Hey all! I am experienced at the reloading bench, but I'm new to the 454 Casull. About how many uses can I expect from my brass when shooting full-power loads?

Good question! I'm new to the .454 also, wondering the same thing.

It depends on how hard you run them & how much crimp/bell you apply. I would expect 8-10 firings before you atart seeing neck splits.

I tend to load some pretty beefy stuff.. The best I have gotten from the Starline brass is 6-7 loads before the brass starts getting a little dodgy. If I find a couple of neck splits and I pitch the whole lot. It's not expensive, so it's my modus operandi.. besides I'd hate to have something fly out as I don't heal as well as I used to...

Thanks for the info, guys!

It depends on many factors, what brand of brass, how hot you load, and how much the brass is worked, ie the dimensions of your chambers and dies.

If you have a gun with tight chambers, such as the FA 83, use a good resiliant brass, don't go overboard belling or crimping cases, and don't use crazy hot loads, I'd venture to say you could get a couple dozen loads out of them.

In my 480, which isn't as high pressure as a 454, but is higher than the 44 mag, and out of a ruger, that doesn't have the tight FA chambers, I've got 2 dozen or more loads out of my brass, and out of 200 cases, have lost a dozen or so to very small case mouth cracks, and most of those were from when I was first setting up my dies and got carried away belling and crimping. I'm using Hornady brass.

How about posting some of your favorite loads for the .454 ?? I have two, a pistol and a carbine, but haven't started to load yet. It looks like I might be able to get 2300-2400 fps from the Puma carbine. What are some good powders for this caliber ??

I have a F.A. 454 and I have to crimp the hell out of them or the recoil will pull the bullet enough so that the cylinder will not turn. I do not shoot it enough to say how many reloads you may get from a case, but the way I have to crimp them I would not imagine too many.

I have three .454 revolvers and a Puma .454 rifle. With bullets over 300 grains, Lil'Gun is the powder of choice for all of them. I get 10 to 12 loads in my brass before the mouth splits start.

Brass is very important in the 454 especially when loading over 55,000 PSI.Starline is not as tough as Winchester or the old but good Freedom Arms.

This will pretty well explain it and I have seen the very same thing.
http://www.speer-bullets.com/pdf/ReloadingSupplementalDATA/454C_300.pdf

Jayco

Hi
I use Starline and Hornady Brass.I have a Taurus Raging Bull and I have as much as 20 reloads on Hornady cases and about 10 -15 with the Starline before any neck splits.
I shoot full power loads all the time and I put a moderate crimp on my bullets using a Lee factory crimp.I mostly use cast bullets for range time and Hornady xtp for hunting.
Regards
Johan