454 Casull in a Puma 20" bbl

a303smoker

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Hey Guys,
does anyone out there have any experience with the puma 454. With the 1 in 39" twist, what would be a good weight to start at, because I've seen some say it would shoot lighter bullets (180 + gr.) more accuratly then heaver bullets, and others say it would shoot heaver bullets (300 + gr.) more accuratly than the lighter? and I'm not in a position to buy every size known to mankind " that would be cool though eh... " and my dies should be in this week... "finger's crossed" so if i can get some help from some of the Gun Guru's out there i would appreciate it very much.
Smoker
 
Mine shoots all bullet weights equally and I load/shoot from 240gr XTP-Mag's to 405gr Beartooth WFNGC's.

Here is some data/velocities/info that a did a couple of years ago... :)

Here are a few velocities in fps that I get with some of my different 454 Casull loads in my s/s 20" barreled LSI Puma M92.

240gr XTP-Mag 38grs H110 1) 2258 2) 2327 3) 2316

300gr XTP-Mag 30grs H110 1) 1858 2) 1821

300gr Speer Gold Dot 31grs H110 1) 1890 2) 1897

360gr C/P WLNGC’s 27grs Lil-gun 1) 1848 2) 1846 3) 1828

395gr C/P WLNGC’s 24grs Lil-Gun 1) 1647 2) 1642 3) 1650

I went to Beartooth bullets site and used their ballistics calculator.

Here are the results for the Puma rifle.

240gr = 2820 ft-lbs 36 TKO 154 TSP
300gr = 2305 ft-lbs 36 TKO 156 TSP
360gr = 2737 ft-lbs 43 TKO 185 TSP
395gr = 2388 ft-lbs 42 TKO 182 TSP

Foot-Pounds of energy (ft-lbs) eg; 30-06 180gr bullet 2700fps = 2914

Taylor Knock Out Scale (TKO) eg; 30-06 180gr bullet 2700fps = 21

Thornly Stopping Power Scale eg; 30-06 180gr 2700fps = 109

Example of TSP scale
45 Antelope
50 Deer
100 Black Bear (To account for 350- 500 lbs. bear.)
120 Elk, Moose, Kudu, Zebra, Large African Safari Plains Game
150 Lion, Leopard, Grizzly Bear, Brown Bear
250 Hippopotamus , Rhinoceros, Cape Buffalo, Elephant
 
I have done some work with a stainless trapper-length Puma .454. It is not my rifle, and I wasn't shooting for groups since it has that god-awful red plastic front sight that I can't see because I am red-green colour blind.

32.0grs of W296 gave 1960fps with Hornady 300 MAG-XTP
32.0grs W296 gave 1980fps with cast 300 WFN-GC.

The thing that surprised me was that point of impact seemed lower at 50m than with mild 45 Colt loads, but given the front sight, it might have been a trick of the light that makes me hold on target differently.
 
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