454 casull loads

[GL49]

I just purchased a 454 casull and am interested in bullet recommendations and hardness for full power loads. I am casting now with WW's, or WW's with 1% tin added. Should I water quench them, heat treat them, or? Do I need to change my alloy or are HTWW's suitable? My only two molds at this time are a Lee 255 gr RF and a Lee 300 gr RF. Any insights/suggestions would be appreciated.

[softpoint]

:-DI use the 300 Lee water dropped wheelweights, with a moderate load of AA#9 in my Freedom arms.

[bigdog454]

+1 for the 300 lee, but I use W296 for full power loads.

[bigboredad]

I use the lee 255 ww water quenched on top of 27.5 gr of 296 and get no leading ouy fo a super redhawk

[GL49]

Bigdog, bigbore, any reason you chose w296 over AA#9, or H110, or 4227, or ? Maybe it's just what you had on hand. I have lots of #9, am waiting for my order of H110, is 296 better fpr any reason? I"ve never tried it. I think I'll try water quenched ww's after your input and see how it goes. Thanks for the reply. My gun will be here Monday, my dies arrived today, and I will cast bullets tomorrow. Life is good.

[Heavy lead]

H110=ww296

[bigdog454]

Just that the first load I tried with 296 shot well. I'm still playing with #9 (wc820) and haven't found a accurate load yet with it, although I have 2- 8lb jugs of wc820. Now my 454 carbine will shoot The #9 well, but that shoots everything well

[bobthenailer]

i dont have either of you lee bullet moulds , but i do have a lbt 300 gr gc lfn , a mountian mould 260 gr gc lfn and i recently got a MM 275 gr tc plane base . both gc bullets shoot well without gas cks installed to at least 1250 fps, if i were to reccomend 1 mould it would be the lbt 300 gr gc lfn amazingly accurate to 50 yards and beyond i have shot several 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards with this bullet , my favorite load 28 gr 296 for 1450 fps . as for casting i use w/w water dropped from the mould and size & lube as soon as im done casting. as for powder it shoots about everything ! i use tight group for loads under 1100 fps and surplus 820 , h110/296 or lil gun for hotter loads all work well. some how or other i ended up with 3 FA 454 ? bob

[454PB]

The Lee 300 with a gas check can be used full power using WW alloy.

The lighter 255 gr. with no gas check will probably lead if pushed full velocity (1600 to 1800 fps. depending on your gun and barrel length) regardless of alloy.

[GL49]

Hey everybody, thanks for the replies. I will put the information to good use. I just cast 450 water quenched WW alloy 300 gr bullets yesterday and have #9 on the shelf. Now to get some gas checks for the whomp-em stomp-em loads. Bob, 3 F/A 454's? I feel lucky to have just gotten my first! We'll see how this one goes, then maybe step up to the 475 Linebaugh. Or not.

[selmerfan]

When I had a .454 barrel for my Encore my pet loads were 14 gr. of Unique and a 300 gr. GC Keith bullet, 10 gr. Unique and a 255 gr. Keith PB, and 27 gr. H110 behind a 320 gr. WFNGC. The first two were probably all I needed for Iowa whitetails, but I could take out milk jugs at 200 yds with the last load, and it never failed to run in one side and out the other of any deer I shot it at. Have fun!

[Lloyd Smale]

my favorite 454 and heavy 45 colt bullet is hands down the rcbs 300 swcgc. It is a very accurate hard hitting bullet that flys well at long range.

[selmerfan]

And Lloyd was the guy that was making my boolits at the time, I'd take his advice! :)

[bigboredad]

that is what I had on hand. Just picked up some lil gun ansd getting ready to give that a try. I need to wait a few days I burned my hand real bad a couple of days ago when I was melting wheel weights that was a big oopsy daisy