460SW Reloading questions

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mmcintyre1220

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Hey guys I just ordered a 5 inch smith and Wesson 460 to keep my 500 company. I have never reloaded this caliber before and I have a few questions .

I plan to only load 460 brass. I would like to load a few levels of ammo to compare with 45lc and 454 casull. I am having one hell of a time trying to find reduced loads for this round using 460 brass. I opt to use 460 brass to avoid carbon rings in the cylinder and to improve accuracy. I plan to load my full house 460 with Win 296. I learned the hard way a few years ago with the 500 that 296 does NOT like to be anywhere near published minimum loads. so far I have found a few loads using around 15 grains of trail boss and 250 grain projectiles which apparently will put me around 45lc Territory. I cannot find any data that would put me around the 454 though. Does anyone have any suggestions / Sources for 460 reduced loads?


Next question I have is about projectiles, Mainly jacketed. I understand that you cannot shoot the hornady xtp projectile over 1700 fps unless you use the hornady xtp mag projectile. Are there any other good jacketed projectiles one could use that would stand up to 460 velocity ?

Any tips or advice would be very much appreciated .
 
I don't load for 460, so take this for what it's worth. I would just use the Load data from those lesser cartridges. Use a top end 45 Colt load, and in the 460 case it would be like a mild/mid range load. Etc etc.
 
I don't load for the 460 either but a friend of mine who does says that the brass that comes in Hornady 460 ammo is below minimum SAAMI length.
 
thump_rrr said:
I don't load for the 460 either but a friend of mine who does says that the brass that comes in Hornady 460 ammo is below minimum SAAMI length.
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I have seen this but its usually with the Leverevolution ammo with the FTX projectiles. I wonder if the 200 FTX projectiles in the hornady 460 ammo will be the same way. I only bought 2 boxes to get me through until the 500 pieces of starline brass arrive. If it is indeed short I will either only load ftx projectiles in that case or trim them to 454 length .
 
Fargone4sure said:
I don't load for 460, so take this for what it's worth. I would just use the Load data from those lesser cartridges. Use a top end 45 Colt load, and in the 460 case it would be like a mild/mid range load. Etc etc.
Click to expand...
When using H110/W296 do not use 45 Colt or .454 load data in 460 cases..
 
Let us know what load you come up with. I tried loading with the starting load of h110 and was over pressure. My understanding of h110 is you don't want to load it too light or it will sqib on you.
 
nrut said:
When using H110/W296 do not use 45 Colt or .454 load data in 460 cases..
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You're right, with reduced charges it is best to stick with the faster burning powders, ie Unique, 231, Red Dot, etc. None of the slower burning powders more associated with magnum loads would be good choices.
 
So I have came up with a few successful loads so far. I have not had time to chrony them so its based on feel. The first load mimics a heavy 45LC load. I used some campro 255 Grain plated projectiles and 15 grains of trail boss in a 460 case. This load shot very nice at 15 yards. I am still waiting for some 2400 to come in to mimic a 454 load in 460 brass. I then loaded some 200 Grain Hornady FTX projectiles with 51.0 Grains of 296. This is a hot load , rated near max in the Hornady 10th edition manual. It did not show any signs of over pressure and shot very well with a pleasing report and muzzle flash :). The last load I tested were some 260 Grain Speer JHP with 40 Grains of 296. This is a very tricky weight to find good load data on. I went with the data found in the Lyman 40th manual which indicates it as a near max load. Compared to other manuals and Winchesters reloading data this load is a bare minimum load. Given the characteristics of 296 and not liking to be downloaded I highly doubt that this is under minimum . It had full recoil,report and muzzle flash with no unburnt powder...I have always trusted lyman as they actually do their own testing and do not rely on third party testing (Winchester) If this is indeed a very low powered load I am very happy with it. Does anyone have any tested recipes with 260 grain projectiles .
 
I don't cast, although I do see the value.

I picked up some 300gr bullets from The Bullit Barn. Brinnel hardness 22.

What do you guys think about velocity for these? Are they hard enou to go fast without too much leading? Experiences?

I have 45 Colt guns too, so if these don't work I can always load for that to use them up.
 
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