I recently purchased a new 460 s&w. I reloaded some ammo. 40 grains of h110, 230 gr round nose, winchester large rifle primers, about half the time when I pull the trigger i hear a thump of the bullet lodging in the barrel. the powder doesnt seem to ignite. The primer appears to be well struck. any suggestions?

sounds like bad powder or primers, I ran the same combination except a max load under a 260 Partition and never had a problem.

It sounds as if the powder may have gotten wet/moist.The primer must be doing its job or the bullet wouldn't get stuck in the barrel.Buy a new pound of powder,if that doesn't do it,try new primers.If that doesn't do it,stop and consider how you are handling the primers/powder,could be contaminating i.e. oil/sweat getting on the primers/powder.One other possibility would be if your using a hand priming tool.I've noticed this loading the casull that I have to use a full stage press to seat the primers fully.I would have "high primers"some would fire the first time others on the 2nd or 3rd try,so when I eliminated the possibilities,new brass,new primers,I found it was the hand tool I was using and since I went back to seating primers on a bench press,the problem stopped,Ive never had this problem with this hand tool on any other round,.357 .38 ,.44 mag,7mmTCU, .22-250,.22 hornet,hope this helps ya .

JohnWilliams,

Noticed your experience "hand priming" for the 454. What tool are you using? I load for my FA 454s a lot. I always hand prime the cases (I do not recall ever seating a primer with a press for them) and I have not your experiences. I use RCBS tools. I did have a problem once when I forgot the change the ram to the smaller size for the 454's small rifle primers.

Only 40 grains sounds real low for using 110.With that light bullet I'd increase powder by another 4-5 grains at least.Having to light of a load with 110 or win 296 can cause stuck bullets in chamber.

I noticed the primers were high after firing. I considered that may be the culprit so i checked the next round, the primer did not appear to be high but same pour result. I am using the RCBS hand primer tool. never had a problem with it with other callibers.... The powder is a new 8lb. keg. Hope it is not bad. Not cheap....

Reload for the 460 myself also. Shooting 325 grain lyman gas checked bullets. I know i read somewhere that hodgdon recomends magnum rifle primers with h110 and lil gun for sure that for the volume of powder large rifle primers dont give reliable enough ignition because they are slower burning powders. Dont know if that could be part of you problem or not. Just looked in my hodgon annual manual to make sure and they are showing magnum rifle primers for all of their loads in the 460.

I noticed you said that the powder was a new 8 pounder, it may be worth an email with the lot number off to Hogdon to see if they have been getting complaints or questions from others.

I meant to poste this as well, it will give you some good data on the .460 loads
http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/defaul...=Powder&Source=

Just a thought, but how firmly are you crimping the rounds?

Yeah... I thought about the magnum primers, but my books all say large rifle. I will try the magnum primers. I wanted some verificaiton prior to trying them. I am crimping the bullets. Difficult to say how firmly. Is there a guidline? The bullets I am using dont have a grove so I am groving them myself. then crimping into the groove. seems to work...

I'm not terribly familiar with loading big pistol cartridges yet, but I understand they need a firm crimp to keep the bullet in place while the primer gets that big mass of propellant ignited, or else the primer can push the bullet and un-burned powder partially out of the cartridge and cause poor ignition and potentially leave unburned powder.

Anyone else heard of that?

I would be very very surprised if all of your problem involves the crimp. I have loaded many rounds with 110 or 296 & have varied the crimp a lot. I have never had a squib from the variation in the crimp.

Since i do not like a "heavy" crimp, maybe that is the reason that 110 or 296 has never worked out to be my "accuracy" load. I put a firm crimp on my reloads for my revolvers but generally find that I end up using 2400. That is the one that tends to "hit" for me. I also am not particularly looking for maximum velocity. I prefer accuracy.

If the jacket isn't reinforced where your groove is you could experience a separation and leave bullet parts in places where they shouldn't be. The slug may hit the target but the back half of the jacket could remain in your barrel and when the next one comes.....

A heavy roll crimp will hold pretty darn well even without a canelure.