Ready to start reloading 454 Casull.

mrawesome22 · February 23, 2008, 11:02 AM

Well my Hornady dies FINALLY arrived Friday and I have everything I need to start reloading 454 Casull. I have Hornady 454 Casull dies. CCI 450 SRM primers. One pound H110. 100 .452" Hornady 240gr XTP MAG bullets and I bought 100 Starline cases.

The first thing I noticed when I got the dies was that it said 4 die set on the box. I was expecting a 3 die set. I opened up the box and there is a die that says 454 Casull TC. I'm assuming this means taper crimp?

Could I use a taper crimp with success on this round? I hope so because I really don't want to seat and crimp in the same step. I already got a case stuck in the sliding seating sleeve because I crimped too much and buckled the case.

The odd thing is the destructions made no mention of this TC die or how to use it. I was thinking maybe you can only use it on very light loads?

Anyway, any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

mrawesome22 · February 24, 2008, 11:08 AM

Well I just got back from shooting 20 rounds I made last night. My hand hurts. The load used the components above with 36gr H110. When they say no wimps please, they sure mean it.

The load was very accurate so I think I'm going to stick with this powder charge. It is the starting load, but honestly, it's about all I want to handle. Anymore would just be absolutely ridiculous. Maybe one of those Hogue grips would help.

I did have my first dud primer. I tried to ignite it 4 times and it just refused to go off. I'm gonna deprime it and see if it has any compound in it. Maybe it got contaminated somehow. Not sure but it sure shattered my confidence in CCI primers. One dud out of 20 is not good at all.

I ended up using the TC die with a very firm crimp. None of the rounds jumped crimp so I figure I'll just keep crimping with it unless I start running into problems. BTW, someone warned of sticking cases with full house 454 loads. I had no such issues. All ejected just fine.

Anyway, that's all for now.

BigDog454 · February 24, 2008, 11:41 AM

I've also had problems with CCI primers in the 454, I've switched to WIN WSR primers about 2 years ago and have had no misfires. My favorite practice load is 11 gr of herco and a 255gr FNL bullet, very accurate and mild recoil. For Ohio deer hunting I shoot 15 gr Unique and a 250 gr Hornady XTP, (not the mag bullet). I'v found that this load is very deadly and very accurate on deer at about 1300 fps. Hotter loads just seem to blow too big a hole in deer, overkill.
with a heavier bullet, 310 grgc hard cast I found that 30 gr of H4227 at around 1550 fps is about all that I want to handle.
What I'm saying is try some different powders. In my opinion accuracy is bore important then max loads for general hunting, especially here in Ohio.
Mike in NW OH

mrawesome22 · February 24, 2008, 12:37 PM

Thanks for the advise BigDog454. I was hoping to get WSRM primers but the store was out. So now I have 980 CCI's that I have no confidence in. I'm just glad I wasn't pulling the trigger on a nice deer when I found the dud. Maybe I'll try to return them. I've shot 1000's of WLR and CCI LR through my rifles and this CCI SRM is the first dud I've ever had. I've heard of dud primers happening but never thought it would happen to me. I just always chalked other people's duds up to seating issues.

Oh well. Stuff happens I guess. Hopefully the store will take them back.

under_dawg · February 24, 2008, 12:54 PM

I know this is off topic as I load mostly for 357, but I have had 1 or 2 dud cci primers out of every 100 or so as well. I'm kinda new to reloading so chalked it up to something I'm doing wrong, but seems kinda odd. Most of the time the will fire on 2nd attempt. I read here somewhere they may not be completely seated and that the first strike is seating it and the 2nd is firing it. Maybe there's a bad batch out there.

cdoc42 · February 24, 2008, 08:50 PM

I've been reloading the .454 since Freedom Arms first produced cases with Large Pistol primers. They eventually changed the cases to small rifle and sent me bushings to put in the primer pocket to convert my old cases to accept the smaller primers. I've used CCI 400 SR primers ever since. The only misfires I ever had were in these converted primer pocket cases. I had 2 that fired but did not ignite the powder. They did send the bullet halfway down the barrel, though. Had to knock them out with a wooden dowel. I have the converted cases in storage now and never used them since. Neither have I ever had a misfire or failure to fire. I used Remington primers once as you'll notice from the list of loads below, but I was just experimenting. None of the loads below ever gave me any trouble and all were accurate on a 5-inch circle at 100 yards just using a red dot sight without magnification.

Speer, Sierra and Hornady XTP 300gr bullets
H110 31.0gr CCI 400

300gr cast flat point bullet
H110 30.5gr CCI 400

Speer 225gr HP W296 37.0gr
Remington SR 7-1/2 primer Approx 1925 FPS

Speer 225gr HP H110 39.0 gr
CCI 400 Approx 2079 fps

Speer 200gr JHP W296 38.0gr
CCI400 or Rem 7-1/2SR about 2052 fps -I have read this type of bullet may have a jacket that is too thin to withstand the velocity but I have never had a problem with it. It was one of my earliest loads trying to get over 2000 fps with this caliber. I have since moved away from lighter bullets to the 300gr bullets listed above.

February 23, 2008, 11:02 AM	#1
mrawesome22 Senior Member Join Date: November 9, 2005 Location: Ohio, Appalachia's foothills. Posts: 3,779	Ready to start reloading 454 Casull. Well my Hornady dies FINALLY arrived Friday and I have everything I need to start reloading 454 Casull. I have Hornady 454 Casull dies. CCI 450 SRM primers. One pound H110. 100 .452" Hornady 240gr XTP MAG bullets and I bought 100 Starline cases. The first thing I noticed when I got the dies was that it said 4 die set on the box. I was expecting a 3 die set. I opened up the box and there is a die that says 454 Casull TC. I'm assuming this means taper crimp? Could I use a taper crimp with success on this round? I hope so because I really don't want to seat and crimp in the same step. I already got a case stuck in the sliding seating sleeve because I crimped too much and buckled the case. The odd thing is the destructions made no mention of this TC die or how to use it. I was thinking maybe you can only use it on very light loads? Anyway, any advice or personal experience would be greatly appreciated.

February 24, 2008, 11:08 AM	#2
mrawesome22 Senior Member Join Date: November 9, 2005 Location: Ohio, Appalachia's foothills. Posts: 3,779	Well I just got back from shooting 20 rounds I made last night. My hand hurts. The load used the components above with 36gr H110. When they say no wimps please, they sure mean it. The load was very accurate so I think I'm going to stick with this powder charge. It is the starting load, but honestly, it's about all I want to handle. Anymore would just be absolutely ridiculous. Maybe one of those Hogue grips would help. I did have my first dud primer. I tried to ignite it 4 times and it just refused to go off. I'm gonna deprime it and see if it has any compound in it. Maybe it got contaminated somehow. Not sure but it sure shattered my confidence in CCI primers. One dud out of 20 is not good at all. I ended up using the TC die with a very firm crimp. None of the rounds jumped crimp so I figure I'll just keep crimping with it unless I start running into problems. BTW, someone warned of sticking cases with full house 454 loads. I had no such issues. All ejected just fine. Anyway, that's all for now.

February 24, 2008, 11:41 AM	#3
BigDog454 Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2007 Location: NW Ohio Posts: 100	I've also had problems with CCI primers in the 454, I've switched to WIN WSR primers about 2 years ago and have had no misfires. My favorite practice load is 11 gr of herco and a 255gr FNL bullet, very accurate and mild recoil. For Ohio deer hunting I shoot 15 gr Unique and a 250 gr Hornady XTP, (not the mag bullet). I'v found that this load is very deadly and very accurate on deer at about 1300 fps. Hotter loads just seem to blow too big a hole in deer, overkill. with a heavier bullet, 310 grgc hard cast I found that 30 gr of H4227 at around 1550 fps is about all that I want to handle. What I'm saying is try some different powders. In my opinion accuracy is bore important then max loads for general hunting, especially here in Ohio. Mike in NW OH

February 24, 2008, 12:37 PM	#4
mrawesome22 Senior Member Join Date: November 9, 2005 Location: Ohio, Appalachia's foothills. Posts: 3,779	Thanks for the advise BigDog454. I was hoping to get WSRM primers but the store was out. So now I have 980 CCI's that I have no confidence in. I'm just glad I wasn't pulling the trigger on a nice deer when I found the dud. Maybe I'll try to return them. I've shot 1000's of WLR and CCI LR through my rifles and this CCI SRM is the first dud I've ever had. I've heard of dud primers happening but never thought it would happen to me. I just always chalked other people's duds up to seating issues. Oh well. Stuff happens I guess. Hopefully the store will take them back.

February 24, 2008, 12:54 PM	#5
under_dawg Senior Member Join Date: November 15, 2007 Location: Cayce, SC Posts: 222	I know this is off topic as I load mostly for 357, but I have had 1 or 2 dud cci primers out of every 100 or so as well. I'm kinda new to reloading so chalked it up to something I'm doing wrong, but seems kinda odd. Most of the time the will fire on 2nd attempt. I read here somewhere they may not be completely seated and that the first strike is seating it and the 2nd is firing it. Maybe there's a bad batch out there.

February 24, 2008, 08:50 PM	#6
cdoc42 Senior Member Join Date: March 13, 2005 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 1,690	I've been reloading the .454 since Freedom Arms first produced cases with Large Pistol primers. They eventually changed the cases to small rifle and sent me bushings to put in the primer pocket to convert my old cases to accept the smaller primers. I've used CCI 400 SR primers ever since. The only misfires I ever had were in these converted primer pocket cases. I had 2 that fired but did not ignite the powder. They did send the bullet halfway down the barrel, though. Had to knock them out with a wooden dowel. I have the converted cases in storage now and never used them since. Neither have I ever had a misfire or failure to fire. I used Remington primers once as you'll notice from the list of loads below, but I was just experimenting. None of the loads below ever gave me any trouble and all were accurate on a 5-inch circle at 100 yards just using a red dot sight without magnification. Speer, Sierra and Hornady XTP 300gr bullets H110 31.0gr CCI 400 300gr cast flat point bullet H110 30.5gr CCI 400 Speer 225gr HP W296 37.0gr Remington SR 7-1/2 primer Approx 1925 FPS Speer 225gr HP H110 39.0 gr CCI 400 Approx 2079 fps Speer 200gr JHP W296 38.0gr CCI400 or Rem 7-1/2SR about 2052 fps -I have read this type of bullet may have a jacket that is too thin to withstand the velocity but I have never had a problem with it. It was one of my earliest loads trying to get over 2000 fps with this caliber. I have since moved away from lighter bullets to the 300gr bullets listed above.