Please be gentle, this is my first post and it has two parts! I’ve been handling guns (with my dad at the time) since I was 9 years old. I’ve mostly shot auto pistols but recently bought a Smith & Wesson 460 XVR magnum with the 5 inch barrel. It is my first revolver. Due to the scarcity of ammo and the ungodly expense, this pretty much requires that you reload. No problem, I’ve always wanted to reload but never really had a need to until now. I was intrigued by being able to fire three different calibers of cartridges and decided this was the gun to get. I have read untold hours of information about the gun and reloading in general. I bought a Lee Turret Press and like it very much. It has some minor issues, but does the job well. I bought a set of dies for all three calibers and quite a bit of supplies including brass for each caliber. Unfortunately, the brass for the 460 mag is still on backorder so I have only shot the 454 Casull. It was quite a punch but much fun. So now, I’m getting to the real point of my post. After purchasing dies and supplies for all three calibers, I start reading more than one post about issues with firing the smaller cartridges first and then the 460 rounds. I’m not so worried about having to clean it first, but some of the posts say you can erode the forcing cone and cause problems with the barrel by shooting the 45 Colts and the 454’s. What I don’t know is if this is just an issue with the brands of guns they were using or if it applies to every brand including my S&W XVR. I guess I could see the point if I was using a lot of lead bullets at high velocity, but I plan on using Hornady XTP’s or XTP Mags for higher velocities. Does anyone have any comments on this? Yes, I know I have to clean it, but I’m concerned about damage to the gun. There is however another school of thought that says Smith & Wesson has a lifetime warranty on the gun. Since they promote it as being able to fire all three rounds, should I be concerned about the warranty since I am hand loading? Or, does the warranty only cover use of factory ammunition?

Another thing that I have leaned (actually I have learned so much in the last month that my head hurts!) is that I may have made a mistake by even worrying about the 45 Colt or the 454 Casull. Since I am reloading the brass, why not just create three different rounds for the 460? A light load at about 900 to 1000 fps for plinking, a medium load at about 1500 fps, and a kickass load at about 2200 fps. This way I don’t have to worry about the 460 rounds sticking in the gun after I have shot a 45 Colt and I shouldn’t have any issues with the forcing cone or barrel. I realize some of you are going to respond with “well, duh, that should be obvious”. Well, not having reloaded before and this being my first revolver, it wasn’t obvious to me in the beginning. So after buying the dies for the 45 Colt and 454 Cassul, I might not actually need them! Again, back to the point of the second part of my post! I can get the hot load data from Hodgdon by using H-110 and either 240 or 300 grain XTP mag bullets. That’s easy enough. I found a light load on one site using Trail Boss and a 255 grain lead bullet at about 950 fps, so there’s my plinking round. What I can’t seem to find is a good mid range load. BTW I’m using Star Line brass and Winchester WLRM primers. I have both 250 and 300 grain XTP bullets (not the mags) to use for the midrange velocities. So what I need is a powder and load suggestion to get about 1500 fps in the 460 mag brass. I would like to get this for both the 250 and 300 XTP. Yes, I understand the concept of designing the round for accuracy, but what I want to do is to develop accurate rounds in each of the mild, medium, and hot loads.

Thanks. Without the information I have been able to read from guys like you, I would not have been able to do any of this.

I'm anxious to see the comments on your post, as I just purchased a 460 myself. I have reloaded for about 20yrs off and on, so I'm as curiuos as most in the performance of this gun with the three calibers. I have read in several forums,different opinions and performance claims in firing all three calibers-from "don't bother with the 45LC" to "I haven't had any issues with any three calibers". It may be a "personal" thing when it comes to quality of performance with this gun when firing all three calibers thru it, but so far I haven't read about anyone having concerns about forcing cone breakdown, but I guess that will depend on the load.

I have shot all three calibers at one range outing. I was shooting them interchangeably using all factory loads with jacketed bullets out of my 8 3/8" barrel. The 460 load was Hornady, the 454 Magtech and I don't remember what the 45 Colt load was. I had no problems with them and they all fired perfectly.

As for recoil, the 45 Colt was like shooting a 38 Special. The 454 was like shooting a hot 44 Magnum with kick that pushed back into your hand. The 460 very loud and a lot of flame and the kick was more of a flip.

I don't know if this helps, but it might be a start.

BW460,

First you made a mistake in thinking you can only fire three types of rounds in it. Its four as you forgot the .45 Schofield (US Army shorten the .45 Colt to fit the S&W Schofield revolver in the 1870s). I've only once fired the 460 firing the Colt, Casull and 460 rounds. This was a year and a half ago before I deployed, no issues.

Now I've reloaded for decades now. My suggestion would to keep the different length cases for easy identification of your loads (light, med, full thorttle). One big issue with of making Colt equivalent loads in the 460 case would be a possibility of double charging or too light of a charge no seated next to the primer in that big case. This can increase pressure to dangerous levels. You could add a pitch of loft/dacron to the charge to keep it near the primer for ignition but that to me is inconvinent.

I used to have a tool for my K frame that had six bore brushes on one rod. Open cylinder and insert, scrub a few passes after shooting lots (ie hundards) of .38 SPL cases and then shoot .357 Mags. Never had an issue with the Models 13/19/65/66s or shooting .44 SPLs in my .44 Mag Smith 29. I do load several power levels in the .41 mag but keep good notes and mark the boxes well (not near the difference in this case however)

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De Oppresso Liber

I would sell all the 454 stuff and use the money to buy components. Anything you can do with 454 you can do with the 460.

You are a reloader now. You can make 460 as hot or as light as you want.

Don't buy cheap commercial lead bullets and try to push them to 460 velocities. It will lead the bore. You will not like cleaning it out.

I would use 45 colt as a way to keep your light loads seperate. Also the cases are much cheaper. A quick look at starlines website shows 500 pcs. for around $90. Compared to around $240 for 500 460 cases.

If you look in your reloading manual you will see loads for the 45 colt that are pretty tame. If you want to juice them up look at the loads in 45colt t/c, ruger only part. There are some pretty stout loads listed in that section. They seperate them because older firearms can't handle the pressure. Your new 460 won't have a problem with them.

I am no expert on the erosion issue but I doubt light colt loads will hurt anything. I would think that you could run into a crud ring that builds up when shooting a short case. That crud can keep a 460 from chambering or make it hard to remove a case if you do manage to get it in. This is a fairly common thing for guys that shoot A LOT of 38 special in 357 guns. It can be cleaned out with brushes.

45 colt is a large case. It was developed originally for blackpowder use. With smokeless powder there is a lot of airspace when making up ligh loads with fast powder. Same goes for 460. Look into bulky powders like Trail Boss. Some others for midrange loads are hodgdon H4227, and Alliant 2400 . When you want all that gun has, H110/296 or lil' gun in 460 cases will give you what your looking for.

Hope this helps.

I think the issue with damaging the gun is backwards to what you are hearing. You won’t be flame cutting anything or wearing out any forcing cones with .45 Colt. The .460 SW Magnum is having some growing pains with certain powders and possibly certain powder and bullet combo’s that can cause flame cutting and forcing cone erosion. But those all tend to be red hot loads from what I have read. And a good hard cast, gas checked, and properly lubed bullet can be pushed pretty hard. Check out Garrett’s loads if you don’t believe me. But you do have to know what you are doing.

First, forcing cone damage comes from jacketed bullets at high velocity (= high pressure). Case length is irrelevant. Your 200 @ 2250 .460 loads will wipe out the forcing cone the fastest; cast .45 Colt loads won't do it in your lifetime. If you like the fast stuff, go for it. The gun has a lifetime warranty and the barrels (with the 2-piece design) are cheap for the factory to replace.

Second, if you want a medium-power load in the .460 case, try 100% loading density with a SLOWER powder. See what happens with 4198 or H322. You don't have the double charge risk and flame temperatures (and thus erosion) will be much lower.

When the .460 becomes old hat and you want to really send some energy downrange, get ready for the .500...

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JR, the 500 Specialist

Don't waste your time loading .45LC and .454 for your X-Frame. Your ideas of Trailboss for light loads and H110/W296 for normal magnum loads are right on. You can also find good moderate velocity and reduced recoil loads using 2400 and IMR4227. I have shied away from Lil' Gun since the reports of premature forcing cone erosion appeared. Never got the performance from it as I got from H110/W296 and the 4227 and the high heat it produced in my guns kinda verified to me that there may be some truth to the rumors. One other thing I have learned from reloading for my .460. You DO NOT have to load this gun hot for it to be effective and accurate. In most instances and with most bullets, my best accuracy and performance comes from recipes in the middle of the load range. Make sure when pushing bullets in the upper ends of the .460 velocity range you use bullets appropriate for those velocities.

I guess I've only got a couple things to really add to what others have already said:

First, if you're wanting to get 1500fps (or more) out of your "mid-range" loads I would really recommend shying away from the regular XTP bullets. You 'might' not have trouble with them at 1500, but you 'will' have trouble with them if you go much more than that. You can push the XTP-MAG's pretty hard without worrying about shooting them apart.

And second, you can probably shoot an awful lot of .45 Colt loads before you'll get any sort of ring in the chambers that would prevent you from insterting a .460 case (especially if you use cleaner burning powders)... and you might get "sticky" extraction but you wont get "stuck" cases caused by a ring unless you completely neglect proper cleaning.

I've got a .454 Casull and they are notorious about difficult extraction with yowza-hot loads. I typically shoot 2-300 .45 Colt loads when I go to the range, followed by .454's and there isnt enough of a ring to make a bit of difference.

So, im curious if barrell length (7" vs 8.375" for example) changes the dynamic of "best load"....
I just put a deposit on a 7" performance center model yesterday - I think its 7" may be 7" and some change....IM SO EXCITED.