Puma 454 and 435gr

[Snyd]

I got my hands on an RCBS 45-405-fn .458 mould to do some experimenting with my custom 4" 454 Redhawk. I cast some up with WW they dropped at .458, sized/lubed and seated the gc in a .454 dye in the Lyman 4500 then ran em through the Lee .452 die in my press. Checked and lubed they are about 433gr. Well I made a couple dummy rounds and they feed and cycle like butter in the Puma. I'll work up some loads and see if the Puma can stabilize them for any kind of accuracy. My 4" Redhawk has a 1/16 twist and this 20" Puma is 1/30. Might be too slow of a twist for these big heavies.

Anyone here been down this road with a 400+ gr boolit the Puma 454?

[PacMan]

No, but really would like to here back on your results.
I am shooting a 325 gr LBT LFN GC in my rossi and i was amazed at the accuarcy.

[saz]

I have loaded up some 400gr plain base boolits before but did not have very good luck. I was getting more of a patterning than a group. I think the problem was due to the plain base. I had to drive it quite fast to begin to stabilize, but the plain base was not holding up. I would get no leading until about 1200fps, but when I started driving her a little harder and a "group" would start to appear, I push a little faster and the bore would lead like crazy and would go back to a "pattern" again. There are a few more things to try before I write the whole project off though.

Mine is a 16" barrel, and I am not sure if the twist is different than your 20", and you may have some better luck with the GC boolit than I did. Definately keep us posted Snyd!

[Snyd]

Thanks guys. Ya, I'll post when I get some down range. It's been 40 below all week starting last Sunday. It's supposed to warm up this weekend to above zero. I may try and get out with the chrony and some rounds. I'm sure itchin to see what I can come up with in the Puma and my 4" 454 Redhawk. Worst case scenario is I'll have an RCBS 45-405 fn for sale :D

saz, from all I've read, all the Pumas, 357, 44, 45 Colt, 454, 480 all have 1:30 twist. 16-24 inch barrels.

[RobS]

Snyd:
I ran the heavies in my Ruger Super Redhawk 454 7 ½” as well as my LSI Puma 454 20” stainless and had decent accuracy at higher velocities. The problem I had with the heavier boolits and in particular the design I was running was running out of case volume for the slower powders. This is probably a good thing though as the pressures would have only continued to rise past what would be safe.

My Ruger has a 1:24 inch twist and the Puma, which I just came up from downstairs to verify with a cleaning rod and tight patched jag, is a 1:20". The combination of higher velocities and a quicker twist made the rifle shoot the heavies better. I was running 1275 fps from the revolver with a 400 grainer and was starting to find accuracy and the rifle was doing well running at 1400 to 1450 fps with the same load if my memory is correct.

Now-a-days I've settled on two boolits which I designed for the revolver/rifle combo; a 300 grainer for my general shooting and a 340 grainer for the heavier side of things. If I was only shooting a rifle……………..I would look at the 340 or a bit heavier for serious work.

[PacMan]

Yea the case capacity of the 454 gets limited real quick when you load the heavier bullets for the Rossi.I weighed the LFN that i am casting and with they come in at 336gr. With that bullet i can et 31 grs of Lil Gun under the bullet. Not that i am using that much. Right now i am using 23 grs of the same and it is very accurate.Not sure of the vel, my chronograph is broken, but i am guessing around 1600fps.

I have been going to seat the bullet out some and start filling the nose untill it will feed and see how much longer the base could be and keep the same powder capacity.This would increase meplat some and add some weight also.Just guessing maybe 20 grains.

At some point i intend to work up some full power stuff but at this time i am happy with the accuarcy i am getting.
Dwight

[JZdryfly]

I've been using a 275 grain bullet that a local caster makes. With 20 grains of 2400 groups are 1.5" at 100 yards. You could probably load them faster, but the performance I'm getting easily knocks steel silhouettes over at 150 yards