Are .45 Colt and .454 Casull dies interchangable?

[Wedge]

Are .45 Colt and .454 Casull dies interchangable? Can I load up .45 Colt and then bam just switch over my bullets, primers, brass and charge weight and start loading .454 Casull? My buddy is looking to get a Square Deal B or 550B from Dillon and was curious (and I am too!).

 

[Frohickey]

Yes.

You need to readjust bullet seating depth though.

 

[HSMITH]

AND crimp depth, you will buckle the 454 cases badly with Colt settings. The good news is you just adjust the whole seat/crimp die up a couple turns.

 

[Wedge]

Kinda what I though. Thanks!

 

[redneck2]

Ditto as above...

you have to re-adjust seating and crimp. FWIW...I'd strongly suggest a Lee FCD (mebbe you already know...mebbe you don't) for crimping. Back off the factory die so it just snugs the case down but doesn't crimp. Finish with the Lee (anyway, that's how I do it and it works well)

454 uses small primers rather than large of the 45 LC, so you also have to change out the primer feed

 

[Paul "Fitz" Jones]

45-454 Casull

I have a Star Universal reloader for both calibers and just change the die adjustments, powder charge etc.

There is the same relationship of
.45Long Colt- .454 Casull
.38 Special-. 357 Magnum

John Paul

 

[Frohickey]

There is no such thing as 45 Long Colt!!! :banghead:

 

[Black Snowman]

Maybe we need one? Make a .45 Long Colt wildcat from cut down 45-70 brass, just a little step up from the .454 Casuall. That would sell. You know, a "little" brother to the 500 S&W

 

[Frohickey]

Already been done.

475 Linebaugh

The .475 is made by trimming .45-70 brass to 1.400" and reloading with RCBS Custom .475 dies. Calling upon my local gunsmith, I had him trim Winchester Western .45-70 brass to the proper length, ran the trimmed brass through the RCBS full-length sizer die and expander die in sequence, seated bullets over large doses of selected powders ignited by CCI #350 primers and I was in business. The brass used had been loaded numerous times in various .45-70's and now has gone through three loadings in the .475 Linebaugh.

Wonder if you can shoot these out of 45/70 lever guns, as a milder 45/70 load.

If I remember correctly, the 500 Linebaugh Maximum is a bigger bang than the 500S&W Magnum. And it predates it as well. The 500S&W Magnum is more like the 500 Linebaugh, and the 500 Linebaugh is older too.

 

[Black Snowman]

<[Thread Hijack In Progress]>

From my Hodgdon reloading data:

.500 Linebough, 1639Ft-lbs, 543 Power Factor, 400 gr bullet, 1358 Ft/sec
.500 S & W MAG, 2674Ft-lbs, 728 Power Factor, 440 gr bullet, 1654 Ft/sec

The .500 S&W from an 8 1/2 revolver has roughly the same muzzle energy as a 270 Weatherby out of a 24" barrel. Scarry stuff.

Couldn't find data for the Maximum version.