Reloading for 460 S&W Magnum

[dickydalton]

I use Lil Gun for my 460s and it shoots fine. I haven't chronoed lately. I loaded 200 Barnes and they weren't accurate for me. I load LBT 265 and 360 hard cast and 300 XTP Mags mostly now. Mostly now means that I haven't loaded any in over 3 years and only shot it a couple times. My bad! I'm taking tomorrow for deer just because of this thread. Thank You All for reminding me I have this 460.

 

[ruger1228]

I use Lil Gun for my 460s and it shoots fine. I haven't chronoed lately. I loaded 200 Barnes and they weren't accurate for me. I load LBT 265 and 360 hard cast and 300 XTP Mags mostly now. Mostly now means that I haven't loaded any in over 3 years and only shot it a couple times. My bad! I'm taking tomorrow for deer just because of this thread. Thank You All for reminding me I have this 460.

Shame on you. But I can empathize with you. About a year ago, I was at Cabela's buying a rifle and was looking at handguns. I spotted a Beretta 84FS and thought that was a nice little gun. I should have one of them, but didn't have money with me to buy it. I was going to go back the next day and pick it up. That night I was going through the gun safe and low and behold, I already had one in the safe. Shame on me.
Good Luck on your deer hunt. Firearm deer season starts here in Michigan next Friday, November 15. The only day of the year you can hear the sunrise.

 

[buck460XVR]

Mostly now means that I haven't loaded any in over 3 years and only shot it a couple times. I'm taking tomorrow for deer just because of this thread. Thank You All for reminding me I have this 460.

I wish you luck. Altho one can put a rifle down for a year or only shoot it a coupla times since owning it and be accurate enough for hunting deer, the same is not generally true for handgun hunting. Grip, trigger control and ammo make so much difference in POI that one really owes it to their quarry to practice enough to be proficient. Just difference in POI from POA in 50 yards between 200 gr ammo and 300 gr ammo is 12'' from my X-Frame.

 

[ruger1228]

I took my XVR to the range today. I loaded up 240gr XTP-Mag with various H110 and
IMR 4227 loads. I found that 44grs of H110 was the most accurate load. I was able to get 3 shot groups between 2.750 and 3.000 inches at 100 yards.
I also loaded up some 300gr XTP-Mag with 36 grains of H110 and had 3 shot groups between 2.000 and 2.250 at 100 yards. This is going to be the load I use for deer hunting. I did use a Large Rifle Magnum Primer. Case trim length 1.790 and COL was 2.160.
This revolver is really a joy to shoot. Now I just have to have the deer cooperate and show themselves.
Have a good week

 

[ruger1228]

Just wanted to give you an update on the 460XVR and my hunting experience with it.
I used Starline cases, 300gr XTP-Mag Bullets, 37.0 grains of H110.
I shot a large doe opening evening of the Michigan firearm deer season at approximately 40yards. The bullet completely demolished the right front shoulder, part of right lung, and lower part of heart. Deer still went about 30-40 yards before piling up. Amazing what this handgun can do. Only disappointment is that I did not see anything with antlers. But the doe sure is good eating.

 

[41 Rem Mag]

Great feedback on your hunt, I have been using your combo of bullet and powder for a couple of years now and it is working for me. I love the XTP bullets, as far as using the Lee Factory crimp die for the 45/454 to crimp the 460 it may not be deep enough for a full length re-sizing but I get a nice roll crimp. I like the separate process of seating the bullet and then crimping it I feel it helps to control the bullet depth better.

 

[ruger1228]

41 Rem Mag,
I am using RCBS dies and did the seating and crimping with the seater/crimp die. Once I had the case overall length set and crimp set, this process worked fine for me. I have shot about 100 of the 150 shells I reloaded and have had no problem with the bullet jumping the crimp. Accuracy has been unbelievable-3 shot groups between 1-1.250 inches at 100 yards.
Yesterday, just for the heck of it I moved back to 225 yards, left the scope zeroed for 100 yards. With 21 inch hold over, I was able to put 5 out of 5 shots into a 9" paper plate. Then I moved up to 150 yards and that required a 5 inch hold over to put them on the plate.
This gun is really a joy to shoot. I have the XVR that came with the bipod.

 

[Saleen322]

H110 works well in the .460 Revolver.

 

[ngnrd]

That is some great shooting, guys. It would take me a month of Sundays to get those kind of groups from my iron sighted 460-V. Of course, that's not what I bought it for, either. But, it certainly should perform well as a short to mid range bear repellent - launching 325g Swift A-Frames at ~1500fps.

 

[ruger1228]

When I purchased my XVR I mounted a Burris Scope 3-12x32 on it. This was a scope I had on one of my TC Encore pistol. The scope did not hold up to the heavy recoil of the 460.
I went to my LGS and talked with the owner about different scopes for this revolver and he recommended the Leupold VX 3 Handgun 2.5-8x32mm. He said this scope was made especially for the large caliber handguns.
Once I mounted this scope, my groups and accuracy improved tremendously.
Both the gun and scope have performed flawlessly. The scope was well worth the extra money.

 

[41 Rem Mag]

I agree with ngnrd...... that is some great shooting, I am also shooting open sights and have not taken the 460 to the distance. Thinking more off hand hunting out to 100 yards or so. Glad to see you enjoying your smith as much as you are, I really like mine.