Hand loading for the FA 454 Casull

[Old 454]

Well last night I tryed my hand for reloading for the freedom Arms 454 Casull.

I had cast preformance 325 GR. Heat treated plain based bullets.

Well things did not go to well, the darn bullet is just to long for the FA.

454 calls for an COAL of 2.770 I measured some Winchester platinume tiped supreme in 260 grain and they mesured out at 2.760 and fit perfect in the FA cylinders.

The Cast preformand I seated at the canalure measured out at 2.765 and when I tryed to put one in the cylinder they were about 40 thousands to long and sat just above the cylinder and the loading gate would not close, I had to seat the bullet below 2.735 to get them to seat in the cylinder and the loading gate to close, but when I did this the crimp was to high above the canalure and just smashed the lead.

I figure the cases may have need triming, but no they were spot on in length.

So the question is, can I down load this bullet to about 1000FPS with the seating above the canalure or am I just SOL on these bullets. I do have a friend that casts his own bullets, and my have him just recast the into a 300 grain GC of the appropriate length.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

[Lost Sheep]

I am having trouble picturing your description.

If you take the cylinder out of the gun, do the cartridges chamber with the bullet protruding from the front of the cylinder or do the cartridges not completely chamber because of some interference in the chamber?

If the latter, I have another two questions.

Have you been shooting 45 Colt? there may be a buildup of lube and burnt powder that needs to be cleaned out before chambering 454 brass.

What is the diameter of the brass along its entire length? If it has been enlarged by the bullet or is out of round that could cause chambering problems.

If all else fails, load the bullets in 45 Colt brass (with powder charges appropriate to the smaller case).

Lost Sheep

[Old 454]

Mr.Sheep,

I had it all backwards, the bullet wasn't to long it was to big around.

I found this out by taking a candle and sooted up the bullet real good and then put it in the cylinder, and low and behold they were to big in diameter.

These were Cast Preformance 325 Gr, LBT LFNPB's.

There were supposed to be .452 in diameter and all were .454, so I put them throught a .451 swagger and they now chamber perfectly.

In my reading up for this problem I found that there was some info out there and when I find it again I will link it here, that FA revolvers due to there very tight tolerance in the cylinder bore, lead bullets should be a size of .451 for the 454 casull.

Mr.Sheep thank you for taking the time to help out, you have help answered more of my questions then just about any one. you are my hero lol

By the way the Freedom Arms I bought was 23 yrs old and was never shot, except at the factory test firing.

[Lost Sheep]

Cool and you're welcome.

If it was a car, it would almost be an antique.

Enjoy it. My FA has been shot, I am sure (I bought it used), but still feels tighter than almost any new gun I have ever handled.


As I understand it, the 454 Casulls from Freedom Arms came in two varieties, one with a forcing cone intended for lead bullets and another with forcing cone intended for Jacketed. (This in addition to the Premium and Field Grade designations). I cannot swear to it, but this is something I read somewhere.

You might want to slug your barrel and measure your throats, but it sounds like you found out what you need already.

Lost Sheep

[Old 454]

Yes I belive there is a small hole in the frame for a set screew of the FA models that you can change the forcing cone.

I am not sure if that is offered any more. I know the new models have either the Premier grade or Field grade stamped on the right hand side, mine don't have it.

But I am thinking since it sat in some ones safe so long, that I should send it in and have them just do a once over.Al though it shoots just fine.

But again Mr.Sheep thank you for all your help

[TimSr]

I bought my Field Grade model new in 1989. I read everything I could find on the gun I could find, both before and after I got it. I've never heard of the bullet specific forcing cone.

Mine has taken bear, boar, and loads of deer over the years.

Freedom Arms used to sell a variety of their own special bullets for this gun. I haven't been able to find their 240JHP for years, but have since replaced them with Hornady XTP-Mag. I still have a box of 20+ year old unused FA300gr JFP I should probbably sell. I think they still sell 260gr from the FA website. All of their bullets were jackets had a very hardcast core. Regular semi-jacketed bullets meant for .45 LC cannot be loaded to .454 velocities. When using Hornady, for full Casull velocities, make sure you get XTP-Mag, not the XTP!

I have shot tons of Hardcast 255gr SWC in this gun also, and they work in everything from .45LC loadings on up to full .454 power loads which shoot well and accurrately. Not nearly as good as XTP-Mags when you get out to 100 yds, but at normal pistol ranges, you wont notice the difference. I'm still on my last box of Bull-X, but will work up loads using Missouri when they are gone. These type bullets tend to be least expensive, and you'll also find it much easier to zero your sights to height of impact by reducing bullet weight with your lower charges.

[Old 454]

Thanks for the input Tim, if you decide to unload those 300 grainers drop me a PM and maybe we can work out something.

What other bullets do you guys use? I went on a few diffrent web sites looking for 454 bullets and wasn't sure what was what out there.

I am new to reloading the 454 Casull.

As in my above posts I just loaded up some 325 grain Cast Prefomance LBT Style bullets with 26 gr. of H110 under them, but had to swag them to get them to chamber properly.

Penn Bullets had some interesting bullets called Thunderheads.