I posted this in the Reloading Forum with no response.

Anyone reload the S&W 460? I see Starline Brass is readily available, is there anything else?

Hodgdon has some good information, what else has been tried?

Jim "Bwana Umfundi"

I had my 20" Bullberry 454 casull Encore rifle barrel rechambered to SW 460 but haven't loaded any of my Starline brass.I'm going to use data from Hodgdon & Cast Performance for my loads using some CP 265gr & 300gr bullets with H 110/Win 296 to see how they perform as I want to try them out on feral CA pigs.

I'll be after deer with my 460 S&W tomorrow. On paper, it's right on at about 140 yards so I should be good to 200 yards anyway.

You can get Hornady loaded ammunition but I haven't tried it.

My load uses:

Starline brass
Federal 210M primers
Hornady 200 grain HP XTP bullets
48.0 grains of Winchester 296

I tried IMR 4227 but got better results with Winchester 296.

I admit that I don't know anything about loading for the 460 S&W. Can it really take 48 grains of 296? Or should that be 28 grains?

That's no typo. I run 47.5 grains of H110 behind a 250 gr XTP. It seems strange to dump that much powder into a handgun case though.

With a .454 Cassull, and 325 gr LBT's loaded DOWN to a mere 1200 fps one can shoot completely through an elk on a broadside.

How BIG are Your deer??

Most deer in Ohio are pretty average. Some probably go 200 lbs. At least where I live, shots could be long because of flat open ground which is the reason for the 460 S&W. Ohio requires that a handgun have at least a 5 inch barrel and shoot a straight walled cartridge of at least .357 caliber. Other good longe range choices for Ohio would probably be the 357 Maximum and the 444 Marlin.

My current load should be good for about anything in North America. If I were going for Grizzly I would probably use a heavier bullet and not a hollow point.

quote:

Originally posted by JBoutfishn:
I posted this in the Reloading Forum with no response.

Anyone reload the S&W 460? I see Starline Brass is readily available, is there anything else?

Hodgdon has some good information, what else has been tried?

Jim "Bwana Umfundi"

I use all my Hornady brass and stick with Hodgdon's reloading data and have great accuracy. I am shooting Hornady 240 gr. XTP Mag's, Nosler 260 gr. Partitions and 300 gr. cast bullets all with great accuracy out to 150 yards. I have not done a lot of 200 yard shooting with my 460 Mag, but know it is up for the task.

I guess my years are showing, old dog, new tricks kinda' thing. Using H110, 300 gr. bullet in 454, 30 gr gets one 1716fps per Hodgdon. Same weight in 460, 42.5 gr H110 gets one 2034fps. Nothing personal now folks, but are we not approaching that proverbial law of diminishing returns? Course, if I get around to buying a 460, I'll have to reconsider my skepticism.

quote:

Originally posted by Bull Snake:
I guess my years are showing, old dog, new tricks kinda' thing. Using H110, 300 gr. bullet in 454, 30 gr gets one 1716fps per Hodgdon. Same weight in 460, 42.5 gr H110 gets one 2034fps. Nothing personal now folks, but are we not approaching that proverbial law of diminishing returns? Course, if I get around to buying a 460, I'll have to reconsider my skepticism.

300 fps is a lot more energy with a 300 gr. bullet. You can make the same argument about a hot loaded 45 L/C and a 454 Casull.

This is not meant to offend anyone out there with a .460, but if energy is the criteria, we should be looking at rifles instead......The only advantage I see over the Casull is the ability to reach out and touch something a bit farther. That long case will also accept real heavy bullets without eating up too much case capacity.

This forum has redirected my thinking about big-bore handguns in that velocity isn't everything, but penetration certainly is.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
This is not meant to offend anyone out there with a .460, but if energy is the criteria, we should be looking at rifles instead......The only advantage I see over the Casull is the ability to reach out and touch something a bit farther. That long case will also accept real heavy bullets without eating up too much case capacity.

This forum has redirected my thinking about big-bore handguns in that velocity isn't everything, but penetration certainly is.

No offence taken, but some of us like to do it with a handgun. If I wanted to do it with a rifle, I would just reach in my gun safe and get one. I guess you would have to be a dedicated handgun hunter to understand.

I can get more powder in a 460 case and shoot 395 gr. cast bullets at a higher speed than I could out of a 454 Casull. But I just don't go for speed, but accuracy is my most important thing to me.

Redhawk -- I am a handgun and rifle hunter. I have an SRH in .480 Ruger which is currently undergoing the conversion (5-shot cylinder) to .475 Linebaugh, an SRH in Casull, and 3 .44 mags -- so, the attraction to handgun hunting is not lost on me a bit. But it seems that the marketing folks at Smith and Wesson are touting long range and really light-weight bullets with lots of velocity. For me, handgun hunting is an open-sighted proposition that emphasizes a hunter's skills in stalking to get up close and personal as well as good marksmanship. I'm a firm believer in heavy hardcast bullets at moderate velocities that penetrate like hell. So, what I am trying to say is that I do get it, but muzzle energy is a fairly arbitrary factor in handgun hunting. Let's face the facts, even the much touted .500 Smith only produces around 2500 foot pounds which is considerably better than my Casull, but penetration and accuracy are more important than foot-pounds of muzzle energy IMHO.

Speaking of Hijacking a thread

Any way, thanks for the loading information, it does seem to be lacking industry wide.

How about scopes? What are you guys using? I have a Leupold VX III on my 416, and an LPS on the 300. They have taken the abuse to date.....

quote:

Originally posted by JBoutfishn:
Speaking of Hijacking a thread

Any way, thanks for the loading information, it does seem to be lacking industry wide.

How about scopes? What are you guys using? I have a Leupold VX III on my 416, and an LPS on the 300. They have taken the abuse to date.....

JBoutfishn
I have a Bushnell 2X6X32mm scope on my 460 Mag. 150 yard shots are a brease with a 300 gr. bullet. I also like the Leupold 2.5X8 EER scopes.


Whitwort, I don't even want to get into the what range is considered hunting or using the hunters skill. I do it all the time with my bow, but in my opinion hunting is hunting no matter the distance of the shot or the type of hunting tool used..

Sorry about the thread highjacking!!

Redhawk -- I do agree with you!

Before using different brands of bullets in the S&W 460 check with the bullet manufacturer to see if their bullets will withstand the velocity w/o shedding their jacket in the barrel.No problems with Hornaday 454 casull bullets.

I use more hard cast bullets and don't worry about a jacket. But if I did I would use the Hornady XTP mags bullets or just get the Barnes bullets, no worries about a jacket with them either.

quote:

Originally posted by Redhawk1:
I use more hard cast bullets and don't worry about a jacket. But if I did I would use the Hornady XTP mags bullets or just get the Barnes bullets, no worries about a jacket with them either.

I use Cast Performance,Hornaday,Nosler and Sierra but my handgun is a 15 inch encore in 454 casull don't think I'll have it rechambered to 460 as the Win Partition Gold 260's are too much for me.My 460 is a 20 inch Bullberry Encore Rifle Barrel that I plan to reload for using Starline Brass.A Speer Tech told me I shouldn't have any problems shedding jackets since it's a straight forward barrel w/o the handgun forcing cone.I had an anterless elk hunt with apache guide Bob Stevens on the San Carlos Apache Rez scored a young cow on 10-31 did it with a sako finnsport in 300wm using nosler factory blem 180gr accubonds.Excellent guide and a great hunt we saw cows several times but sneaking up on them was nigh impossible then on the 31st 1 spike bull and about 74 anterless came across a rez road into the pines prior to 7 am.

I think on the first go down I will load the 240 grain Hornaday XTP Mags with H110 and Federal 215 primers.

See where this takes me

Again, thanks for the input.