454 casull advice.

[Lloyd Smale]

Harter one more thing to play with in your rifle is 459 bullets. Back in the day before the big heavy bullet 45 colt thing kicked off and molds became common place many of us sized down or 4570 bullets to get heavys. Sometimes it took having two dies one a 452 and a 455 but what Id do is compromise and use a 454 die and just one swipe through the start. IF I had a gun they wouldn't chamber in (tight throated FA 454s mostly) Id then size to 452. But most rugers ran the 454s just fine. Ive shot many a one to two inch 50 yard groups with those sized down bullets. For you it would give you access to heavies without going the custom mold thing.

Now I'm wondering about my 460 rifle ........

[No_1]

I will echo what other have said. Civility is key to progress. This time of year (dead of winter) as well as July / August (dead if summer) are the worse times on this board due to what I will assume is cabin fever.

Let's get back to the discussion. I have an 10" open sighted Encore barrel, 150 pieces brass, various powders, various primers, and some 300 Gr. Keith's waiting in the wings....

[44man]

Life is funny. There are not two ways to do anything. Only one! to change a tire or brakes is done one way. To wire or solder water pipes is one way only.
Shooting is different, we have hundreds of powders, alloys, primers and guns of every stripe. How in the world do we make it work? It comes to experience over many years.
Cast is junk, why shoot it? I killed a deer---WOW, now I am an expert.
But everyone has different results with different. I don't shoot deer with a pinch of unique either but does it work? I suppose it does. I don't buy a .500 for Unique but might make a mistake with it too. Learn and tell it. Fail and tell why.

[Lloyd Smale]

load em up and let us know how they shoot. To be honest ive only owned one encore. It was a 410/45 that I bought for dad. He used it mostly with 410s for years till he got to old to ride his 4 wheeler then he gave it back. First load I shot in it was the last load I tried in it. My old go to 45 colt load of 9.5 grains of herco and a 255 rcbs swc. Gun shot into an inch at 25 yards. Always heard accuracy was poor with that long bullet jump but like a lot of times you cant always believe what you read. Id bet that 454 encore is a tack driver.

I will echo what other have said. Civility is key to progress. This time of year (dead of winter) as well as July / August (dead if summer) are the worse times on this board due to what I will assume is cabin fever.

Let's get back to the discussion. I have an 10" open sighted Encore barrel, 150 pieces brass, various powders, various primers, and some 300 Gr. Keith's waiting in the wings....

[Boolseye]

My dad has a Bullberry Encore barrel getting chambered in 454 too. He loves those barrels.
The Encore is a good platform.

[Whiterabbit]

Harter one more thing to play with in your rifle is 459 bullets. Back in the day before the big heavy bullet 45 colt thing kicked off and molds became common place many of us sized down or 4570 bullets to get heavys. Sometimes it took having two dies one a 452 and a 455 but what Id do is compromise and use a 454 die and just one swipe through the start. IF I had a gun they wouldn't chamber in (tight throated FA 454s mostly) Id then size to 452. But most rugers ran the 454s just fine. Ive shot many a one to two inch 50 yard groups with those sized down bullets. For you it would give you access to heavies without going the custom mold thing.

That's all I shoot.

If you water drop hard ball and cast to .460", you lose "a couple" bullets that get too smashed up to go in one pass from .460 to .452.

Everything else, I just size in one go to .452 and call it good. I do have the .454 die and used to 2-pass it, but learned it's not needed at all unless the 460 is over diameter or REALLY hard. .458, forget it. Just put it in the 452 and go.

I suppose I should mention that for those *occasional* stubborn bullets I Do have a 3 foot solid steel press handle I install for when I'm sizing water dropped bullets (rare for me to water drop these days, I just don't need it @ 1400 fps when mixing type and COWW)

You can imagine how silly a press like rcbs RS or Lee classic cast looks with a 3 foot handle sticking out. I used to use a piece of electrical conduit as a breaker bar. Worked fine too. MOST of the time such a long handle is not needed.

I haven't used it in years since I air cool all my bullets these days.

[Harter66]

I have a custom Mountain Moulds 454-350 plain base . The 75/25 WW-1-20 base failed with H322 just north of 1660 fps . Thanks for the input maybe my own thread ,huh.

[No_1]

I purchased the barrel & some brass from a member and have put it on a frame I got from Ken (45Nut) 6 or 7 years ago. I'm going to read through this entire thing again then again before determining which path I will follow first. On a side note I have maybe 3 boxes of Hornady .45/300?() XTP's (.452) that have been sitting on the shelf for years.....

Take care,
Robert

load em up and let us know how they shoot. To be honest ive only owned one encore. It was a 410/45 that I bought for dad. He used it mostly with 410s for years till he got to old to ride his 4 wheeler then he gave it back. First load I shot in it was the last load I tried in it. My old go to 45 colt load of 9.5 grains of herco and a 255 rcbs swc. Gun shot into an inch at 25 yards. Always heard accuracy was poor with that long bullet jump but like a lot of times you cant always believe what you read. Id bet that 454 encore is a tack driver.

[Lloyd Smale]

what I used to do to a lot of them (it takes a bit of time) is to cast them out of ww, size to 455 then 452 with a lee die in my rockchuker then stick them in the over and heat and water drop them. Then take them and install checks if needed and size and lube in the star. I allways got better accuracy then if I tried using excessive force to take short cuts.

That's all I shoot.

If you water drop hard ball and cast to .460", you lose "a couple" bullets that get too smashed up to go in one pass from .460 to .452.

Everything else, I just size in one go to .452 and call it good. I do have the .454 die and used to 2-pass it, but learned it's not needed at all unless the 460 is over diameter or REALLY hard. .458, forget it. Just put it in the 452 and go.

I suppose I should mention that for those *occasional* stubborn bullets I Do have a 3 foot solid steel press handle I install for when I'm sizing water dropped bullets (rare for me to water drop these days, I just don't need it @ 1400 fps when mixing type and COWW)

You can imagine how silly a press like rcbs RS or Lee classic cast looks with a 3 foot handle sticking out. I used to use a piece of electrical conduit as a breaker bar. Worked fine too. MOST of the time such a long handle is not needed.

I haven't used it in years since I air cool all my bullets these days.

[No_1]

I tested 2 loads at the range today. Both used H110, Winchester SR primers, the RCBS 45-300gc sized .452 & lubed with 50/50 (decked out weighed 321 grs). Both powder charges were somewhat case filling and I am confident the boolits were sitting on the powder.

Average Vel for 27 grs was 1578 with 10 SD.
Average Vel for 27.5 grs was 1608 with 8 SD.

Accuracy was ~2 at 50 yards which I am sure can be bettered with a better rest and no chrony to worry about shooting.

I cleaned the barrel extensively before I started and after 10 rounds the barrel was still absent of any visible leading which was surprising considering the lube. More testing is in order. If things go well I may get another barrel in the 18" - 20" range as I believe this would make a wonderful carbine caliber.

Recoil was unbelievable.....

load em up and let us know how they shoot. To be honest ive only owned one encore. It was a 410/45 that I bought for dad. He used it mostly with 410s for years till he got to old to ride his 4 wheeler then he gave it back. First load I shot in it was the last load I tried in it. My old go to 45 colt load of 9.5 grains of herco and a 255 rcbs swc. Gun shot into an inch at 25 yards. Always heard accuracy was poor with that long bullet jump but like a lot of times you cant always believe what you read. Id bet that 454 encore is a tack driver.

[Lloyd Smale]

Robert that's one stout 45 colt load. Its the same load (even the same bullet)I used in my first 45 colt vaquero and actually turned a fairly tight gun into a baby rattle. I had to have dave clements rebuild it. your flirting with 454 pressures there. I'm sure your encore will take it but as you found out your flirting with 454 recoil levels too in a grip frame that is much more punishing then a single action grip frame.

[No_1]

These loads were in 454 Casull cases and is at the top end of the spectrum. I will not exceed the 27.5 load but instead will drop back to 27.0 and work my way back up. Did I mention recoil is significant?

[Lloyd Smale]

Thing is pal and I know this isn't your first rodeo but you wont accomplish anymore with that load of 27 grains then you would with 24-25 and a lot less recoil and blast. I punched a 300 rcbs swcgc through both shoulders of a 1000lb bison out of one of my 45s at 1100fps muzzle velocity and it took two leaps and piled up. Shot a couple deer and a pig with the same load. Never found it lacking in any way. Id about bet that at 1600 your going to get less penetration then you would at 1200-1300 that you would see with 24 grains. But I guess I'm not one to lecture as I do tend to shoots some pretty hard kickers myself at times.

These loads were in 454 Casull cases and is at the top end of the spectrum. I will not exceed the 27.5 load but instead will drop back to 27.0 and work my way back up. Did I mention recoil is significant?

[44man]

A TC is made to ruin your hands! How I hated mine and I ignore recoil from big stuff. They chamber TC's in calibers that send you to the ER.

[leftiye]

Yeah, just who wanted and bought such cannons? when I got my first contender (back during the last ice age) I can remember .357 loads kicking mucho (more than my model 19).

[CPL Lou]

Since my wife was sweet enough to give me a Redhawk Toklat in 454 Casull for Christmas, and since I've never had a firearm in this caliber, I'm keeping a close eye on this thread.
Thanks to this site, I have learned more about reloading and bullet casting in just a few years than I had acquired in my previous 30+ years of reloading, just by reading.
Although I have to agree that the Casull has a bit of recoil, it's manageable, if you know the right way to do it. I keep a tight grip, but loose wrists and elbows are sufficient to keep things 'agreeable'.
If anyone has a suggestion on using Hornady's 250 XTP at around 1400fps with some accuracy, I would welcome the help.

Thanks in advance !
CPL Lou

[44man]

The TC is funny gun. I shot IHMSA with a 30-30, Creedmore with no problems or off hand with 2 hands but a shot off hand with one hand was a cheese grater on my knuckle. DANG, it hurt. I can't imagine larger calibers.
I have an MOA in 7BR that beat me silly---Yeah, even the little thing. Had a closed loop so I sent for an open and it was worse. I made my own from stainless. I can now shoot anything.
The TC can't be fixed. It will eat you and beat you.

[No_1]

Thing is pal and I know this isn't your first rodeo but you wont accomplish anymore with that load of 27 grains then you would with 24-25 and a lot less recoil and blast. I punched a 300 rcbs swcgc through both shoulders of a 1000lb bison out of one of my 45s at 1100fps muzzle velocity and it took two leaps and piled up. Shot a couple deer and a pig with the same load. Never found it lacking in any way. Id about bet that at 1600 your going to get less penetration then you would at 1200-1300 that you would see with 24 grains. But I guess I'm not one to lecture as I do tend to shoots some pretty hard kickers myself at times.

I really had no desire to purchase a pistol in this caliber but caved when I saw this barrel with brass for what I considered a reasonable price in the S&S section . I really like 45 Colt so figured this is the next progression. I will explore the top end then load for it at a level which is comfortable.

[jlnel2]

I was thinking of getting a 454 barrel for my encore, love the big cals!