bro. A lot of 95 303's would have been counterfitted to 405 were it possible. hell I would of done one
 
I have a box of Hornady .405's and they fit just fine. I put one in the mag just to see if it could be possible and it fit with room to spare. I think I will have to have a go at this. The only real problem I can see is making sure that the bolt face will have enough meat left on it after opening it up to acomodate that big rimmed shell. A barrel will deffinately cost more than what I paid for the gun, but that does not worry me in the slightest. I 'm going to take it up with a real gunsmith and see what the man says.
 
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