I want to load .454 Casull and .500 Smith & Wesson lightly and want to use a powder that would be efficient in those large cases.

I seek to drive a 225 to 300 grain bullet in the .454 Casull to about 800 to 900 feet per second out of a 7.5" barrelled Ruger Super Redhawk.

A shooting buddy seeks to drive a 275 to 325 grain .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum also to about 800 to 900 fps out ot a 4" barrelled Smith & Wesson. He is an experienced shooter (ex-policeman), but novice loader.

I have no idea what powder to use but once I have the expert advice from this forum, we will then consult the loading manuals for the appropriate amounts. There have been a lot of new powders since the last time I did any thinking about what powder to use, and at that time I was interested mostly in economy of dollars. Now, I am interested in efficiency of burn and minimizing recoil for the energy delivered.

First, we need to practice shooting and become comfortable with the guns. Then we will consider full power loads. Using the same powder for full power loads (if it is also efficient at full power) would be nice, but not necessary. Any advice would be appreciated, both for the practice/plinking loads and for full-power loads.

So, to repeat the question, what powder to use or powder characteristics to look for to make light loads and to make full-power loads in each of these two cartridges. The light loads will drive lighter bullets and the full-power loads will drive heavy bullets for defense of life against dangerous (brown bear) animals.

Thanks for reading this far and thanks for any advice.

Larry (Lost Sheep)

I like Herco for plinking and target practice, I load 10 gr of herco behind a 250gr LFN bullet that I use in my 45 Colt. Herco is bulky and ignigtes easy. Never cronographed that load but 11 grains gave me a 1015fps average, this is a very accurate load in both my 454 and 45 colt (ps 2 different guns). I also like using unique starting at about 12 grains but it's not as accurate for me. 6 gr of red dot gave me 850 fps. Hope this give you some powders to work with.
Mike

If you want a velocity that low. Stuff it with Trail Boss.

Look on the Hodgon website for various loads.

Barstooler

quote:

Originally posted by Barstooler:
If you want a velocity that low. Stuff it with Trail Boss.

Look on the Hodgon website for various loads.

Barstooler

+1

I use UNIQUE for plinking loads in my Casull. But it does burn dirty. Dont believe the "New Cleaner Burning Formula" label that some of the bottles have on them now, it's a lie.

Trailboss or Accurate Arms XMP5744.

Thank you all for your advice.

My friend and I settled on Trail Boss and used 7.7 grains of powder behind a 300 grain jacketed Sierra bullet (FMJHP) which happened to (we found out later) be intended for the 50 Action Express. They were attractively priced and there was little else from which to choose. They had no crimping groove, so we seated up to the ogive and tested for crimp jump by firing a 440 grain commercial load with one handload in a chamber positioned to not bind up the gun if it should poke out of the cylinder. No bullet pulling at all.

Upon shooting the handloads, we were rewarded with 513 fps and an exceedingly comfortably shooting cartridge. Excellent for practice, familiarization and training.

We also had some 500 S&W Special cases to load, so I contacted IMR. Their representative answered in less than two hours. I was impressed.

However, IMR advised that 1) they had no load recommendations for the 500 S&W Special. and 2) "experience has shown that Trail Boss powder does not like jacketed bullets."

Inquiry to IMR as to the manner in which Trail Boss expresses its dislike was not so swiftly answered. Six days later, I still wait.

One interesting item I have to report is the effect of powder location on the velocity.

I sought a powder with a high volume to energy ratio, since I knew such a powder would be easy to measure (for my beginner friend), harder to double-charge by accident, and less prone to variability in ignition in such a large cartridge case.

We have not tested the first two effects (nor intend to), but we found that if we tilted the gun muzzle-down and gently raised it to level before firing, velocity averaged 450 fps and if we tilted the gun muzzle-up before firing, velocity averaged 600 fps.

Something to be said for wadding to confine the powder near the primer, I guess.

Anyhow, thanks for all the advice.

Larry (Lost Sheep)

I would think AA # 5 would work but am not sure. It seems to work everywhere Unique does with a cleaner burn. I use 11 grains in my 44 mag 210 grainers for about 1200 I think. Its a mild kicker and is accurate.