.454 casull in Ruger SRH 7.5 Inch barrel

[yotatrd4x4]

I just traded a Yugo AK47 I had sittin in the safe for a used but in good shape Ruger spuper redhawk in .454 casull. I know it can use .45 colt as practice loads and I am planning on using them quite a bit to save my wrist, my wallet, and my pistol. It has a 7.5inch barrel and my load data has 2 loads for the 45colt. One says for standard 45 colt the says only to use in a ruger blackhawk or T/C contender. I think if my gun is a .454 it can handle the hot 45colt loads? Does anyone know. The casull is very high pressure and my speer #12 says that the .454 is close to same pressure as a .300 weatherby mag, With that being said the 45colt hot loads say they are between a 45colt and .44mag. I am assuming but not going to load any yet but I think the casull can handle the 45colt hot loads. Also I already load .45acp and use a 230gr truncated cone that is about 245 with straight W/W boolits. Would this be a fine round for the 45colt as well? I know it cant be used in the casull loads because the high velocity and I would need gas checks for sure in the .454. OK now with that said. I plan to mainly load .45colt to plink with but will be carrying .454 when I am in Alaska in bear country. I am fairly new to casting boolits and would love to hear from the experienced guys..

[dk17hmr]

I load hot 45LC loads in my SRH for plinking.

I find the heavier I go with cast in my 454 the better it does. It really starts showin its stuff when I push 325 plus grain bullet fast. If the revolver doesnt have them yet get a set of Houge grips for it......Ruger factory grips suck.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

The Redhawk will take any published 45 colt load , the case is the weak link there, not the pistol. The 454 loads your pistol is made for are much higher pressure than the 45 colt.

You can push the 45 colt, but I would not exceede the listed loads for the Ruger SBH & TC contender, because of the case strength, "In the Redhawk", make sure you don't get them mixed up with other shells for Smiths, Colts or others...good shooting

[yotatrd4x4]

Yeah thats what I was thinking is that it would be fine. I only intend to use them in the Ruger redhawk because I have no other 45colt chambered pistols yet! Also I was looking at the hogue grips for it because it has the factory wood and plastic grips. I would prob only use the hot 45colt loads for a home defense round anyway and stick with standard loads for the range but will put a few boxes of .454 thru it to get used to the recoil. Thanks a ton fellas

[Heavy lead]

I've a SRH, I have shot 45 loads out of it but really prefer 454 brass with lighter loads, I run 10 grains of Unique with a Fed 205 with the Lee 45310 gas check boolit (weighs up 317) DK17hmr is dead on right here with boolit weight, the SRH likes heavy boolits. My regular hard hitting load (even though some here don't like this powder) uses Lil' Gun, and I've had great results with it.
However I find that Unique load kills whitetail just fine and it pleasant and accurate too. I also do not like nor use the wood insert grips, but I also don't like any rubber grip and use the Hogue wood finger groove grip.

[StarMetal]

Ross Seyfred showed and proved a long time ago it's not necessarily the brass that is the weak link. He claimed if the brass fits the cylinder like a glove, it's well supported and won't give up the ghost. He had a 45 Ruger especially built with tight chamber and shot some proof loads in it that he wouldn't dare publish. He went on to shoot almost 454 loads out of that gun with 45 Colt brass. I would assume since the 454 runs at such a high pressure that the cylinders aren't that sloppy.

Go ahead and shoot your 45's like the fellows above said. Save the real intense loads for the 454 brass because that's what it was developed for.

Joe

[trappst]

Be prepared to clean those cylinders after shooting a bunch of 45 Colts. Especially prior to heading into bear country....ya may not be able to get the 454 case into the cylinder from all the gunk. Yikes!

Not a boolit, but if you're looking for some factory 45 colt stuff to try out Corbon makes a 200g 45 Colt load that shot fabulous out of my SRH.

[yotatrd4x4]

Thanks again for the replys. I know I will have to clean the snot out of my SRH cylinder before I go up into bear country in 5 months but would like to be able to get some use out of it down here until I leave. I am looking to get a set of .45colt or .454casull dies so I can make some reloads and try them out here. From what I have read alot prfer to shorten the barrel to 4-5inches for the Alaskan Tundra because it makes it easier to draw the pistol when in a have to have it situation. If I do that I am gonna have to get it ported too so it doesnt bark too much.

[Racer X]

Ruger cuts their SRH chambers at ~ .479", as opposed to the sloppy .486" - .490" for their 45 Colt chambered guns. In fact, SRH 454 chambers are actually tighter than those the custom smiths like Clements and Linebaugh cut in their small chambered 45 Colts (~ .480" - 481").

In short, hot 45 Colt loads are safe in your SRH. Modern solid-head 45 Colt brass IS NOT weak. That said, I would still prefer to use 454 brass in a 454 because the shorter 45 Colt brass will leave carbon rings in the chambers just ahead of the throats.

[jaycocreek]

I agree one should use 454 brass.I have used both and much prefer to load down with 2400 and a 300 grain XTP at 1250 fps in 454 brass.Very mild recoil yet very effective on anything Idaho has to offer.One could do the same easily with Hard Cast but I am counting on the XTP for the upcoming Wolf hunts.:-D.

To each his own..Good luck on your choice.

Jayco