454 Super Blackhawk

[matt56]

Ruger must have done another run of these because when I went looking for one earlier in the year there weren't any to be found.  Bid on a few on GB and lost miserably.  I kind of stuck it in the back of my mind and made sure to keep an eye open.  Sure enough one lone SBH showed up at an LGS a few weeks ago so I grabbed it.   I have a pair of 454 Rossi 92s but no experience loading it in a single action. 

I like how they stuck the warning on the bottom of the barrel with these ones.  The maximum length ejector rod is nice too.  



I have a Marlin 1895GS that I load and cast bullets for.  One of the molds I use is a 350gr Ranch Dog GC.  I've been wondering for some time if a .458" bullet could be squeezed down to shoot out of either 45 colt or 454 Casull.  Today I gave it a try. 

I ran these .460" 350gr bullets down to .454" in three steps and stuck them over a charge of 23gr H110.  The .454" bullet passes through the Ruger throats with a little resistance.  They are definitely on the upper end of spec.  I'm not going to complain though, hopefully the larger diameter bullet grips the case a little better. 



I knew the OAL would be close and it definitely is, it won't take jump much to tie a cylinder up.  Hopefully these stay put, I don't think the charge is overly heavy.  



 I also have a smooth sided .458" 300gr PB/GC mold that I haven't ran any bullets through yet.  I think it's a prime candidate for use in the 454.  




Any thoughts on shooting heavy cast out of this Ruger?  

[Fowler]

The gun is begging for heavy cast bullets in my opinion, I’m not a light weight bullet ay warp speed guy myself but I think investing in a heavy .454” mold over sizing down .458” bullets will serve you far better in the long run. Sizing down bullets that far often leads to bullets that don’t size perfectly centered bullets and end up out of round and inaccurate.

Besides compared to what factory heavy cast billets cost a LBT mould can be paid for in a few hundred rounds cast...

[potatojudge]

For my comfort that OAL is too long. I'd need to really vet the loading process for bullet pull before using them for serious work.

Great looking rounds though.

[matt56]

Yeah I just figured I would try what I have before investing much more in a loading I'm not sure of. I do have a 290gr .454 mold that may be better suited. The nose is around .305" on that one while the nose on these .458 bullets is around .345"


I hadn't thought about the .458 bullet getting off center by too much sizing. I have plenty of these 350gr bullets to use up though.

[matt56]

I loaded a few more deep seating the bullet and crimping on the ogive. Hopefully this week I'll make it out.

[matt56]

I kind of forgot about this thread til today. The 350gr WFN shot beautifully in my SBH. Point of impact was a little higher with the longer loads, probably due to less velocity. Both regular and deep seated .454 sized bullets out shot Speer 260gr and 300gr .451 by far.

Also the longer loads did not jump crimp. I’d load 5 and check them after each shot.