Is this unusual?

[cdoc42]

I have a Freedom Arms .454 Casull through which I have been shooting 300gr Hornady XTP and Sierra bullets. I have never had a problem with the either bullet but I understand the "mag" XTP is recommended for full power .454 loads.

I have about 300 XTP bullets in 250gr and 300gr, so I decided to download to 45 Colt to shoot out of the .454.

I have .45 Colt RP cases, and 26gr of H110 with the 250gr XTP had 5 rounds touching each other at 25 yards (book stats = about 1100 fps). The 300gr load is 18.5gr of H110, and 5 shots fit inside a 3-inch circle but do not group as well as the 250gr.

Anyway, it should be, once the round is fired, the case expands to release the bullet. What I've found is neither .451" or .452" bullets will slide into a fired, unresized case .45 Colt case at all. If I resize the cases to deprime, and bell the mouth I can reseat both bullets without any bulge or effort.

Is this a problem I should be concerned about?

[T. O'Heir]

No. The only thing that matters is the bullets do what you need after resizing.
There's nothing "mag" about an XTP either. It's just a jacketed bullet. Jacketed bullets get really expensive to shoot regularly too.
26 grains of H110 with a 250 grain jacketed bullet is close to max. You work up to that?
18.5 grains of H110 is WAAAAY below minimum for a .45 Colt 300.

[BBarn]

Nothing to be concerned about, the brass relaxes a bit after firing. Those nice tight chambers in your FA work the brass very little.

It's wise of you to use those non-MAG XTPs in lower pressure/velocity loadings as you did.

[cdoc42]

T.O'Heir, it is my impression that the "mag" bullet is thicker in jacket construction than traditional XTP bullets. I had the experience of a 180gr Speer .44 Mag splitting the barrel of a Ruger Super Blackhawk like a piece of bamboo. I was told by Ruger the problem was bullet jacket was too light, separated and formed a ring that obstructed the barrel with a subsequent shot. I was using H110 29gr with range being 29.0-31.5gr.

The load data I used was from Hodgdon Manual No 27, page 138 - "45 Colt (data) for "Ruger, Freedom Arms and T.C. Only." 250gr HDY XTP start with H110 = 25.7gr...Max =26.5gr. At Max the pressure is 29,800 CUP. There is no listing for the 250gr XTP for .454 in the manual, but with Barnes X, 27.5gr gives 45,100 cup at start loads.

Sorry, I made an error with the reported 300gr load - it was H110 22gr.

BBarn, thanks for your confidence assurance.

[Unclenick]

Originally Posted by T. O'Heir

There's nothing "mag" about an XTP either. It's just a jacketed bullet.

There is something "mag" about the one the OP is talking about: the name and purpose. They make two XTP lines in some calibers. They are designated:

XTP®

and

XTP®Mag™

Jacketed bullets have design impact velocity ranges. Too slow, and they won't expand properly. Too fast and they come apart in the target. The XTP®Mag™ bullets are designed so the upper-velocity limit of their expansion range is within magnum handgun and carbine velocities. I would not expect it to expand as reliably at short barrel 45 Colt handgun as the regular XTP® bullets for that caliber do, but neither will it come apart at carbine and heavy magnum velocities as the XTP® can.