Northman999
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Yukon
So, I purchased a Rossi Puma in .454 Casull late this winter, with the hopes of developing some heavy loads for it for use on Bison here in the Yukon.
There are some special regs for hunting Bison here; we need at least a 30 caliber bullet weighing at least 180 grains and developing at least 2800 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle.
After spending a good amount of time scouring the internet, I found several instances of people posting loads that exceeded these requirements (energy levels being the only one that was any sort of a challenge). From what I found, people were getting peak energy levels with bullets in the 330 - 340 grain range, using hard cast lead.
I was not able to find any factory bullets heavier than 300 grains (Hornady XTP-Mag), nor any cast lead bullets anyone had in stock heavier than 300's as well. I picked up some of the 300 grain XTP-Mag's, and they shot well in my rifle, but I was not able to meet the performance levels that I had been reading about, and I fell short of my critical 2800 ft/lbs target.
In my search for heavier bullets I had communication with our own Ben Hunchak. He told me he would not mind casting me some heavier bullets for my rifle, and seemed to look forward to the idea of being able to get some heavier bullets out to other shooters who may want them as well. He pointed me in the direction of Accurate Molds in the U.S.A. Accurate had several molds that seemed pretty good, but none just right, so I contacted them and they allowed me to slightly customize one of their 340gr molds (basically just adding a gas check to it). Well, I ordered the mold and had it sent to Ben, who would cast me the mold's worth of bullets and then keep the mold so others could benefit from these bullets if they seemed useful. This seemed an outstanding idea to me, and I was pretty excited about the whole thing.
Well, a few weeks later, Ben got the mold, and within a couple of days he let me know the bullets were on their way. A few days later a seriously heavy parcel arrived in the mail with two boxes looking like this....
Well, I was feeling like a fat kid at a sundae bar, and opened the packages to find the finest cast bullets I'd ever seen inside. Not dull grey and all dinged from shipping, these beauties, but shiny and smooth, with crisp lines and sharp edges. Right at that point it dawned on me that I was the only person in the world who had these bullets, and they were custom made for ME. Certainly never been there before.
I got them home and prepped some cases for loading. These bullets were much larger than the 300's I'd been loading before. Here are a few beside a prepped case.
And one sitting just in the case mouth, right before seating.
Well, I loaded up twenty something bullets over increasing charges of H110 (which research suggested was probably the best powder for heavy loads).
Here's how the first three turned out.
After a few days of foul weather (heavy snow), the range dried up and I was able to get out and run my loads through my rifle and check for function, velocity and accuracy.
Unfortunately, no pics of any targets. But I do have some results.
Firstly I noticed that my rifle did not really like feeding these bullets, due to their wide, flat nose. I could feed 300gr Hornady XTP's, seated out farther, without issues, as they were more conical. The Rossi did feed the 340gr cast, but required a very firm hand. On my second trip to the range I loaded a handful of rounds into brass trimmed .012 shorter than normal "trim to length" for the .454 Casull, just to see if that worked, and they fed smooth as butter, so minor problem solved.
Accuracy was good with Ben's cast bullets, with three shot groups at 50 yards averaging right around an inch. I think they could have done better, but I do not like the semi-buckhorn sights on the Rossi at all, and I cannot do better than that with this type of sight. I've got an aperture sight setup in the works for this rifle.
I was not able to replicate the heavy loads I had found poking around the internet in terms of energy levels, unfortunately. I did not push my powder charges beyond those I found poking around, as I had read that straight wall pistol cartridges are particularly hard to judge pressure signs with, and I have only been reloading for the .454 for a couple of months. With a full load of H110, and some cream of wheat to add compression (both velocity and shot to shot consistency seemed to improve this way) my loads maxed out at 1775 fps. Without the cream of wheat filler, my rifle topped out at 1700 fps. Still deadly medicine, and I'm sure I'd be fine to drop anything on the continent with this load, except the beurocrats at Renewable Resources had to set the bar somewhere, and I've not been able to meet it (with any load in my rifle) for hunting Bison. There's plenty of other game to go around though!
I can't help but feel that numbers from a chrony and punching holes in paper are a poor indicators of what these bullets can do, and that only a very large moose or grizzly is going to be able to really show me what these bullets can do in real life.
In regards to the Rossi, I found it to be a good rifle overall, right out of the box. Better quality than the recent Marlins for sure, with a nice action and pretty good trigger. I did not like the semi-buckhorn sights, but they did seem a pretty good quality for what they were. The rifle shot one inch groups at 50 yards with more than one load I developed while farting around with it, so accuracy is perfectly fine for a close range rifle.
Hopefully this writeup will be of use to those of you who sent me PM's regarding the Rossi, or my experiences with Ben Hunchak's bullets so far.
EDIT - I inspected the bore of my rifle after two quick trips to the range to work on the load development I described, and the bore still looked like a mirror. No signs at all of any leading; approximately forty rounds down the pipe at that point.
There are some special regs for hunting Bison here; we need at least a 30 caliber bullet weighing at least 180 grains and developing at least 2800 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle.
After spending a good amount of time scouring the internet, I found several instances of people posting loads that exceeded these requirements (energy levels being the only one that was any sort of a challenge). From what I found, people were getting peak energy levels with bullets in the 330 - 340 grain range, using hard cast lead.
I was not able to find any factory bullets heavier than 300 grains (Hornady XTP-Mag), nor any cast lead bullets anyone had in stock heavier than 300's as well. I picked up some of the 300 grain XTP-Mag's, and they shot well in my rifle, but I was not able to meet the performance levels that I had been reading about, and I fell short of my critical 2800 ft/lbs target.
In my search for heavier bullets I had communication with our own Ben Hunchak. He told me he would not mind casting me some heavier bullets for my rifle, and seemed to look forward to the idea of being able to get some heavier bullets out to other shooters who may want them as well. He pointed me in the direction of Accurate Molds in the U.S.A. Accurate had several molds that seemed pretty good, but none just right, so I contacted them and they allowed me to slightly customize one of their 340gr molds (basically just adding a gas check to it). Well, I ordered the mold and had it sent to Ben, who would cast me the mold's worth of bullets and then keep the mold so others could benefit from these bullets if they seemed useful. This seemed an outstanding idea to me, and I was pretty excited about the whole thing.
Well, a few weeks later, Ben got the mold, and within a couple of days he let me know the bullets were on their way. A few days later a seriously heavy parcel arrived in the mail with two boxes looking like this....
Well, I was feeling like a fat kid at a sundae bar, and opened the packages to find the finest cast bullets I'd ever seen inside. Not dull grey and all dinged from shipping, these beauties, but shiny and smooth, with crisp lines and sharp edges. Right at that point it dawned on me that I was the only person in the world who had these bullets, and they were custom made for ME. Certainly never been there before.
I got them home and prepped some cases for loading. These bullets were much larger than the 300's I'd been loading before. Here are a few beside a prepped case.
And one sitting just in the case mouth, right before seating.
Well, I loaded up twenty something bullets over increasing charges of H110 (which research suggested was probably the best powder for heavy loads).
Here's how the first three turned out.
After a few days of foul weather (heavy snow), the range dried up and I was able to get out and run my loads through my rifle and check for function, velocity and accuracy.
Unfortunately, no pics of any targets. But I do have some results.
Firstly I noticed that my rifle did not really like feeding these bullets, due to their wide, flat nose. I could feed 300gr Hornady XTP's, seated out farther, without issues, as they were more conical. The Rossi did feed the 340gr cast, but required a very firm hand. On my second trip to the range I loaded a handful of rounds into brass trimmed .012 shorter than normal "trim to length" for the .454 Casull, just to see if that worked, and they fed smooth as butter, so minor problem solved.
Accuracy was good with Ben's cast bullets, with three shot groups at 50 yards averaging right around an inch. I think they could have done better, but I do not like the semi-buckhorn sights on the Rossi at all, and I cannot do better than that with this type of sight. I've got an aperture sight setup in the works for this rifle.
I was not able to replicate the heavy loads I had found poking around the internet in terms of energy levels, unfortunately. I did not push my powder charges beyond those I found poking around, as I had read that straight wall pistol cartridges are particularly hard to judge pressure signs with, and I have only been reloading for the .454 for a couple of months. With a full load of H110, and some cream of wheat to add compression (both velocity and shot to shot consistency seemed to improve this way) my loads maxed out at 1775 fps. Without the cream of wheat filler, my rifle topped out at 1700 fps. Still deadly medicine, and I'm sure I'd be fine to drop anything on the continent with this load, except the beurocrats at Renewable Resources had to set the bar somewhere, and I've not been able to meet it (with any load in my rifle) for hunting Bison. There's plenty of other game to go around though!
I can't help but feel that numbers from a chrony and punching holes in paper are a poor indicators of what these bullets can do, and that only a very large moose or grizzly is going to be able to really show me what these bullets can do in real life.
In regards to the Rossi, I found it to be a good rifle overall, right out of the box. Better quality than the recent Marlins for sure, with a nice action and pretty good trigger. I did not like the semi-buckhorn sights, but they did seem a pretty good quality for what they were. The rifle shot one inch groups at 50 yards with more than one load I developed while farting around with it, so accuracy is perfectly fine for a close range rifle.
Hopefully this writeup will be of use to those of you who sent me PM's regarding the Rossi, or my experiences with Ben Hunchak's bullets so far.
EDIT - I inspected the bore of my rifle after two quick trips to the range to work on the load development I described, and the bore still looked like a mirror. No signs at all of any leading; approximately forty rounds down the pipe at that point.
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