i have a woman that works for me went to africa last year plains animal hunting took some nice animals, she is going back to africa next year after cape buffalo, the guide is telling her to run a solid bullet preferably a 400 grainer out of the 405 win, does anyone know of anyone loading the 400 grainers and do they mean a FMJ when they say a solid bullet, any help would be greatly appreciated they told her to have 2 differnet bullets a soft point for broadside shots and solid for a frontal shot thansk Ron

kunas,

solids can mean different things to different people; however, in the strictist sense, it means a "monolithic" or bullet composed of a single material, like bronze, guilding metal or even cast. However, solids in the broader sense refer to bullets with a fully enclosed nose by the jacket material. The cores of the bullets can be composed of different materials, steel, tungsten, lead, etc. Refer to the latest issue of Rifle magazine. Gunyanna has written an excellent article on "solids" based upon many years of hunting and guiding in Africa. An "hard" cast bullet can also be considered a "solid."
I'm not aware of any 400 grain solids for the 405 WCF. Barnes make a "solid" copper triple shock, but it is 300 grains. Hornady makes interlock in spire point and flap point in 300 grain. These are "soft" point bullets. Hope this helps; but, go to Riflemag.com and read that article

Doc

thanks Doc

Tell her to shoot the soft first then follow with a solids.

I absolutely agree with Gary.

Kunas,
Contact SSK Industries. JD has a list of bullet makers for the 400gr .411 bullet. He uses these for his .411 JDJ.

do you all think that i good 300 grainer soft work or should we be stuck on the fact that we need a 400 grainer Ron

The 300gr bullet for the .405 is a great load for elk and other thin skinned animals. I just don't think it would be a good choice for thick skinned dangerous animals. I shoot the 300 gr .411s out of my .41 after applying a hollow point and get great expansion. It's just too lightly constructed for thick skinned animals. If you had access to a lathe you could take the tip off and drill and tap it for a number eight brass screw with a round head. I've done this to other bullets to stop expansion and it works great.

WOODLEIGH makes a great bullet for the 405. It is a 400 gr. RNSN.(round nose,soft nose). They also make a solid. With 50.5 gr. of H4895 you are looking at a velocity of 1945 fps w/ the 400 gr.

Last year Craig Boddington wrote an article about setting his daughter up to hunt Africa with a .405. I can't remember the specifics, just that he had her use some stout handloads. The article was in RifleShooter. Please don't revoke my membership for reading RifleShooter. Thanks - KAL

Soft point first, followed by solids or FMJ...