Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading Best powder for heavy 45LC (Ruger SRH) or lighter 454 Casull Loads

I have a Ruger Super Redhawk in 454 Casull with 7.5” barrel.

Looking to load up some Hornady 250 Grain XTP for occasional shooting at the range and deer hunting.

I have both 45 Colt Brass and 454 Casull Brass.

Looking for advice on what velocity would be sufficient for deer hunting for max shot distance of 50 yards or so but still be fun to shoot at the range. I’ve shot full power Buffalo Bore 454 loads and a) isn’t fun after a few shots and b) everyone at the range stops what they are doing when that damn thing goes off.

I’m thinking 1100 - 1300 FPS would be a good compromise.

What powder would you recommend for the 45LC brass or 454 brass?

Thanks,
Mike

I settled on Longshot for that application in Ruger BH 45 Colt. 13 grains gets me a bit over 1200 fps. Slower burners allow for quite a bit more speed if you want it, but the charge weights are a lot higher for the same level of performance as Longshot, and cause recoil to be noticeably greater for nearly the same velocity, IME.

I've used a lot of H110/W296 in the past when looking for top velocities in 45 Colt and 454 Casull, but now throttle back a bit and use 4227 more than anything else. HS6 is another good powder for mid-level loads in both cartridges...

If you're shooting 45 Colt loads 2400 works great as does H110, 296 is the very same powder. AA9 is also a good powder for heavy loads. A favorite of many 45 Colt shooter is 20 grs of 4227 with the bullet you mention. For a little lighter load in the Colt try 9.0 grs of Unique, I've taken several deer with that load. And is this uncertain time a pound of it goes a long way.
In the 454 Casull H110 is the go to powder for most shooters, just don't shoot a reduced load! I have a lot of Longshot powder & it's one of my favorites in several handgun calibers from 9mm up to the Ruger 480.

Dick

I load my FA M83 .454 Casull with Hornady 240 gr. XTP Mag bullets, ahead of IMR 4227 powder. With its 10" barrel, this handgun gets MV values of 1450 fps. Very accurate load. With it, I have taken red stag and hogs, with complete pass-thrus and one-shot kills. This load is probably 400-500 fps less velocity less than full-power factory ammo with 240 gr. bullets, but it is terminally very effective. Rather than shoot any more of the full-power stuff, which I find increasingly unpleasant, I have come to rely on my .480 Rugers with 410 gr. bullets for big stuff like bison.

Thanks all. Sounds like 4227 is the way to go.

+1

DF

I would try to stick somewhere in the HS6 burn rate. Maybe even try a stiff charge of Unique. I say this based on your lower velocity goal of 1100 fps from a 7.5" barrel. You don't remotely need a slow powder to achieve that.

For mid-power loads I try to stick with faster powders. They really do kick and blast less for similar muzzle velocities. It's hard to beleive how much recoil comes from the weight of your powder charge until you shoot a variety of mid-power loads over a chronograph side by side.

Add weight of bullet and powder (ejecta mass), then take the percent of powder to that, which will be the contribution of powder to the recoil.

240 gr bullet 34 gr powder =ejecta=274

34/274=12.4 % (all things being equal)

4227 all day everyday.

Thanks all. Will try to find some 4227.

Has anyone used Titegroup for this application? I have some and was wondering if it’s worth a shot. It looks like it will get me over 1000 FPS with the Ruger 45LC loads and almost 1300 FPS with the 454 Casull loads. I primarily load for rifles where the cases are pretty much full of powder so the idea of such a little amount of Titegroup in a big case seems odd. Does that low charge weight negatively impact accuracy or have any other negatives? And of course there’s the concern of accidental double charges so need to be careful.

Following with interest as I should have an 83 454 by weeks end. I purchased several hundred 45 cal JHCs from Sierra on a close out special years ago. As they do not recommend pushing this bullet over 1400 FPS, there is a pretty good amount of data for running loads similar to what you’re inquiring about. Don’t know yet but the load books for 454 coming today from Midway probably has all that data as well (for about $8 IIRC).

Happy shooting!

Titegroup.......non position sensitive

Trailboss....fun plinker loads..

W296/Win110.......4227...#9.....these slower ones are what UR looking for

Today's availablity is the question as to what you'll buy

Look at Natchez link....

https://hodgdon.com/titegroup/

https://www.natchezss.com/imr-powder-4227-rifle-powder-1-lbs.html

Should be the proud first time owner of a 454 tomorrow, I got a couple ideas 😁

I'm just starting to load for my new to me Ruger Bisley 45 Colt with a 5 1/2" barrel. Horn 250XTP with 19.0 gr 2400 is giving me 1120 fps. I have a good quantity of this powder so will stick with this load. W296 will kick it up another 100 fps.

VV N110 or 2400.