I'm getting a Taurus raging judge in the near future, and am starting to accumulate reloading supplies. From what I hear, freedom arms recommends separate dies(from what I've seen, only rcbs makes separate dies, and there's only a .001 difference). But, since I don't have a freedom arms, and since there's not much of a difference, does one really need separate dies?
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454 casull/45 colt dies
- Thread starter nhyrum
- Start date
50 shooter
New member
I thought that the Judge only shot .45 (long) Colt and not .454 Casull?
.454 Casull dies can load .45 Colt but not the other way around due to case length and cartridge over all length.
.454 Casull dies can load .45 Colt but not the other way around due to case length and cartridge over all length.
shootbrownelk
New member
It ain't fun out of a Ruger super redhawk either. I have separate dies for my Redhawk. And yes, you do need them. A Lee factory crimp die handles either however.
disseminator
New member
When I first bought my SW 460 XVR, I hadn't gotten dies for it yet but was dying to shoot it. So I used my RCBS Carbide 45 Colt Die set and made both 454 Casull, and 460 Magnum.
I later bought a set of carbide Redding dies for the 460/454 and you know what, I like the ammo loaded on the Colt dies better.
The RCBS will full length resize the 454 and 460 no problems.
YMMV.
I later bought a set of carbide Redding dies for the 460/454 and you know what, I like the ammo loaded on the Colt dies better.
The RCBS will full length resize the 454 and 460 no problems.
YMMV.
Honestly... I can't wait. It's deffinetley not a gun I'll blast through 50 rounds of ammo in in a sitting(I'll probably shoot a cylinder a day at least) it's a "walking through the woods.... OH S***!! CHARGING GRIZZ!! gun. But at around 5 pounds naked, and a 6 inch barrel, I'm sure it will be manageable454 out of a judge? That's not gonna be fun.
This information is WRONG. Dies for the SHORTER case can be used to load longer cases, but not the other way around..454 Casull dies can load .45 Colt but not the other way around due to case length and cartridge over all length.
disseminator
New member
This information is WRONG. Dies for the SHORTER case can be used to load longer cases, but not the other way around.
In some cases, longer dies won't work for shorter cartridges because the seating stem won't reach the shorter cases but in the case of 45 colt, most 454 seating dies will work just fine.
Like 38 special/357magnum and 44 special/44 magnum are to each other, 45 colt is to 454 casull.
Where you can have a problem is sizing LONGER cases with SHORTER dies. But in the case of the RCBS 45 Colt dies, I am able to full length size 454 and 460 S&W mag with the 45 COLT dies.
And of course, seating and crimping the LONGER cartridge with the SHORTER die is not an issue at all.
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Again, wrong, or at least misleading, information. ALL straight-wall resizing is done with the small carbide ring at the mouth of the die, so any case that can be fully inserted into a die will be properly resized when the die reaches the shell holder. It is theoretically possible for some case to be too long to fit into the sizing die, but this does not happen with any normal revolver calibers.Where you can have a problem is sizing LONGER cases with SHORTER dies.
The real issue has nothing to do with the bullet seating plug - AFAIK, ALL dies have sufficiently long seating stems for sister calibers. the PROBLEM is that a die specifically made for a longer case generally CANNOT be properly adjusted to crimp the bullet in a shorter case - the crimping shelf is just too high in the seating die. And in the case of Lee dies, the powder-thru expander die must have the proper length expander plug for the shortest case.
disseminator
New member
Yep, good point on the crimp die, though I haven't had any issues with any that I use.