Puma 454 + Lyman 452651 = 340gr of whoopee!

[Snyd]

Had some more fun with the levergun. I just got this Lyman 452651 mould. They ended up at 340gr with check and lube, straght ww's, water dropped. They are a little skinny in the front driving band though. I'll adjust some things the next casting session and see if I can get better fillout. 28gr H110, starline brass, CCI BR4's = just under 1800fps 10rnd average. With the HiViz open sites here's how it did. I don't know if I can shoot any better that this with open sites. I was resting the forestock only. At 100yds I covered the blue dot with the front site. That's dead moose at 100yds! But, there's room in the case for more powder :D I'll work it up a little more.

http://web.mac.com/perryschneider/pics/puma_335.jpg

[Fenring]

That's a fair bit of whoop-ass for a handy little carbine! [smilie=p:

[AlaskaMike]

Those look nice Snyd! Have you tried the .45 Colt loads from your 4" Redhawk in it? I'm curious how well the carbine might do with a plain-based bullet.

Mike

[Snyd]

Ya Mike. I've shot all kinds of loads through this thing. 45 Colt 255gr rnfp plain base with 8 gr Unique. Accurate and like shooting a pop gun. All the way up to 335 gr Cast Performance at 1950fps.

I got a custom Lee 6 banger mould that drops 280gr .454 LFN plain base. I just loaded some of those up with 11gr Unique. I havn't shot them yet. I plan on mixing up some hard alloy (ww and lino) and pushing them hard. The bore on my Puma slugs at .452. I'm thinking about 20+ bhn sized to .453 with a good dose of H110. It'll be a summer learning project.

[454PB]

I use the same boolit in my Puma. I have to crimp in the top crimp groove for proper feeding. Is it the same for yours?

[Frank]

Snyd said
That's dead moose at 100yds! But, there's room in the case for more powder I'll work it up a little more.

Or a wounded one if you're lucky. That lever should be giving you praire dog head shots.

[Snyd]

Snyd said
Or a wounded one if you're lucky. That lever should be giving you praire dog head shots.

No prairie dogs here in Interior Alaska. But the kill zone on a 1200-1500lb Bull Moose is about 3-4ft in diameter. If I can put 5 on a paper plate at 100yds I'm good to go.

I'll keep working on this load though. And with more shooting time i may be able to tighten it up a bit. But, the way it is now it's a moose killer. Or bear protection over the wifey in the fishin hole and berry patch.

454pb, this load is crimped in the bottom groove and feeds fine. But, I did use some 454 brass that I had trimmed to 1.365 for 335gr Cast Performance boolits. They end up at about 1.750 and feed fine. With this Lyman boolit the OAL is even a little shorter. I'll try some at 1.380 or 1.385 and see how they do.

[Frank]

It has a slow twist so maybe it likes boolits that are light and fast.