Dawg,
I have a .454 that I bought about 20 years ago. I struggled with it off and on over the years due to what I thought was tight throats. FA Factory 300gr ammo had to be forced the last bit into the chambers with heavy finger pressure. A year ago (yeah, I have a high tolerance for pain -- actually just lazy) I needed some work done to my M97 and mentioned the tight throats on the .454 to John at FA. He had me send the .454 cyl in along with the 97. When it came back the tight throat problem was fixed. The original throats were extremely abrupt (no chamfer/taper at the rear of the throat). From what I remember, FA chamfered/tapered the lead into the throats, but didn't open them up. The throats will let a .452 bullet pass but not a .453, so call them .4525. We slugged the bore, and it is right at .453.
So, my first suggestion is to see if a .452 jacketed bullet will pass thru the cyl throats from the rear of the cylinder. If not, see if they will pass thru from the face of the cylinder – if they do, you may have the same problem that I had. If not, you’ll probably have to use cast bullets sized .451 just so they will chamber.
From my recent experiences with the FA 475 LB (and the fixed .454), any of the Keith SWCs with the wide front drive band above cyl throat diameter are virtually impossible to seat in tight throated cyls. The LBT WFN with the longer (relative to a shorter nose in same caliber) nose to crimp measurement can also be difficult to seat. The WFNs from Cast Performance, as well as some of Leadhead’s bullets seem to be dual diameter – the base will be larger than the portion of the bullet in front of the crimp grove – so no seating problems. LFNs, and RFNs seem to be less prone to sizing/chambering problems. Unfortunately, about the only way you are going to figure it out is to actually try different nose profiles, manufacturers and diameters.
Cast Performance makes very good bullets, but they are really pricy. Leadheads are also decent bullets, but are quite hard, and their shipping methods incr price. Try Montana Bullet Works
http://www.montanabulletworks.com/wst_page6.html -- With shipping, they aren’t much cheaper than leadheads, but they will size to your needs, and most of their non gas checked bullets are of a “softer” alloy, and they will lube with LBT Blue.
One last thought (probably have more but they have escaped me for the moment). When I got the .454 cyl back from FA, I tried some MT Bul Wks RCBS 270gr SAA, SIZED .454, in full length .454 cases, crimped over the front drive band, so I could chamber the rounds. These bullets weigh between 280 and 290gr with the Mt B Wks alloy. I loaded them with 7.8gr of HP38. This load shot into one ragged hole at 25 yards. These should be close to 950 fps in the 6” FA. The way they are alloyed, you should be able to run them in the 1,100 to 1,300 fps range with no probs. If you have a problem with crimping over the front drive band, you can always trim the cases enough to use the crimp grove.
I haven’t tried the RCBS (82083) 300gr SWC GC in the .454. I have a bunch on hand, and have shot them in my Model 97 .45 Colt. I mention this bullet, because, even though it is a SWC, the front drive band isn’t as wide as the 270gr SAA mentioned above. Sometimes this narrower front drive band gives you more latitude in crimping the bullet so the round will chamber.
Check your throats with a .452 jacketed bullet as mentioned above, and slug your bore. Cast bullets sized .451 may be on the small size for your gun. Don’t be like me, I now have over 300 Penn Bullet 340gr CTCs sized .451 and cast very hard, (read hard, undersized bullets) that give me leading problems in the .454 – I need to shoot them up, but just haven’t gotten around to it. I ordered 500 of those when I thought my throats were .451.
FWIW,
Paul
