Question for 460S&W owners and those that know

[ClosetCaseNerd]

I have a 5'' 460S&W at home, has not been shot much as I have been away since buying it...

Can anyone offer advice on the following questions?:

Lead bullets. At roughly what point is it unsafe to fire copper jacketed rounds (like the 200gr Hornady's) after shooting lead. I have some 395 grain lead thumpers that are rated at 1525 fps. How many lead rounds can I shoot before its unsafe (due to pressure concerns I assume?) to fire the 200gr Hornady SST's?

Optics mounting... What are you guys using for optics mounts? Whats available? I'd like to mount a scope (undecided on a model as of yet) or one of my Aimpoint T1's...Is there a good Picatinny/1913 rail section that can be mounted on my 5''?

And finally, for the 5'' barrel, what realistic velocities am I looking at for the 395 grain lead bullets, and the 200 grain SST's?

Anyone know of a Forum, that has been a good cache of knowledge for the 460? Seems a little thin pickings here on THR, but I don't really know where else to look for this format of firearm.

 

[ClosetCaseNerd]

Nothin? Nada? Zip?

 

[kanook]

Mines 8" (hehe) It's got a wiegland (not sure spelling) and a leupold adjustable scope. I am using the Hornady ammo right now. Haven't shot lead put of it yet. When your shooting it at the range, keep your eyes on it and if starts leading up brush it out then. Or after 10rds brush it and shoot away.

 

[BCRider]

Leading is a funny thing. I've been looking around at reloading with lead and found lots of info on using it. If you're leading up look around for info on correcting the issue. It's odd but from what I've read leading up doesn't come from how soft or hard the lead is but instead about other factors that may be compounded by the lead being harder or softer. But if you can correct the actual issue instead of trying to cover it up by changing the alloy you're using you can often keep shooting unjacketed without needing to shoot any jacketed "cleaning" rounds. Things like blowby and proper bullet lube or in some cases using a gas check can reduce leading up to where it's not an issue.

EDITED to change "blowback" to "blowby". Not sure what I was thinking when I typed the 'back word. Silly me....

 

[buck460XVR]

If you're leading up look around for info on correcting the issue.

correct.......lead bullets properly sized and with the correct hardness will not significantly lead your barrel....and yes some folks fire jacketed rounds after firing lead boolits to clean the barrel. My experience with my .460 is, shooting bullets with that much weight and velocity difference will amount to about a 8-12'' difference in POI @ 50 yards, with the heavy bullets shootin' higher. Is there a reason you want to shoot two types of ammo that are so different?

 

[BCRider]

Just to add.

With so strong a chamber pressure as you'll find on a .460 I gather from reading about lead boolits that going a hair oversize and letting the forcing cone squeeze the boolit down goes a huge way to avoiding the blowby issue that can melt the surface of the lead and leave deposits. For the smaller and weaker chamberings just casting them slightly oversize seems to be enough. For something like a .460 I'd suspect pushing the bullets through a sizing die that sets them to just the right size would do a lot to avoiding blowby without the need for a gas check.... at least this is what I've read suggests.

In line with this a harder alloy isn't always the RIGHT alloy. A softer alloy well sized can deform due to the pressure and achieve a better seal to the rifing in some cases. There's no easy answer to this issue. It really comes down to a "baby's bear porridge" solution where the alloy is soft enough to squish out for a good seal and no blowby but not so soft that it deforms TOO much.

If it helps I got a lot of this info right here off THR. Not a clue as to what to use for search words on it though. The rest came from some recent looking at reloading sites but again it was just noted in passing and there's not a hope in hades that I can tell you what to look for on Google to find the same info.

Best of luck with learning what works and what doesn't.