435gr Heavies in the 4" 454 Redhawk-- Range Report

[Snyd]

I made it to the range today to test the 435gr Heavies in the 4" 454 Redhawk.

 

[Snyd]

My hope was to get these suckers to group decent at about 1000-1100fps. Here's the stats. Cold day, 5 below, sunshine. I kept the ammo in my car. I'd load and shoot six at a time.

The 454 SRH barrels have a 1/24 twist. The RH 45 Colts; which is what this gun was, has a 1/16 twist. It proved to do the job nicely stabilizing these big long boolits! This 454 cylinder has .454 throats, at least I can shove these .454 boolits through with a pencil. .452's drop right through. The chambers are tighter than the 45 Colt cylinder as well. The bore is .451. I sized the boolits for the throat size, .454.

RCBS 45-405-fn .458 mould cast with 5/1 ww/lino, air cooled at 0 degrees. Sized down to .454. 433gr lubed/gas check. Close enough to call it 435gr! BHN was about 19 last time I checked this batch.

Starline Brass, H110, CCI 450 primers.

25yds

19gr - 995 avg
971
1017
1012
1003
990
981

I will need a taller front sight for sure. It shoots about 8 inches high at 25yds with these big heavies. After the first three shots I moved my POA down so I could keep it on paper. I almost packed up and went home after this! This'll do! But I had 2 more loads to shoot.

20gr - 1072 avg

1088
1072
1064
1073
1045
1092

First two are in the same hole! I thought I shot it over the top. 3rd shot was up high. This is looking better all the time.

21gr - 1128 avg

1133
1132
1130
1111
1138
1126

I think I can shoot this load better. Because of the way my targets were and how I was aiming to keep the load on the target, I don't think I was very consistent in my POA. But, the 20gr load will work.

Bottom line is mission accomplished. I've got a 1072fps 435gr 454 load that groups as good or better than I can shoot I think. No pressure signs at all. Brass dropped right out. I could go hotter but see no need too. Recoil is not an issue but the snap/torque of the muzzle flip gets your attention. It's headed to magnaport tomorrow along with a buddies 480 SRH. He's getting the chopped 480 package done. I'll just get it magnaported like my Kimber MT. Next will have to be a penetraton test.

 

[Tenmm]

Nice work! Thats a sn***y looking Redhawk also, I'm not usually much of a fan of DA revolvers, but that one looks good!

 

[Amigo Will]

Looks like you are about ten grains from pushing it so you are at a good spot and enough soup for what you want

 

[Snyd]

Looks like you are about ten grains from pushing....

I'm not tracking here. Can you elaborate? 10 grains from what? Max load?!?! I can't imagine 30gr under this 435gr boolit. Maybe 30gr under a 335gr. Am I missing something?

 

[Smitty of the North]

I'd be interested in knowing if those 435 Heavies work in your Puma.

Will they Feed?
Will they Stabilize?

Thanks,
Smitty of the North

 

[Snyd]

I'd be interested in knowing if those 435 Heavies work in your Puma.

Will they Feed?
Will they Stabilize?

Thanks,
Smitty of the North

I did shoot 6 rounds of the 21gr load through it. They feed like butter in the action no prob. Pick up about 350fps. Six rounds was about 10-12 inch group at 25yds with one that key-holed. I'll take a pic of the target and start another thread and be working with this. I'm not sure if I can push it fast enough and stay within pressure limits for it to stabilize. I'm really not too surprised. From all the info I could find, the Puma 44's, 45's, 454's and 480's in all barrel lengths have a 1/30 twist. Pretty slow for this big long boolit.

 

[Amigo Will]

I think probably 28 or 29 would be max seated in the top grease groove if OAL is still good.You must remember this is old thinking by folks shooting elephant and not Alaska handgunner thinking.Like I said your loads are good and you should not have any pressure problems and yes with your loads you know the primmer worked,not knocking you in the least

 

[Steve8261948]

Snyd, other than the front sight, looks like this came together very well for you. Congrats. I'm sure you will solve the front sight problem also.
Steve

 

[Smitty of the North]

Thanks Snyd:

I appreciate the info.

Smitty of the North

 

[Snyd]

Thanks Snyd:

I appreciate the info.

Smitty of the North

To be fair I must admit that I wasn't using a solid rest shooting the Puma. Because of the way things were setup I had to rest on my elbow to get the gun high enough to shoot over the chrony onto the target. But, I still think I could have managed at least 6 inch group since I can normally do that standing off hand at 25yds with other loads. I'll set up different next time though with a good rifle rest and try some hotter loads and see what I can get. It would be great to get decent accuracy with this boolit in the Puma.

 

[Paul H]

Have you considered having Mountain Molds make you a custom mold? You can get the bullet weight you want, as much of the bullet out of the case as possible, and dial in the lube grooves to reduce the bearing surface. As I recall they are in the same ballpark as an rcbs production mold.

 

[Steve8261948]

Have you considered having Mountain Molds make you a custom mold? You can get the bullet weight you want, as much of the bullet out of the case as possible, and dial in the lube grooves to reduce the bearing surface. As I recall they are in the same ballpark as an rcbs production mold.

http://mountainmolds.com/
Steve

 

[Snyd]

Thanks guys and yes, I have considered that and may do so. I happened to come across this rcbs mould shipped for 50 bucks. I wanted to try a 400gr, turns out it drops heavier. The nose is as long as the 454 cylinder will take and the nose profile allows it to cycle in the puma. I have a custom LBT mould and out of all the moulds I have (Lee, Lyman and RCBS) it is by far my favorite but the metplat is to big to cycle in the levergun. I may have to get another LBT. If I custom order one for the Redhawk I'd probably try to get it closer to 400 with a bigger metplat. As far as the Puma, I don't think it's gonna be to happy with these long heavy boolits. I may have to get in on a boolit exchange over at castboolits and try something different. I've got a Lyman 335gr but I can't get it to drop a full .452, let alone .454. I may have to sell that one.

 

[tvfinak]

Looks like there are a number of custom mold makers out there - http://www.accuratemolds.com/ - is another.

I've got to get them or someone to make me a heavier mold for my .500 S&W - the 440 gr. Lee mold works O.K. but I want to go to 500 gr or more. I've got plenty of cylinder length but I'll have to get the forward bands small enough to fit into the throat.

Have you considered having Mountain Molds make you a custom mold? You can get the bullet weight you want, as much of the bullet out of the case as possible, and dial in the lube grooves to reduce the bearing surface. As I recall they are in the same ballpark as an rcbs production mold.

 

[Steve8261948]

Have you calculated how much more front sight you are going to need? Dave Clements did a very nice one for my S&W model 63.

Steve

 

[Snyd]

Have you calculated how much more front sight you are going to need? Dave Clements did a very nice one for my S&W model 63.
Steve

Ya, it looks like I need to go to .410ish total height. I'm not done testing/shooting though. As I write this the gun is at magnaport getting magnaported. I'll shoot it some more and see if my POI is lower with the reduced muzzle flip.

Nice looking Smith you have there. I've kind of got my eyes open if I see a 45 Colt mtn gun I'd probably consider it. About a month ago a guy had a long barreled 45 Colt Smith for sale in the swap and sell for an excellent price. I think it lasted 3 hrs. I'd probably have bought it if I'd seen it in time.

 

[evandailey]

There's another 5.5" 45 Colt Redhawk on Gunbroker today. This one is NEW in the box. There's no telling what that's going to go for.

 

[Steve8261948]

Snyd, don't know your personal tastes but, think you may be disappointed in the Mountain Gun in 045 Colt. Their cylinder is far shorter than Rugers in same caliber? But, you could try some of the Lee molds in heavy weights that have two crimping grooves?
Steve

 

[tailwind]

Great thread here guys! I must admit? a mountain gun in 45 would be nice!