Short barrel .454 Casull

[pullnshoot25]

Does anyone besides Ruger make a .454 Casull with a short barrel, e.g. Alaskan? I ask because my friend wants a .454 Casull like my .44Mag Taurus Tracker but there doesn't seem to be anything made like that.

Just curious.

[gunrun45]

Freedom arms made a single action revolver with a 3 inch or so barrel back in 2003 or so I believe. I was able to handle one at a Sacramento FFL in 2004 or so if memmory serves. Be able to toss down $1200 or so to have one.

IMO, the 2in 454 handgun is a waste of time. You will NEVER get 454 velocity from such a short barrel and its hard to carry in a holster due to the short barrel.

For pratical reasons around a 5 in barrel is MINIMUM length for a 454 to get any added velocity gain when compared to hot 45LC's from a 4 5/8 in barrel blackhawk that packs much easier...

Taurus makes its raging bull 454 cas line.

[aplinker]

Smith&Wesson makes the 460 They have short barrels.

[battleship]

SW make two versions of the 460 a 4 inch barrel, and an emergency survival kit which includes the yellow box with goodies - the gun has a 2.75 inch barrel and the grips are yellow in case you get lost in the snow. i would go with the longer 4 inch barrel looks nicer and no yellow grips. it is called the 460 ES, cost is alot more than the ruger.

Correction there are 3 versions but the third is a 8 inch sledge hammer.

[JTROKS]

IMO, the 2in 454 handgun is a waste of time. You will NEVER get 454 velocity from such a short barrel and its hard to carry in a holster due to the short barrel.

For pratical reasons around a 5 in barrel is MINIMUM length for a 454 to get any added velocity gain when compared to hot 45LC's from a 4 5/8 in barrel blackhawk that packs much easier...

+1 on what gunrun45 said. May I add, if you shoot full power 454 loads there wouldn't be much velocity gained compared to the increase of muzzle blast and recoil. You may as well just get a hot loaded 45 long colt or 44 magnum, it'll be cheaper and less blast. The 320 hardcast loaded warm in a 44 magnum being shot out of a 4 5/8" barreled SBH is not a load for the weak of heart.

[aplinker]

You're also forgetting the 3.75" performance center piece that can still be found on Gun Broker.

[tgriffin]

+1 on what gunrun45 said. May I add, if you shoot full power 454 loads there wouldn't be much velocity gained compared to the increase of muzzle blast and recoil. You may as well just get a hot loaded 45 long colt or 44 magnum, it'll be cheaper and less blast. The 320 hardcast loaded warm in a 44 magnum being shot out of a 4 5/8" barreled SBH is not a load for the weak of heart.

I agree with the above. I have a 5" Taurus 454 casull and I wouldnt dream of trying to shoot that caliber out of a shorter barrel, let alone one without a compensator. It rocks my world (and Im a big guy) right now with 5" inches of barrel and an inch of compensator.

You'll be just as cool and probably more accurate/better armed with a short .357 mag - .44 mag wheelgun. By the way, if the shorter barrel is for concealability, dont bother. The diameter of the cylinder on my 5 shot .454 casull is huge. If you can hide that, a few extra inches of barrel will be the least of your worries.

[scootergmc]

Here's some .454 Alaskan ballistic info taken from http://www.shootingtimes.com/handgun_reviews/rgrRH/ :

The three .454 Casull loads selected were the CorBon 320-grain Penetrator, Hornady 240-grain XTP/MAG, and Winchester 260-grain Partition Gold. The three .45 Colt loads were the high-performance CorBon Bonded Core +P, the classic Remington 250-grain lead roundnose, and Winchester’s new-tech 225-grain Silvertip hollowpoint. Individual performance through the two different barrel lengths is detailed in the chart. Overall, the average velocity generated by the .454 Casull loads in the 7 1/2-inch barrel was 1742 fps with 1823 ft-lbs energy. In the 2 1/2-inch barrel the average velocity was 1497 fps with 1346 ft-lbs energy. That amounts to a 14.1 percent reduction in average velocity and a 26.2 percent reduction in average energy caused by the 66.6 percent reduction in barrel length. When the same overall comparison is made with the .45 Colt loads, though not as germane to the issue of protective power as with the .454 Casull ammunition, the results come out as follows: the 7 1/2-inch barrel averaged 966 fps with 541 ft-lbs energy; the 2 1/2-inch barrel averaged 863 fps with 433 ft-lbs energy. That amounts to a 10.7 percent reduction in average velocity and a 20.0 percent reduction in average energy. Not as much of a loss as with the more powerful loads, but still significant.

To render this in more familiar terms, let’s take the average energy figures for the .454 Casull ammunition through the 2 1/2-inch gun and compare them to the .44 Magnum, which is the most commonly used other cartridge for dangerous-game protection or backup in the field. The most powerful SAAMI-spec commercial 240-grain .44 Magnum load fired in a 7 1/2-inch industry reference barrel generates 971 ft-lbs of energy (all heavier bullet .44 Magnum loads produce less energy than that). That gives the short .454 Casull Alaskan a 40-percent energy advantage over a long-barreled .44 Magnum.

The .454 still has a great advantage over the other calibers, even with the shorter barrel length. I'll add that of all my pistols, the Alaskan is my favorite. I dunno why. Probably because it's really loud and makes big holes.

[tankerman]

Short barrel velocity loss? It does not matter. You are not going to be shooting long distance with a two inch barrel. Any cast bullet you put in the 454 case is going to fully penetrate just about anything. A snub nose 454 loaded with a 400 grain cast bullet would be a deadly combo. The 454 shines with heavy bullets, ignore folks that tell you to use 250-300 grain loads.

I have shot thousands of 454, assuming you are using near a full charge of powder (which it is necessary to fill the case %90+ when using powders like H110, Lil'gun, etc..) lighter bullets deliver a sharp rifle like snappy recoil, while heavier bullets do deliver heavy recoil there is no jarring snap to the recoil.

[aplinker]

If you're talking about using it for bear defense, velocity matters. Mass is king, though.

Short barrel velocity loss? It does not matter. You are not going to be shooting long distance with a two inch barrel. Any cast bullet you put in the 454 case is going to fully penetrate just about anything. A snub nose 454 loaded with a 400 grain cast bullet would be a deadly combo. The 454 shines with heavy bullets, ignore folks that tell you to use 250-300 grain loads.

I have shot thousands of 454, assuming you are using near a full charge of powder (which it is necessary to fill the case %90+ when using powders like H110, Lil'gun, etc..) lighter bullets deliver a sharp rifle like snappy recoil, while heavier bullets do deliver heavy recoil there is no jarring snap to the recoil.