Wildcatter I have to agree with Whitworth here you not get better penetration from added velocity, you will get it from increased sectional density or heavier bullets for caliber. Year after year at the Linebaugh siminars they have proved driving a hard cast bullet beyond 1200-1250fps gain NO penetration, in fact it often counter productive.

Now that is not to say a 454s velocity does not have some advantages to it, mostly flatter trajectories. At normal handgun ranges this is not really a concern at all. There are very few people who can honestly say 100 yards with a iron sighted revolver is a reasonable shot on game, most guys are closer to 50-60 yards in real hunting situations. At those ranges the 454s velocities don't really offer any advantage from a trajectory stand point. Now put a long barrel on the pistol and a good scope the 454 turns into a reasonable 150+ yard gun in a skilled handgunners hands (but some guys can go that far with iron sighted guns at moderate velocities but they are incredibly rare i.e. Dustin Linebaugh), here the flatter trajectory can be of help.

I personally go for the bigger bullets and I have a FA 83 in 480/475 Linebaugh and shoot the 480 cylinder almost exclusively. I also don't run it anywhere near max power ether, a 375gr LFN bullet at 1050fps that I can shoot with great precision will kill ANYTHING in North America. I live in Colorado and so when we big game hunt it means elk, as tough of a big game animal to kill cleanly as anything else in North America. When I headed for elk camp this fall I held 10 shots in a row offhand at 100 yards on a 8" steel plate 2 days before I left. That is confidence!

Little bugger was about 60 yards away when I busted him offhand, it was a good day and a good shot.


I have nothing against a 454, a 10" gun with a good scope on it will probably be mine at some point, for long range handgun hunting, but there is nothing a smaller caliber gun that a bigger bullet cant do, it physics. As John Linebaugh states "velocity is a constantly diminishing variable where mass is a constant".

Naturally 99.9% of the time on big game you will never prove a difference between a 44 mag, 45 colt, 454, 480, 475, or anything else if loaded to similar levels on Whitetails or Hogs. You really need bigger animal to prove much but it is a good discussion...