S&W 460 Mag / 454 Casul / 45 LC question

wayupnorth

wayupnorth

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my dad has a Smith and Wesson 460V Magnum and we had talked about starting to roll some bullets for it.
he was gonna pick up some stuff needed for us to start doing it but we have run into a 'newbie' snag.

we cant seem to find any '460' bullets anywhere.
im assuming that the .452 bullets would be those?

but i thought i should maybe ask before i go buy some and start rolling.

he wants to load some fun loads then some hard cast heavy loads.
so we were trying to flesh out some hard cast, i emailed bullet barn when i didnt see any 460 listed and Lois replied asking if i meant i needed .452 bullets.

so my answer would be..... yes?

thanks for the help guys.

oh, also, would the .452 also be Casul as well?
what about 45LC ?

for that matter what are 45's?
 
I found the .460 bullets hard to find as well but picked up some Hornady XTP mag in 240 and 300 grain as well as some 200 gr FTX at Bass Pro Shops. They are all .452 and make sure if you find the XTP that they are XTP Mag and not just XTP.
My factory .454 Casul are .452
 
Be careful with the Hodgdon load data and h110. The starting load is really hot. I think there's some milder loads listed in the hornady manual. I could send them to you tomorrow when I get home
 
Bustercluck said:
Be careful with the Hodgdon load data and h110. The starting load is really hot. I think there's some milder loads listed in the hornady manual. I could send them to you tomorrow when I get home
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I found that as well, I was quite surprised when I lit off my first .460 reloads, they were fine but I found them pretty hot and I thought I had loaded down somewhat. On the other hand it's a lot of H110 so I shouldn't have been too surprised, next loads will be lower. That gun is quite a cannon/flamethrower, great fun.
 
Chas59 said:
I found the .460 bullets hard to find as well but picked up some Hornady XTP mag in 240 and 300 grain as well as some 200 gr FTX at Bass Pro Shops. They are all .452 and make sure if you find the XTP that they are XTP Mag and not just XTP.
My factory .454 Casul are .452
Click to expand...

what is the difference in the XTP and the XTP mag?
some length?
 
wayupnorth said:
what is the difference in the XTP and the XTP mag?
some length?
Click to expand...

I got the impression (I'm not an expert on this) that the 'mag' was designed to handle the .460 velocities but the regular XTP was not. I don't load cast but think the issue with cast bullets in .452 are probably meant for .45 colt and cowboy loads and such so I would investigate whether the cast can hold up to the .46o velocities before I tried them. Just because they fit the case doesn't mean they are appropriate.
 
Chas59 said:
I got the impression (I'm not an expert on this) that the 'mag' was designed to handle the .460 velocities but the regular XTP was not. I don't load cast but think the issue with cast bullets in .452 are probably meant for .45 colt and cowboy loads and such so I would investigate whether the cast can hold up to the .46o velocities before I tried them. Just because they fit the case doesn't mean they are appropriate.
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Also, just checked the Hornady website, it shows XTP good for up to 1500fps, whereas XTP Mag good for up to 2300fps. I think bottom line is that the velocities coming out of this beast mean you should choose any bullet/powder load with caution. That's why I stayed with Hornady but even then got a very hot load when I expected a softer load.
 
Chas59 said:
I found that as well, I was quite surprised when I lit off my first .460 reloads, they were fine but I found them pretty hot and I thought I had loaded down somewhat. On the other hand it's a lot of H110 so I shouldn't have been too surprised, next loads will be lower. That gun is quite a cannon/flamethrower, great fun.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the 460 is just a very powerful cartridge in a handgun.
 
billdick said:
h110 and win296 are the same and they can be dangerous if you back off to far with your charge. Use the recipes given to you in a book or on hodgdons website.
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Agree, I use them both for a number of calibres and am always conscious of this issue. Having said that, all the loads with these powders seem pretty stout, starting loads of not. With the .460 it freaks you out a bit when you load that big case up with H110, with what seems like rifle cartridge volume, and then breath deeply before you light them off. I was concerned with the OP talking about using cast bullets since I know very little about them but I know the power of the .460.
 
wayupnorth said:
ok so if im gonna order up some hard cast i can get the .452 and im ok.
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I would defiantly not be loading any hard cast projectiles for the 460 unless they were gas checked. I just ordered a new mould for the 460 which is gas checked and i plan to powder coat them as well. I do not believe standard non gas checked cast projectiles will hold up to the pressure generated by the 460
 
To add my 2 bits, I've been shooting mostly Casulls with my 460 8-3/8 mostly because i reload casulls and buy 460's. Without wanting to freak anyone out, I use Campro 45 colt bullets (250 Gr. and yes it's the thick PLATED bullets) with my reloads made of 32Gr. of H-110 and so far I haven't had any problems after like 4 hundreds of them. When cleaning no funny residue inside the barrel but a few flakes of copper on the patch and a lot of powder residue. Of course I wouldn't use those for extreme velocities you get from 460 rounds 2000+fps but around 1500 and 1800 Fps I'm very comfortable with Campro bullets.

Edit: Ejection is very smooth no sticking I've been reloading the same brass, some 3 or 4 times so far, it doesn't have any signs of stress cracks or rough edges.
 
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