Stuck .454 Casull Case

[varmitbob]

I had some problems at the range today.   I had some reloads that were making my Ruger Stick where it could not rotate to the next cylinder or eject the casing out of the cylinder.   I tried a second round out of the group, and it did the same thing.
  I have hand loaded for several years, but I have never seen this.  I am using WSR primer, 10.5 gr of Titegroup, 240 XTP Mag.  I have shot this before many times without problems.
  I was suspicious because I thought maybe it was the gun, but I put in a round that I had that was a factory load, and it cycled ok.  
  This is the 2nd load on this brass.  I tumbled the brass, trimmed the brass,  ran them through my full length sizer,  neck sizer, bullet seater, and crimp dies.  
  I inspected the empty casings, and the primers were loose enough to fall out.  Is this a primer problem or what?  It seems weird that it is on brass that was on it’s second load.

[PaulS]

Loose primer pockets are a sign of over-pressure rounds.
Sticky cases can be signs of excessive pressure and failure to rotate can be caused by bullets backing out due to recoil or cases sticking back after recoil due to high pressure levels.

I would check those loads for double charges and make sure the bullets were the right weight. If everything there checks out ok then check to see if there is a recall on the powder lot number.

The above comments assume that you are using 454 brass and the load is not listed as above maximum charge of Titegroup and your 240 XTP bullet.

The symptoms that you are describing are those of an extreme overload. If you continue to use them you could ruin your gun and / or cause serious injury to yourself and those around you when you are shooting. Stop using them and check them out. Under no circumstances should you use that load again until you find the problem.

[Lloyd Smale]

contrary to what is published. ALot of the book loads for the 454 are TO HOT for a ruger. They will work fine in a fa gun but my ruger gets sticky with loads that will run fine in a fa gun.

[Redhawk1]

PaulS and Lloyd Smale both have good information. As for me I have read to many stories about Titegroup. Most is over pressure. Personally I will never use Titegroup in any of my guns. JMHO.  

[simplicity]

I had a similar problem with the ruger 454 I had it was all due to the pressures pushing the primers out. What I did to change the situation was just changing the powder I started useing lil'gun and got the great results it's alot cleaner burning then h110, and you get the same velocitys with about 5000psi less pressure but if you try to go past the max load listing then you will have a mayjor pressure spikes which is very bad. The cylinder on the ruger has been tested to stand 90,000 psi. I hope this info helps.

[varmitbob]

I will try a different powder.  The odd thing to me was that this load worked before without any of these problems.  I used a hand dipper to load these so I know I did not double charge them.  This load is 0.5 under the max for this powder.  

Thanks for the help!

[PaulS]

Varmintbob,

There is a lesson here. Although the load is .5 grains under the listed maximum listed load in the manual in your gun and the conditions of reloading and shooting THIS time it is too much pressure for your gun.

You may be able to load the same exact components at some date in the future and find that it works fine or you may have a cracked cylinder and pieces of steel in your face.
It just isn't worth the risk to you, those around you or your gun.

[Redhawk1]

A hand dipper? :eek:  :shock:  You need a good scale when using such a volatile powder. I would never trust a hand dipper to load any powder.

[stuffit]

Really not much to add to the analysis already made.  My personal notion is that titegroup is not a good powder to use in the .454 Casull.  And if you have to use a hand dipper to measure the charges, then trickle them by hand on a scale when you are anywhere near maximum loads.  You'll likely be surprised by the usual variation in weight with dipped charges.  I've never found them consistant enough to use without weight checking.
 :wink:
stuffit

[Abearir]

Not to steal the thread but, I myself had a near accident a couple years ago.  I did some loading and only used some of the keg before stopping. Fast foward 2 years......ran out of ammo and loaded some more from the same keg, brick of primers ect.....on the range had signs of serious over pressure.  So I knocked some rounds down to reweigh....all was good.  So long story short, while the correct charge weight was used, the powder was lighter( thru evaporation of solvents??) so MORE was used resulting in a bad over pressure.  Moral of the story, use all your powder the 1st time around or work back up if its been open for a while.