hello all ! I just ordered a 460 smith and wesson from the performance center with a 10.5 inch barrel, I am looking for any and all help/info on getting set up to handload for it.For now a scope will be mounted in the near future but would like to start the handloads first.I am wanting to get set up for one hundred yards for now until I get to know the gun.I reload for all my other rifles,pistols,shotguns and am needing info on this caliber as far as what brand of brass, to what powder bullets, any help/info would be greatly appreciated,
thanks,
matt

mhmranch,

Welcome to HHM. I have the 460 S&W in several guns. The only real caution you need be aware is that not ALL 45 caliber jacketed bullets are the same. What I mean is that most bullets, at least in the pre 454 Cassul and 460 S&W days were manufactured for the more "sedate" 45 Colt ( Long Colt is a misnomer, there never was a 45 Short Colt ). The jackets and cores were softer. These bullets if driven at higher velocities will "fragment." The manufacturers provide information on the recommended "minimum" and "maximum" velocities for their bullets. You will need to determine the max velocity you wish to drive the bullet and select accordingly. I had a helluva time trying to "sight-in" a load using a Rainier 255 grain plated bullet. Just couldn't get it to hit the side of a barn. Then I fired the load in an S&W revolver with ports and had to brush off the jacket fragments from the bench. Rainier does not recommend driving the plated bullets faster then 1200-1400 fps. Using the same bullet and a 460 Star line case with 12.5 grains of Trail Boss makes a great 45 Colt dupe load at about 1200 fps. from my 6 1/2" PC S&W.

Where is the mhm ranch?

Doc

Try http://www.customprojectile.com they have a dangerous game 300 gr. specially for the 460.

Howdy and Welcome aboard Matt!!


If I remember my history correctly, the military dubbed the 45 Colt as the “Long Colt” to keep people from confusing it with the 45 Schofield. The military has had a way of renaming cartridges. Look at the 30-06 and 1911... with that in mind it is no wonder that TC’s custom shop has the 45 Colt listed as the 45 Long Colt.

which scope would you recomend on this gun?

I had the standard XVR which Tig now has and with a max load of H110 from the Hodgdon loading manual and the 260gr partition I was getting right at 2000fps and shooting MOA at 150yds off sandbags. I used the Warne steel mount and three Leupold Rifleman vertical split rings and a Leupold VXIII 2.5-8. I used the same set up on my 500 S&W and never had a problem of any kind and accuracy was similiar.

Matt,

I have the same PC gun that you have ordered - currently I shoot the 200 gr FTX Hornady loads in the gun, with plans to reload XTP's, Barnes and Partitions over 296 for some heavier projectiles...

For optics, I have 3 Warnes holding a Leupold VX-III 2.5x8 to the integrated rail. (Nice choice of scope, Rod :))


Good luck and happy shooting!

thanks alot guys ! it is really appreciated the way you all have oopened up and been very insightful to a newby on the board.I have extensive experience in longrange shooting, and hunting.My wife was more than surprised when I told her I was switching from 338lapua in accuracy international and switching to pistol.I hope this gun will live up to everything I have read about it.It is sounding like the leupold is the scope of choice, but I still haven't been able to locate load info in abundance yet for now what would be a good factory ammo would be good to get sighted in and start the barrel break in?
thank you again for the input,
matt

Hard to believe this gets miss told so much! YES there was a short Colt

And you will find it here, I think Elmer would have said, "he## I was there" http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/45_short_colt.htm Make mine LONG! I prefer a 340 to 360 grain hard cast for any real serious dangerous game, but the 200 Hornady factory round makes a great varmint load, and rely destroys a lot of deer meet if you want to use factory ammo under 100 yards, it does stay together though, it works pretty good past 150 yards without major meat loss. But so does the hard cast, mine is gas checked, works fabulous! In the 15" working length of my encore barrel I'm running 2772 FPS with the 200 fac. load, I use the FTX with Hornady's tech's advice and am running it at 2550 FPS. this bullet has a .020" thinner jacket than the 200, haven't tried it on game yet, but it groups great at 200 yards, 1 1/2"!

That is very interesting information. Even the information on the 45 Schofield in the 45 LC article isn’t complete.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.45_Colt

The designation ".45 Long Colt" originated amongst military personnel to prevent confusion with the smaller .45 Schofield. It has become a popular alternative name for the cartridge, and adopted by Colt for use in designating the chambering in its own Single Action Army revolvers.[3]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.45_Schofield
Many reports indicate that while the .45 S&W cartridge could be used in a gun chambered for the .45 Colt, not every chamber in the gun could be loaded at the same time. Because of the larger diameter rim (.522 inches) on the S&W cartridge, the rims would sometimes interfere with each other when attempting to load every chamber of a .45 Colt chambered gun.
1. Because of this, the Frankford Arsenal produced the .45 M1877 Military Ball Cartridge which was identical to the S&W cartridge but had a slightly smaller rim diameter of .512 inches (identical to the rim of the .45 Colt cartridge) which could be used in either the Colt or the S&W revolvers. Production of the .45 Colt cartridge was then discontinued by the Frankford Arsenal with the .45 M1877 ball revolver cartridge being adopted as the only .45 revolver cartridge issued from then on.
In the early 1880s the benet (inside) cartridge primer was retired and the modern boxer type (externally visible) primer was adopted for all future military production of revolver ammunition.

which set of leupold mark 4 rings do you recomend?the high's or super high's, I am planning on putting two sets holding a leupold 2.5-8 power scope?

does anyone have experience with the barnes bullets out of this gun?if so what components did you use?brass,powder....etc.....

does anyone have experience with the barnes bullets out of this gun?if so what components did you use?brass,powder....etc.....

Matt,

With the Warne's, I had to use the high rings for the scope to clear. I originally had purchased Weigands rings, but they didn't have a model that would mount the scope and clear the integrated rail. Ended up using them on another setup.

Pics are on the Bragging Board.

Welcome to the forum ranch! My son has a 460 Encore( I hate to say it ) rifle with the 20 in. bl. and he shot a nice 5 pt. Pa. whitetail this yr. In my 460 XVR and his Encore I use the 200 gr. Barnes bullet over a 46.0 gr. charge of H110 with a Winchester LRM primer. I use Hornady brass for our hunting ammo. This will shoot 2 in. or less at 100 yds. in my 460. His deer ran about 30 ft. and piled up. He said it had a nice size exit hole in it.

As for scopes, Leupold of course, the Bushnell Elite 3200 handgun scope,Burris and possibly Weaver. I have a 4x Leupold on my 460. As for rings I have the Leupold PBR rings on mine. No problems yet.