454 casull reloading questions

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I load mine with Lee 45 colt dies.
Shooting from a Ruger 454 super Redhawk

340 Grain Beartooth Gas checked 24.0 Lil gun, 1430 FPS

For a lighter load I use 250 cast with 26.0 Grains of H-110 loaded in 45 colt cases, 1400 FPS. Dont do this if you have any regular 45 colt guns aroind that you could accidently load them into.

JIM

xkon said:

Will be shooting out of the SRH as well. Where do you buy your bullets from?

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For the 340's i get them from beartooth bullets. The 250's, i use a non Gas checked from thebulletworks.net

xkon said:

Have you ever tried pushing those 250gr in the 454 casull near max loadings or is that not recommended with it not being gas checked?

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I didnt want to push a non-Gc bullet that fast. I have loaded the Hornady 250XTP-Mag to close to 1900FPS using max load of H-110 or Lil Gun from the winchester powder site

I like 2400 and XTP's especially the 300gr XTP-MAG. You can push them harder with H110, but uh... no thank you.

You can also do some "light" loads with the 250gr XTP (.45 Colt bullet) and Universal.

And Trail Boss with 255gr lead bullets.

xkon said:

Have you ever tried pushing those 250gr in the 454 casull near max loadings or is that not recommended with it not being gas checked?

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I loaded some 250 cast, no GC this week. 454 cases, 24.0 #9. 1460 FPS, no signs of overpressure, no leading.
Anyone else use #9 for 250 cast? Wondering now how hard I can push these

JIM

Only the Shadow knows!

Your gun, your bullets, your alloy, & your bullet lube.

Only further testing by you with those things can answer your question, as nobody else has your gun, your bullets, your alloy, & your bullet lube to find out.

Personally though?
I'd be pretty happy with the 1,460 FPS you have now.

rc

My favorite load is the 300 grain XTPMAG over 30 grains of Lil Gun and winchester small rifle primer . Very accurate ,deadly on hogs , I shot a pressure treated 4x4 end ways , bullet penetrated 29 1/2 inches . Kevin

rcmodel said:

Only the Shadow knows!

Your gun, your bullets, your alloy, & your bullet lube.

Only further testing by you with those things can answer your question, as nobody else has your gun, your bullets, your alloy, & your bullet lube to find out.

Personally though?
I'd be pretty happy with the 1,460 FPS you have now.

rc

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Yea, i am pretty happy with it. its a easy to shoot, accurate load. Nice when I dont want to shoot the 340 Gr, plus my wife likes it. Was more curious than anything else.

JIM

Loading full tilt magnum loads for the 454 Casull is probably offers the least cumbersome of load developements. Pick a good quality projectile, the XTP is reasonably priced and performs very well when being pushed at magnum velocities / pressures.

As for powder, H110 / 296 (they're the same animal) doesn't really require much work up due to the fact that it is manufactered exclusively for this application and doesn't get spikey or weird when used at published charges.

Here is a couple pointers for loading magnum loads with H110 / 296:

1. Use H110 / 296 - Don't reduce your starting charge to below published data for jacketed bullets, or preformance will be incnsistent and could even possibly produce squibs. This powder is extremely predictable, and is safe when used as published.

2. Use magnum primers. It's a very slow burning ball powder and needs magnum primers to deliver reliable ignition.

3. Crimping - Crimp just above the lower part of the canelure using a full and firm roll crimp, or you'll have bullets jumping out of the case as they approach battery.

There really isn't much else involved in loading with jacketed bullets and H110 / 296. About the only critical area of focus is on bullet crimp. Finding the most effective crimp is also an easy process as follows. I fire a round, open the cylinder and see if any of the remaining bullets have moved up or down in the case mouths. I do this after each round fired until I've emptied the cylinder. Of all cases that absolutely need to be maintained to same trimmed lengths, it would be magnum handgun brass. Not doing so will eventually catch up to you. But once you've found the right crimp die setting, you really shouldn't have to adjust it again if you keep your brass all the same trimmed length. Of course you will have to adjust the seating stem when changing bullet, but your crimp adjustment will always remain the same.

I absolutely love loading with jacketed bullets and using slow burning powders because those components offer the least complex process to work with, always produce the highest performance ammunition, and dangerous double charges are just about impossible.

GS

I have loaded using W296 and both the 250 and 300 XTPs in Winchester virgin brass, and like the accuracy I get from those.

I have also reloaded the Starline brass out of Corbon ammo with good results using 296 and the XTPs.

I use Win small rifle primers.

I have loaded 5 test rounds using the hard core Freedom Arms bullets which can be loaded to a little higher pressures, but since I live in a subdivision I haven't had a chance to go to Dad's to shoot them.

The .45 platform was why I went with a .460 over a .500; one less bullet to stock. I've loaded test batches of .460 but not fired them yet.

Almost all my data I use are from the Lee die sheets.

I don't use any lead bullets at this time. I like watching water jugs explode when hit by those XTPs....

The older I get the less powder I seem to use. I loved to cram all the powder I could get behind a heavy lead bullet. Now I shun the eargsplitn loudenboomers as much as possible and actually love shooting the lighter bullets with light loads. I would, however, fill those cases up if I heard the brown shirts were comming.

Ned