Anybody downloading the .460 Rem.?

[Blackwater]

My son has one of these monsters. I won't shoot it because of the muzzle blast, and in my old age, I find holding that heavy a pistol less than pleasant. Not too long ago, he found two rattlesnakes mating, and had his .460 along. Shot the first one's head off nicely, but blew the next 4 rounds and had to send his son back to the house to get more ammo. He says the recoil (200 gr. Barnes loads) doesn't bother him, and he won't wear ear plugs or muffs, so I'm thinking I need to work up a nice, easy going load for him to take snakes and the like without so much fuss and bother. The only reduced loads I can find are with Trail Boss and the lightest bullet is 255 gr. I want to use 200 gr. bullets to conserve lead and because there's really no use in anything heavier for the envisioned use. Can anyone help with some data/experience???

[MT Chambers]

Is this the .460 S&W?

[Jupiter7]

If it's a .460 S&w, then 45colt brass is the answer to light loads. Plenty easy to get easy shooting loads with 200gr bullets in the 45colt.

[Silverboolit]

If he keeps that up, his hearing will be gone before the gun wears out.

[Doc Highwall]

There is a 460 Smith and Wesson hand gun, and a 416 Remington rifle. Which one are you asking about?

[M-Tecs]

I will not shoot my 460 S&W with out double hearing protection. For light loads I use cast 45 Colt loads. A 460 S&W with fullhouse loads and no hearing protection will do permanent hearing damage.

[Blackwater]

I don't believe I mentioned anything about a .416? Yeah, I know about the LC and .454 brass thing, but don't really want to use that because he's really busy and tends to forget to clean the gun, and don't want any lead buildup at all in the taper of the cylinder throat due to th' already high pressures of the jacketed stuff, which is all he can find in factory loads. Just seems to be prudent under the extant circumstances. Can't find any Trail Boss, even at the Savannah gun show this past weekend. I think I'll just go with some Red Dot to start with and see what happens. I'll have to do some guessing, but the chrono should tell me what I'll need to know. I'm looking at something akin to loading for cast in the big rifle ctgs., more or less. Thanks anyway.

[dondiego]

Nope, you didn't mention a .416 but you did mention a .460 Remington...........................?????

[M-Tecs]

http://smith-wessonforum.com/reloading/178896-reduced-loads-460-s-w.html

was looking at my notes for past 460 mag light info. Here is the chrono data from a 200gr LRN bullet (bhn 12) and 14.6 gr Trailboss with LR primer. Shot out of 460 XVR, 8-3/8"

1. 1133fps
2. 1245
3. 1196
4. 1265
5. 1244

It looks like 6" groups at 50 yards is all I could get out of that load. I never loaded or shot anymore of these.

For comparison, the same 200gr LRN bullet over 6.5gr Trailboss shot out of my M625-9 (45 Colt 4" barrel) goes about 700 fps.


http://www.reloadammo.com/460sw.htm

255 Grain Lead SWC PB .452 dia. (Mild load-plain base lead bullets)(or use RNFP bullet)
Trail Boss 11.0 gr. 977 FPS (Spread=52 - Hi=999 Lo=947)
Trail Boss 11.0 gr. 987 FPS (Spread=99 - Hi=1031 Lo=932)
Trail Boss 12.0 gr. 962 FPS (Spread=225 - Hi=1064 Lo=839)(yes lower velocities and wider spread than one grain less. This is not such a good load for this combo)
Unique 11.5 gr. 1,056 fps (Spread=193 - Hi=1,134 Lo=941)
Unique 11.6 gr. 1,073 fps (Spread=65 - Hi=1,112 Lo=1047)
(these are personal loads with cowboy bullets for easy target shooting)

The Lyman #4 Cast Bullet or the #49 manual may have something. I will check tonight.

[M-Tecs]

Checked the Lyman #4 Cast Bullet and the Lyman #49 manual. Nothing under 255 grains.

Some interesting info here

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?33311-Red-Dot-rule-of-thumb

[DrCaveman]

I shoot a smith & wesson 460V, chambered for the cartridge called "460 s&w". Confirmation of the cartridge you are talking about would be helpful.

My 460V (which i usually just refer to as my 460, and often confuse people since there is also the 460 weatherby, and 460 rowland, maybe more) has a 5" barrel and a ported compensator

That means that this lion roars!

A longer barrel, or a non-compensated barrel (like on a BFR) will help a bit when trying to reduce the blast and noise.

PLEASE please try your best to have your grandson wear hearing protection around that beast, he is likely even more susceptible to hearing damage if he is young and standing next to the shooter with a compensated barrel. He can make the choice later in life to shoot without plugs, but theres nothing cool about making the kid deaf just 'cause dad doesnt like plugs

Hell, i hate wearing protection, it makes me feel deaf. That being said, i dont shoot my 460 without DOUBLE hearing protection anymore. It affects my shooting way too much

Onto loads you are looking for...

Trail boss is IT, but thats out

Unique and sr4756 both gave me pretty good loads that were very moderate in speed, recoil, and loudness. I tried a 255 rnfp in front of unique, it was quite mellow and not too dirty. But it was frankly no more powerful than a ruger-only 45 colt load, even with more powder, due to the gigantic case

My very favorite load (which could, sort of be shot without plugs/muffs) was sr4756 behind a 405 grain boolit. Very easy shooting, gave me about 950 fps, and would probably take out 3 snakes if you had the right angle :). Maybe make that 10 on a good day

I didnt try many accuracy tests beyond about 15 yds with that load, because i dont think the boolit really stabilized

I have been itching to try red dot in that case, looking for reduced muzzle blast and recoil, but ultimately just decided to get a smaller packable 45 colt SAA clone for that kind of stuff. Now im shooting about 300 grains, gas checked, hard boolits, over 1500 fps and accuracy is looking good out to 75 yds or so.

But it's back to being stupid loud. Double hearing protection

Good luck, id like to hear about any good results from red dot testing. Of all the super fast powders, it seems like the winner for this application. But still a bit risky