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Hi all,
Ive been loading for my .454 casull for a while now with good results.
All my shooting it is with 255gn SWCGC, 325gn Flat Nose GC Lyman bullets and 300gn Flat Nose GC Lee bullets. Metallic Silhouette is my primary game.
Ive been thinking of backing off a bit and trying out some heavy 45 colt loads in my .454 brass with these projectiles.
Does anyone out there have any good heavy 45 Colt loads they've had succes with?
Cheers!
Welcome to the Guide BFR454.
Not knowing what powders you have available, I'd suggest backing off your regular .454 loads down into the .45 Colt range and see if they maintain adequate accuracy. You can't expect anyone else's pet loads to work in your revolver as they do in the developer's. You might get lucky, but it's always a roll of the dice. If you list your available powders, I'm sure you will get some good places to start looking. Most of N. America is either into or heading into deer season, so a lot of folks are digging out their revolvers to hit the woods with. I think you'll get some good feedback.
Well I have done some experimenting with standard 45 Colt loads and they are satisfactory, but there is much room to improve.
I'm well aware that, what works well in one gun, might not (and probably won't) work well in another. But I'm just curious to see what the masses have done in terms of thier own work. Just to give me a rough idea of what I should set as an average goal to work towards
Most of my avalible powders are Australian made ADI powders, which manufacture many powders for the US market under the Hogdon Label. (Have a look on your Hogdon tins, they may say "made in Australia"!). For example, our ADI AP70N is your Unique and our AR2205 is your H4227.
Other available powders are the IMR, Alliant and to a lesser extent, Winchester, Accurate Arms and Vihtavuori. These powders are usually pretty sparatic (and expensive) in supply because the manufactures make a specifed amouth for the US maket and Australia gets the surplus amount you don't use. We get the leftovers!
Thanks for the comment!
in most load boks there is a section for ruger/contender loads, thats where i get my heaviest 45 colt loads from.
some powders make the jump up and down rather nicely and others [h-110/w-296]you don't want to reduce by putting them in the 454 case.
hodgdons longshot is a powder that has some potential in the 45 colt/casull as does sr-4756.aa#9
and aa-1680.
i use alliants 2400 in my heavier loads but i use cast boolits mostly.
it's a flexible powder and would be a good carry over powder to the bigger case.
something along the lines of 18 grs and a 250 gr bullet to start with [in colt cases]and go up into casull territory [in those cases] or stopping at about 22 grs for a high pressure round in colt cases.
i usually shy away from using the same type bullet in the high end stuff just in case one finds it's way into one of my colt revolvers.
now with the heavier bullets you can sometimes seat them out of the case a bit further with the shorter brass creating more room in the case as long as you have tight neck tension and sometimes an atlernate crimp groove. or create your own with a cannelure tool then use a between load from the two cases.
this takes measuring and careful study of your cases, and revolver chambers.
remember the casull is a high pressure round and the colt is a lower pressure round thats why they use small rifle primers in many of the casull cases.
the 45 colt case will take 40k pressure but that's about all [more than once] and is truly built around 14k, and the casull is designed for [iirc] 50 something.
for the high end colt stuff we have been cutting back casull cases [and sometimes needing to neck turn the brass].
think carefully in this area, it's high pressure. certainly your revolver will handle the loads but some work will be needed to get the results you want.