Which crimp ring

[dirty gary]

I load 454 Casull for use in a Freedom Arms revolver. Using H110 and Hornady XTP 300 gr bullets which have 2 crimp rings. My powder charge fits comfortably under either crimp locations, and the C.O.L. is fine. Extensive testing (someone has to do it) I found no differences, groups were good and equal with either load. I E-mailed Hornady about the 2 rings, thought maybe it was to load 45 Colt, they replied it was just part of the manufacturing process. Any thoughts?

 

[MMA10mm]

If both crimp rings allow a workable OAL in your cylinder, than there's only 2 things I can think of:

1) All else being exactly equal (including/especially powder charge and primer), the shorter round will have higher pressures, and therefore (usually, but never say "always") higher velocity, than the longer OAL rounds.

2) Even if both OALs fit your cylinder, I'm betting the longer OAL is getting the nose of the bullet pretty close to the end of the cylinder. With heavy-recoiling gun-cartridge combinations, this can lead to the bullet jumping the crimp and tying up the cylinder. Not 100% of the time, but it's something to consider.

 

[buck460XVR]

The bullets you are using are designed for .45LC pressures and velocities. If you use them in your .454 at those pressures and velocities you want the crimp grove that will get you closest to 1.745'' OAL. If you are loading to .454 velocities and pressures, you should be using the .45 cal 300gr XTP-MAG. It only has one crimp groove and has a thicker outer jacket that gives better terminal performance. The thicker jacket also prevents jacket separation/deformation and excessive forcing cone erosion and top strap cutting that can be produced by using the thinner jacketed bullets.