.452 Bullet option

[dholla]

Looking for bullets to reload S&W 460. What are some good options besides Hornady and Barnes? Looking for the 200gr range.

[Dark Mod]

Unless you can hardcast some yourself, your best off using the Hornady XTP Mag 240 grain Hollowpoints. They are the only ones you can use that are cost effective.

http://www.bigsupplyshop.com/Hornady-45-Cal-452-240gr-XTPMag-100-45220_p_1624.html

$23 per 100

[kblack583]

The 240g XTP Mag is what I use for bulk of loading. Good cost/performance.

Outside of Hornady/Barnes most popular would probably be Cast Performance products. Around $35 to $40 oer 100. These guys make great stuff.

[Whiterabbit]

If you don't mind .451, then you can use the sierra option too at a buck cheaper

http://www.natchezss.com/Bullets.cfm?contentID=productDetail&brand=SI&prodID=SI8820&prodTitle=Sierra%20.451%20240%20gr%20Sports%20Master%20JHC%20100/box

After that, it's cast your own.

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also, if you can keep the speed down, you can load any old thing. that keeps things real cheap.

[noylj]

I would look to Montana Gold, Zero Bullets, or Precision Delta for excellent jacketed bullets for much less than the "name brands."
Jacketed bullets can be 0.001" less than groove diameter and still perform very well. Often a jacketed bullet 0.0005-0.001" larger than groove diameter will be slightly more accurate than groove-diameter jacketed bullets.
Lead bullets need to be at least 0.0005" larger than groove diameter. For the .460, you may need gas checks unless you are willing to load down to .45 Colt velocities.
I thought the point to the .460 was 300gn bullets?

[Whiterabbit]

The point to the .460 was 200 grain bullets, shot to rifle velocities. It can still shoot massive bullets slow though, like any more traditional handgun.

For jacketed bullets with no load data (gas checked lead, knock yourself out) I would recommend contacting the manufacturer and asking for their advice on max velocity.

Even Hornady doesn't recommend .460 velocity for some of their bullets. A great example would be their FTX line. The 200gr was made for .460, the 225gr was made for 45 colt, the 250gr was made for 450 bushmaster. I've never asked about the 250 but I'm pretty darn sure that thing is good to go for .460 velocity, being designed for 450 bushmaster. Since the only load data for the 225gr bullet was for 45 colt, I emailed them to ask about max velocities. They told me above XXX (I think it was 1500 fps, but don't quote me on that?), the base would start to cup, it wasn't designed for 460 velocity and wasn't recommended.

Too bad. The 225gr bullet is of course cheaper than the 200 and the 250.

Of course, that doesn't mean we can't load the 225. we just keep the velocity down and we are GTG.





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Bottom line, I'll bet you 10 bucks (I'd make good on this) that the montana gold, precision delta, and zero bullets would NOT get a factory endorsement to be loaded to .460 velocities. I'd love to be proven wrong. But figuring their offerings are around 200 grains (a guess on my part) for 45 ACP, we can load them to about 2400 fps in the 460. My bet is they'll say that's a no-go.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they would load and fire no problem. I just have no idea what'll happen to fouling and accuracy. And for the record, I've tried loading a very small selection of bullets to rifle velocity that were not recommended and was able to get great short distance accuracy. But the fouling..... . If you can duplicate that experience you can shoot hyper-velocity reloads on the cheap. You'll just be cleaning often and for long periods of time!

Buying 1,000's of those bullets and loading them up with trailboss or other low velocity powder and shooting them at 1200fps I'm sure is super safe and good to go. no doubts there.

I just suggest caution, common sense, factory advising, and pushing limits slowly. The gun is sure as heck built to take the pressure.

[Whiterabbit]

So, we know there are a few manufacturers out there that sell heavy gas checked lead bullets such as cast performance and beartooth, both around the $28+ per 100 price point which can't beat the Hornady XTP mag pricepoint.

But I would be curious to see if there isn't a 1-man shop somewhere casting a .460 rowland bullet option and trying to bring those to market at a competitive price. They should be lightweight, gas checked, and ready for 460 S&W loading too.

Something like a penn bullet competitor providing lighter rather than heavier options.


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Edit: BTW, it looks like Bob over at penn will take a custom order no problem, meaning you SHOULD be able to order a 200 grain cowboy cast bullet but specify he use his silver-alloyed 454 casull alloy lead which if comes out the same as the 340grain option would be rated to 2100fps. That'll easily get you into .460 territory though not at 65ksi.

His price for cowboy alloy is 75 per 1000 which I believe will include a 10% cost increase for raw materials cost. The casull alloy would be another charge on top of that. But should still be cheaper than XTP mags. Expect long lead times.