454 Casull

[Buford]

Anyone reloading this cartridge.
I loaded up some 300gr .552 dia XTP bullet over 31.5 gr of Winchester 296. The recoil is brutal I was actually concerned about losing my grip on the Ruger Super Redhawk.

[Zee]

I load for three of them.
7.5” SRH
5.5” SRH
6.5” SBH

I run 250gr XTP
300gr WFN-GC
350gr RFN-GC

[Buford]

What powder and charge do you use? How is the recoil, my .500 S&W is more pleasant to shoot than the Casull It has a sharp twist to it.

[Jay]

.552 bullets would probably make for some pretty nasty recoil..

I’ll have to look up data. I load 240 and 300 grain bullets in 454 and use W296. Just don’t have my data in front of me. But, a 300 grain bullet at that level isn’t exactly going to be a pleasant shooting pinker… that’s what 45 Colt is for…

[Bigslug]

My old man bought a Freedom Arms 7.5" back around 1989, and yeah, the full-snort stuff will turn your socks into cotton puddles around your ankles in short order. He can't shoot that level of load any more and I have no desire to.

The good news is you can easily start at .45 Colt black powder pressure levels and work up until you don't want any more. You can have a lot of fun and function in the area between where the Colt data ends and the Casull data starts. Enough Unique to get 250-275 grain bullets up to 1000-1100fps (As I recall, about 9-10 grains) is a pretty sweet place to be.

[Zee]

What powder and charge do you use? How is the recoil, my .500 S&W is more pleasant to shoot than the Casull It has a sharp twist to it.

I run max or over max loads of H110 through mine and yes, they are not fun to shoot. But, that’s what I got them for.
For play, I use .45 Colt handloads.

[Zee]

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[Jay]

Had a post typed out right after Bigslugs… I must be doing something wrong. Hit Submit, brings my post up in a preview, hit submit again, go back to the forum and it’s gone.. I’m not using preview mode. Oh well. Not gonna retype again.. Jist of it is, shoot 45 Colt or shoot 454 Casull. No sense downloading 454 back to what **** Casull was trying to improve on. It’s like loading 357 down to 38…

[bullsi1911]

I load for the 454 that I run through both a TC Encore Pistol and a 9” barrel Ruger Super Redhawk.

I don’t load to max, I started at the book minimum and bumped it up till I got the accuracy I wanted. Recoil is stout, but not brutal. I’ll dig out the recipe later and post it.

[Buford]

Thanks for the information. Never thought I would be recoil shy but those rounds did it. I'll stick to something sane like the .500.

[Bigslug]

Thanks for the information. Never thought I would be recoil shy but those rounds did it. I'll stick to something sane like the .500.

Buford, the big question is are you loading to shoot for known-distance, flat trajectory for UNKNOWN distance, or for meat?

With the harder alloys you'll want for cast bullets in these 45 Colt +P /+P+ loads, you won't be seeing much for expansion, and I don't think you'll find a broadside shot in North America that will stop a medium/large meplat 275 grainer fired at over 1100 fps. For sake of reference:

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That's 230 grains of 830 fps 1911 fodder after passing through eight gallon milk jugs and stopping in the ninth. You do NOT need to rattle windows three blocks away with your launch for sufficient game penetration.

If you're trying to knock over steel plates at specific distances in the silhouette game, you need a certain level mass and momentum, but not necessarily all the velocity you can eke out, since there it becomes a matter of knowing the holdover at each distance.

Flattening the trajectory for unknown hunting distances can be accomplished by going lighter and faster with the bullet.

It's always worth remembering that the secondary function of both the .45 Colt and .45 ACP was to put down a HORSE. It doesn't take a lot to convince me of the need for A LITTLE more than those rounds have to offer, but the loads that risk separating local geologic fault lines - ummmm. . .not so much.

[N454casull]

I’m at 30ish of H110 over 300gr bullets. Recoil is sharp and aggressive. Definitely the most unpleasant pistol I have to shoot. But nothing has walked away after being hit by it either which is why I got it.

[Zee]

Most brutal of my pistols is my .445 Super Mag. Worse than my .454s and my .500 as well. That sucker down right hurts.