460 Accuracy

[tn_junk]

Having problems getting my .460 S&W Katahdan to shoot especially well with 460 loads. Best I have done so far is a 3" group at 50 yards. It shoots both 45 Colt and 454 Casull more accurately than that.
Am using H110 and Lil' Gun primarily with 300 grain JSP and JHP bullets. Experimented with 50 Grains of Pyrodex and a 340 Grain cast bullet and groups closed up to 1.5", but don't want to shoot only Pyrodex.
Anybody else struggling with this? 'Bout everybody out there has more experience with these big bores than me, and suggestions would be appreciated.

alan

[Grumulkin]

I struggled with 460 S&W loads for some time before finding an accurate one.  I never did get H110/Win. 296 to give me acceptable accuracy.  This 200 yard 1.5 inch group was shot with an Encore handgun.

[Kurt L]

I have saw these listed a couple times the SST Bullet.
Are you buying these with the sabots to get these or is
there an outlet to just buy the bullets?
as it looks pretty pricey to buy them 20 at a time with sabots.

[Grumulkin]

No, they don't sell the bullets by themselves yet.  It goes against my grain to throw away the plastic sabots but they don't add much to the cost and, compared with premium bullets, the Hornady SSTs aren't that expensive.  I tried a BUNCH of different bullets in my 460 S&W Mag. & these shot the best by far.

[Davemuzz]

I don't own a 500 mag, but when I was developing loads for my smith 44 mag, most told me the "bees knees" was 2400 and H-110. Well, I used both with several different bullet brands and never quite got the results that I thought I should. Then I came across a 44 mag post that suggested Vihtavuori N-110. Well, I loaded up some N-110 with Hornady 200 grain XTP's and my 629 DX Classic will put all 6 rounds in a 5" circle at 100 yards from a bench. That's from a rest of course and the gun is scoped. But that's the kind of performance I was looking for.

Now, I don't know if VV will do that for a 500 mag....but I load N-110 for my 357 180 grain XTP bullets as well and from my 3" smith I will hit the 12" plate at 50 yards 5 out of 7 shots....and that's standing free hand with a two hand grip.

FWIW

Dave

[Heavy C]

Grumulkin,

Your bullet choice might be the issue.  I don't believe TC ever truly got the twist rate on the 460 right.  S&W uses a progressive twist and that is why those bullets work.  Most of the reading I have done points to bullets like the Hornady XTP 300 gr.  I also have the Katahdin barrel and have been doing a lot of reading on it before I worked up some of my own loads.  By the way, the comment on TC was made by TC when I called to inquire about a 460 barrel from their custom shop.  Try the heavier bullets and see what you get.

Heavy C

[Grumulkin]

One poster above referred to the 500 S&W Mag.; this thread at least started with a discussion about the 460 S&W Mag.  I had great results with H110/Win. 296 with the 500 S&W Mag. but not with the 460 S&W Mag. using a variety of bullets.  I'm perfectly satisfied with my 460 S&W Mag. accuracy using the Hornady 250 gr. SST  bullets.  I have tried heavier bullets including the Hornady 300 gr. XTP bullets with poor accuracy though not with 2400; I may try that sometime.

As far as twist rate is concerned, when I first inquired about getting a 460 S&W Mag. barrel, T/C said they hadn't been able to get theirs to shoot accurately enough with factory ammo.  I think twist rate is part of the problem with the 460's accuracy.  The S&W revolver starts out with a 1:100 twist and at the muzzle the twist is down to 1:20 which is a lot tighter than the twist rate on an Encore barrel.  The reason for the gain twist on the S&W revolver was because torque was too hard on scopes if the whole barrel was 1:20 twist.