45 Colt to 454 Converrsion

[verzilli]

Guys,

Still thinking about converting my 45 Colt rifle to 454 casull.  Talked with a gunsmith who said it would be very easy to do, probably less than a hundred bucks.  But he was concerned about barrel twist.  Here's what I know: the Legacy Puma 454, 20" barrel has a 1x30" twist.  My Ruger SRH 454 has a 1x24" twist.  The NEF colt barrel is 1x16".  Would that much faster twist cause a problem?  I talked with T/C Arms a long time ago about why they don't have a 454 carbine barrel.  The tech said, "We experimented, but couldn't get any accuracy from a 16-20 inch barrel.

I'd love to have one set of loading dies for my revolver and carbine in 454, but just wondering if I would ruin the accuracy of the barrel because of the twist difference.

Thoughts?

[quickdtoo]

FWIW, the 444 Marlin 22" barrel has a 1:20" twist and it shoots 265gr to 355gr bullets very accurately with less pressure, 44kcup compared to the Casull's 50kcup, I think the Casull rechambered from the carbine barrel should work fine. The twist rate of the TC katahdin 20" 460 S&W barrel is 1:16", if it shoots fine, the Casull should do good in the 1:16" carbine barrel too with the right load.

Tim

http://www.mlhunter.com/CFReviewTCPHKatahdikn460.htm

http://www.frfrogspad.com/miscellk.htm#pressure

[verzilli]

Thanks for the input.  I am not the kind of reloader that shoots monster loads.  I like middle of the road stuff.  Fun.  So it would be interesting to see what velocity increase I would get with a moderate 454 load in a carbine barrel.  Right now, my 45 Colt load of 21.8 grs of H110 and a 300 grain lead got about 1400+ fps (20" bbl).  I have a very comfortable 250 gr-- 1500fps load for the Ruger SRH.  That should clock out nicely in a longer 20" barrel.

Also, the gunsmith I spoke to was at Gander mountain.  Comfortable with someone like that?  Or should I ask around locally?

Thanks

[quickdtoo]

I'm getting 1915fps with a max load of Lil'gun and the 250gr Speer Gold Dot HP in my 45 Colt Carbine.

My smith is Wayne York, he's done several rechambers and/or rebores for me and lots of others here.

Tim

http://home.earthlink.net/%7Eoregunsmithing/index.html

[tallyho]

Hey Quick,
Thanks for the info. I've been toying with the thought of having a 454 done to my 45LC barrel. Haven't decided for sure yet.. but... always open to possibilities.

Haven't found a nice accurate load for mine yet, but have only tried out a couple of different recipes and I sense there's potential with a bit more tinkerin' - and thanks both of ya for the reload info y'all mentioned.

Cheers
Kerry

[quickdtoo]

You're welcome Kerry, my data is Hodgdon's TC/Ruger data for the 250gr XTP, loaded a bit longer at 1.673" and crimped with the Lee FCD, Hornady brass and Win LP primer. I asked Wayne about the rechamber, he was all for it, wasn't so sure about the 460 tho!!

Tim