460 + 500 loads

[oldbro]

Anyone have effective CB loads they use in a S+W 460 and or 500?

[Cornbread]

Oregon trail laser cast .452 rnfp 250gr cast, 34.5gr H110. If I remember correctly these are going about 1700fps out of a 6.5" 454 Casull, which you can use in a 460 S&W.

[DrCaveman]

Oldbro

Name your gun & barrel length, that has been pretty well determined to have a large influence on which boolit weight, velocity, and powder choice will give you best accuracy.

Effectiveness? Hell, the trail boss loads with 300 grain slugs will inflict some decent damage. My manliest chronographed load with the smith 460v was a 405 gr boolit going about 1460 fps using a bunch of Lil Gun powder. That load was pretty hot in the small-ish chambers.

I got a nice shootable load using the 405 gr boolit using sr4756 powder, chrono showed 943 average. I think that would qualify as "effective"

Ive since been using 300 gr boolits, and tinkering with alloy hardness. Water dropping has helped a bit and keeping the velocity around 1400-1500 fps. Gas checks seem to be helping too. Alliant 2400 and alliant 410 have been working well to achieve this

Also, the lee 340 gr shot pretty well when water dropped. Just not a big enough meplat for me, and the weight is a bit much for my barrel twist (i think)

[Rick B]

440 grain M&P flat base with 27.5 grains of V110. Produces 1320 fps in a 6.5" 500 S&W. Have shot this load off the bench at 40 yards on many occasions, ragged one hole groups. Recoil is not light but manageable compared to full velocity loads.

[str8wal]

effective CB loads

I expect any hunk of lead coming from the muzzle of either of those will be effective. Got any particular desires?

[Whiterabbit]

300 lee, 425 ranchdog, 500 grain BPS RCBS. Lots of good bullets out there. 370 grains is a sweet spot for easy loading. 370-ish, wide range works. my gun is fast twist, it likes heavies. This is for the 460. 45/70 powders rule the day too, as weight goes up. As weight goes down, the 454 cassul powders seem to do well.

[oldbro]

12 in 460, 8 in 500.

[Whiterabbit]

12 what? 8 what?

[oldbro]

12 inch barrel on the scoped S+W 460 Hunter. 8 inch barrel on open sights S+W 500 mag.

[DrCaveman]

Well, your 460 is probably in better shape than mine to enjoy the slower powders and (slightly) heavier boolits. My 5" barrel (the exact twist rate im not sure, s&w would not respond) doesnt do so hot with the 45-70 speed powders that whiterabbit likes (h4198 and similar). Lots of unburned

In working with the Mountain Molds onlne mold design program, i developed a bunch of molds in the 325-375 gr range which stated that twist rates of 1:20 would be more than sufficient. Ill bet you could find a great load using a 350 ish boolit using h4198 or something a little faster... Maybe 5744 or 1680. I think 5744 gets a bit better load density so thats what i would try...

All that said, i shot a little roundtable last weekend using 2400, aa#9, and alliant 410. For me (with my admitted FLINCH) the 2400 and 410 loads shot better, with a slight preference to the 410 because of reduced muzzle blast. All used 300 grain semiwadcutters, gas checked. I didnt chronograph them, but they all blasted through the 16" log I was using as a backstop (and made some nice splashes in the mud behind! Like 30 feet in the air!)

If you can find any of these powders: h110, lil gun, 2400, 410, sr4759, 5744, 1680, 4227, 4198...you should pick them up because they may be your grail. And youll blow through a pound as though you were loading a rifle. You need a bunch of whatever to really get some load development

Good luck, and good shootin to ya

[oldbro]

Thank you all, very helpful.

[Whiterabbit]

I've done H110 up to 550 grain bullets too in the 460, Caveman. If you don't have luck with 4198, try H110, even for the heavies. Might work out better fo ryou frankly, since you also do not have the luxury of a 3" cylinder, so you have to seat very heavy bullets really really deep, eats too much powder capacity.

[Porterhouse]

Stay away from Lil'gun. There are lots of discussion on this board and my own experience agrees not to use it any more. Also many say 5744 can gives you same ballistic with 4759 but I have never read nor heard about this is true when it comes to .500 S&W. For me, the fastest powder I would use for my guns is H110/W296.

[oldbro]

What happened to Lilgun? I was going to try it in both. Good number of loading for it.

[Cornbread]

What happened to Lilgun? I was going to try it in both. Good number of loading for it.

It has too much nitro and burns too hot, ruining forcing cones in guns from what I have read about it from various gunsmiths that have done revolver testing with it. I read several accounts back in 2009 of people wearing out barrels in their FA 83s in 600 rounds or less, this was verified by both the owner and the smith who replaced the barrels. For this reason even though I have not personally tried to verify it(I'm not rich, I can't afford to wear out barrels) I do not shoot Lil'gun in any of my guns. I am perfectly happy with H110 for full house loads(1,700fps or greater), IMR-4227 for low magnum levels (1,100fps - 1,400fps), and Unique for plinker loads.

So long as I am pushing decent weight for caliber cast boolits with H110 I have not observed any kind of unacceptable forcing cone or other barrel wear with it. People who have problems with H110 and wear seem to usually be pushing light for caliber jacketed bullets very fast.

[oldbro]

I can find IMR 4227, in limited supplies, but no H110 anywhere. Powder is the one component that I have supply issues with. Would like to find one powder to use in the 3 guns I shoot, 460/480/500 cals.

[Whiterabbit]

people that try lilgun seem to like it alot. People who dont, well, dont. I'm in the ignorant camp. By choice. I don't use it simply because I get perfectly acceptable results with 4198 and H110, and also SR4759 and AA#9. And trailboss of course. 5 powders for one gun on my loading bench is way too much as it is. So I'll stick to 4198 and #9 for simplicity.

[pkie44]

I can find IMR 4227, in limited supplies, but no H110 anywhere. Powder is the one component that I have supply issues with. Would like to find one powder to use in the 3 guns I shoot, 460/480/500 cals.
If you find Alliant MP300, snag it. A bit slower than H110-296, works well in the 500.

[dnotarianni]

20 gr Unique with a 350gr GC RN bullet or 16 gr Unique with a 475gr GC RN

[jebsca]

Been running lil'gun myself for a bit. After I started using it, I started seeing reports of forcing cone erosion and what not. I keep looking and not seeing. Still have not talked to anyone else that has too. Keep in mind, I don't see the need to run any of my loads near max, even when loading 700 gr bullets in my 500.

[Whiterabbit]

how much shooting are we talking about? I noticed microcracking on my forcing cone after a couple thousand rounds.

[oldbro]

I want to find a powder I can use over several calibers. Finding powders is the only challenge I come up against. I called Hodgdon today and they told me that
H4227 was discontinued 3 years ago and you can substitute IRM4227. Starting out at their low end figure for each load and watching for high pressure signs as you get to max loads.


H110 is almost impossible to get but I can procure enough 4227 to keep active.