Indians For Guns

dear friends i have a .401 bore Winchester model 1910 SL . It is in a fairly good condition and shoots 4 rounds comfortably at a stretch but i have been told that it was discontinued due to its heavy recoil and also that in guns of that period the steel used in the barrel was of a poor quality, I suspect that it may be unsafe as it is a heavy bore.. . . . . though its condition . . stock,barrel,groovs,feel everything is fine. kindly advise

You can be rest assured nothing of the sort you imagine will and can happen if you shoot the right loads, whether factory or hand loads. These rifles were quite well made and are most unlikely to cause harm to the shooter. The recoil too was quite pleasant unless the main spring has gone terribly weak over the decades.The ammo is very very difficult to come across in India as the US manufacturers don't make them any more as far as I know.. How ever the hand loads if you have the components at all, should be carefully designed as the old brass may have gone brittle as well over the years. I had an access to both 351 Win and 401 Win in the late 60s and found them, specially the 401win. having a pretty good wallop within 75-150 yds on fairly big game in spite of parabolic trajectory not unlike 315 IOF..
Marksman

Marksman

Best advise any one can give is take it to good gunsmith and have it inspected

Second depends how much you shoot , avoid heating up the barrel to beyond being able to touch it

Third if reloading your own ammo , you can drop to light loads than given in your manuals

And contact the manufacturer if you have any sort of make , model , serial # and date of purchase or any info of the original owner

And it;s a good keep for big game - Haji

thanks Marksman
good to hear those words from you. . . i like the rifle and its quite accurate . . moreover it is short in length and self loading thus good for self defence. . . . i keep collecting the available original rounds from the dealers . . . presently i have about 40 and a guy in Kanpur provides very good handloads mostly using fresh brass so ammo is not a big problem. . the only issue was safety. . thanks for clearing the doubt.

Arjun: Contrary to Haji's advise, reduced loads, if you handloaded, would not work in this rifle. Being a blow-back operated action, it needs full power loads to reliably function the action. For self defense, it would be difficult to find a better choice.

Hammerhead,
No legal arms holder in India would have enough ammo that could damage the barrel of any fire arm due to heat. In factarjun401 is pretty lucky to have gathered the amount of ammo he already has, and that too of a rifle caliber that is long obsolete with no reloading facility in our country . My advice would be to use this ammo sparingly and keep a look out for more all the time. How ever, its a good idea to have it examined by a competent gunsmith.

Marksman

Haji

I took it to a gunsmith Mushtaq Bhai though he may not be trained but is an experienced man of abt 65 and has a good reputation. He just had a good look , checked the spring and said "in angrezi bandookon mein zyada kharabi nahi aati aap tasalli rakhiye rifle theek hai kam fire hui hai " i am puzzled as i dont know whether his diagnosis is ok or not.
Though i have the serial no. but i am not sure the manufacturer can advise regarding it without checking the condition.Thanx for the input.

Bad News. the cartridges in my stock misfired. i think they lived their life.
time to say goodbye! to 401.