Retirement Present

Last month I finally bought myself a little something. Wanted 45 thump without the 45-70 powder consumption. After several months of pondering & searching for barrel length & twist rate, along with as much load data as I could find (which ain't much). I settled on a Browning 1885 in 454 casull, 28" octagon barrel with a 1:24 twist rate. I was worried it would be excessively heavy. But even after mounting a Leupy 2-7 scope on it it's not near as bad as I had expected. And then the adventure began trying to locate Dies, Brass, & etc to get everything happening. And finally started powder coating, It has been a blast. I almost feel wasteful shooting it as scarce as everything is.

Oh and one more thing, what kind of velocity should I be able to get with a flat based 315 grain powder coated bullet with accuracy. Not 4". Thanks

Well done. After I'd been retired a few weeks, I thought to myself, 'I should have done this a few years ago'.

Not a expert on your caliber, but I'd expect you'll fine your best accuracy on the high side of the 'mid-teens'.
That's about where most straight wall rifle cartridges are with cast.

Hodgdon lists maximum loads with a 325-grain cast bullet well over 1500 fps - out of a 9.3” revolver barrel. You should be able to exceed that by...a lot. Big Horn Armory’s 18” carbine hit 1933 fps with a 300-grain jacketed bullet and 1899 fps with a 360-grain cast bullet, both Buffalo Bore factory loads. That rifle got from sub-moa to 1.5 moa for various 3-shot groups at 100 yards. Accuracy for the OP will depend on his barrel, bullet quality and the exact load: powder, charge, primer, coal.

https://www.riflemagazine.com/spikedriver-454-casull

Remember that the .454 Casull is not like most straight-walled cartridges, it operates at far higher pressures than a .444 or .45-70 for example.




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Thanks for the input. First attempt at plain based boolits, & powder coat. Very little rifle data for the 454 casull. Found a few using slow powders, W-296, H110, & a couple of others, but not much for the faster ones. I know it's the same load data for pistols, it's the velocity I'm looking for. Don't need exact vel. just close.

my 45-70 was my retirement present to myself.

Great gun, kind of jealous here.

Those Brownings are fine highwalls ! We bought a 375 H&H 10 years back when CDNN sold out the 28" model for under $600. Easy to carry and is a very accurate caliber .38 rifle with a 270 gr FNGC hugging along at 22-2300 fps.
Will have to look into a .454 as we have a BFR .454 and need a companion rifle.

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Originally Posted by versa-06

Thanks for the input. First attempt at plain based boolits, & powder coat. Very little rifle data for the 454 casull. Found a few using slow powders, W-296, H110, & a couple of others, but not much for the faster ones. I know it's the same load data for pistols, it's the velocity I'm looking for. Don't need exact vel. just close.

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My experience with spherical powders like W296 and H110 in straight wall cases (The .357 MAX) has indicated that they need powerful primers. I have CCI primers and was getting vertical stringing with regular rifle primers. The groups were an inch or an inch and a half wide but 3-4" tall. Switching to CCI small rifle magnum primers fixed that. My mentor, David White in Oklahoma suggested using Remington 7 1/2 primers. I couldn't find them so I went with what I had. I am using 200 gr. boolits in my MAX. Your mileage may vary.

I have had better luck with extruded powders like VV N110 and H4227 or H4198 with standard primers.

Edit: Congrats on the new rifle. Have fun.

Check out the Freedom Arms website. They have load data on the 454 in a pdf file.

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Check out the Freedom Arms website. They have load data on the 454 in a pdf file.

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Except that the OP is looking for velocities out of a rifle barrel.....





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Know nothing about the Cartridge you’re tinkering with but I had excellent success with 300 gr paper patched in a .44 mag rifle with full tilt Lil Gun loads. Pure lead with a card wad; ballpark 1600 FPS and sub MOA at 100 yds. H110 and 296 sucked.

Thank'n errbody for all input. I think I may have to use faster burning powders to succeed in accuracy with a flat plain based PC'd bullet. The top end loads with slow powders is in the 2000 fps range. Probably OK for a checked bullet. Sure wished I knew how to post pictures to show the mold that I got from NOE & bullet results. It's 4-cavity, 2-flat plain based, 2-G-checked, 454-307-RF, with pins for shallow hp, deep hp & flat nose. When I got the mold I realized the grooves were way too small for lube, & it forced me to start P-coating with the products I got from Smoke. And I am blessed enough to say I'm Liking It All. Except I haven't gotten any checks yet. So I'm working with the faster powders. May have to splurge a little more for a Chrono.

I would also check that groove diameter just in front of the chamber. We size our cast at least .0015- .0025 over diameter and get a good base seal and better accuracy with over .400 caliber barrels. Testing diameters is where you will find those cloverleafs.
Then play with cast mix for desired expansion / penetration.

Well it appears that 1600'ish FPS is going to be about max PC, plain base velocity for the 45 cal. Is anybody doing any better accurately?

Your 454 will exceed pistol velocities by a bunch with a 28" barrel
I am shooting a 500 Linebaugh out of a 22"barrel and am getting
1800fps out of it.Unsure of the pistol velocities but I bet I beat them
I am using W296 for my powder

I would think Accurate 1680 might work good in that 28" barrel since its slower than H110 and might give higher velocities. I always wanted one of the Rossi 92's in 454, but I bet its punishing in a 5 1/2 pound carbine.

Gary

Haven't been able to locate any gas checks for some time. I'm hoping by hunting season Sage's has some in stock. In the mean time I'm working on PC'd plain base velocities. From what I've seen so far it's about 1600 fps.