Thanks for that information ,Bo.

  It does make one wonder why, they did not make some limited runs of .405 ammunition after the Teddy Roosevelt ammunition was made.They would of had to have a line all set up to make the .405 Roosevelt ammunition.I know there would be a limited market,but there are older .405 rifles out there and the Japanese made .405 rifles are in production.

 Just wondering how many rounds of the Teddy Roosevelt Commemorative .405 ammunition was made?A million rounds sounds kind of high to me.:)Of course it being a commemorative run of ammunition ,it could be sold for more than a regular run,so most likely less could be made.

 I dare say you are right on Winchester swelling more of the calibres you spoke of,but they still seem to find time to make runs of .351 and .348 ammunition from time to time.Not trying to argue,you are most likely right.Just thinking it is odd that they can make time for those other old calibres,but not the .405.

 Just my thoughts on the subject.

Zebulon said
I don’t think Winchester Ammunition has made any .348 or .351  ammunition in the 21st Century– that I know of. I may be wrong on the 348 but all the SL ammo I’ve seen for sale branded “Winchester” has been in blue and yellow trade dress.  

I vaguely remember Browning producing some 348 ammo to go with their Browning 71 in the late Eighties or early Nineties, and the gun press remarking those with the original Winchester rifles would be glad to see it — meaning it had been dropped by all the other manufacturers. 

I never mind being corrected but, unless someone with experience or close connections in the industry can contradict me,  I believe I’m right that neither Olin nor Dupont set up to run Sporting ammunition in less than million round lots.

CCI has said its plant is capable of producing 4 million rounds of 22 cartridges in a single day.  Granted, that’s rimfire ammunition but I don’t think, for example,  a million round production run of 30/06 ammunition of a certain configuration is particularly large. That is only 50,000 twenty round boxes. Distributed evenly among the 50 States, each State would receive only 1,000 boxes.  In 2023 there were about 17,000 gun and ammunition stores in  America.  If a one million round lot were distributed evenly among them, each store would only get 58 cartridges — not boxes– of the 30/06 million round lot.  

Of course we know ammunition doesn’t get distributed evenly and Bass Pro gets a much bigger allotment than Bubba’s Guns N Bait. But a million rounds is not even the daily capacity of a single major manufacturer.  Americans buy somewhere between Eight and Fifteen BILLION rounds of ammunition of all kinds, annually. 

Ammunition making is very highly automated, capital intensive, low-labor enterprise compared to even 30 years ago. The labor intensive set up time cost is the same whether running a thousand rounds or a million rounds. There is a distinct profit advantage to spreading that fixed labor cost over a larger quantity of product. Also, automated machinery makes money only when it runs. Stopping it to retool afflicts an opportunity cost. Ammo makers don’t like to run small batches for that reason. They could but they make more money by not doing so.  

Even though Winchester Ammunition has had its own brass mill ever since it was acquired by Olin, i would not be amazed to learn Winchester hired out the 2008 production of its TR Commemorative 405 ammo to Hornady, particularly if it was a small batch, since Hornady was running it regularly then. A custom headstamp wouldn’t have stopped the loading machine line. If the commemorative ammo contained unadvertised Interlock bullets, that would nail it. 

  

 Do not know when the last runs of .348 and .351 were made.I have seen lots of white box .351 ammunition ,but none in the newer silver box.For the .348, I have seen many in the newer silver box.These were made after the silvertip .348 bullet was discontinued, as they are loaded with a power point bullet.

 As far as I know ,all the Browning ammunition is made by Olin/Winchester.The 348  Browning Model 71 ammunition included.The  boxes were marked Winchester Super-x for the Browning Model 71 Commemorative rifle.The bullets were 200 grain silvertips.

 You are most likely right ,about the amount of ammunition set up for a run on a production line.I guess ,I just thought a limited run could be done for less.Perhaps as Mike has suggested,load development machines.I am thinking  the Browning Commemorative run in .348 was done at the same time ,a regular 348  super-X  limited run was being done.All that would have to be done different, would be a change in the box ,the cartridges were put in.At that time ,Olin/Winchester was using white boxes.

 Its interesting that the .405 Teddy Roosevelt ammunition used a FP  bullet.All other .405 ammunition by Winchester, that I have seen, were SP.Hornady did make a FP .405 bullet,so like you, it would not surprise me if Hornady made the Teddy Roosevelt .405  ammunition.Hornady at that time ,also made a SP .405 bullet.Why the SP bullet was not used is a good question.I know the FP .405 was not a good seller for Hornady, compared to the SP bullet and it was dropped in short order.Perhaps they gave Olin/Winchester a good deal on the .405 FP bullets.:)

 Most interesting discussing this topic with all here.

 To be honest I do not know if the white box 351 cartridges were made for both markets or not.I do know I have white box .351 ammunition packed like the older cartridges were  and at least one white box, that has a plastic tray for the bullets to fit in.

 I dare say you are right ,about a few police offices having an old Model 07 or two kicking around.:)

 The Model 07 I had ,was made in the last year of production.It was heavy and was much like the police version,with hooked operating rod,thick wood  and swivels.