Just wanted to know if the max recipes in the Hornady manual are the strongest loads possible in a Ruger no. 1 action. I know that a lot of older cartridges are loaded down to shoot safely in older guns that cannot handle today’s pressure. But with 119gr of water, 2200 fps with a 480gr bullet seems a bit slow to me. Just wanted to know if I can get any more out of the cartridge, was hoping to get in the 2400fps range.

anyone ?

The limit on the 450 is around 44,000. 2200 with a 480gr is going to be around 40,000+. To increase that large bullet up to 2400 would take around 50-55,000psi. Maybe more.

It was not built for speed. What would take more than 2200fps with 480grs?

I found this:

"The .450 Nitro Express is a large-caliber, "dangerous game" round, suitable for grizzly bear and African dangerous game (Cape buffalo, lion, elephant, etc.). The cartridge was originated in the 1890s by the legendary English gunmakers Holland and Holland. It uses a rimmed case 3.25 inches long and is based on an older black powder cartridge but strengthened for smokeless powder (modern cartrige cases are available from A-Square and Bertram). This caliber uses large amounts of slow-burning powder to push a heavy bullet very fast. Typical loads use up to 110 grains of VihtaVuori 560 powder to push a 500-grain Speer Grand Slam or Woodleigh bullet to 2500 feet per second. (Contrast this to the 1900 fps you get from a typical .458 Winchester Magnum rifle and you can see the difference is more than cosmetic.)"

I just asked because this data is comparativly hoter then any reloading info that I have found. Is the Max cup stated because of double/older rifles that this cartige was chambered for.

Just for your info. QL calls that load 52,087psi 109% case capacity and 2433fps. Woodleigh or Speer both within a couple fps and psi of each other.

Looking around I see more loads in the 104-105 grs of 560 and 2250-2280fps