.454 casull in a Lever gun (graphic images within)

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Gasoline boy

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So... I got this beautiful Big Horn armoury Lever gun. I've had it out for a few trips to the woods. I really had my hopes set on leaving it without an optic so I've been punching a bunch of holes in cardboard at various distances up to 100 yds. I've had good days and bad days with it. It seems to like heavier bullets for longer distance. I might post some info on my findings if anyone is interested. But that's not what this post is about.

I started shooting the 454 as a logical progression from the 45lc. I learned to shoot on the back of a marlin cowboy action rifle in 45lc. Great gun ,beautiful ,fast then I learned to reload... holy crap that altered my world. I could load 300 grn bullets up? Yup that's pretty much what I did. Then I learned about the 454! More boom? More fire?more smoke? Faster?!!! Oh yeah that's what I wanted... so you can understand that I'm going to be less than satisfied with holes in cardboard. So I made a target for myself one of those jumping ones that always lands with a plate to shoot at.

This is not a big deal for me I have all the stuff needed , welders, plasma cutter, lots of scrap steel and Stainless kicking around the studio. I knew I would need to make it pretty beefy I'm gonna my to be chucking 240-300 grn projectiles with a velocities between 1800-2000 fPS at it. So I start by laminating 3/16 mild steel plate together for the body of it and cut some 1/4 inch Stainless for the actual target disc. It's just scrap and a test so I didn't really care what it looked like.


Then I went out and shot it! First at 50yds these are 240 grn hornady XTPmags over 36 grn of H110. I thought I missed on the first shot. The damned thing didn't move.

So I shot it again. Frigging thing went right through! Didn't even bent the 1/4 plate looks like I drilled a hole through it! No marking around the outside of the hole at all really. And here is a shot to show you what the cartridge looks like in the hole.

Oh yeah. That bottom hole is my second shot. Notice that it took out the 3/16 backing as well. And... where did the Stainless that was in the hole go?!! That .452 bullet just passed through a 1/4 inch of Stainless leaving an almost perfect 1/2 inch hole.
So I took it out to 80 yds and shot it.



This was done with a FA 260 grn JFP(jacketed flat point for any that don't know). At least it bent the Stainless and broke up a bit. It didn't eat the Stainless either. Just shoved it out of the way.

This last shot was one of the XTP mags at 80. It hit right next to a gusset and on a part that is two layers of 3/16 mild steel. This definitely moved the target tho!
All the little marks you see are .22 lr I was playing around with it after I decided not to totally destroy this target in an afternoon. Maybe it will work for the .308. Lol.
Thanks for looking.
Oh yeah. I ended up deciding to put an optic on this rifle. At 80 yds the front sight totally covers this target and I want more accuracy than that.
 
Nice work on the target but you need to make it much thicker. And no, the target wont fair better with the .308, in fact it will be worse. If you made it out of 3/4" mild...the .308 will do extensive damage to it inside 100y. Even the low velocity 454 will chew up 3/4" pretty bad at close range. If you want it to last you need to use hardened steel, AR500 or the like.
 
3/8" plate is the thinnest I would go. Even then anything high velocity will go through it like #### through a goose. The best way to get the silhouette guys riled up is to whack away at their animals with a 223. High-velocity bullet impacts will vaporize the steel in a target.
 
I've actually got about 6 boxes of the Premium Grade bullets from Freedom Arms for a 454...tried to sell them but all responses were lowball. I'm seeing a 454 Casull carbine in my future...600 bullets, good excuse for a new gun or what...:)
 
cdn shooter said:
Nice work on the target but you need to make it much thicker. And no, the target wont fair better with the .308, in fact it will be worse. If you made it out of 3/4" mild...the .308 will do extensive damage to it inside 100y. Even the low velocity 454 will chew up 3/4" pretty bad at close range. If you want it to last you need to use hardened steel, AR500 or the like.
Click to expand...

Agree with the .308 comment, before I started using AR500 or 550, I tried some 5/8" mild steel I had. The .308 at 80 yards went through it like butter, it was as if I drilled a clean hole through the steel.
 
Chas59 said:
Agree with the .308 comment, before I started using AR500 or 550, I tried some 5/8" mild steel I had. The .308 at 80 yards went through it like butter, it was as if I drilled a clean hole through the steel.
Click to expand...

Got a couple of AP 30-06 rounds in a shell collection somewhere. Be interesting to see what that can do.
 
tokguy said:
I've actually got about 6 boxes of the Premium Grade bullets from Freedom Arms for a 454...tried to sell them but all responses were lowball. I'm seeing a 454 Casull carbine in my future...600 bullets, good excuse for a new gun or what...:)
Click to expand...

I had a Stainless Rossi in 454. It was a nice little gun. Grab up one of them some Starline brass (pretty easy to come by) and some H110. It will be worth it! I'd ask what you want for the FA bullets but I'm off to hard cast gc lead next. Got a big old bag of 300grn from bullet barn I will be loading up soon.
 
cdn shooter said:
Nice work on the target but you need to make it much thicker. And no, the target wont fair better with the .308, in fact it will be worse. If you made it out of 3/4" mild...the .308 will do extensive damage to it inside 100y. Even the low velocity 454 will chew up 3/4" pretty bad at close range. If you want it to last you need to use hardened steel, AR500 or the like.
Click to expand...
Low velocity hey... I should get a chronograph find out how fast these 240s are going. The load data suggests around 2000 from a 9" barrel my carbine is 18.
How fast can you push a 240 grn .308? I can't find data for anything over 200.
 
Gasoline boy said:
I had a Stainless Rossi in 454. It was a nice little gun. Grab up one of them some Starline brass (pretty easy to come by) and some H110. It will be worth it! I'd ask what you want for the FA bullets but I'm off to hard cast gc lead next. Got a big old bag of 300grn from bullet barn I will be loading up soon.
Click to expand...

I found 30 grs of Lil Gun under a 300 gr XTP very effective and accurate from my Raging Bull if the H110 is not available.
 
I got a 454 puma and I reload it with 300gr plated bullets and 29gr of H110, I had the chance to get them tested with a chrony.
They were in the 1810 to 1830 fps range.
No signs of pressure at all, I bet I could raise the powder charge a bit with no issues but I like the accuracy I'm getting out of this load.

When H110 is not available I use winchester 296.

I wish they made a 12.5" version in 454 like the mares leg but with a full size stock, I'd get one right away.

My puma is on my "not for sale, EVER!" list.
 
Gasoline boy said:
Low velocity hey... I should get a chronograph find out how fast these 240s are going. The load data suggests around 2000 from a 9" barrel my carbine is 18.
How fast can you push a 240 grn .308? I can't find data for anything over 200.
Click to expand...

I'm sure your 454 load is fine...I wasn't slagging it. 240 in a .308? Would certainly suck all the velocity out of that case...make it easier on steel for sure...still going to shoot through 1/4". I think I have a spinner around here that I made for the kids out of 1/4"...17gr 17hmr zipped right through it.
 
If you have the right gear target steel is easy to obtain, it's called cutting edge that's what it is, hell it often comes with square holes in it ffs. Any halfway decent scrounger should be able to lay their hands on some cutting edge. For most purposes it's 1055 or an alloy of similar workings. Oil quench and temper straw or purple, straight quenched is too hard probably shatter under shock. You could water quench but there could be a risk of warping and cracking. You need a good god damn large amount of oil to like minimum 10 gallons and a way to evenly heat large chunks of steel to quench temp. But if one were to make a temporary heating oven out of stacked firebricks and put a tiger torch to blast into your "oven" and leave that for half an hour you can heat big pieces pretty easily.
 
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