I shot my 460 xvr today for the second time. I think I'm going to name the gun "Thunder Five". Anyway, I shot a box of Hornady 454's in 240 grain at 50 yards. Honestly, I was shooting all ofer the page (11x17). I chased the sights left and right and up and down. It was discouraging.

I then started shooting Hornady 460's in 200 grain. I immediately started hitting within 8". After 7 shots to correct my sights, I had five shots within 2-1/2 inches and three holes actually touched each other. My spirits were lifted.

I would like to reload for this caliber someday. Are there any handloads that are as accurate as the factory Hornady 460's?

Why were the 454's so innacurate?


Thanks

Here are a couple of ideas.

Not sure on the 454 accuracy problem but it could be due to the very long jump between the case and rifling. The 454 case is 1.4" and the 460 case is 1.8" long. The 454 bullet is jumping through .4" of much larger than bullet diameter chamber before it reaches the bullet diameter chamber throats and then the forcing cone.

At the pressures of the 454 cartridge the bullet could well be expanding/obturating to better fit the cylinder and then being resized when entering the chamber throats. Not good for accuracy.

Another factor could be the speed the bullet is reaching due to the long travel distance before entering the forcing cone. Already moving at a good clip when the rifling tries to start it spinning which could possibly cause slipping or stripping on the rifling. With the standard 460's gain twist riflin this is probably the less likely cause. BTW Performance Center 460s do not use gain twist rifling I have read.

Be great if you could recover some bullets w/o too much damage and examine them for clues to what is happening. You might also talk to Hornady tech support.

You might also try some 45 Colt jacketed bullet factory loads and see how they perform. Much lower pressure than the 454s so bullet upset and velocity upon reaching the barrel should be much less.

I would reload using the 460 case length as I suspect that will give the best accuracy. Hodgdon has a lot of loading data available for the 460.

I talked to Hornady today. Everybody should call them to listen to their phone system. It is quite humerous. They make light of having to endure anouther phone system with many, many choices.

Anyway, they told me the inaccuracies in the 454 shot from the 460xvr are probably due to the long jump to the cones in the charge holes. He said they have seen this in 45 colts that have been shot in 454 casull guns.

Does anybody have any accuracy data shooting the 240 gr XTP mag bullet out of the 460 mag case?

They told me that the 200g spire point bullet might become available for reloading within a year. Mr. Hornady wants to see this happen, but they have some production and legal issues to deal with.


Good day.

Hodgdon lists reloading data for that combination so I would presume that it performs decently. Might be presumptious on my part!

I did a little more comparison shooting today. the 240 gr Hornady 454's vs. the 200 g Hornady 460 mag from my 460 XVR. I only got to shoot 6-8 of each and couldn't tell a difference this time in accuracy. Honestly, I couldn't get much of a rhythm going with either one. I could hit the 6" circle at 50yds with either one and that was about it.

I'll keep saving my brass to reload someday.