44 mag. vs. 454 Casull

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aerod1

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What is the difference in power between a 44 mag and a 454? There is a discussion among friends. One saying the 454 is around 1.5 times as powereful and the other saying the 454 is 2 times as powerful as the 44 mag.
What is the best overall measure to determine the power of a specific cartridge?

Thanks for the help.
 
Well 454 is as its name implies .454 and a .44mag is a .42 and if I remember correctly a 454 casull is loaded with more powder than a 44mag and the casing is definetly larger.

Both are good cartridges but as for overall specifics you would need to know the ft/lb of forces it can exhibit on an object and the FPS and to be fair to both cartridges you would have to use a standard factory load to compare them.
 
.454 Casull is much more powerful, twice the muzzle energy of the standard .44 magnum factory load. Very good hunter...that is if your wrists can handle it.

Speaking of "magnum" and "wildcat rounds", there really is no need to invest so much in something just because it is brand spanking new and packs "ooh, I just sh*t my pants" muzzle blast and recoil.

A .44 magnum can do everything that a .454 Casull or .500 Smith And Wesson can do. And it has been proven, from time to time, that the .357 can do everything a .44 magnum can do.

Which makes me want to quote an old quote from the old frontiersmen days. "In the end, it is really not about the gun, but about the shooter".
 
Hardly quantitive by any means, but this past weekend, a fellow took up a position to my right with a .44 Mag long barrel revolver.

Along comes another fellow, to my left, with an equally as long revolver in .45 Casull.

The range has no dividers between stations.

Boom goes the .44 Mag.

Barrooom goes the Casull.

Whoa horse.

Forget it. I went and sat down until the guy on my left was through. The flame that belched out of that cylinder gap would have lit my cigar.
 
Both cartridges have such a wide range of loadings that they can overlap, but the .454 can be loaded much hotter. It's basically a stretched or magnum .45 Colt.

I never really understood ballistics until I started reloading. (I reload .44 but don't have a .454. Yet.)

Once you are choosing bullet weight and powder it really starts to sink in what's happening when you pull the trigger.

Here's some info from the Lee loading manual:

Using a 240 grain jacketed bullet:
.44 magnum loads range from 1150 feet per second to 1500 feet per second
.454 1200 to 1700 fps

Using a 300 grain lead bullet:
.44 - 1000 to 1300 fps
.454 - 1250 to 1430 fps
 
companys like buffalo bore have 44 mag loadings that are very simlar to the thier 454 loadings.


example

340 gr. LBT-LFN GC . (1478 fps / M.E. 1649 ft. lbs.) is one of thier "heavy" 44 mag loadings.



325 gr. L.B.T.- L.F.N. (1525 fps /M.E. 1678 ft. lbs.) is a 44 mag loading.


same bullet type, 15 grain diffrence in bullet weight, but not alot of diffrence in the two other wise.
 
I just saw a chart from the 2004 SAAMI pressure chart.
44 mag average maximum pressure is 36,000
454 Casull average maximum pressure is 50,000 cup
Question:
Using this data , does it not make sense that the 454 Casull is a little less than 1.5 times as powerful as a 44 magnum?
 
Hard to make an accurate comparison because of bullet weights, powder loads, and stuff like that. However, given all of that the 454 would (on the average) be about 40% more powerful than a comparably loaded 44 magnum. I'll be the first to admit that there is a lot of air contained in that comparably loaded phrase but suffice it to say that the 454 is a more powerful round than a 44 magnum.
 
Ruger Alaskan

I have a Ruger Alaskan in .454 casull and it really isn't that bad recoil wise as I thought it would be. This revolver has a 2" barrel and Its main purpose is for bush carry against large bears (brownies). Its not so much the recoil as it is the cost of factory loads...around $2 per round. The nice thing is I can shoot .45 colt at the range for practice and save the heavy hitters for the field.
 
I just saw a chart from the 2004 SAAMI pressure chart.
44 mag average maximum pressure is 36,000
454 Casull average maximum pressure is 50,000 cup
Question:
Using this data , does it not make sense that the 454 Casull is a little less than 1.5 times as powerful as a 44 magnum?

It might if they were the same size. But the 454 has about 15% (IIRC) more bullet base area to push against, and more case volume.

When loaded to about 25000 CUP, a .45 Colt is about equal to a .44 Mag at 35k to 36k CUP. So I'd guess that the 454 is closer to double the power of a .44, or maybe slightly more than that because it has more case volume than the .45 Colt.

27000 CUP .45 Colt loads are as much fun as I can handle. :) I like the idea of a .454, but not sure I could take it.
 
Well I would certainly like to thank everyone for the replies. We have some smart folks on this site.:cool:
I have shot a 454 several times and it isn't something I really enjoy.
Of course, more comments are welcome because I will continue to sneek a peek at this thread for a while.:D
 
Per Alliant's website using the same weight (300grns) Hornady HP/XTP bullets and 2400 powder:

44 Mag uses 15.9 max for 1190 fps@35,000 psi

454 uses 28 max for 1700 fps@58,100 psi

Not quite double the powder charge...but close. And with the increased surface area of the greater bore diameter....the 454 wins by a pretty large margin.
 
If I need something bigger than a .44 mag, I'm going to a 12 gauge or rifle. After all nothing that big is going to fit under my shirt. Joe
 
Re: Ruger Alaskan
This revolver has a 2" barrel and Its main purpose is for bush carry against large bears (brownies).
Makes me wonder in the case of a short barrel bear protection gun like those if there is a bigger gap between .44 mag and .454.power-wise.
 
Thanks to S&W there is the .460 which can fire the .454 Casull and .45 Long Colt. I imagine that since the gun can fire .460 Magnum, you can load the .45 Long Colt to similar performance levels. The price differences between the .454 Casull and .44 Magnum are not that great unless you are getting a used one then the .44 Magnum tends to be cheaper. My next purchase, after I buy a reloading setup, will either be a Glock 20 or .460 Magnum in 2.75" with an eventual .460 Magnum after acquiring both in 5". Also want to fit a Glock 29 somewhere in there. It may take me a few years but that's how I see it.
 
A .44 magnum can do everything that a .454 Casull or .500 Smith And Wesson can do. And it has been proven, from time to time, that the .357 can do everything a .44 magnum can do.
Good to know. I was going to take my 5 shot Bowen Bisley .45 after cape buffalo, but now I can just bring my S&W model 19.

The things you read on the in-ter-net. ROFL.
 
I'm a big strong guy and I can't accurately shoot my hotter .44 mag loads in my heavy as heck 5.5" Redhawk. It makes me wonder how accurate anyone but a pro could be with hot .454 loads. .44 Mag has offers a plenty wide spectrum of power for reloaders.
 
I'm a big strong guy and I can't accurately shoot my hotter .44 mag loads in my heavy as heck 5.5" Redhawk. It makes me wonder how accurate anyone but a pro could be with hot .454 loads. .44 Mag has offers a plenty wide spectrum of power for reloaders.

But a .454 *rifle*...

Puma makes one that I've been drooling over for about a year, but I there's several other guns higher on the list first, and not much money for gun buyin' lately.
 
What is cool about a casull, is that you can load .45 colts to 44 mag levels. Then if you want more, you can go to the casulls. I have the Alaskan, so I am limited on accuracy and velocity, but for its size you can't beat it with a 44 mag.

Using Hornady's factory ammo, with 240 gn. HPs, I get 1550 fps out of a 2.5 in barrel. On The other hand, that same load screams out of my buddies 7 in at 2,000 fps.
 
A .44 magnum can do everything that a .454 Casull or .500 Smith And Wesson can do. And it has been proven, from time to time, that the .357 can do everything a .44 magnum can do.

Yea right.....
What data do you have to support you clam?
It is obvious you know nothing about ballistics.

Next you will say a 22 Mag can do anything a 357 Mag can do... :banghead:
 
[/QUOTE]A .44 magnum can do everything that a .454 Casull or .500 Smith And Wesson can do. And it has been proven, from time to time, that the .357 can do everything a .44 magnum can do.

Glad .38 Special and Redhawk1 jumped all over that!! And lets all remember, though a S&W .460 is indeed a hand cannon, it only approaches what a .308 rifle round will do...not serious big bear medicine in my mind (but better than nothing in an emergency!)
 
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