Pics of a new Shorty 454 - and here's a shorter one yet!!

Yaaaa hoo... :dancingbanana:

I picked up the shortened SRH today from Gunnar's.

My now shortened SRH with the 110mm barrel balances absolutely perfectly now and the sights line up extremely fast with the shorter barrel.... :dancingbanana:

Awesome job Gunnar I am totally happy and I can hardly wait to shoot it. :D

I was heading to Terrace/Prince Rupert tomorrow but the weather up here is snowing so bad right now and I have just driven 2700 klm's on snow covered roads that I am going to start back home instead...

So I should hopefully be able to get a range report together by next week sometime. :cool:
 
I love the look of the 110mm model but I still haven't finished paying for my last project! Too many nice guns to buy! Cant wait for Camp Cook's range report. Will be interesting to see how tight the 110 shoots......
 
Well guys I finally got to the gun club today....

When I got back home from my trip North the snow storm in the Fraser Valley started the next day and then I caught the flu so today was the first chance that I had to get out and give the little beast a good workout.....

I do have to admit the 4.25" SRH has a snappier recoil than the longer 7.5" barreled SRH but it balances/feels far better than the longer barreled gun.

As of now I only have the stock grips on the shortened gun and a Pachmeyr grips on the longer barreled gun because I am waiting for my Crimson Trace LG 344 laser grips to arrive for the shorter gun. I will change grips if I shot the 4.25" gun anymore before the new grips come.

I started with 45 Colt loads to sight the shortened SRH in and other than the fiirst sight in loads I chronographed every load that I shot which was all together a total of 24 45 Colts and 50 454 Casull's if my tired body counted right.

I also have to comment on the extremely slow velocities that I recorded for the 45 Colt loads in both the SRH's. It was the coldest tempature that I have ever chronographed these loads though. I normally get between 200fps to 400fps faster in warmer weather out of my 5.5" Bisley Vaquero's and the 7.5" SRH. Maybe it was my chronograph but It seemed to be reading properly with the 454 Casull loads.

All velocities are in feet per second.

45 Colt 300gr XTP 24grs H110 Win LP primer
4.25"
1) 1018 2) 988 3) 976 4) 992 5) 948 6) 1000
7.5"
1) 1058 2) 1130 3) 1091 4) 1118 5) 1155 6) 1103

45 Colt 325gr FNGC's (Lee mold) 24grs H110 Win LP primer
4.25"
1) 1063 2) 1070 3) 1041 4) 1072 5) 1008 6) 1037
7.5"
10 1162 2) 1175 3) 1148 4) 1151 5) 1140 6) 1120

454 Casull 300gr XTP-Mag 30grs H110 Rem 7.5 primer (I only had 8 of these loads with me)
4.25"
1) 1408 2) 1444 3) 1430 4) 1445
7.5"
1) 1529 2) 1481 3) 1599 4) 1535

454 Casull 360gr Cast Performance WLNGC's 27grs Lil-Gun Rem 7.5 primer
4.25"
1) 1455 2) 1425 3) 1485 4) 1490 5) 1435 6) 1448
7.5"
1) 1553 2) 1580 3) 1593 5) 1571 5) 1587 6) 1583

454 Casull 395gr Cast Performance WFNGC's 24grs Lil-Gun Rem 7.5 primer (I only have 50 of these left so only shot 3 in each gun)
4.25"
1) 1351 2) 1320 3) 1318
7.5"
1) 1405 2) 1385 3) 1393

These next loads are load developement with my new 405gr WLNGC's .452" Beartooth bullets/ Lil-Gun powder and all used CCI BR-4 SR Bench Rest primers. I only loaded 6 of each.

454 Casull 405gr B/T WLNGC's 21grs Lil-Gun
4.25"
1) 1184 2) 1189 3) 1194
7.5"
1) 1303 2) 1278 3) 1270

21.5grs
4.25"
1) 1242 2) 1221 3) 1215
7.5"
1) 1303 2) 1287 3) 1298

22grs
4.25"
1) chrono didn't register a velocity 2) 1245 3) 1235
7.5"
1) 1316 2) 1328 3) 1291

22.5grs
4.25" I had sticky extraction with this load and gun only
1) 1293 2) 1274 3) 1269
7.5"
1) 1355 2) 1333 3) 1303

Well that's it for the velocities that I recorded and I shot them all in about 1 1/2 hours to say that I'm a bit worn out from it would be a slight understatement.

I didn't record accuracy today but all loads in both guns actually gave very good results with the 7.5" giving slightly better results.

I haven't had the time to properly evaluate the velocity differences between the 2 barrel lengths yet but a quick look tells me that there is only an average of about 100fps in the lighter loads and even less in the heavier bullets which really surprised me. I was expecting closer to at least 200fps difference.
 
Great info and data CC,

I wish I had a 7.5" to go with my 5.25" as wellto compare velocities. Maybe we should all get together next spring and spend some time shooting (Runt, Geologist, yourself, me, Gunnar and whoever else has been able to get one of the shortened guns) and chronoing them. Either LML or PG
Cheers
 
Halger280HVMag said:
I'll bring along my 5.5" SRH, also by Gunnar.
And maybe my 16" SS Rossi Puma M92 in .454 Casull too.
Im very interested in these things.:D
Click to expand...

And Halger of course, didn't mean to forget you bud! ;)

Of course I'll have to bring my Dlask short shotguns too, and if someone brings their 45/70 we will be set :)
 
Last edited:
Sounds like a great idea...

I'll bring my Marlin 1895GS and T/C Contender Carbine 45-70's and my 2 Ruger Bisley Vaquero's in 45 Colt as well.........

One other thing I had Gunnar install a Wilson Combat spring kit in each gun and had 3 out of the first 10 shots have failures to fires with the lite 9lbs hammer spring in the shortened gun. I replaced the springs with the 12lbs hammer springs that came in the kits and haven't had anymore problems.
 
Camp Cook said:
Sounds like a great idea...

One other thing I had Gunnar install a Wilson Combat spring kit in each gun and had 3 out of the first 10 shots have failures to fires with the lite 9lbs hammer spring in the shortened gun. I replaced the springs with the 12lbs hammer springs that came in the kits and haven't had anymore problems.
Click to expand...

Would hate to have that happen on a charging grizzly! but they would probably be the fastest three splits in history ;) I decided that for a bear gun I was not going to mess with the internals at all...I can live with the heavy heavy pull.

Cheers
 
Thanks for keeping us up to date CC! Great comparison numbers, I'll bet it was fun shooting and comparing both :D

Thanks again!

100 FPS average in most loads, and in the real world that aint a whole heck of allot of differance.
 
Last edited:
Ike said:
Would hate to have that happen on a charging grizzly! but the would probably be the fastest three splits in history ;) I decided that for a bear gun I was not going to mess with the internals at all...I can live with the heavy heavy pull.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Ike I normally agree with your statement but we intentionally put the lightest springs in to see how they would work. I found that the trigger pull was so smooth that it was far easier to stay on target when shooting double action. Even when I went to the heavier 12lbs springs the trigger pull is far smoother than before and I can do nothing but recommend the spring kit change.

We figured that there would be failures to fire with the 9lbs springs and Gunnar went out of his way to show me how to change the hammer spring which is extremely simple. After squeezing the trigger on the rounds that did not fire I inspected the primers and they had only the slightest primer indent. All 3 rounds that hadn't fired the first time did fire when I tried them again.

I also bought 2 new Marble front sights for the guns from Gunnar one was .325" in height and the other was .390" and as a reference the stock front sights are appr .3115".

I have found for all of the loads that I shoot that the stock height just didn't give me enough hieght adjustment and the .390" or tallest front sight was to tall. With the rear sight at it's highest position I was still hitting about 2" to 3" high @ 25 yards with the 405gr bullets.

So the verdict is in go for the .325" front site height on both the stock and shortened barrel length guns for all of the loads that I posted earlier.
 
Halger280HVMag said:
I'll bring along my 5.5" SRH, also by Gunnar.
And maybe my 16" SS Rossi Puma M92 in .454 Casull too.
Im very interested in these things.:D
Click to expand...

That did it I couldn't take it anymore I had to get one of these rifles to go with my Ruger Bisley Vaquero's in 45 Colt and my SRH's in 454 Casull.

I called Caldwell's today (they are the importers for Legacy Sports International) and found out that they have the s/s 16" & 20" 454 Casull models in stock so I called Tom Norman in Abbotsford and had him order me the 20" barreled version today.

Now to find a black/gray laminate stock for it... :cool:
 
As I just said I ordered a M92 this morning and should have it in a couple of days.

I just got off the phone from Ed @ www.gunstocksinc.com and he told me that he could supply the original Win model black/gray laminate stocks for about $145.00 US funds + shipping of about $12.00 to my PO Box in Blaine, Wash.

I would have ordered them right away but he started asking some stock questions and I realized that I had to have the rifle in my hands to give him some measurements of the existing stocks.

So once I get the rifle I'll give him another call and order the stocks.

He will work with Canadians and ship direct if you like.
 
Can't wait to see that Puma CC, they look like a great little gun.
Cheers

I re-read your spring post and see I mis-read the first time,sounds like you got a good safe trigger pull.

Cheers

Added: Well I can't afford a 45/70 right now but have a buddy who needs help loading and shooting for his new one. Almost as good as having one myself....now to loook for a good bullet and bear load.

Cheers
 
I picked the Puma up today from Tom. He gave me a very good deal on it but when we took it out of the box I noticed right away that the fore end was split on the left side just in front of the barrel band and the butt stock was slit on the left side of the tang.

Tom called the supplier and a new set of stocks are on their way tomorrow so I'll hold off on shooting it until their replaced.

On a brighter note the gun feels/handles very nicely and I tried all of my different bullets from 200gr Bullet Barn 200gr FPRN 45 Colts to my 395gr Cast Performance WLNGC's 454 Casull's and they all feed thru the action perfectly.

I haven't had a chance to load anymore of the Beartooth 405gr WLNGC's yet but I'm hoping they will feed perfectly as well. The gun holds 10 +1 45 Colt's and 9 +1 454 Casull's.

One last thing my wife even like the gun....... ;)
 
M92 454 Casull up date...

When I went to pick up the Puma I noticed right away that the butt stock and fore end both had cracks in the wood. We called the supplier and told him the problem and he said he would send out another set of stocks yesterday. I went out to pick them up and he had only sent the butt stock. :(

I raced to the gun club after I changed the butt stock and gave the little gun a workout.

Here are a few velocities in fps that it gets with some of my different 454 Casull loads.

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 (awesome)

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

I didn’t work on accuracy because I just didn’t have time but the 360gr and 395gr bullets are 1” left and 1” to 2“ high @ 25 yards. 300gr bullets are about 5” to 6” high at 25 yards and the 240’s are about 12” high at 25 yards.

I shot a bunch of 45 Colt loads as well. This little gun feed everything I had perfectly. It is also an extremely fast light rifle to shoulder.

Just look at the velocities of the 360gr and 395gr bullets this is a little 45-70. As of right now and other than I need to replace the stocks with black/gray laminates I would totally recommend this rifle.
 
I went to Beartooth bullets site and used their ballistics calculator.

Here are some 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
 
Camp Cook

Does the laminate stock have the exact same contour/size as the original?

Reason I ask, is that I find the comb of my M92 a bit low for a natural sight alignment for my eye, and if I keep the existing stock I will have to find a cheek-piece for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom