Reduced .454 Casull loads?

[FirstFreedom]

I recently found out that my new Puma 92 in .454 casull will not feed .45 colts like I had hoped & planned - too short OAL. Anyone make a ".454 Lite" round that would be good but not overkill for whitetail hunting? If not, what's the lowest-pressure factory offering in .454? Or is it time to just get the .454 dies and start reloading?

[Art Eatman]

Call me clueless about why you'd think the Casull full-power load was "overkill" for Bambi. I won't argue that my '06 isn't more than is needed for up close and personal, and that my .243 is just fine, but I can't relate much to "overkill".

, Art

[FirstFreedom]

Well, maybe not overkill, but I'd consider full house .454 loads to be unnecessary for a clean kill at short ranges, and unnecessary wear & tear on the rifle, as .45 colt is adequate for the smallish whitetails around here. Really, the so-called .45 colt "magnums" - or splitting the difference - would be what I want without undo recoil and wear & tear. I suppose dies, bullets, & such for this round is a good investment, however, as I could load .45 colts as well for other guns, and it's a simple straightwalled round to add to the reloading lineup. Thanks.

[roscoe]

I recently found out that my new Puma 92 in .454 casull will not feed .45 colts like I had hoped & planned

Dang, that sucks. I would get the rifle fixed, rather than limit yourself to .454 ammo. I bet there are people who would know how to fix the problem (since it was designed to feed .45 rounds).

[FirstFreedom]

Hmm, that's weird. Before I bought it, I *thought* that I had read first-person accounts of it feeding .45 colts fine - but that could have been just wishful thinking to justify a rifle I wanted. It may feed *some* .45 colts fine, but not the 3 brands I tried - not even close - would not feed at all, because the next round in front of the one being fed, in the tube mag, would go ahead and also be release from the tube mag, pushing back the round being fed, turning it into a major snafu. .454 casull rounds feed perfectly. Now after my initial frustration, I just accepted this, because after all, it's labeled .454 casull, not .45 colt - it wasn't designed to feed them. Or so I thought - you say that it WAS designed to feed them - are you sure - because I would think that it's not *designed* to; just that if it happens to, it's a nice bonus, but you can't count on it due to OAL being critical on levergun feeding.

By the way, my *other* Puma 92, in .357 mag, DOES feed .38 specials fine. Go figure.

[tINY]

Mine feeds 45 colt just fine. Sometimes it doesn't feed the next round with 454s. It seems to be getting less, so I will just wait and see. (only a few dozen rounds fired so far).

I would definately reload for this rifle. You can put a variety of different loads together. Myself, I like jackets and heavy pills, so it's all about how much H110 to put behind 300 grain bullets.....



-tINY

[tINY]

I usually don't compress them.


-tINY

[50 shooter]

Hornady does make a 240 grain HP/XTP in .454, to me that would be the bottom end of the .454. I know a couple people that had/have the Puma, man that thing just hurts to shoots and recoil doesn't bother me. Personally I couldn't see shooting a full power load .454 out of it.

But if you feel the need, I have some 405 gr. projo's coming for my Raging Bull if you want to try a few out.

[roscoe]

In the GunBlast review, the writer shoots quite a variety of .45 Colt loads. I think maybe you should get it checked out.

I, too, want a .454 that will shoot .45, and would be dissatisfied if it jammed the .45 rounds. Someday, I hope to get a Wild West take-down Guide gun in .454/.45 Colt - that would be the bees knees. But cheap, they aint.

[SGHOTH]

Winchester makes a 250 grain JHP 454 round @ 1300 FPS. Only 938 fpme. Sounds like just what you need.

[Moloch]

Do you know magtech? They produce a 454 260 grain FMJ at 1700 or so, not very hot and a nice practice round out of my redhawk. Should be very mild 2000 fps out of a carbine.

BTW, the casull isn't overkill at whitetail, but it kills it for sure.

[FirstFreedom]

Thanks; I'll take a look at the Winchester and Magtech - that Win 250 load sounds about right what I want.

[Gazpacho]

Will your Puma load 45 Colt from the breech? Or, can you load a single 45 Colt into the magazine then cycle that into the barrel? Your follow-up shot would have to be a 454, but if you are careful and lucky, you won't need one.

I believe for reloading, the standard procedure to working up a load is to start at 10% below the max listing. That might ease things up a bit.

[FirstFreedom]

"Will your Puma load 45 Colt from the breech?"

Yes, it will.

Or, can you load a single 45 Colt into the magazine then cycle that into the barrel?

and yes it will. It's a fine single shot .45 colt rifle.

Your follow-up shot would have to be a 454, but if you are careful and lucky, you won't need one.

Now that's something I hadn't considered, but it's a good idea. I'm sure that if I long-loaded some .45 colts with the bullet sticking further out, they would feed fine. But that's a reloading proposition, so may as well go .454 if reloading. But just to clarify - .454 dies will or will not properly re-size .45 colt brass, such that one set of dies will do both?

[Crosshair]

You could always get into reloading and load some .454 with 45 Colt loads.

[ninemm]

FirstFreedom

Your 454 should handle 45 colt.

Read this:

http://www.gunblast.com/Paco_Legacy_454.htm

[FirstFreedom]

Thanks nine, but I've read that several times already; before I bought the rifle in fact. He shows he shoots .45 colt - but I don't recall him saying specifically that the colts FED - lemme look at that again - hang on. You can definitely load them one at a time and shoot them. PLUS, a lot of his stuff is handloads - it would be very easy to stretch out the OAL a bit on a .45 colt loading to make them feed fine. But it's (a) feeding from the tube mag, with (b) factory (c) .45 colt rounds I'm having trouble with... Crosshair, I have reloading stuff, I just didn't want to complicate the reloading lineup with more dies, brass, shell holders, powders, bullets, primers in another caliber if I don't have to. But this is one area where it's probably worth it, and fun to reload for these straightwalled calibers - I'm pretty sure (but not 100%, as I said) that with .454 dies I can also properly size .45 colt - almost positive on that.

Edit: Yep, I was right - if you read the article carefully, Mr. Kelly never SAYS that it fed any .45 colts from the tube mag! The gun rags would be proud - he must be getting a kickback!

[tINY]

Like I said before, my Puma 92 feeds 45LC just fine. It's the SS 16" version, if that matters.



-tINY

[tINY]

Like I said before, my Puma 92 feeds 45LC just fine. It's the SS 16" version, if that matters.



-tINY

[ninemm]

FF

Give this fellow a call. I am sure he can tell you what is wrong.

http://www.stevesgunz.com/

[guntotin_fool]

Just something from my point of view, I would reject the HP bullets as game bullets as most are designed for a pistol velocity and fired at much higher carbine velocities they may have insufficient penetration, We found that 240 JHP's out of a 94 trapper were woefully insufficient for hogs as them more or less blew up on contact with the higher velocities. A change to 240 JSP's and later 270 JSP's and then WFT hard casts worked much better.

[tINY]

The bullets designed for 454 casul are plenty tough. Most of the revolvers that fire the round are tight-gapped and have 8-12" barrels.

Unfortunately, I haven't found anything over 300 grains in a jacketed bullet and the 45 rifles are .458 pills instead of .452.



-tINY