Colorado Luckydog

If you're shooting a S&W 460, how much difference is there in these two rounds? I can only find the 460's in 200 grain around 2100 to 2300 fps. They are kicking my skinney ass. If I went to the 454 Casull, would the kick be a lot less, or close to the same?

If I stayed with the 460 round in a heavier grain at a slower speed, would it kick less? Say a 390 grain at 1500 fps, and keep my shots at less than a hundred yards.

Ruddyduck

IMHO if you want to hangun hunt and looking for something more than a 44 mag then one might as well get a Contender.

1SHOT_1KILL

To answer your question, no. In fact,a 390gr at 1500FPS would actually have noticeably more kick or recoilthan those 200gr at 2200 FPS. That is one heck of a handgunload that 390gr at 1500 FPS. I've never been sensitive or shy of any kind of recoil, but I can't help but think that shooting that load would be not be very fun at all. The only option you may have is to reload your own and tone the loads down to a more manageable recoil levels.

A 454 Casull would be much friendlier in terms of recoil. You can finda wider variety of loads, light to full bore heavy magnums. Another plus to the 454 Casull is that you can also shoot .45 LC in it all day long. The .45 LC can also be found in light loads or some heavy loads (only for Ruger, Freedom Arms,new S&W's)that equal or slightly surpass the .44 Rem Mag. The .45 LC is my personal favorite for close,out to 50yds or so, with iron sights. For further shots outto about 125yds or so I really like the .445 Super Mag. It is scary accurate and packs a heck of a punch out to that range, and is very manageable recoil wise, no more than a 44 Rem Mag with stout loads. Plus I can shoot my .44 Rem Mag reloads in it as well.

Maine Shooter

Not only this but if one's concerned about recoil, why even consider either of these cartridges? At the under 100 yrd range, the easier shooting .44, .41 and .45 are gonna be just as effective. Well, unless the game in your particular area have gotten a lot tougher hides in the last yr or so.
If one really believes they need these heavy cartridges in a handgun, why not simply step up to a Contender, Encore or one of the bolt action handguns?Easier shooting than the revolvers

Colorado Luckydog

I saw this S&W 460 and had to have it. I should add, I love the accuracy and the gun, but not the recoil.Now I have about $1400 hundred dollars tied up in it. If I sell it, I'll loose a bunch of dough.[:@] I'm gonna try the 454 casull's and a couple of more boxes of the 460's. Maybe it will just take some getting use to. Do you guysthink the 454 casull is good enough for elk at100 yards or less? Will the 454's shoot as flat as the 460? Does it really matter at that yardage?

Seriously, thanks for the input. I really need it, and appreciate it!

Maine Shooter

Yes, the .454 is fine for elk and within 100yrds the marginal difference in trajectory won't matter. Remember, it's all wether you can hit what you're aiming at consistantly. Biggest thing I'm thinking is gonna be getti ng past the recoil and the anticipation of it. It's that that'll cause the flinching and result in poor accuracy. Not knwoing how much shooting experience with large caliber handguns you have, I'd suggest starting off shooting 45 Coltand as you can easily hit your target without recoil issues, move on to the .454 . Continuing to shoot the heavy stuff will most likely just help waste ammo and imbed the flinching/recoil issues further. Progress as you're shooting confidence builds. Heck, even the 45 Colt is adequate in 100 yrds with the right load.

Not saying this is the case here, but many just seem to buy these hand cannons (X frme especially now) for a bit of a macho ego boost. There's nothing macho about shooting these big handguns if you can't hit your target. Just gives others something to snicker at evreytime the gun beats the shooter up.

Forgot to add, with the shorter cartrdiges, you'll need to be sure to thouroughly clean the cylinder to prevent buildup and thus preventing the longer cartridges from chambering fully.

eldeguello

Talking about factory ammo, it seems to me that the .460 S&W is loaded to higher energy levels than the .454 Casull, but about the only effective ways to make either one manageable from the recoil viewpoint are:

A. Use a heavier gun, or
B. Use a gun that has a muzzle brake arrangement of some sort, like the Taurus Raging Bull has, or
C. Load your own ammo to a lower power level.

The use of HEAVIER BULLETS will not lower the recoil, but it might FEEL like less because the slowerbullet acceleration might stretchthe recoil out over a longer time period, making it feel more like a shove than a sharp jab!

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The 44 Magnum has taken elephant. The .454 Casull is more powerful than the .44 magnum. Elk are GENERALLY not as hard to kill as elephant!!

IF that .460 will shoot the same bullets as are used in the .454 Casull, and do it at higher velocities, which is the reason for the .460 (so I've been told!!), well, yes, it will SHOOT FLATTER than the .454 - naturally!!

Does it really matter? Not one damn bit!!

Colorado Luckydog

Went out today and bought a couple of boxes of Hornady, 240 grn, 1900 fps. I might not get to shoot them until Thursday. I'mgoing toshoot the 45's the 460's and the 454 casulls. I hopeI can get used to the big boys.

Maine Shooter

Progress. Mixing them up isn't going to help much in your recoil/flinching. Shoot the lighter stuff (45 Colt) and when you're perfectly comfortable and hitting your target repeatedly, then move on to a heavier loading and so forth. Gottawork your way up through ght big bores if you really wanna get a handle on shooting these chamberings.

bigcountry

Your going to have to go down to 45LC ammo. Most all 454 ammo I see is loaded with 300gr or higher bullets, so the percieved recoil is about the same, maybe more with 454. I shot the 300gr hornady 454 ammo and its recoil was more than the 200gr 460 hornady ammo.

I have a gain twist performance barrel. And strange thing is however, I can't get 45LC to shoot well. It seems they want the extra pressure for some reason. I get 2MOA performance at 100 yards with the 460gr 200gr ammo however.

I guess because my gun is the 10.5 model, the recoil is very nice with the factory stuff. I have been reloading 240gr XTP mags with 48gr of H110, and its recoil is getting close past my comfort zone. I tried reloading 300gr XTP and it was little much for me.