A couple months ago, I came across an old stash of 405 grain cast bullets that had gas checks on them. I pretty much always use plain base bullets, so I wanted to see how they would do against some plain base, 405 grain bullets I have. I ended up with three different loads to try, one with the gas check bullets and two with the plain base bullets. Here is the report ....
The rifle: here’s a photo ....
Sights: original iron sights.
Set-up: I rested the rifle on my shooting bag, which was sitting on a short piece of 2 x 12 to bring it to the right height. This is my regular set-up when I want to test how accurate one of my old Winchesters is. Here is a photo of the old ’86 on my shooting set-up ...
Load #1: 405 grain gas checked bullet over 26 grains of 5744 for 1,373 fps
I set up a couple targets at 100 yards, walked back to the bench and started shooting. There was only one other fellow at the range, shooting at a target at 50 yards with a scope. I fired three shots at each target and sometime during that first round, the fellow stopped shooting and was watching the targets through his spotting scope. When I finished, he was pretty excited and said I had some real good groups. He was amazed at how well these old open iron sights work. I went down to change my targets and have to admit that I was fairly pleased as well with the performance of this old rifle. This load consistently puts three shots into about 1” or slightly less at 100 yards with open iron sights. I’m sure I could do better if I had a scope, but I won’t be putting no scope on this old ’86 for sure. If you ever hear tell that I’m about to put a scope on it, take me out behind the barn and give me a good whuppin’. Here’s a shot of one of the targets ....
Load #2: 22 grains of 2400 under a plain base 405 grain bullet for 1,351 fps.
This is my standard load. I was expecting it to be a little less accurate, simply because it was a plain base bullet with no gas check. I shot three targets. The first two groups were closer to 2 & ¼” at 100 yards, but my last target was a little better ..... three shots into 15/16” at 100 yards. Here’s a photo of that target .....
Load #3: 26 grains of 5744 under a plain base 405 grain bullet for 1,370 fps.
I was least optimistic about this load, because of the lower pressure spike that would be generated by 5744, which might not bump the bullet up as well to seal off the bore. Sure enough, both groups were around 2 & 5/16” at 100 yards. Here’s a shot of one of the targets with this load ....
I need to tweak the sights a bit, mostly in elevation and a wee bit in windage, then I’m ready to start practicing free-standing, offhand shooting with this old Winchester.
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... Because prolly as soon as you get it and the gas checks, you’ll start printing tiny groups with 2400 & PBs, which would be the ultimate anyway! Better to have it and not.....