Looking for some recommendations on hunting loads for the Freedom Arms .454 Casull. I got a field grade 7.5" barrel to try out. I was also looking at a Premier Grade .475 Linebaugh with the 4-3/4" barrel but It was quite a bit more expensive over the field grade.

Looking for hunting loads for Whitetail/Hogs. Reloads or experience with factory ammo would be great!

Thanks

Buddy, if you're only shooting whitetails + hogs you are already over gunned in the performance arena so just about any load you pick will suffice here in Texas. But in answer to your question, you can get optimum performance from the Casull by using data for the 45 L.C. 'RUGER'data, not Colt. + tweak by 10% for a starter.

The Speer 260 JHP is a good deer/hog bullet in my experience. Ususally load it ahead of 32.0 of WW 296, which was below the starting load in the 13th edition of the Speer manual. They dropped this load in the 14th edition of their manual. This load does 1,618 fps from my 7.5”. 25.0 of 2400 with this bullet does 1,434 fps from my 7.5”.

16.0 of HS-6 gets 1,229 fps from my 7.5”.

17.0 of HS-6 with the 300 grain LFNGC from Montana Bullet works does 1,352 fps from my 7.5”.

11.0 of WW231 with a Lyman 454424 is a more sedate load, and I shot silhouettes with it for a while. Don’t have the velocity as this was pre-chronograph days.

These days, most of the bullet manufacturers caution against exceeding 1,400 fps due to jacket weakness and cracking the forcing cone. The Sierra 300s can be run up to 1,550 fps, but this is overkill for most applications.

Hope this helps some.

What is your recoil tolerance mine is a 300gr bullet at 1500.

Even through I have a 10.5 inch 460S@W and could push a 300gr bullet a lot faster then I do.

I don't.

I lot of game have been killed with a lot less load then that.

When I could get them I liked the LBT 335 wide long nose gas checked. He did publish load data for his bullets. Worked well on two whitetails! I switched to the Sierra 300 grainers. I haven't shot any game with them yet but figure they are just a hard as the LBTs were. Should produce the same wound channel. You could not deform the LBTs with a hammer and an anvil! Little bullets have to expand to produce a bigger wound channel. Big bullets don't get smaller!! He He

Good luck with those heavier loads. I can't -- or don't want to -- shoot that stuff anymore. A 300 at 1100 out of a .45 Colt Bisley is about my limit these days.
That Casull is a tremendously powerful tool.

I was looking into the Sierra 300gr jacketed or maybe a Speer/Nosler option. This is my 3rd Casull as I have a Ruger Toklat and previously had a 7.5" SRH that I got rid of (shouldn't have). I don't want full horsepower loads...should be able to best .44mag power level pretty easily without it being too punishing

I noticed the sights on this field grade are the same as the premier grade. I think this is an upgraded option for the field grade. I don't fully understand them as the rear sight is a V and the front sight is square. I am guessing you line up the high sides of the V with the top of the square. Range time will help. It does have the Pachmayr presentation grips which are not as good looking as the black micarta. I need to quit thinking about that Premier grade .475 before I trade off other things chasing it. The ballistics and #'s of the Casull vs Linebaugh are pretty similar.

The rear should be a square notch, or the front a gold bead, sounds like you have two different sight setups.

Unique will definitely get you down to the lower rungs. I like the nose profile of the Speer bullets. I have some Sierra 300 trainers, just haven’t played with them yet.

The numbers may be similar, but the .475 hits much harder. You may want to consider a pair of Scott Kolar grips if you keep the revolver.

Hitman - You are correct. Looking at the Freedom Arms website...I have the " Express Sight " rear sight with either the Field Grade or Silhouette front sight. Guess I need to order the bead. Going off their chart I need the .330 bead

i'll look into the Scott Kolar grips for sure

quote:

Originally posted by Buglemintoday:
Hitman - You are correct. Looking at the Freedom Arms website...I have the " Express Sight " rear sight with either the Field Grade or Silhouette front sight. Guess I need to order the bead. Going off their chart I need the .330 bead

i'll look into the Scott Kolar grips for sure

Go ahead and order a .380 blade if you want to shoot 300 grain bullets. I don’t have to adjust the rear sight on mine if I use the .330 with 260s and the .380 with 300s.

Thank you for your advice! I was wondering why the sights looked off to me but never considered that someone would have done something like that.

You are most welcome, glad to try and help.

Love the FA revolvers. I just picked up a Premier 7.5" in 454 with black Micarta grips.

Buglemintoday,

I'm not a big handgun hunter but I did play with a 454 Casull FA with the 7.5" barrel for a couple of seasons. I found a load that it liked and it killed caribou right now. In fact I probably shot 30 caribou while living in AK but nothing killed any quicker than this Casull. I shot a very big bull facing me at about 40 yards in the throat. The bull went straight down and I recovered the bullet near its anus looking basically re-loadable.

Load:

325 gr WFP .451 diameter
26 gr W-W 296
FA cases
Rem 7 1/2 primers
OACL 1.78"
Chrony said 1360 fps

This was lively to shoot but Mag-Na-Port, Pachmayr grips and shooting gloves helped a bunch.

I agree as others said that you don't need a bigger wheel gun.

Mark

When I went shopping for the ‘one’ hunting revolver, I bought a FA 475 Linebaugh with 5 1/2” bbl I believe. Shot one deer with it...worked for that!