.454 Casull

[Greyhawk]

I'm thinking of hand loading for my Ruger Alaskan .454 Casull. The ammo is difficult to find around here and the last time that I shot Hornady loads one brass split lengthwise down the entire length of the brass and was difficult to eject.
Anyone hand loading this round? What dies are you using? favorite loads? I have a Lee 4 hole turret press. I use the Lee factory crimp die on all my hand loads except for 9mm. I was thinking of getting a Lee 3 die carbide set and also a factory crimp die, and using starline brass.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks!

[RanchRoper]

This place is in British Columbia Canada and sells reloaded ammo. They seem very friendly, if you gave them a call they may share some info with you. They have 454 Casull in their lineup.

http://www.thebulletbarn.com/LiveAmmo.html

Good luck.

[JEBar]

I'm partial to RCBS dies ===> https://www.amazon.com/RCBS-454-Casul-3 ... s=rcbs+454 .... that said, there are several good companies offering them, the choice is pretty much a matter of personal preference .... I do like Lee's crimp die and Starline brass .... looking forward to following your progress in developing a load

[Jrprock]

I’ve got a Ruger SBH 454 myself.

I haven’t done a ton with it, yet. That being said with the heavy loads I’ve tried I can tell you that a separate crimp die and STOUT crimp is needed. I’ve tried some top end loads with 335 and 360 gr WFN bullets. Really have to hang on!

My preferred load, so far, is the 335WFN with a case full of H110/W296. It’s basically compressed at much over 30gr of powder. If you haven’t noticed, most published 454 data doesn’t exceed 50k psi while the SAAMI spec is over 60k. It’s really belligerent up near the top with my gun. I supposed a SRH would help in that regard with its extra weight.

I’ve used Hornday dies. It’s a 4 piece set and I have no issue with them.

Now if only Henry would make a 454 lever gun in the same size and weight as the Big Boy.