©
Shown above, a .45 Colt, .454 Casull and the .460 S&W Magnum
©
Shown above, a .45 Colt, .454 Casull and the .460 S&W Magnum
(HP = Hollow Point, RN = Round Nose, FMC = Full Metal Case, FMJ = Full Metal Jacket, JHP = Jacketed Hollow Point and if GC indicated, means Gas Check at bottom of lead bullet)
Loads for 454 Casull:
The .454 came out in the late 50's and was the big, bad boy in town, till the advent of the .500 S&W mag and now, the .460S&W magnum. This caliber, designed by Dick Casull, is great for us who have lots of .45 Colt ammo (I reload for cowboy shooting, but want a gun that can handle everything up to this magnum with very heavy lead bullets moving out at speeds in the 1300-2000 fps range.) My lighter .45 colt loads recoil about the same or less as a .38 special in this heavy gun and are good to shoot for target practice. With adjustments, you can use dies from your .45 Colt to reload the .454 (of course you can't full length resize the case, the decapper might not work and the resizer is slightly different) but the case mouth belling and the bullet seater & crimper can be adjusted in the press to work. The shell holder works using the .45 colt for the .454. Personally, I suggest you spend $25 to $40 to buy a full new set for this caliber and shell holder. Lead GC bullet (from LeadHeads Bullets of St. John, KS) are good for home brew loads. Many loads below us CPB (Cast Performance Bullets).
(Note: Shown on this page are START and MAXIMUM loads. Pay attention to which is which.)
(See note on Powders below or read all about various Powders.)
Bullet size is .451" (jacketed) in diameter or .452 lead (and some jacketed).
Use SMALL RIFLE primers in cases. You need the stronger rifle primers because of the pressures. For slow powders, magnum primers are better.
Due to different barrel lengths,type of bullet, seating depth, primer brand and other factors,you may not get near the FPS charted. It is just a guide and the reason you should start 10% under these charges and work up.
SOME ARE MAXIMUM LOADS! - NOTE, powder companies sometimes reduced some of these hot and maximum loads after these figures were posted. You might check current loads from powder company before loading maximum loads. The loads that produce velocities below 950 fps, are very nice, mild shooting, lower recoil rounds. Trail Boss is a great, low velocity, very bulky powder for this big boy that I have been shooting in my .45 Colt loads for some time. These are VERY mild in this big gun, and less than half the maximum pressures of the high velocity loads. Powders like H-110, Lil' Gun and Winchester 296 are good for the magnum loads.
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240 Grain Freedom Arms JHP .452 dia.
H4227 29.0 gr. 1,421 FPS Start
H4227 34.0 gr. 1,815 fps MAX
H110 36.0 gr. 1,889 fps Start
H110 39.0 gr. 2,090 fps MAX
W296 36.0 gr. 1,875 fps Start
W296 38.0 gr. 2,004 fps MAX
W231 9.0 gr. 844 fps Start
W231 13.5 gr. 1,399 fps MAX
2400 26.0 gr. 1,639 fps Start
2400 30.0 gr. 1,886 fps MAX
Unique 14.0 gr. 1,367 fps Start
Unique 16.5 gr. 1,580 fps MAX
Universal 10.2 gr. 1,212 fps Start
Universal 11.5 gr. 1,325 fps MAX
Bullseye 7.0 gr. 842 fps Start
Bullseye 11.0 gr. 1,334 fps MAX
AA No.9 23.5 gr. 1,439 fps Start
AA No.9 30.0 gr. 1,760 fps Not MAX but close
Lil'Gun 35.0 gr. 1,952 fps Start
Lil'Gun 38.0 gr. 2,033 fps MAX
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240 Grain Hornady XTP Mag .452 dia.
AA 5744 26.5 gr. 1,255 Use for a Reduced Load
AA 5744 28.0 gr. 1,432 fps
AA 5744 29.5 gr. 1,604 fps MAX.
Titegroup 10.0 gr. 1,214 fps Start
Titegroup 11.0 gr. 1,309 fps MAX
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250-255 Grain Lead SWC .452 dia.
TrailBoss 6.7 gr. 862 fps Start
TrailBoss 9.0 gr. 1,011 fps MAX
AA No.9 21.6 gr. 1,326 fps Start
AA No.9 24.0 gr. 1,507 fps MAX
5744 26.1 gr. 1,347 fps Start
5744 29.0 gr. 1,531 fps MAX
2400 20.0 gr. ~~~ This is contributed load, may be near max.
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250 Grain Hornady XTP/JHP .452 dia.
W-296 27.5 gr. 1,725 fps Start
W-296 28.5 gr. 1,785 Max
AA No.9 25.2 gr. ~ ~ ~ Start
AA No.9 28.0 gr. 1,770 fps MAX
2400 29.0 gr. ~ ~ ~ contributed MAX
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260 Grain JHP or JFP .452 dia.
W-296 34.0 gr. 1,817 fps Start (hot)
W-296 36.0 gr. 1,954 Max (hot)
H-4227 28.0 gr. 1,421 Start
H-4227 33.0* gr. 1,762 MAX (*compressed)
H-110 34.0 gr. 1,817 Start
H-110 36.0 gr. 1,954 MAX
Lil' Gun 33.4 gr. 1,744 Start
Lil' Gun 35.5 gr. 1,895 MAX
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260 Grain Speer JHP .451 dia.
Longshot 14.0 gr. 1,353 Start
Longshot 15.0 gr. 1,443 MAX
HS-6 14.5 gr. 1,252 Start
HS-6 16.8 gr. 1,420 MAX
Universal 10.3 gr. 1,157 Start
Universal 11.5 gr. 1,245 MAX
Titegroup 9.5 gr. 1,159 Start
Titegroup 11.0 gr. 1,270 MAX
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(Work in progress.
Loads for heavier bullets will follow in near future.)
Trail Boss is great for lead bullet loads at low velocities (plain base bullets are OK). It's quite bulky and will fill the case beyond half full for most loads (making a double charge evident if it happened).
Accurate (XMP)5744 is one of my favorite powders that I use in my .45 Colt and other calibers. It seems to be less "case position sensitive" than others I have used. And only a few more grains (to MAX) is a compressed load, so it uses a lot of the case space.
I have used Titegroup and Lil' Gun and I like them a lot. Tightgroup is a very light powder for its bulk, so it fills the case about 3/4 when seating a big lead GC bullet. Lil' Gun and H-110 are excellent for magnum loads with a heavy bullet.
UNIQUE & Universal -
*
AA(XMP)5744, AA 1680, AA 4100 are products of Accurate Arms Company
Tightgroup, Longshot, Lil'Gun, H110, H4227 are products of Hodgdon Powders.
IMR Trail Boss (formerly DuPont) Powder Company & Winchester Powders are now Hodgdon
Alliant (formerly Hercules) Powders: Unique, 2400 & Power Pistol
References: Accurate Arms Co. Alliant Powder Co. Reloaders' Guide - - Hodgdon's Reloaders Website- - Hodgdon Tech Support - - Speer Reloading Manual, #12 - - Winchester Reloading Components Manual, 14th edition - - Lyman Piston & Revolver Reloading Handbook, 2nd edition. - - VihtaVuori Oy Company, - Numerous magazine articles on reloading special calibers and personal loads where noted. Ramshot Powder Company on-line guide 2007.