Sizing 458 down to 452 for 460 S&W

[azrednek]

Following a 4 month lay-away I finally brought home a 460 S&W revolver. I haven't shot any of my hand loaded ammo in it yet. I'm really looking forward to finding the best as far as a heavy hard cast gas checked load I can put together yet maintain a non-painful, manageable level of recoil. For casual paper punching and plinking I'll be putting 45 Colt loads through it.

So far I've only shot store-bought jacketed factory ammo, Hornady 460 200gr and 454 Casull with a 345gr jacketed HP. I'd like to start the home-made boolits with my 452 Lee 300gr then move upward with heavier boolits. Being a cheapskate before I shell out the bux for a few 452 molds. I'm wondering what I might expect sizing down 458 castings. Between what I and a shooting bud have we have several 458 molds that will drop castings weighing 300 up to 505.

I don't recall for certain where I read it. I believe it was from Richard Lee's notes on bullet casting in one of his loading manuals. The claim or hard fact, maximum accuracy is achieved with the least amount of sizing necessary. The more a casting is sized, the more the shot to shot accuracy suffers. I don't know if it is a hard core fact derived from actual trial and error experiments or simply one man's opinion.

If anybody has any experience sizing down 458 castings down to 452. I'd appreciate you sharing your experience. I would really like to hear from anybody's experience with home cast or even store bought lead in a 460 S&W or 454 Casull.

[cbrick]

Are you sure you want to size down to .452"? What do the throats measure? What does the bore slug. If .454" will chamber you will only be sizing .004", should help and may shoot better also.

Use lube on the bullets before sizing, not lube in the grooves but something like case lube on the driving bands then size down in at least two steps. If sized too much at a time and/or without lube you could loose the lube groove by squeezing it down.

I may have some 45 cal bullets cast up, I'll look in the morning. If I have any and your interested I'll send ya some to try out.

Rick

[runfiverun]

yep. fill the lube grooves first.
and only size enough to chamber.

[prs]

IF you do try to size that much, oven treat the boolits first to make them soft as possible; then size and then oven treat and quench to get the hardness you desire. If you have Lyman Lube sizer, you may want to have extra "links" on hand because you make break them.

prs

[beagle]

It's not a problem. I've done thousands for a friend that has a .454 Casull. I'm using a 45-325-FN-U RCBS that has been HP'd.

I first size and lube at .457" as I have a sizer die of that diameter. Then, one pass through a .452" sizing die in a nose first rig produces nice, accurate bullets.

A few of them go to my .45 Colt Ruger BH as well and it likes them over an appropriate charge of Lil Gun but is too much load for my taste for normal shooting but I keep a few around....just in case./beagle

[rockrat]

I do that for my 460 rifle. Size/lube to .458", then run thru a Lee .454" die. Works very well.

Have sized Rem. 300gr j-words down to .452" to just see if they work. Also works well

[gwpercle]

Don't try to go from .458 to .452 in one pass with a lyman 450 or 4500. This will be a little too much for the linkage. Size down in .002 increments. The Lee nose first sizer will be a good way. In theory radical sizing is supposed to be detrimental to accuracy but you'll never know till you try it.

[beagle]

I agree. That's too much at one pass for a sizer. Use an intermediate size die first. I'm using a push through sizer with atapered mouth in a Rockchucker so it will take that swaging operation without even a grunt. The linkages in sizers are not designed for that much stress and something's going to give and you'll probably end up talking with Lyman's Customer Service./beagle


Don't try to go from .458 to .452 in one pass with a lyman 450 or 4500. This will be a little too much for the linkage. Size down in .002 increments. The Lee nose first sizer will be a good way. In theory radical sizing is supposed to be detrimental to accuracy but you'll never know till you try it.

[azrednek]

Thanks gentleman for the advice.

Been busy past couple days but tonight I'll run some lead balls through the barrel and cylinder. I'm hoping it is .452 same as my Ruger 45 Colt convertible. The Ruger out of the box was all over the place and board member JimInPhx reamed the cylinders out to a perfect .452. I will do 454 if necessary for the S&W 460 but I'd prefer to keep all my 45 cal castings the same size to avoid keeping things separate although I don't see myself shooting many 340grs+ in 45 Colt.

I had but recently traded away a Brazilian 1917. Its rough and worn bore preferred 454 lead or 230gr jacketed hardball. 452's were all over the target. So it might be back to keeping a seperate container of 454 sized castings.

[Whiterabbit]

I cast some 457's and sized to .453 in one shot. Loaded and shot. Someone else cast what he told me was a 460 (I never measured) but ran it through the sizer at .453 in one shot. Sized fine, loaded and shot.

you'll be OK, just try it.

I dont know if your results will be any good if you shoot the X-frame 460.