454 Casull Hunting Bullet/Load

[Kodiak]

Hey Guys,

So last year put a scope on a Ruger Toklat in 454 Casull ( 1:24 RH twist with a 5" barrel) and practiced shooting it quite a bit with factory loads. I want to work up a load for elk hunting this fall. I was wondering if anyone had experience and recommendations for a hunting bullet. The Hornady XTP mag seems to be the most available bullet in 240 and 300 grains. The Cast Performance Bullets in 265, 300, 335 and 360 gr have also caught my eye.
The heavier bullets hit 6-8" higher at 100 yards than the lighter rounds due the the increased recoil. I know this gun will never be a really great shooter but does anyone have any advice on working into a hunting load?

I really appreciate it!

 

[nhyrum]

If it were me, I'd work up a load with just those two cast performance bullets(335 and 360) get a good, accurate load for both, and do a little math to see which has more energy at range. H110/w296 have been what I've always used, and it's never let me down, and never let me walk away without a bit of a sore wrist.

I haven't heard anything about the xtp mag bullets in hunting, but i have shot a fair bit of them out of my 454, and loadings i have no doubt that would take elk if placed properly. I would go with the 300 grain for those. There should be plenty of book data, i would recommend h110/w296, you should end up around 30 grains(that's NOT data, but that's where I've found my gun ends up with 300 grain bullets, be it jacketed or cast with gas checks. Work up your own loads.)

Of the cast performance bullets, i would personally go with the 335 grain. I like heavy bullets, but my gun couldn't stabilize a different 360 grain bullet. You may very well be able to, as i have a different twist barrel.

If you want a jacketed bullet, I'd look at the swift a frame bullets. They have a good reputation for holding up under a lot of abuse, I just don't know how the Hornady holds up. I've shot mine into water, and it's usually just the base, with everything else broken off.

If you want lead free, cutting edge bullets and Lehigh defense have great options as well. I would say the cost is higher, but i don't know if that's true anymore. A 300 grain massive hunk of solid copper hauling down range will go through... A lot. Although the load data will be a bit more scarce for those two.



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[Kodiak]

Thank you nhyrum! It sounds like you favor the heavier bullets. Have you had better success or accuracy with them? I am more worried about accuracy than terminal performance an game.

 

[nhyrum]

Thank you nhyrum! It sounds like you favor the heavier bullets. Have you had better success or accuracy with them? I am more worried about accuracy than terminal performance an game.

I mostly favor the heavy bullets because they usually have more energy. I haven't noticed any relationship of bullet weight and accuracy though, mostly because i wasn't looking. I usually try to get my loads to be in a 6 inch circle at 15 yards.

I've been pretty pleased with the accuracy of the Hornady 300 xtp mag. If you can get them readily, and want the fastest acceptable load, a box of those will be your best bet. If you want to take more time, you can get a couple different bullets, load up a sample batch of each and pick a bullet, and use the others to make watermelon evaporate, or resell them, etc.

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[BAKPAKR]

I have shot a couple of elk with hard cast bullets out of 44s and they worked fine. I have also shot elk with 300 gr 45 cal Hornady XTP Mags and a 300 gr 44 cal Swift A-Frame in sabots out of my muzzleloader. They worked fine, too. I was really impressed with the performance of the A-Frame and I later loaded the 45 cal version for my 460 S&W in preparation for a moose hunt in Wyoming. I ended up shooting my moose with a rifle but I have no doubt the Swift bullets would have worked great.

If I were going after elk this year with a revolver, I would likely be using Swift A-Frames, but I wouldn’t feel handicapped with the Hornady XTP Mags or hard cast bullets. I would not use the regular XTP bullets though, they open too quickly.

 

[jhm2023]

No experience on elk but I worked up a 454 load for my Toklat using a 300gr Swift revolver a-frame over a stout charge of H110. Shot a 7.5' grizz with that load and the bullet entered the front of the left shoulder and exited the right hind. Lots of penetration and it was like turning off a light switch as it just dropped on the spot and never even twitched. It didn't hit the spine bit did take out the scapula. I wouldn't hesitate to use that load for anything that I wanted to hunt with a revolver. If I couldn't find a-frames I would use either an XD or XP from Lehigh Defense, they do a good job with keeping up with demanding and make great bullets that perform great on game.

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[Kodiak]

That is awesome. How far of a shot was the griz?

Just ordered some 335gr hard cast and 300 gr swift a frames. That should be a decent place to start. I do have a few boxes of of factory loaded 240gr xtp to compare them too. Going to have to stick to h110 as it is all I have for now. I should be able to work up a load though.
Thank you guys for the input.

 

[jhm2023]

That is awesome. How far of a shot was the griz?

Just ordered some 335gr hard cast and 300 gr swift a frames. That should be a decent place to start. I do have a few boxes of of factory loaded 240gr xtp to compare them too. Going to have to stick to h110 as it is all I have for now. I should be able to work up a load though.
Thank you guys for the input.

About 10 yards.

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[Kodiak]

Dang. That is sketchy.

I landed on the 300gr hornady XTP mag. Ended up picking up a box of them as well. The flew a little better than the A-frames(could just be my shooting too). My last 5 shot group with the XTPs was 2-3/8” at 50 yards. The aframes were about 2-3/4” at 50 yards. I was actually pretty impressed with both bullets. The XTPs are substantially cheaper than the A frames. I could only get about 6” groups out of the 335 gr hardcast. I am sure I could tinker more and get it tighter but I don’t really deal a need to right now.