454 Casull/45 LC

[jaybirdjtski]

Just bought a Super Redhawk. I don't plan on shooting full power loads all the time. I'll load my share of 45 LC "factory spec" loads for practice.....maybe even less. Is it going to be worth it to buy 45 LC brass or should I just stick with 454 brass and load target types loads? I've never bothered with 44 Spcl brass for the 44 mag although I do shoot alot of 38 target loads in the 357 Python, probably because 38 brass is so readily available or even free! The 454 Casull is a new animal to me but I'm leaning towards keeping my "full power" brass separate from the everyday target stuff regardless just to avoid any issues in the field.

Thanks!

[Doodlebugger45]

You can actually load that 45 LC brass up to almost 454 levels. I did that a few times before I had a lot of 454 brass. Now I have a lot of 454 brass so I rarely bother trying to hot rod the 45 LC brass. I'm a bit worried that someday I might accidentally put one of the super hot 45 LC rounds into my regular 45 Colt revolver. It would blow that gun up if I put in a round designed for my BFR. Occasionally I will throw in a few regular 45 LC rounds into the BFR at the end of a shooting session just for fun if I just want to finish up a box of 45 LC. Feels like a 22 going off in the BFR.

Some folks will warn you against shooting the shorter 45 LC in the 454 chamber, saying that it builds up a carbon ring between the mouth of the 45 LC brass and the beginning of the throats. It might be, but I've never noticed it myself. Same folks warn of the same potential problem shooting 38's in a 357 chamber. Again, I've tried it and not observed the problem. All in all though for me, it's just easier to stick with the longer brass designed for my chambers. If I want lighter loads, I can still do it in the long brass just by using different powders and charges.

[Abraxxas]

Im new to reloading myself but have owned a .454 for about 11 years now and just started reloading for it last week. I've shot a lot of .45 Colt long through mine as well as full power .454 factory loads. Now that I am able to I plan on making my reduced loads using the .454 brass, not only because I have way more of it but also because using full length brass will make your gun easier to clean. .45 Colt long brass is about 1/10 of an inch shorter than .454 brass, shooting it in your gun will leave you with a really nice little carbon ring in the front of your cylinders that is a pain to get out. Even better, if you decide to shoot .454 loads AFTER the .45 Colt longs, you better have an punch and a hammer to remove the brass from your cylinder. Once the .454 case expands after firing it that little built up carbon ring in the front of the cylinder does a fine job of holding the brass EXTREMELY tight.

I have about 500 empty cases to play with that Ive saved up over the years of owning my gun and another 400 or so rounds of factory ammo that isnt fired yet. Currently I am working up my first nice factory equivalent full power load using 240gr Hornady XTP Mag's and H110 powder, after that I plan to play with loading some light loads with the .454 brass with some different powder. Im sure you will get some really great first hand info from some of the others who have already done it. Good luck and have fun, the .454 has a great fun factor

Well a lot of the same info above, he posted before I got done typing... didnt purposely repeat