.454 Handi through the chrony

[kmbrown]

Had a chance to go to the range today so I thought I'd try my newly rechambered .454 Casull barrel through the chronograph.  I was pretty impressed.  300gr Speer Deepcurl with 29gr of Lil Gun (starting load from Hodgdon website) clocked at 1970fps.  My 45-70 with a 300gr Sierra and 54gr of Accurate 2015 did 2044fps with noticably more recoil.  Didn't do any real accuracy tests as the wind was blowing and I'm starting to realize that my eyes may not be good enough any more for the Williams FP peep I installed.  May try a scope just to get a feel of the gun's potential.  I'm liking this gun.

[cwlongshot]

Congrats!!

 I haven't chrono'd mine yet. I also haven't loaded mine that heavy. IIRC 26 or 27Gr's is what I used with a 300. I also loaded up some 200 FTX bullets with a bit more.  they shoot very well, but unsure of the speed.

CW

[kmbrown]

That's the hottest I've loaded mine too.  My Super Redhawk load is 24.9gr with a 300gr Sierra at 1380fps.  The Handi load showed 1666fps in a handgun on the Hodgdon site.  I had intended to verify that but forgot the Redhawk!  Hornady now sells the 250gr FTX.  It's the same one they use as a ML bullet.  They are too long for the Redhawk but may be worth a try in the Handi.  They are factory loaded in the 450 Bushmaster at a velocity of 2250 I believe so there isn't any danger of pushing them too fast.

[quickdtoo]

I've shot the 250gr SST in my 45Colt Carbine at 1900+fps and in the 460S&W at 2600fps, the smokeless Savage ML fellas shoot them at the same velocity with good results, I have a box of the 250gr FTX, they're identical to the SST as you mentioned. 

Tim

[cwlongshot]

I have seen them, My worries where not to push them too fast. Rather just the opposite, not fast enough for good reliable expansion.

Tim have you had the opportunity to expansion test any at the lower say 2000 + - fps velocity?

I like heavier bullets and normally wouldn't even look at the 200's but a good friend has been using them with excellent expansion and devastating kills. SO I bought a couple boxes to try. They shoot quite accurate, but deer haven't cooperated yet this season...

CW

[kmbrown]

I would think they would work fine at 1500-2000fps. They were designed as a muzzleloader bullet and even with a 150gr powder load they wouldn't do much more than 2000 and with 100grs would be closer to 1500fps.

[moorepower]

My worries would be if my shoulder still worked after shooting a 250grain bullet at 2600 fps with a 6 pound gun! OUCH!

[quickdtoo]

No, I haven't CW, but I know grumulkin used them in his 460 Encore pistol at 2350fps.

Tim

http://www.gboreloaded.com/forums/index.php/topic,213633.msg1099146662.html#msg1099146662

If you look at various load manuals for 460 S&W data, you will become confused.  The reason is that some manuals limited the load because their bullet won't hold up to the velocity the 460 S&W Magnum is capable of.  In other cases, it's because they want easy ejection from revolvers which are obviously different than the Encore.

This 200 yard group shot with my Encore 460 S&W Magnum handgun measured about 1.5 inches.  When plugged into Quick Load, pressure approached the SAMI maximum for this cartridge.  Muzzle velocity is about 2,350 fps.

The load also works on Zebra and other stuff.

[quickdtoo]

My worries would be if my shoulder still worked after shooting a 250grain bullet at 2600 fps with a 6 pound gun! OUCH!

I dealt with that issue with a lam stock set! 

Tim

[cwlongshot]

My worries would be if my shoulder still worked after shooting a 250grain bullet at 2600 fps with a 6 pound gun! OUCH!

In my 454 my loads are entirely manageable. but as I like to repeat, someone here had a statement that stuck with me. "Recoil is in the shoulder of the beholder" and its SO TRUE!!  I added a syn stock to mine and it really lightened it up. But the syn thumb-hole seems to absorb more of the shock of the recoil . I felt it as very sharp in the lam stocks, yet now its not nearly as pronounced even tho its considerably lighter. EDIT: I just weighed mine its right on 7 pounds. With 2x7x33 VXII Leupold scope PRW rings and Ultra base.

I remember the funny taste I got in my mouth after firing some stiff 45-70 loads from my contender handgun. My 375Win also kicked pretty good too.   Shooting a 454 was actually comfortable shooting after shooting one of those!!

CW

[moorepower]

I am sure an MRI would show some interesting things in my shoulder, lots of heavy lifting my entire life. My 7 mag or 12 gause model 1100 don,t bother me, by my Ruger 77/50 front stuffer that weighs in at 6 1/4 lbs, with the famous Ruger rock hard rubber recoil "pad" is painful to shoot. About 3 shots with the 300 grainers and I quit! H&R does have a much better recoil pad and a little extra weight always helps. A life long friend of mine is one of the guys that did the load development for the .460 for Hornady and he said that working up all the loads for the S&W were not enjoyable!

[45-70.gov]

you must be reading my mind

i just got the urge for a 454 handi 2 days ago
i have  the classic carbine

[gcrank1]

Eyes not what they were...you bet! That easy scoping is one of the reasons I have gone to the H&R Handi platform.
On some rifles I just like open sights, but to work up the potential I need the scope, then can drop it and use the 'irons'. Well, in theory anyway........so far I am guilty of having the idea and not following up....I have left the scopes on. Lets say,"they grew on me".