454 Casull

[flatnose]

Does any one here have any experience with cast bullets and full power 454Casull loads? If so can you offer tips and share some of your experience? I was lucky to find a Freedom Arms at a ridiculous cheap price and could not pass on it.

[Minerat]

I'm not sure if you call a NOE 454-350 333gr GC'ed-HP in front of 25.0 gr of H4227 a fullpower load or not but it makes my 5.5" SRH roar. LabRadar said MV was 1306 fps. They were PC'd with Smokes JD Green. It took my right wrist 2 days to recover from 15 rounds. :bigsmyl2:

[stubshaft]

I bought my Premier Grade FA83 back in 1984. It has over 9,000 rounds through it and the majority of them were from a mold that Veral (LBT) made for me, a 300 grain LFN boolit, ahead of 33.0 - 36.0 grains of WW 296. Accuracy is 1" - 1 1/2" @ 50yards and if you but it (and you should), you will find that if you can take the recoil it is EASY to find an accurate load for it. Along the way it has harvested 41 animals Hogs and Sheep with one shot each. I have never been able to retrieve a boolit from any of them including "north to south" shots at over 75 yards.

BTW - it is just as tight as the day I got it.

[Johnch]

I have a 9 1/2" Ruger SRH in 454 Casull
I normally use the LEE C452-300-RF cast out of WW with a gas check

A moderate charge of H110 or Vihtavuori N110 both produce great groups
And enough penetration at 100+ yards to also kill the Doe walking behind the buck you planned on shooting
I mean in the front of the buck , out the rear quarter and through the doe side to side 20 yards behind the buck

John

[Bigslug]

Good score! The FA revolvers are about as good a gun as has ever been made.

Unfortunately, Dad lost the ability and I lost the interest in shooting super-duper top-end magnum handguns before we got into casting. He's now shooting Specials & I now go to "moderately hot" and call it a day. But the good news is there will be little challenge in ramping up on an FA. Dimensionally, the guns are pretty much perfect, and aren't going to throw the same barrel/cylinder throat/frame crush cast bullet puzzles at you that a lot of lesser revolvers will. Check your cylinder throats - safe bet they're gonna be .452" - size accordingly, and apply the usual practices of harder alloy or gas checks as the load intensity increases.

I would suggest you consider that the .45 Colt at pokey old black powder pressure levels has already proven capable of killing about anything it's shared a continent with. The main reasons then for ramping up from there would be to either improve trajectory, or to increase penetration for the act of hunting something VERY large. With that in mind, I'd suggest you pick a good bullet design in a sensible weight (say 275 grains), and increase charges from Ruger-level .45C loads until you're feeling abused, rather than dive directly into the toasty end of the pool. If you've never experienced a full-potential Casull load, it's something you want to sneak up on.

[contender1]

As noted,, many a cast bullet and especially powder coated ones have been killing game for a long time in a .454. I don't think my FA in 454 has seen any jacketed ammo since I bought it.

[Thor's Daddy]

Does any one here have any experience with cast bullets and full power 454Casull loads? If so can you offer tips and share some of your experience? I was lucky to find a Freedom Arms at a ridiculous cheap price and could not pass on it.

Congratulations! What configuration is it?

As to loads, there is a fair amount of data available from Hodgdon Reloading (https://hodgdonreloading.com/).

There's also older data for 250 and 300 grain XTP's (not cast, I know) from the 1991 edition of the Hornady Manual (https://archive.org/details/hornadyhandbooko0000unse/page/646/mode/2up) on The Archive (you'll have to create an account (it's worth it)). As well, there is data from Speer No. 14 (https://archive.org/details/speerreloadingma0000unse/page/994/mode/2up) and the Lyman Reloading Handbook, 49th Ed. (https://archive.org/details/lymanreloadingha0000thom/page/392/mode/2up).

And, of course, there's data available straight from Freedom Arms (http://freedomarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/454-Loading-Data.pdf)...

As to advice... size your bullets to fit the throats (don't worry about any other dimension on the gun), powder coat is your friend (and/or gas checks and good lube), I like a bit harder bullet (BHN15+), velocity is overrated and generally unneeded (link (https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?16088-linebaugh-penetration-tests) and link (chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.reinfjord.net/art/Tests%20were%20conducted%20at%20the%20Linebaugh%20 Seminar%20in%20Cody.pdf)) (work your way up to top loads slowly).

I hope you enjoy it. They are wonderful guns.

[murf205]

Like johnch, I have the same 9 1/2" SRH and I load 290 gr RNFP NOE boolit powder coated and it is a horse pistol for sure. The 300 gr Lee works very well too but not PC'd. Neither one lead and the accuracy is scary good with H110 and a Magnum CCI primer. If the flash and blast gets old to you, 2400 can be loaded down to non-bazooka levels and it will still shoot through a Buick!

[boatswainsmate]

http://www.sixguns.com/range/Fattpp.htm

[cwlongshot]

I shoo hem all but exclusively tbru my Rossi lever. Two deer with two MP 454-308 bullets.

This gun is not perticular at all. Shoots Lymans 454424, RCBS 270 and MP 308 & 340 quite well. I even tried a NOE 360 I picked up for my Bushmaster and altho it wont sycle cause its too long its cavernious deep HP becomes a FIST of thor over 30g of Enforcer. I have been waiting on Whille Coyote but the words out he is avoiding my area...

No bullets recovered and all are Powder coated. No need to "max" loads but they are likely faster then you will achieve in the FA the 308 clocked 1850 fps last fall with 2400 powder.

I tried a couple jacketed loads with 300 XTP and Gold Dot bullets but Enforcer, lilgun and 2400 did not shoot as well as my cast.

CW

[flatnose]

Thanks to everyone for the info. I am pulling double shifts now to pay for groceries and primers. Soon i will get started on enjoying this fine gun.

[rbuck351]

I have a 454 Puma that I load with the Lee 452 300gr with a case full of Lilgun for a mv a bit under 2000fps. I used it as a camp gun while hunting moose in Ak.

[murf205]

Flatnose, it is not a 454 but If you want to really step on the gas peddle, and are concerned about leading, my shooting/hunting buddy has a 15" Encore that we have driven the 290gr NOE boolit to 2200 fps with no leading but it is powder coated and gas checked. I wouldn't think the 454 in a revolver would do this and you really don't need to but this illustrates the benefits of pc'ing. On the other hand, that boolit, or anything similar, at a lot more comfortable speed is a powerhouse you don't need to run at wide open velocities. Good luck, and congrats on a super gun.

[bobthenailer]

the LBT 300gr gc LFN is a tack driver in my 3 FA 454 revolvers a 10" 71/2" and 6"

[Ed K]

Good score! The FA revolvers are about as good a gun as has ever been made.

Unfortunately, Dad lost the ability and I lost the interest in shooting super-duper top-end magnum handguns before we got into casting. He's now shooting Specials & I now go to "moderately hot" and call it a day. But the good news is there will be little challenge in ramping up on an FA. Dimensionally, the guns are pretty much perfect, and aren't going to throw the same barrel/cylinder throat/frame crush cast bullet puzzles at you that a lot of lesser revolvers will. Check your cylinder throats - safe bet they're gonna be .452" - size accordingly, and apply the usual practices of harder alloy or gas checks as the load intensity increases.

Yep, good - until you realize the groove diameter is 0.002" greater!

[Ramjet-SS]

I shoo hem all but exclusively tbru my Rossi lever. Two deer with two MP 454-308 bullets.

This gun is not perticular at all. Shoots Lymans 454424, RCBS 270 and MP 308 & 340 quite well. I even tried a NOE 360 I picked up for my Bushmaster and altho it wont sycle cause its too long its cavernious deep HP becomes a FIST of thor over 30g of Enforcer. I have been waiting on Whille Coyote but the words out he is avoiding my area...

No bullets recovered and all are Powder coated. No need to "max" loads but they are likely faster then you will achieve in the FA the 308 clocked 1850 fps last fall with 2400 powder.

I tried a couple jacketed loads with 300 XTP and Gold Dot bullets but Enforcer, lilgun and 2400 did not shoot as well as my cast.

CW

I have two Rossi built leverguns in 480 Ruger same thing both love cast and will shoot most loads accurately.

[lawdog941]

I've found out for my particular 7.5 SRH that it likes 4227 and a heavy crimp. The only other powders that shoot well are 110/296 or Enforcer. The best bullet weight is around 325-335 from Cast Performance. I do like the 300 XTP mags too.

[ebner glocken]

The lee 300 powder coated and gas checked worked well for me. Here's a vid I did about 10 years ago on exactly this thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9yDfYMzUrc&t=120s

Ebner