Super Redhawk question

[jim8115]

I just obtained a used Super redhawk 454
I have some Winchester super-x 250 grain 454's, and some corbon 285 Grain ( claims 1700 FPS ! )....as well as some various 45 colts loaded from mild to hot.
I was planning on shooting the colts, and working up to the winchester and corbon 454's
I have heard that it is dangerous to follow 45 colts with the 454's due to build-up in the chamber.
Is this true? I am not talking about shooting hundreds of the colts, probably 20 or 30 to get the feel, before i launch the big boys.
What do you think?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[eveled]

It should be easy to see any build up on a revolver, just bring a brush w/ you and give it a quick scrub if you are worried. Enjoy your new toy! Ed

 

[Lost Sheep]

Thanks for asking our advice. Congratulations on your new revolver.

I would check the chambers now, to make sure there isn't already a build-up that would interfere with chambering the Casull rounds.

Buildup of bullet lube and products of combustion can make chambering difficult and while the fouling is still fresh and gummy, extraction may be difficult as well.

I have never owned a 38 Special cartridge since 1975 and I load 38 Special power level target ammo in 357 Magnum cases. Since I don't own any 38 Special guns, that is easy to do. But I do have a 45 Colt and a 454 Casull, so my 454 Revolvers do see a mix of brass. But 20 to 30 rounds of 45 Colt have never given me a bit of trouble, nor 50. After that, I have observed that a 454 Casull may or may not fall out of a dirty chamber by gravity alone.

Still, when I go to the range, my "kit" includes my complete cleaning box.

Lost Sheep

 

[jim8115]

My main concern is not sticky extraction, but that I have heard that the buildup will cause the pressure to increase when shooting the 454, and blowing up the gun. I will follow all of your advice. I will take my cleaning stuff with me. But, as long as the 454's still chamber without any drag, I should be safe, correct?
I already haul so much stuff to the range it is crazy. Between my wife and I, we will have 6-10 guns, 500-600 rounds of ammo, chrono, folding table, etc.

Thanks to all. I sure like getting input from people that actually have experience.

The redhawk will make a great big brother to the wifes 6 "GP100.
She actually wants to try shooting the 454's.. we will see

JIM

 

[pisgah]

Run a dry brush thru the chambers after every couple of rounds of .45 Colt and you will never have a problem of any kind.

 

[Sal1950]

My main concern is not sticky extraction, but that I have heard that the buildup will cause the pressure to increase when shooting the 454, and blowing up the gun. I will follow all of your advice. I will take my cleaning stuff with me. But, as long as the 454's still chamber without any drag, I should be safe, correct?
I already haul so much stuff to the range it is crazy. Between my wife and I, we will have 6-10 guns, 500-600 rounds of ammo, chrono, folding table, etc.

Thanks to all. I sure like getting input from people that actually have experience.

The redhawk will make a great big brother to the wifes 6 "GP100.
She actually wants to try shooting the 454's.. we will see

JIM

That's a new one on me and I believe the person that told you that was just mis-informed. Did you read any such warning in your owners manual? Guys have been doing it in 38/357 revolvers since 1934 and I never heard of a warning about any danger.
I own a S&W 460 which shoots 45LC, 454 Casual, and 460 S&W. There's no warning of any danger from S&W and I've been mixing up the three calibers on each range session ever since I bought the gun.
Bringing a chamber brush to clean up the chambers after shooting some 45LC isn't a bad idea as scud rings can build up fairly fast with some ammo.
But this business about the gun becoming dangerous in just baloney.
Sal

 

[jim8115]

"That's a new one on me and I believe the person that told you that was just mis-informed. Did you read any such warning in your owners manual? Guys have been doing it in 38/357 revolvers since 1934 and I never heard of a warning about any danger.
I own a S&W 460 which shoots 45LC, 454 Casual, and 460 S&W. There's no warning of any danger from S&W and I've been mixing up the three calibers on each range session ever since I bought the gun.
Bringing a chamber brush to clean up the chambers after shooting some 45LC isn't a bad idea as scud rings can build up fairly fast with some ammo.
But this business about the gun becoming dangerous in just baloney."

Thats why I asked here. As you point out, I have been doing it for years with my 38/357's. But this is the first really big cartridge i have had, so I though I would check, I did not read it anywhere except some forum or another, though i did see more than one reference to it. Maybe someone double charging a load and not wanting to admit it was something they did.
By the way, a friend let me shoot his 460, thats what gave me the bug to get a boomer of some sort

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Lost Sheep]

But this business about the gun becoming dangerous in just baloney.

I had never read or heard that the "crud ring" could raise pressures, but it makes sense that foreign material might impede the release of the bullet from the case, especially if there were a lot of it.

I figured, though, that the amount of crud that would have to be there would raise alarms from the difficulty of chambering the round long before any danger would be appreciable.

But why take chances? Strange things can happen in milliseconds.

If the round chambers hard, unload and clean the chambers.

 

[Silent Sam]

It absolutely can be dangerous and not worth the risk to not start with clean, dry chambers before shooting 454 loads. I would not wait until rounds started to chamber hard. 454 pressures are no joke. There is a reason Ruger uses different steel for the 454. SAAMI spec for the 454 is 65K psi.

 

[jim8115]

Shot the Super Redhawk, It shoots great. Even starting with a clean gun, though.,,,, sticky extraction with the Cor Bon 285 gr BC ( claimed 1700FPS ) these things are HOT.. The winchester 454 250 JHP, no problems. Everything we shot out of it, from cowboy load 45 colts, up through ruger only 45 colt loads, and the 2 factory 454's were dead-on accurate.
ANyone else have any experience with the cor bon's? Should I avoid them?

Jim

 

[Donaldjr1969]

Shot the Super Redhawk, It shoots great. Even starting with a clean gun, though.,,,, sticky extraction with the Cor Bon 285 gr BC ( claimed 1700FPS ) these things are HOT.. The winchester 454 250 JHP, no problems. Everything we shot out of it, from cowboy load 45 colts, up through ruger only 45 colt loads, and the 2 factory 454's were dead-on accurate.
ANyone else have any experience with the cor bon's? Should I avoid them?

Jim

Jim, while I do not have a 454 revolver (I do own a 500 S&W though), I would say not to worry too much. Sometimes, slightly sticky extraction could be just due to the metallurgy of the cartridge case. Using my 500 as an example, I can say that Magtech 325g (full power, not their light load) loads, Hornady 500g loads, and my 350g loads (using MagTech brass) come right out of the cylinder with ease. However, the Winchester 400g Platinum Tip load requires a bit more pressure on the ejector rod to eject them.

Basically, I would only become concerned if extraction became so difficult that I needed something more than thumb pressure on the ejector rod to remove the casings. For example, if you need to tap on it with a small hammer, then I would be concerned. But if all you need is a little more pressure on the ejector, then you are fine. Again, case metal composition can possibly have something to do with it.

 

[Donaldjr1969]

With regards to chambers with a carbon ring, the only time I had issues was when I was shooting 44 Specials out of my 44Mag SRH and then went to 44Mag. The magnums were loaded with a cast boolit and during the seating process, some of the lube (it was either carnauba red or BAC) got on the outside of the casing. I also had some lube on my fingers from handing the boolits. Well, I never thought to clean the cases when all was finished. So I go to the range, shoot about 48 specials, then go to the magnums. They chambered fine but the first cylinder of magnums were so hard to remove that I needed a small hammer to tap the ejector rod to free them. Now it was NOT due to excessive pressure as it was a plinker load. What DID happen was the lube on the cases got nice and thin from the heat of firing and "bonded" itself to the carbon ring. So now I clean the outside of my cases throughly. With clean cases, I've fired as much as 100 specials and still been able to chamber my magnums with no resistance.

So like others said, as long as they chamber fine, you will be fine. If it makes one feel better, they can run a bore snake through the chambers when going from specials to magnums or from colts to casulls.

 

[jim8115]

Back to the range with the chrono..Just FYI.
I only chronoed 1 of each, due to ammo limitations, so the results are far from scientific..but anyway

Winchester 250 grain 1402 FPS
CorBon 285 grain 1633 FSP ( still sticking)
240 Gr XTP-MAG with 35.5 Grains H-110 1683 FPS, no signs of overpressure

JIM

 

[Donaldjr1969]

Jim, whose brass is Corbon using for the 285g loads? What does it say on the headstamp?

 

[Tommy Kelly]

I have a alaskan in 454 and the winchester white box ammo is almost anemic feeling in it. The thing that comes to mind is like shooting cowboy loads in a 45 colt.