i've shot contenders pistols in .445 for around 10 years or so, have killed a few hogs, a few deer, and assorted stuff with the round and it has worked well, though recoil is brisk. tore up a couple scopes on a 10" Tc which had no brake, and pulled a forend dovetail lug off the barrel when i put a pachmayr forend on it.

later went to a 12" Virgin Valley, and finally a 14" TC custom shop with brake, the last was considerably more recoil friendly.

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about 3 years ago i picked up a 22" TC custom shop .445 carbine barrel, and have shot it quite a bit over the last couple years.

mine is throated long....gotta wonder if they saved money by only rifling half the barrel. wink

i experimented with 5744, Lil Gun, H110, 296, 1680, 4227 (both IMR and Hodgdon...still got a couple pounds of H4227). had better luck with 1680, and lil gun, with moderate crimps. never got great super great accuracy any lightweights, but 240 XTP's did OK, and also had fair luck with the hornady 265FNSP, Speer 270 gold dot, and Hornady 300.

with the long-ass throat, i seated both the 265FTX and 300gr XTP's out long by crimping in the bottom cannelure, and tried H4198, and Reloder7. the added case capacity seems to keep pressures moderate with slow burners and Reloder7 with the 265 FTX's is a magic combo for my tube.....loaded some test loads with AA LT30, but havent got around to shooting LT30 yet.

Charges of Reloder7 lighter than 34.0 still showed smoked cases, low pressures, but i worked up in .3gr increments, and at 34.9, found a sweet spot...continued up and worked past 36 gr, started seeing some pressure, backed down...settled at 35.0 as best for my barrel.

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i really wanted the 225gr Barnes XPB's at 2000+ fps to shoot well, but i never could get them to group like the Hornady 265's. The 265's also work well at those speeds, when they run into stuff......my 2015 buck, taken with the .445 SuperMag carbine...

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The hornady 265 FNSP's seem more solidly built and plow through more meat than the FTX's do. The 300gr XTP's seem to open pretty quick but have enough mass to penetrate well. Bought some 300gr Nosler JHP's to try but haven't shot em yet.

i had better luck with rifle primers as a whole, and dont shoot pistol primers in mine any more. have shot about 200 rounds of the hornady 265 FTX since finding that combo, still shoots great, no issues. the stuff i was shooting might be hot in your barrel, so approach those with caution....

will dig through some loading notes and see if anything else comes to mind.

Regards-

G~





Last edited by FyrepowrX; 03/09/16.
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