A lot of questions concerning S&W 460 Magnum

[dkbs]

Hello
Thanks in advance to any insight you may give us.

My son just ordered a S&W 460 Revolver with a 5" barrel.Its his college graduation present to himself. Thiswill be our first dealings with this caliber. The gun will be used a few times for whitetail, but mainly as a pack gun for camp and bowhunting in big bear country.

This gun shoots 45 colt, 454 casull and 460.

1) is the 45 colt the one thats often labeled 45 colt(long colt)?
2) do these three calibers taketwo different sets of RCBS carbide dies, the 45 colt(LC) and 454 casull? Which die does the 460 use?
3) which caliber uses the .451 dia bullet and which uses the .452 dia bullet? Or can those two dia bullets be used in any of the three calibers as long as the brass matches the bullet dia.?
4) Any recommended manuals covering reloading info for this gun/calibers?
5) Since he wants to set up bullets for general plinking with thelowest recoil possible at first,(before working himself to hunting loads)which caliber should he get set up to reload first and any recommended loads?

Thanks again.

Dan

I have a 460 also, and yes all three require different dies. Due to the length of the case. You might be able to size 45 longcolt with 454's.

I use 240gr XTP's with 48gr of H110. Surprisingly, it didnt' shoot 45colts well. It required the faster loads. And surprisingly, it shot the max H110 load the best. I am pullingoff 6" groups at 200 yards.

I plan on trying some 460 unique loads soon.

[harter66]

Yes the 45Colts and "long Colt" are the same .

The 454 can be loaded in 45 Colts dies just as 357s can be loaded with 38 Special dies . The 460 is about a1/2 inch longer and requires at leastits own seatingdie .

All 3 in modern arms shoot 451-452jacketed bullets and 452-454 cast .

I would recomend the new Lyman manual . It is very complete and covers many bullets and many manufactures .

I shoot a 45 Colts Ruger Blackhawk 7.5" with 9.5 Unique and as cast 255gr LEE rnfp (it weighs 260) it get just shy of 1000 fps .

[DWFan]

The Hodgdon website lists reduced loads using Trail Boss powder for 700-900 fps with 325-395gr bullets as well as full power loads.