What size bullets to use in 45 Colt, 454 casul & 460 S&W

Recently I went to a gun show where a gentleman was selling PC coated lead bullets. Very reasonably priced I might add. I tolled him I wanted them for my Encore 460 S&W, but I wanted to load it in 454 casul. So he told me you don't want .452 to small it will rattle around. That is for colt. So he directed me to .454 size bullets . My reloading manuals all show .452 for 45 colt, 454 & 460. So just to double check I went on Hodgdon's web sight. Also because my manuals listed very few powders for cast bullets. I entered 454 casul 250 gr lead bullet with H110 and got my loads. I also noted it said use .4515 bullets. Now .452 or .4515 is pretty negligible difference. So my question is. Is the guy right .454 ?

It sounds like he is just going by the name. Use whatever fits the throats of your revolvers, which is probably .452".

Slug your bore is the standard answer around here.

I’ve been lucky with 0.001” over jacketed diameter.

If a .454 will seat in the case and chamber in your firearm you are good to go. Use the fattest bullet which will chamber.
Good Luck
Rick

The 454 does take 0.451"-0.452" jacketed. So I would go at least 0.453" for cast. As notes slugging is preferred but its not required.

Slug your throats in revolvers . I have 45s made in 1905 , 2@1918 , 1955 barrel , 1976 , 1986 , 3 barrel circa 2018 2@2013 that I load cast in only the 1986 and 2013 Rossis are outside the .451-.452 standard at .450 . Only the the 2 1918 built S&W 1917s won't chamber a .454 which the 76' Ruger BlackHawk requires to fill its throats . The S&Ws get a .453 although I can get by with a .452 .

Alloy will play a roll . In case you're wondering the 45 ACP,S&W ,and Colts all get loaded to 20-21kpsi as all of the revolvers are quite happy and safe there . The magnum marked 45 Colts Rossis are also as well as the 45 ACP High Point carbine. One of the late barrels is chambered for the rimless 460 S&W the 45 Raptor I've mostly just used the .454 dia bullets in it with the exception of the custom Mountain Mold.453-350 and the .4525 to hard 300 gr Bear Tooth bullets I got some where in a swap .

I would use a .453 in PC unless they were known to be ACWW or softer alloy . Those probably would lead badly in the .450 groove Rossi anyway .

My FA 83 in 454 will not allow a bullet loaded with .454" bullets into the chamber. The bore is .4515" and the throats are .452".

I remember reading somewhere that years back that .454 was what was used but with modern manufacturing they just went to .452 as the standard. I powder coat and size all mine to .452.

If you are smart & review the Lyman cast bullet manual you will note it recommends 451. The Casul & 460SW WILL obturate any load fired filling the cylinder throats, forcing cone, & rifling. Use EXTREME caution with oversize bullets in these rounds. The higher pressures of these 2 cartridges will swell things way too much. I have researched this with data that some of the XVR barrels can crack in the frame if strong enough projectiles are not used. Why ruin a wonderful tool with haphazard components. Hard alloys & heavy jackets in the correct size will give a lifetime of service in incredible pistols. Yeah we can use ACP bullets for reduced loads, but why did we buy a 454 or 460 in the first place?

Regardless of what the lyman says, I use and will continue to load .452...it just plain works.

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Originally Posted by RickinTN

Use the fattest bullet which will chamber.

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This generally works for a single shot rifle/pistol not for a revolver.

Boolits will exit the front of the cylinder at throat diameter, regardless of how big they are when you load them. Tight cylinder throats turns the cylinder into a multi-port sizing die every time the gun is fired.

Find out your throat diameter.

The old SAAMI spec for 45 Colt was .454". By the 70's most manufactures switched to .452" bores. The current SAAMI 45 Colt bore is .452". The current SAAMI 45 Colt bullet size is .456" -0.006". My Ruger Blackhawk convertible from 1973 has a .452" bore.

another echo of above info: All my .45 Colts, Ruger Vaqueros and Marlin 1894s use .452

I shoot SASS and find them to be fine . . . course some of our targets are as big as a barn door :-D

Around 1992 SAAMI revised the chamber drawings for 45 Colt from .454" to .452". If you have a revolver made before the change you need .454". Later ones will be .452".

I used to have a Colt new service in 45 Colt. It was a very nice pistol, but it wouldn't shoot worth a darn. No matter what I tried in it there just wasn't any accuracy. Eventually I sold that revolver off. Years later I found out that 45 Colts made before WW2 had .454" groove diameters, and those made after WW2 were .450". No wonder that revolver was so inaccurate! the .452" cast bullets that I was shooting in it must have been rattling around like a golf ball dropped down a pipe. If I'd have known this back then I'd probably have been able to make some decent loads for that gun.

Older revolvers generally use .454 while more modern guns run .452 BUT measure your throats first. I have an original Anaconda in .45lc that needed .454 diameter boolits to fill the throats. Would not shoot .452 worth a darn. My thought was that the boolit would leave the case and engage the forcing cone at a different point each time which damaged the boolit and caused it to hit the target randomly and pattern not group. But the .454s kept the boolit centered so it entered the forcing cone correctly and then it shot very well. Used it in bowling pin matches with resized 292 gr .45-70 rnfp boolits.