.475 Linebaugh

[F4U]

Gentlemen;

I'm new here, and to cast boolets, but am an experienced reloader.

I recently inhereted a Freedom Arms .475 Linebaugh, 6" barreled revolver. Along with it came several hundred brass and bullets, many of them cast. The cast's are Cast Performance Bullet Company's 425 gr LFNGC items. The boxes say LBT style heat treated solids.

Since looking over the published information by Hornady & Speer on jacketed bullets & noting the strong suggestion not to try to load light, I'm looking for load information for these 425's.

As background, I shot the gun last weekend with Hornady 325 gr .480 ammo, that according to the box, had a muzzle velocity of 1350 fps. I found the recoil of these to be strong, but not painful or intimidating. I'm sure the recoil energy figures aren't clones, but the nearest thing I can compare it to is a full-house 125 gr 1450 fps load in a SP101 2.25" barrel .357 magnum.

Would anybody please care to share some information? Thanks F4U

[lar45]

I would not try to load light with win 296, but 2400 should be fine.
You could start around 16gns 2400 for about 1000 fps
18 gns for 1125fps
20 gns 1240fps
22gns is a full case and should be around 1350ish and is probably pushing max pressure.

Lee makes a 325gn bullet mold for under $20.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=633775

I have a 6.5" BFR in 475.

[Lloyd Smale]

14 grains of hs6 or 10 grains of unique

[44man]

Yes, 14 to 15 gr's of HS-6 or 26 gr's of 296 for around 1340 fps. I would not go below 25 gr's with 296. I have a bunch of load info but have searched the basement and it seems to have vanished.
But be sure to use the large pistol magnum primer. Since the case's parent brass is the 45-70 with LR pockets, don't use them, too hot with these loads and too hot for most loads.
A lot of revolvers do not have the mainspring power either and you might get a failure to fire or a hangfire with a rifle primer too. At any rate, poor ignition will ruin accuracy.
The next thing you should do is to make up a dummy load with those boolits to see if they will chamber in the short cylinder.
We have found that the Freedom loves a 325 to 350 gr boolit best.

[lar45]

Was the new 475 Brass from Starline made for a pistol or rifle primer?
The first 475 L was made by cutting down 45-70 brass. When they made it a legitimate caliber, they gave it a smaller rim so it could be used in the FA gun. So did they stay with the rifle primer pocket or go to a pistol pocket?
Maybe I'll e-mail Starline or Buffalo Bore?

I've almost thought about reaming my BFR's cylinder to take the 45-70 case head. I have a big pile of new 45-70 win brass that I bought when Baikal was supposed to be makeing a 45-70 SxS double.

[44man]

Lar, I would not ream the gun, I would turn the case heads. Brass is cheap.
I don't know about the Starline brass because I bought Hornady. Let us know what they did.

[dagamore]

I agree with 44man sort of, personally I would get a second cylinder(sp?) for it and have one say with a black band on it that was reamed to take the 45-70 case heads.

That’s sort of what I did with my S&W 1917, I had a second cylinder(sp?) made up for it, now I have 3, the original setup for 45 auto rim, one custom that came with the gun for 45 auto colt pistol (does not work with full moon clips, but works great with half moon (sub *** would cause that?)) and the final one setup to chamber 45 Colt where I cut the cases down to 45acp length.

All I have to do is decide what ammo can to take with me, and make sure the right cylinder(sp?) is in the revolver.

[lar45]

Just read an article in Hanloader. They said that all the new 475 Linebaugh cases are made for Large Pistol primers and say that rifle primers will push the pressures much higher.
They show a light load of 420gn Cast Performance with 15 gns HS-6 for 1140 fps.

If you are going to try light loads with Jacketed bullets, be sure and use a fast powder so you don't get a hickup in combustion and stick a bullet in the barrel.
It would be best to just use cast bullets.

I'll just leave my BFR as is, as new brass isn't expensive.

[44man]

That 15 gr load is super accurate and pleasant to shoot.

[F4U]

Thanks for the information guys. Looks like I'm gonna buy a pound of HS6 & get to work.

F4U

[Pepe Ray]

FYI;
When Starlin came on line w/.475Linebaugh it was NOT to alter the case heads but to reduce the RIM diameters to fit the Fa cylinders.
Pepe Ray

[dubber123]

Pepe Rays right, the small rim .475 brass is pretty "snuggly" with each other in the cylinder of a Freedom. No modification would be possible to give enough room for 45-70 rims. The cylinders must be bigger on the custom Rugers. F4U, When you feel like it, you will have no trouble getting full power out of that F/A. My 4-3/4" went just under 1,350fps. with a Cast Performance 425 gr. with 25.5 grs. of H-110 in Hornady brass. Shoots VERY well too. I'd like to get a 6" someday, so in case you don't like it......

[Lloyd Smale]

making 475 brass is a pain and using various 4570s to make it out of your going to have to do alot of testing as theres big diffences in brass thickness on 4570s. My first 475 brass was made from 4570 and it ran into pressure problems way before the bba or hornady stuff does. It also didnt tend to last as long. For the price its silly to make it anymore. I just wish theyd price the 500 brass as cheaply as the 475!