If one is using a 550 gr RN .458" bullet in a 14 inch barrel with a 1-14 twist what would be the lowest velocity it would stabilize?

Dammit, man!

How many guns am I going to have to put on my wish lists because you guys keep insisting on talking about them!







Seriously, I've also been considering the .475 Linebaugh vs. the .454 Casull in the FA. The .475 appears to be winning so far.

Carry on, then.

quote:

Originally posted by someoldguy:
:
Seriously, I've also been considering the .475 Linebaugh vs. the .454 Casull in the FA. The .475 appears to be winning so far.

Carry on, then.

A fine choice IMO......BUT......Bear in mind that you may be limiting yourself in the event you go after some critter that needs more killin' than a Rhino and a 460 grain bullet is required. You'll need a BFR then. I don't mean to put down the BFR though...they're a fine gun.......I had three but sold one........to pay for another Freedom....

Me_plat, WOW! The 45-70, 1 in 20 is a joke with heavy boolits and the 1 in 18 is marginal. With that 1 in 14 you should be able to go from hokey-pokey to as fast as you want.

Someoldguy, buy the BFR! It is not as pretty but will take any boolit made, is easier to get accurate and will outshoot the Freedom many times over.
How many guys have posted 50 yd groups shot with their .475 Freedoms? Lip service without proof does not impress me at all.
HEE HEE, YES I am at it again! C'mon guys, hammer me again.
Isn't this a wonderful site?
By the way, Whitworth and I did a fast hollow point versus a hard cast WLN test today. He took videos and all of you will be amazed at the difference.
He will post.

quote:

Someoldguy, buy the BFR! It is not as pretty but will take any boolit made, is easier to get accurate and will outshoot the Freedom many times over.

Thanks, bfr, I'll consider it.

And .475 Linebaugh revolvers do also shoot the cheaper and milder <cough cough> .480 Ruger, right?

For the price of one FA in .475 Linebaugh, you can get yourself a BFR in .454 Casull and one in .475 Linebaugh...... So there you have it, a solution!

Just get the 480 Ruger, no need for all that extra energy that is not needed anyways. Also you will save powder....lol I could not resist.

someoldguy, I second the BFR. I have 2 of them, one in 500 Mag and one in 45-70. Both shoot like a dream and I got 2 for less then one Freedom Arms. With the extra money you can get reloading supplies or more ammo..

quote:

Originally posted by Redhawk1:
Just get the 480 Ruger, no need for all that extra energy that is not needed anyways. Also you will save powder....lol I could not resist.

You are finally making sense.......

Thanks for the advice, all.

Honestly, I'm not overly enthusiastic about a little extra velocity, so the .480 Ruger may be the way to go period. I've heard and read about the Linebaugh for several years now and it interests me more and more each time I hear about it. I've also learned that penetration, even with the lower velocities, is outstanding, especially with certain 420-grain flat nose bullets. (I'm sold on flat nose bullets as far as penetration and cavitation are concerned.)

But, anyway, time will tell about which one I end up with!

Someoldguy, you really can't go wrong with the .480. Plus, they can be had for a song and a dance. My brother-in-law bought one (SRH) off of Gunsamerica for $400.00 and it was in outstanding condition!! They are out there!

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:

quote:

Originally posted by Redhawk1:
Just get the 480 Ruger, no need for all that extra energy that is not needed anyways. Also you will save powder....lol I could not resist.

You are finally making sense.......

I still like more energy....

Shoot an animal with that .480 of yours and tell me honestly if you think something is lacking!

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
Shoot an animal with that .480 of yours and tell me honostly if you think something is lacking!

Oh I don't think it is lacking anything. But that does not stop me from wanting more.

But if I want more, I will get my 460 or 500 Mag...

I am getting ready to load up some 535 gr. bullets in my S&W 460 Mag. I want to see what they will do... Man it is a long bullet...

Oh I can assure you that the .460 isn't "more" than the .480....... It's definitely faster, but it ain't more!

You must be talking about Ranger Rick's new bullet -- am I right? He is making a 975 grain .50 cal bullet now too..... I am begining to think that they are big for the sake of being big....... Can you say "too much of a good thing"?

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
Oh I can assure you that the .460 isn't "more" than the .480....... It's definitely faster, but it ain't more!

Are you starting again...

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
You must be talking about Ranger Rick's new bullet -- am I right? He is making a 975 grain .50 cal bullet now too..... I am begining to think that they are big for the sake of being big....... Can you say "too much of a good thing"?

Yep, I just have to try it out. Just think of all the energy I am wasting after that bullet passes through what ever I shoot.

If the twist stabilizes it well enough to penetrate through and not tumble and lose penetration...

Speaking of too much of a good thing, when are you going to test those 700 grain loads at 50 yards?? I am curious to see if they will stabilize.

I wonder what the point of diminishing returns is for a .45 cal....... The Casull seems to work exceedingly well and perhaps at its best with a 360 grain bullet. I've used 400s, but they aren't as accurate in my gun as the 360s.......

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
Speaking of too much of a good thing, when are you going to test those 700 grain loads at 50 yards?? I am curious to see if they will stabilize.

I wonder what the point of diminishing returns is for a .45 cal....... The Casull seems to work exceedingly well and perhaps at its best with a 360 grain bullet. I've used 400s, but they aren't as accurate in my gun as the 360s.......

That is on my to do list, I will take the 500 Mag with me when I go back to the range.

Keep us posted, Redhawk, I'm really curious to see how those big bullets shoot at distance.

I don't know about a .475, but here's a 10 shot, 50 yard group of CP 370 gr WFNCG's from my FA 83 .454

Looks like FA's stabilize heavyweights just fine!

Outstanding group, and outstanding shooting, Juggernaut! It's not a matter of it being a Freedom, it's a matter of twist rate, the length of the bullet, and the speed which your load is able to push it. Can you share load details? Have you chronographed that load? I would be curious to see how fats it is going. I personally think that bullets in the 360 grain range are optimal for the .454. My SRH shoots 360s well, if doesn't shoot the 400 grain loads I have used very well -- I've taken game with them, but up pretty close. Seems like one hell of a load/gun combination you've got there!

Whitworth-
Bullets weigh 368 gr. The pictured load consists of the aforementioned bullet over 23.0 gr of W296 and a CCI BR4 small rifle primer. It averages 1297 fps over the screens.

JD Jones of SSK fame did a test years ago with a contender in 45-70 with different twist rates. He used I believe from a 10 twist to about a 30 or 33 twist. His conclusion was that a the slower speeds that handguns operated that twist rate was not a very important factor, because all that he tested worked just fine, in his opinion..

quote:

Originally posted by Juggernaut76:
Whitworth-
Bullets weigh 368 gr. The pictured load consists of the aforementioned bullet over 23.0 gr of W296 and a CCI BR4 small rifle primer. It averages 1297 fps over the screens.

That sounds like a great load! I really like 296 for all of my handguns. Can't argue with that accuracy at all! Have you taken any game with it?

quote:

Have you taken any game with it?

No, I took that load after northern MI black bear but was unsuccessful. I use the 240 gr Hornady XTP/Mag for deer.

Deer don't require a whole lot of penetration. I was with bfrshooter last deer season when he shot a deer with his .45-70 loaded with heavt hardcast bullets, and it just zipped right through and did little damage to the animal. He used a hollow-point the next day in the .45-70! They're not a particularly heavily built animal. I'm sure that load would have been hell on a bear!

Juggernaut, you have proven what I have been saying all along. I shot sub 1" groups with the lighter boolits from the Freedom and as I got over 400 gr's, groups opened.
The guns WILL shoot if fed right although most anything is good for hunting.
The deer I hit was shot too low behind the shoulder. I found out her stomach was full and it pushes foreward so that is not the place to shoot them! My fault entirely. The jacketed bullet did too much damage on the next deer (bloodshot) to suit me.
I have seen this several times even when bow hunting. It depends on when they fed for the shot to work. I am going to stay away from that spot from now on. Bad habit picked up from lighter bows where the shoulder is off limits.
Anyway, the gun, caliber or boolit was not at fault.

That was with the .475, not the .454 though. But I think the same thing applies if you get carried away with boolit length.

It was the .45-70 -- remember when it zipped right through??

The flat point hard cast Zipped right through this little piggy

Whitworth, I was talking about the groups, not the deer I hit!

quote:

Originally posted by jwp475:
The flat point hard cast Zipped right through this little piggy

Yes, I shot that little piggy, except that it left a huge trail fo destruction and dropped it in its tracks!

Guys, after some consideration, I believe that I'm going to have to "wimp out" on the .475 Linebaugh and probably the .480 Ruger. That's just too much horsepower for what I would likely need. I generally shoot .44 Magnums and .41 Magnums comfortably, so I don't need anything beyond this power range. But a somewhat hot-loaded .45 Colt would probably fill the bill just fine as well. Since I'm already a big fan of the Ruger Blackhawk, I'm going to add this to my current short list of future handguns.

However, this doesn't change my mind about my opinion of the .475 Linebaugh being at or near the top of the list of the most powerful and effective handgun cartridges of all time. So I do share your enthusiasm for this great cartridge.

Glenn, the .45 Colt has no flies on it. You can do a lot worse. But, here's some food for thought. You can download a .454 Casull and a .475 Linebaugh to really mild levels, but you have the option of stepping them WAY up......keep that in mind when you make your decision.

quote:

You can download a .454 Casull and a .475 Linebaugh to really mild levels, but you have the option of stepping them WAY up......keep that in mind when you make your decision.

So you're not gonna make this decision easy for me, are ya?



Truthfully, like most everything else I try to put at the back of my mind, this cartridge will likely never stay at the back of my mind.
Like the V8 commercials, I'll probably be saying to myself, "Wow! I coulda had a Linebaugh!"

480s may be fired in the 475, but not the other way around

Glenn, why would we make things easy on you?? We just don't want you to regret your decision -- we lose sleep over things like that!