reloading the 455.

[drslav]

A friend asked me to reload some 455 for him. It's for 455 SW hand ejector. He has some 455 mk II and some 455 colt brass.
Can anyone steer me in right direction where I can find bullets and what available powders I can use?
Thank you.

 

[oneadam12]

Unique works well. Slow pistol powders. There are members here who cast for it, works best with a 200+ grain hollow base bullet.

 

[tokguy]

I've used a 45 LC PL bullet at 250 gr. The HB are a PITA to cast and locate IMO

 

[cyclone]

Faster powders help even flat-base bullets "obturate" better....

 

[drslav]

I can't find unique powder. Any other choice?

 

[oneadam12]

I can't find unique powder. Any other choice?

Nothing I'd have data for without hunting through some of my manuals. VV N320 available and near there on the burn chart (comparatively at least), but I doubt there's data. https://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Burn Rates - 2014-2015.pdf

Bullseye is IMO way too hot for 455's, don't have personal experience with much else in pistols.

 

[KotKotofeich]

I use win231/hp38 for shooting 45acp out of a shaved down webley (originally 455)

Once I get 455 brass my plan is to reload it with the same bullet and powder for the non-shaved ones.

I use bullets from jethunter.

 

[drslav]

I use win231/hp38 for shooting 45acp out of a shaved down webley (originally 455)

Once I get 455 brass my plan is to reload it with the same bullet and powder for the non-shaved ones.

I use bullets from jethunter.

Thank you. Jethunter is great to deal with.

 

[Incurable Collectoer]

I have a S&W Hand Ejector in .455 and it works well with Unique. Mike Beliveau who writes for Guns of the Old West I believe suggests 6.8 grains of Blue Dot in the MkII cases. I find that Unique works better with the longer .455 Colt cases. I make my own from .45 Schofield by Starline. My S&W Hand Ejector has a bore of .454 and the throats of the chambers in the cylinder let a .454 bullet pass through. So I use a .454 commercial 250 grain bullet.

 

[jethunter]

Most medium or fast pistol powder can be made to work. Unique. Bullseye, Titegroup, IMR700X, IMR800X, etc. Unique is my favourite. When you are looking at internet load data, make sure you understand whether it is for the .455 webley MKII case or the 45acp case used in a shaved 455 webley pistol. Case capacity is different and loads are not 100% interchangeable between the two.

As Cyclone said - Soft lead bullets work better, whether hollow based or flat based. Mostly any soft bullet can be made to work. I use flat based bullets because generally the will give better accuracy, but nearly anything will work.

Generally: Size to .454 or .455 for the S&W hand ejector models; Size to .452" for the MKI and MKII webleys. Flat based bullets are just as accurate if not more so than hollow base bullets. The advantage if there is any of the HB bullet is that it increases case capacity.

 

[connexion123]

...

 

[mkrnel]

Here are some other powders and loads you can try -

 

[drslav]

That's some awesome information. Thank you all.

 

[bobdbldr]

I don't see anything for trail boss! Is it not a good powder for antique calibers?

 

[Fargone4sure]

I use Trail Boss for my 455 loads, and really like it. Clean burning. Tin Star is easier to get right now, so would be another option.

 

[oneadam12]

Nothing wrong with trail boss, just newer so less data around for obscure calibers I expect. Based on the published stuff above, I'm somewhere in the middle at 5.0 grains of Unique under a 225 grain bullet.

 

[NorthCoastBigBore]

I don't see anything for trail boss! Is it not a good powder for antique calibers?

Trail Boss has a formula for calculating the max safe load, if you don't have data:

www.imrpowder.com/PDF/Trail-Boss-data.pdf‎

 

[bobdbldr]

Thanks guys, I was getting worried, I was sure people used it quite a bit, and I have 4 pounds of it for my .455, .450, .44 Russian. Etc.

 

[crashcollins]

Thanks guys, I was getting worried, I was sure people used it quite a bit, and I have 4 pounds of it for my .455, .450, .44 Russian. Etc.

Do you have any loads yet for your 450 that you could share? My antique will load and shoot .455 but it is a 450 revolver and would like to come up with some dedicated 450 loads for it rather than relying on factory or reloaded .455.

 

[bobdbldr]

Do you have any loads yet for your 450 that you could share? My antique will load and shoot .455 but it is a 450 revolver and would like to come up with some dedicated 450 loads for it rather than relying on factory or reloaded .455.

no still getting set up, have to slug the little 2" barrel and get an order in to Jethunter for those and other lead projectiles. Jethunter and a few other good fellas here will likely know a good load! I could use that info too!