WinchesterAA
Member
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2006
- Messages
- 870
CAUTION: The following post includes loading data tested in my guns (the 45 colt loads are EXTREMELY OVER PRESSURE FOR YOUR COWBOY GUNS) chambered for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The High Road, nor the staff of THR assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.
THR taught me how to handload.
I'm very glad that I decided to invest the time and money into this hobby. It has been very rewarding.
Just wanted take some time to thank all those people who contributed their knowledge to the discussion about reloading, and helped me figure out how to do it safely and effectively, and share my experience so far.
I've loaded a lot of .308, and some other bottleneck rifle cartridges, but at the moment, the 45 colt and 460S&W magnum are my favorites to load. I'm toying with the idea of getting a stainless Big Horn Armory Model 90. Wow what a gun that would be! $3000 is a lot, though. I may "settle" for a Henry in 45-70.
My original goal with .308 was for accurate long range loading, but my long range temporarily dissappeared due to growth of vegetation. Sometime this summer I'll be relocating it to a new area where I can stretch out to 850 yards or so.
After that I got into making quality hunting ammunition. I settled on 42.2 grains of IMR 4895 under a 165 grain sierra gameking, and took my first deer with that load opening weekend. It performed very well. I still haven't chronoed anything out of the .308 :banghead:
My grandfather died and left me a colt SAA mfg. in 1900. I took up loading 45 colt, but not shooting the SAA. Instead, I bought a Henry Big Boy, and traded a Kel-Tec RFB for a S&W 460V. 21 grains of IMR 4227 under a 255 grain Keith SWC (BHN 18, from Missouri Bullet Company) has turned my Henry and I into a hell of a combination. The 255 grain slug comes out around 1300FPS.
Shooting at 100 yards with the Henry, iron-sights and offhand, I can almost always hit a Big Gong Show target. The K SWC has no problem making that target dance.
The Henry is my late season deer/pig gun. Hands down the best rifle I've ever owned. I also got a crappy Yukon NVRS and a scope mount for the Henry which I use to hunt pigs at night. Still haven't taken any game with it, but not for lack of trying! With the NVRS, offhand shots at 50 yards on the BGS target in the dark are no problem.
This load works really well in the 460V, too, though I still need a lot of practice with this ginormous revolver's incredibly stout double action. Single action shots inside of 50 yards are favorable. The 255 grain slug comes out around 900FPS. The recoil is very pleasant. It makes you want to shoot it more.
In both the Henry and the 460V, leading has not been an issue. I shoot hundreds of rounds through both each time I take them out (periodically checking the bore), and haven't seen any concerning deposits. Afterward, cleaning is just a matter of running a boresnake through each 3 times, and the bore comes out like-new.
The 460S&W magnum, initially, was pretty intimidating... I wasn't sure what to expect. Load data was mostly for 8 3/8" and 10" barrels, the jacketed bullets I had on hand were rated up to 1800FPS (250 grain Hornady XTP). A starting load of 36 grains of IMR 4227 for a 250 grain jacketed projectile from Hodgdon with a 10" XVR was producing 1900FPS
I had to do some soul searching to see if I could, by logic and reasoning, determine that it would be safe to use the XTP. I came to the conclusion that with a 5" barrel, I'll probably be somewhere well south of 1800FPS, possibly even as low as 1500FPS. Turns out, 36.5 grains of IMR 4227 under a Hornady 250 grain XTP, in the 5" S&W 460V, I'm getting around 1400FPS. The recoil is stout, but nothing compared to the factory Hornady 200 grain FTX loads. I loaded 200 rounds described above, and shot them all in an afternoon. I was THRILLED by the experience, and the performance of the rounds. The 460S&W magnum is a totally new thing to me. It's big, it's loud, it has a muzzle flash like a mosin nagant --- during the day ---, it's accurate, it shoots all kinds of ammo, in a simply rugged pancake holster, I can wear it for days without discomfort... What a gun!
After getting acquainted to the revolver, my friends and I threw out a 4" square bouncing target and played a game where the shooter would take his shot, and if he hit, he would take another shot, if he missed, the guy to his left would take his shot, and if he hit, he would take another shot, if he missed, the next guy would go, and so on. We were walking the square out to around 60 yards and I was able to tag it reliably, sometimes even while it was still rolling around =)
We played that with the Henry, too, but I was the first shooter and never missed it. Kinda ruined the game for all of us...
Here's the really awesome part...
The 45 colt loads I've been using don't seem to significantly effect brass life. My oldest pieces of brass have been reloaded 8 times with no clear indication of case head separation or split necks. I trim the brass every time I load it so that I can get a consistent crimp, which probably helps with the neck splitting issue. I may be dealing with some thin brass now, though. I haven't measured it yet. Starline brass is good stuff.
I haven't reloaded any of my 460 brass yet (bought new, unfired brass), but I suspect with a 'mild' load like I'm using, it'll probably take a minute to wear them out, too.
In addition to long brass life, the Missouri Bullet Company bullets are about $54 shipped w/ taxes for a box of 500. That's about 10 cents a bullet.
The primers I got for about $32 for a 1000. That's around 3 cents a primer.
The IMR 4227 I got was about $190 shipped with taxes, fees, etc for 8 pounds. I use 21 grains in my 45 colt loads, which is something like 7 cents of powder per cartridge.
Excluding the price of brass, I load each one for about 20 cents a pop.
A 50 round box of my ultra-premium 45 colt ammunition costs me in the neighborhood of $10 per box
.
A clearly inferior product costs nearly twice that much!
Another cool thing about the straight-walled cartridges.. I don't need case lube and sizing them requires very little effort.
All this fun I'm having is in large part due to the people who post here, and I am extremely grateful. Thank you all so much!
Now, who wants to recommend a good progressive press? Loading 500 rounds on a single stage press takes a while, and while you're at it, who's got a good method for preparing a lot of cases (trimming, chamfering, deburring)
THR taught me how to handload.
I'm very glad that I decided to invest the time and money into this hobby. It has been very rewarding.
Just wanted take some time to thank all those people who contributed their knowledge to the discussion about reloading, and helped me figure out how to do it safely and effectively, and share my experience so far.
I've loaded a lot of .308, and some other bottleneck rifle cartridges, but at the moment, the 45 colt and 460S&W magnum are my favorites to load. I'm toying with the idea of getting a stainless Big Horn Armory Model 90. Wow what a gun that would be! $3000 is a lot, though. I may "settle" for a Henry in 45-70.
My original goal with .308 was for accurate long range loading, but my long range temporarily dissappeared due to growth of vegetation. Sometime this summer I'll be relocating it to a new area where I can stretch out to 850 yards or so.
After that I got into making quality hunting ammunition. I settled on 42.2 grains of IMR 4895 under a 165 grain sierra gameking, and took my first deer with that load opening weekend. It performed very well. I still haven't chronoed anything out of the .308 :banghead:
My grandfather died and left me a colt SAA mfg. in 1900. I took up loading 45 colt, but not shooting the SAA. Instead, I bought a Henry Big Boy, and traded a Kel-Tec RFB for a S&W 460V. 21 grains of IMR 4227 under a 255 grain Keith SWC (BHN 18, from Missouri Bullet Company) has turned my Henry and I into a hell of a combination. The 255 grain slug comes out around 1300FPS.
Shooting at 100 yards with the Henry, iron-sights and offhand, I can almost always hit a Big Gong Show target. The K SWC has no problem making that target dance.
The Henry is my late season deer/pig gun. Hands down the best rifle I've ever owned. I also got a crappy Yukon NVRS and a scope mount for the Henry which I use to hunt pigs at night. Still haven't taken any game with it, but not for lack of trying! With the NVRS, offhand shots at 50 yards on the BGS target in the dark are no problem.
This load works really well in the 460V, too, though I still need a lot of practice with this ginormous revolver's incredibly stout double action. Single action shots inside of 50 yards are favorable. The 255 grain slug comes out around 900FPS. The recoil is very pleasant. It makes you want to shoot it more.
In both the Henry and the 460V, leading has not been an issue. I shoot hundreds of rounds through both each time I take them out (periodically checking the bore), and haven't seen any concerning deposits. Afterward, cleaning is just a matter of running a boresnake through each 3 times, and the bore comes out like-new.
The 460S&W magnum, initially, was pretty intimidating... I wasn't sure what to expect. Load data was mostly for 8 3/8" and 10" barrels, the jacketed bullets I had on hand were rated up to 1800FPS (250 grain Hornady XTP). A starting load of 36 grains of IMR 4227 for a 250 grain jacketed projectile from Hodgdon with a 10" XVR was producing 1900FPS
I had to do some soul searching to see if I could, by logic and reasoning, determine that it would be safe to use the XTP. I came to the conclusion that with a 5" barrel, I'll probably be somewhere well south of 1800FPS, possibly even as low as 1500FPS. Turns out, 36.5 grains of IMR 4227 under a Hornady 250 grain XTP, in the 5" S&W 460V, I'm getting around 1400FPS. The recoil is stout, but nothing compared to the factory Hornady 200 grain FTX loads. I loaded 200 rounds described above, and shot them all in an afternoon. I was THRILLED by the experience, and the performance of the rounds. The 460S&W magnum is a totally new thing to me. It's big, it's loud, it has a muzzle flash like a mosin nagant --- during the day ---, it's accurate, it shoots all kinds of ammo, in a simply rugged pancake holster, I can wear it for days without discomfort... What a gun!
After getting acquainted to the revolver, my friends and I threw out a 4" square bouncing target and played a game where the shooter would take his shot, and if he hit, he would take another shot, if he missed, the guy to his left would take his shot, and if he hit, he would take another shot, if he missed, the next guy would go, and so on. We were walking the square out to around 60 yards and I was able to tag it reliably, sometimes even while it was still rolling around =)
We played that with the Henry, too, but I was the first shooter and never missed it. Kinda ruined the game for all of us...
Here's the really awesome part...
The 45 colt loads I've been using don't seem to significantly effect brass life. My oldest pieces of brass have been reloaded 8 times with no clear indication of case head separation or split necks. I trim the brass every time I load it so that I can get a consistent crimp, which probably helps with the neck splitting issue. I may be dealing with some thin brass now, though. I haven't measured it yet. Starline brass is good stuff.
I haven't reloaded any of my 460 brass yet (bought new, unfired brass), but I suspect with a 'mild' load like I'm using, it'll probably take a minute to wear them out, too.
In addition to long brass life, the Missouri Bullet Company bullets are about $54 shipped w/ taxes for a box of 500. That's about 10 cents a bullet.
The primers I got for about $32 for a 1000. That's around 3 cents a primer.
The IMR 4227 I got was about $190 shipped with taxes, fees, etc for 8 pounds. I use 21 grains in my 45 colt loads, which is something like 7 cents of powder per cartridge.
Excluding the price of brass, I load each one for about 20 cents a pop.
A 50 round box of my ultra-premium 45 colt ammunition costs me in the neighborhood of $10 per box
. A clearly inferior product costs nearly twice that much!
Another cool thing about the straight-walled cartridges.. I don't need case lube and sizing them requires very little effort.
All this fun I'm having is in large part due to the people who post here, and I am extremely grateful. Thank you all so much!
Now, who wants to recommend a good progressive press? Loading 500 rounds on a single stage press takes a while, and while you're at it, who's got a good method for preparing a lot of cases (trimming, chamfering, deburring)
