RIFLES
Big-Bore Revival
Hornady feeds the fascination for large calibers with several new loads.
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In our modern world large-caliber bullets, big cases to stuff them into, and suitable rifles to fire them in, aren't quite as useful as rifles and cartridges for varmints or deer. And yet, while we don't really need them, our fascination with big bores continues.
I call anything over .40 caliber a "big bore," and recently Hornady Manufacturing has really stepped up its big-bore lineup. The company is hardly new to the big-bore arena. Its 500-grain .458 slugs, both solid and soft, have been industry standards for decades. When the .416 revival began in the late 1980s, Hornady was among the first to offer .416 bullets, 400-grain solids and Interlock softpoints. I have a real soft spot for Hornady's original .416 bullet because I used it to take my best-ever Cape buffalo back in 1993.
2002 saw both the reintroduction of the .405 Winchester and the legitimization of the powerhouse .458 Lott. For a couple of years focus shifted to small projects like the .17 rimfires and the .204 Ruger, but now it's come back to the big boys, with factory-loaded .416 Rigby and a reintroduction of another old favorite: the .450/.400 3-inch, also known as the .400 Jeffery.
The Winchester Model 95 that Theodore Roosevelt took to Africa in 1909 is one of the most famous sporting rifles in history. But in the Model 95, stocked with a thin buttstock with lots of drop, the .405 had a well-earned reputation as a hard kicker and in its day was one of the least popular chamberings in the 95. Original rifles have been rare for a long time, so Winchester/Browning's limited run of beautifully made reproductions was eagerly snapped up. This was greatly expedited by Hornady's introduction of new factory loads for the .405. These featured 300-grain Interlocks in both original roundnose and spire-point design.
The .405's long, straight, rimmed case is just as ideal for single-shots as it is for the massive 95 lever action, and you do run into the occasional double rifle in that chambering. With ammo available, it is a natural fit for the Ruger No. 1, and I unexpectedly received a test gun in the beautiful, heavy-barreled Tropical version and chambered to .405 Winchester.
In caliber, the .405 (nominally .411) is a big bore. But its 300-grain bullet is light for caliber, poor in sectional density, and at its traditional velocity of 2,200 fps the cartridge produces just 3,224 ft.-lbs. of energy. That makes it marginal at best for thick-skinned dangerous game. As Theodore Roosevelt correctly stated, it is ideal "lion medicine" and equally ideal for tough, potentially nasty things like bears and boars.
The rifle saw its first action in the hands of my daughter Brittany on a trip to Australia for pigs and water buffalo. Turned out it is perfect pig medicine, as decisive as anything I've ever seen. Penetration was just fine, so with plenty of backup on hand we stalked in close and Brittany shot her water buffalo at about 15 yards. She flattened it. I shot my own water buffalo with the .405 as well.
There aren't a lot of original Model 95s in .405 remaining. We know that a finite number of reproductions were made, and the .405 is far from the most popular chambering in the Ruger No. 1. Even so, Steve Hornady tells me .405 ammunition sales exceeded all expectations. This means .405 ammo will remain available, and I understand they intend to catalog the 400-grain "Brittany Boddington" load for use in Ruger No. 1s only. I hope the company decides to do so; it turns a great lion and bear cartridge into a true big bore.
The .458 Lott is a classic example of a wildcat that developed enough of a following to become worth a manufacturer's effort to bring it out in factory form. Longtime G&A contributor Jack Lott developed the .458 Lott in the early 1980s. It is just one of several variations of .458-caliber wildcats (like the .450 Watts and Ackley) based on the full-length .375 H&H case, the subtle difference with the Lott being that it headspaces on the belt, having no shoulder and only a slight body taper. This means that standard .458 Winchester Magnum ammo can be fired with perfect safety and with considerably less recoil.
