460 XVR With 45 Colt?

[4MUL8R]

Having owned a Freedom Arms 83, in 454 Casull, I remember reading that under no circumstances was I to ever even consider shooting a 45 Colt cartridge in that cylinder, or the world would stop spinning. The reason made sense -- a closely bored cylinder with exacting dimensional control, that would be harmed by powder and lead residue from a shorter cartridge.

Now, with a 460 XVR, I am tempted to try a nice 45 Colt load therein. Say, 335 grains at 1200 fps. S&W states that this is OK to do. Super! But, in the experience of the forum, (a)do I potentially create a cylinder problem with lead and powder residue and (b)do I have any reasonable accuracy with a bullet leaving a short case and traveling in free space for a quarter inch before hitting the barrel?

 

[murphydog]

I am guessing a (long) 335 gr .45 Colt bullet will not have a very long jump to the chamber shoulder, but only trying it will tell you if accuracy suffers.

Cleaning the charge holes is always a good idea. I doubt you will have any problems if you do, just like the millions of .38 Specials fired in .357 Magnum revolvers. Enjoy!

 

[KalamazooKid]

I shoot the 45's out of my XVR all the time. It's a great "warmup" round as the muzzle barely jumps. I like to have anyone that shoots it run a cylinder of them before going to the larger loads just to get a feel for the gun. Very accurate with no problems for me.

 

[vmumford]

My understanding you can shoot 45 Long Colt, 454 Casual and 460 in it with no adverse effects. I was having issues with a Raging bull in 454 with the cartridges sticking in the cylinder and stopping it from turning so until I figured out what that problem was, I shot the 45 LC in it and enjoyed the round a lot. Now I have a 460 and a 500 in the stable and I shot 45s in the 460 (perhaps 30 rounds) with no adverse affects to date.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

The more fouling left behind by the 1/2" shorter 45 Colt case in the 460 chamber increases the chance of having extraction issues if you fire full house 460 Mag loads without cleaning it first.

I've decided to avoid that issue & handload some reduced loads in 460 cases, for fun & warm-up, before jumping into full loads.

As far as accuracy it was my observation, especially with cast bullets, that the 45 Colt cases are more problematic due to the blow-by gases as the .452" bullet travels in the ~.480" chamber (until it reaches the ~.4515" throats) causing base erosion & lube loss, increasing the likelyhood of leading.

.

 

[Road_Clam]

The more fouling left behind by the 1/2" shorter 45 Colt case in the 460 chamber increases the chance of having extraction issues if you fire full house 460 Mag loads without cleaning it first.

I've decided to avoid that issue & handload some reduced loads in 460 cases, for fun & warm-up, before jumping into full loads.

+1 . When shooting 45LC from the 460 cyl you are jumping the bullet almost 1/2" into the forcing cone. You probably won't have issues but eventually i'm thinking you will observe accelerated forcing cone wear. I don't shoot 45LC or 454 Casull loads for the very reason of unintended debris in the cyl bores.