460 smith and wesson cast load

[30-40 Kraig]

Any suggestions for a 300 gr Gas check cast bullet in a 460 s&w?
Dad casted some bullets in .452 and I cant find much data on them.
The mold was a lyman but I cant find it anywhere on the net.

Thanks,

Kraig

[versifier]

Start with published loads for jacketed bullets of similar weight, most jacketed handgun data is the same as it is for a properly sized (like yours) GC bullet. Start at minimum and work up from there to find your best accuracy, as always, and watch for streaking in the grooves as the first sign of leading. If you see any, scrub out the barrel and back off the charge a tad bit. (With correct lube, proper over-groove size, and the right alloy you can push a GC bullet well above 2000fps without leading a barrel up, way beyond anything even a big boomer revolver like yours is capable of.) The reason you often see different data is the problem of undersized commercial cast bullets with hard lubes in less than optimal alloys for the intended purpose.

You know all that follows, but many who will read this may not, so here goes another quick "Cast in Revolvers" basics:

I'm not even going to suggest that you slug a %$#&ing 5groove barrel, but it is always a good idea to slug the cylinder throats and forcing cone to make sure neither is smaller than .451 or so. Never automatically assume a new (or old) revolver is set up to shoot cast bullets. It can still be well within manufacturing tolerances and be unable to work correctly with cast. If you squeeze a cast bullet to a smaller diameter in the throat and/or forcing cone than is optimum for the barrel, it can't bump itself back up when it reaches the barrel and obturate to the grooves, resulting in gas cutting (yes, even with a gas check) that yields poor accuracy and heavy leading with hotter loads. Many revolvers of all makes need a quick trip to the gunsmith to deal with common manufacturing inadequacies in cylinder or cone. It only takes about 30min to ream things out with the right tools.

As to the barrel setup, if yours has one, I have not had the dubious pleasure of dealing with S&W's new sleeved barrel system as I won't touch a revolver with a KEY LOCK on it (I only own, work on, love, and carry the older S&W's), but I would be all the more wanting to double check that none of the specs are undersized to make sure it won't turn into a lead mine after the first five shots.

And do clean any copper fouling out of the barrel first just in case. Sometimes it matters, sometimes not. I like to eliminate it as a possible problem before I begin testing cast bullets in any barrel, handgun or rifle.

Let us know how it works out and what powders you have the best luck with.

[noylj]

Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th Edition should be on your shelf.
Cast bullet should be no smaller than 0.4525".
300gn Cast Lead:
Enforcer: 32.8gn start (most accurate) to 36.5gn
296/H110:36gn start to 40.0gn
4227: 38.7 start to 43.0gn (compressed)
Lil' Gun: 41.0 start to 45.5gn (compressed)