Does anyone have any experience or data concerning loading 200 & 225gr FTX bullets in a SRH? I've heard they're too long and either the brass must be trimmed or you have to use 45 Colt brass. Is this true? If so, what about loading up 45 Colt cases to Casull levels with these bullets?

I would opt for trimming the Casull cases shorter if needed since it's inherently a stronger case design vs. using .45 Colt cases at Casull levels which won't get you many firings if loaded heavy...

I think it would be best to start at standard 45 Colt and observe as you work up. I can't find any data for those bullets, and Hornady doesn't even load them in their Casull ammo. What is it that you trying to achieve?

you could according to the advice you've recieved but the ballistic coefficient to that bullet is lower than either the 240 gr or the 300 gr xtp mag bullets designed for the casull that perform quite well on game. despite the pointy tip that bullet will neither fly flatter nor perform well on game out of the casull anyways.

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I'm trying to use a 7.5 SRH to get as close as safely possible to the Hornady 460 S&W load of a 200gr FTX at 2200 fps...just for the fun of it.

I tried to do this a few years ago with my .454 SRH. When the 200 grain magnum XTPs were not available for reloaders yet, so I dismantled a box of Hornady .460 ammo for the bullets. We loaded the maximum amount of 296 we could fill the cases with and got erratic velocities. The best we could get was a bit over 1,900 fps. However, I believe that had we used a heavier bullet in the 240-250 grain range, we would have achieved higher velocities as this light bullet didn't offer much resistence and I don't think it was pressuring up enough. I truly believe a heavier bullet would have been the answer.

Well have fun, but be careful.

I tried some of the 225 in my Ruger SRH, working on Hornady's max speed recommendation of 1200fps and some Hornady 454 brass that was already short enough to load the bullet and fit my cylinder.

Overall I got very poor results, the bullets gave me a 7" group from 15 yards off a rest. This gun will cluster 250's and 300's into one ragged hole at 25 yards. But when throwing the same bullets at 800-900 fps from the colt loads it was reasonably accurate 1-2" groups at 25 yards.

Picked up some 45cal. 250gr flex-tipped seconds from Midway that I believe are for the 450 Bushmaster AR. When I get some time I`ll through a cannalure on them and see how they shoot from my 454....

I found that I will have to use 45 Colt brass and cylinder on my Freedom Arms for me to load and seat the 250gr flex-tip bullets.

be careful with max loads,when you use a shorter case and use max loads ,pressure increases,if you look in the manuals they give warnings of not using .357 loads in .38 cases and both cases are the same thickness ,so what has changed/the length of the case is the only difference-john