Rossi 454 Casull

[Butler Ford]

I'm sure there are already threads about this but apparently my searchfu is lacking. I do know that there are some here that have or did have this rifle. I hope some may be able to answer my questions.
u
First what is the twist rate? General groove diameter or are they sloppy in the barrel dimensions? Are they standard enough to order a mold or do I need to wait and slug the bore? LBT molds, WFN or LWN? What is the heaviest WFN that cycles when crimped in groove w/454 brass? What little load info I've found seems to favor 296 or 110 with 4227 and 2400 coming in next. I have always used mag pistol primers with 296 and 110, these use small rifle, is it still recommended to use magnum small rifle? Is water dropped wheel weight hard enough. Will use gas checks.
Don't need your super secret, hard fought for all bullets in the same hole load, but a little directional guidance sure would be appreciated!

BF

[Tackleberry41]

If you look thru some of the rossi threads, you will find the barrel dimensions vary alot. If its straight to begin with.

[RobS]

Barrel's can be all over. IIRC mine is .4525 and the Rossi 45 Colt I have is .4515 but has a sloppy chamber. The general consensus using .454 diameter boolits seems to be standard though and I shoot either .453 or .454 and have shot .455 with no issues. A LFN style design (72% meplat or .320") will cycle with a .380 nose length. Once a person gets much past this the boolit will hit the top of the chamber and not cycle. The wider the meplat the shorter the nose length and visa versa. There are some variations between rifles too but this is on the safe side. I know for certain a 75% meplat .385=.390" nose length with a secant nose profile will cycle through my PUMA LSI Rossi but don't know about others. I have several designs over at Accurate molds that I put together for the Rossi rifle/Ruger revolver combo and they are inbetween a LFN and WFN with a meplat of 75%. Another example but a WFN with 80%-82% meplat such as the Lee 452-300RF gas check boolit will cycle at the shorter COL and that's about .320 nose length.

I've run 235's all the way up to 345's (LFN/WFN style designs mostly but also the Keith style 255 and 280) in mine and accuracy has been very good with all of them. The twist on the 454's are 1:20" and the newer Rossi Braztec 45 Colt is 1:30". Consider this it's no surprise that the boolits stabilize and are are able to shoot the wide array of weights well.

I've run powder from Red Dot/promo to Unique, Herco, Universal, Power Pistol, Blue Dot, Steel, 2400, #9, Enforcer/AA4100, 4227, H110 etc and with the right load development I can print boolits touching with open sights at 50 yards. The two I have all seem to be shooters.

If you have questions about a particular boolit I've probably shot it through the Rossi's so feel free to ask.

Hope this helps a bit.

[Butler Ford]

Tremendous help! Thank you. I will wait till rifle arrives and do a chamber mold and slug the barrel before ordering a mold. I'm hoping that Veral Smith's WFN 325 will work. Seems to be a "middle of the road" weight vs velocity and I really like the wide meplat.

BF

[snaketail]

Rossi says that their 92s have 1:30 twist (except for the .30-30) - could be a type-o, but everyone seems to agree on 1:30.

M

[donhuff]

My 454 and 45colt rossis have right at .452 barrels and as for the chamber, yes it is rather large. But that's what saami specs call for http://www.saami.org/PubResources/CC_Drawings/Pistol/45%20Colt.pdf

If you have a Braztec rossi, I'll bet ya that the barrel is pretty danged close to what it's suppose to be and you can shoot .452 bullets, but probablly will have better luck by going a tad larger. I size @ .4535 for my rossi and ruger with good results.

The twist rate for the braztec rossis from 357 through .480 is 1 in 30".

I'v never been a heavy bullet shooter so I can't help ya there. But I recently got a new NOE mold 454424 250g SWC and it is shooting well indeed.
99210

[RobS]

I ran a tight jag on a cleaning rod down my barrel and measured the twist of my barrels again and the Rossi LSI Puma is 1:20" but the Rossi Braztec 45 Colt is indeed at 1:30" twist (somehow missed this when I first received it). I don't know if the 454's have changed or not as of recently but the only way to know is to simply check things out. Apparently Rossi hasn't been consistent on twist rate either.

[donhuff]

I think the change came about when Braztech got the rights to the rossi line. I'm guessing the 1 in 30 for everything makes it simpler for them. I don't think it matters much except for heavy bullets going at a slow speed.

I'd bet money that they use the exact same barrel for the 45 colt and the 454. With the only difference being the chamber.

[Butler Ford]

Doesn't seem to matter how many guns are in the safes, I still get excited over a new one. The rifle should ship sometime this week, I can wait till it gets here to do the chamber cast and barrel slugs. I got this to be a 454 not a 45+P so I'm hoping that the wide meplat heavy weights will work. Thanks for all the help. When the rifle arrives and some measurements have been made, I'll resurrect this thread with more specific questions.

BF

[dogmower]

FWIW, I shoot the lee 300 grain .454 over 2400 (forget the charge weight). need to crimp into the first crimp groove (shorter OAL) for it to cycle in the action, but it's accurate. I love the rossi in .454. I haven't played around with 45 colt loads yet, but expect it should shoot just as well.

[Bullshop Junior]

I'm sure there are already threads about this but apparently my searchfu is lacking. I do know that there are some here that have or did have this rifle. I hope some may be able to answer my questions.
u
First what is the twist rate? General groove diameter or are they sloppy in the barrel dimensions? Are they standard enough to order a mold or do I need to wait and slug the bore? LBT molds, WFN or LWN? What is the heaviest WFN that cycles when crimped in groove w/454 brass? What little load info I've found seems to favor 296 or 110 with 4227 and 2400 coming in next. I have always used mag pistol primers with 296 and 110, these use small rifle, is it still recommended to use magnum small rifle? Is water dropped wheel weight hard enough. Will use gas checks.
Don't need your super secret, hard fought for all bullets in the same hole load, but a little directional guidance sure would be appreciated!

BF

I love mine. Barrel is uniform all the way down with it right at .452" in the groove.

Mine will feed anything I throw in it, favorite is the 300gn lee. Feeds like greased lightning

I use more h110 in it then anything else.

Only thing i dont like, is if I swap to colts it shoot two foot low.

[JHeath]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/archive/index.php/t-184602.html

When looking for an old thread, I search google for "cast boolits" plus .454 Rossi or whatever. Works better for me than the site search engine.

[DeanWinchester]

I hear tale they're rough on a fellars feet though.

[Bullshop Junior]

I hear tale they're rough on a fellars feet though.

This is easily fixed by fixing/replacing the nut on the trigger.