Will .45Colt work in 454Casull like .38 does in .357 and .44 Special in .44Mag?

S

Silent But Deadly

New member
Subject says most of it, but what I'm getting at, is that it would seem to be cool to have a Taurus 454 Casull, but be able to use .45Colt in it most of the time for plinking/target stuff. When needed though, it could be used for the Casull rounds. I have two concerns though, and they are:

1) Unlike the .38/.357Mag and .44Spec./.44Mag cartridges, which are just shorter/longer versions of each other, and so don't cause problems shooting the shorter in the longer chamber, the .45Colt(Long Colt) and 454Casull have slightly different case diameters. The .45Colt is acctually the larger of the two as far as diameter. I have wondered if the .45Colt would even chamber in the Casull, but it isn't that much bigger, so I don't know. Jacketed bullet diamter is the same, however.

2) Casull takes rifle primers, and so I would think it needs a heavy primer pin strike to set off the thicker rifle primer than the .45Colt. I wonder if it might be a heavy enough strike to puncture the primer on a .45Colt and cause all sorts of nasty things to happen.

Have any of you ever tried this? I have considered getting the Casull, but I don't want to shoot those beasts most of the time, but rather something a bit wimpier like the .45Colt. I currently have an Uberti Cattleman 7.5" .45Colt, but the 125 year old design of this gun is seriously prone to breaking. I have invested a bit in .45Colt loading gear, and I don't want to abandon the caliber.

So...
Is this a stupid idea? Be harsh with me if you want. I can take it. ;)
 
I'm not sure about Taurus revolvers,but I think that Rugers can shoot both. I won't be too harsh with you, you didn't do anything to deserve it.

nsf003
 
I have wondered if the .45Colt would even chamber in the Casull, but it isn't that much bigger, so I don't know.
Click to expand...

As far as I know this is only a problem with Freedom Arms 454's which are machined with far tighter tolerances than Taurus or Rugers. You shouldn't have a problem fitting the 45 Colt in the Raging bull, but you will need to pay extra attention to cleaning the chambers just like you do when shooting 38's in a 357 or you could have problems fitting 454's in later.
 
The answer is...

definitely yes. I have a friend that does it with his SRH 454 all the time, and yes, it's nice to have a reduced load. I load 255's to about 1400 for my LC and they're powerful, but his 454 is flat painful.
 
I have a 454 Raging Bull from Taurus and have shot 45 colt with no problems. I was at the range and a friend has a 45 colt, I was loading his 45 colt rounds by mistake, I thought to myself, "The recoil isn't as bad as I remember" Then I realized what I was doing, and I loaded my 454's. What a difference between the two :eek:
 
I have a Ruger.

The problem is that it can fire 45 Colt and 454 Casull factory ammunition and 45 Colt reloads just fine. Firing 454 Casull reloads isn't so straight forward. Ignition is VERY faulty. I think that the problem is not with the gun but with the brass.

I've tried a much stronger main spring. That's a mixed blessing. Tunning one of these guns to fire both cartridges ain't straight forward. That is undoubtedly why Taurus doesn't recommend shooting 45 Colts in there 454.
 
Yes. Fredom Arms cautions against it because of the problem of residue build-up in chmaber from firing shorter cartridge. Thorough cleaning is answer.
 
This seems kinda screwy, but my friends' raging bull in 454 shoots 454 really well and groups in the 4" range.
You would think that 45 colt would group better, but they are all over the place, some hitting paper, some not.
LOL- on full power loads from the 454, the rubber from the grips works it's way under the skin in 20 rounds or so...
By that time, however, you're ready for 45 colt in that beast.
 
That could be a different problem.

I've found that the 45 Colt can be VERY touchy about the powder charge. With 8.7 grains of Unique behind a 240 grain SAECO #458 bullets the bullets occasionally hit the target at 25 yards sideways. At 7.7 grains the load is VERY accurate. Look closely at your target and see if any of the holes are something other than circular.
 
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