Gun Digest 2011. Dan ShidelerЧитать онлайн книгу.

      To interchange cartridges, as long as the bullets’ diameter is the same, Freedom Arms makes accessory cylinders available that can be switched in less than a minute. For the .454 Casull, for example, extra cylinders are available for the .45 ACP, .45 Colt and .45 Winchester Magnum, the latter of which is popular in Europe.

      .45 ACP

      (0.451" or 0.452") This 45-caliber is likely the most popular semiauto pistol cartridge of all time. With a 230-grain bullet, it found its place in the Model 1911 pistol as adopted by the military. A fine military, police and target round, I started to use it for small game in an S&W revolver years ago since in my state, semis are not permitted for hunting. Recoil is tolerable but as the handgun so chambered is reduced in size and weight, recoil begins to climb. In a revolver it is a pleasant cartridge to shoot. Yet even though a great military round, it is not recommended for game as large as or larger than deer. It will do the job, but I am afraid that more game will be wounded since it does not have the velocity, or really suitable bullets, for use at hunting ranges. Shot capsules are also available for this cartridge, again for snakes up close.

      .45 WINCHESTER MAGNUM

      (0.451") Around 1979 this rimless case, with bullets comparable in weight to those of the .45 ACP, was introduced by Winchester. Designed originally for silhouette shooting, my first experience with it was in a Wildey gas-operated handgun owned by a friend who was serious about knocking over steel targets. What it did for the semiauto was to give it .44 Magnum ballistics. My next experience was in a Freedom Arms revolver chambered for the .454 Casull for which a special cylinder had to be fitted by Freedom. (If you want to fire the .45 ACP round in the Freedom Arms .454, buy an extra cylinder from the company and you are ready to go.)

      Unfortunately, today it is even hard to factory loaded ammunition for what the .45 WM, one of the most powerful semiauto cartridges. Due to the lack of ammunition, if you want a revolver with low recoil, then get a .44 Magnum or semiauto. A plus for this cartridge was that it was easy to fire due to its moderate recoil in the stout Thompson/Center Contender, the Wildey semiauto or the Freedom Arms revolver. When gathering data for this review, I called my friend to borrow his firearms so chambered but with silhouette on the decline I found he had quit the sport and then sold all but his revolver, which he now seldom fires. This goes to show that even if one has the handgun, the next hurdle is the ammunition if you do not handload.

      .45 COLT

      (0.451", 0.452" or 0.454") Back when I was a kid in the 1960s when few had .44 Magnum handguns, the .45 Colt was popular with handgun hunters. Adopted by the army in 1873 for their Colt Single Action Army revolver, the original black powder load was both accurate and effective with its 255-grain lead bullet. Today this cartridge is gaining in popularity due to Cowboy Action competitions, though I have seen a few hunters using it for deer with hand-loaded ammunition. For hunting, there are good bullets available but not much in factory loaded ammunition. Again, the new magnums and other cartridges such as the .454 made this cartridge less popular than it used to be. You can fire a .45 Colt in a .454 Casull cylinder BUT if you do that, make sure you thoroughly clean the cylinder’s chambers, especially the shoulders. This is critical since fouling can result in a tight chamber for the longer .454 round, with a hazardous increase in pressure. According to Bob Baker at Freedom Arms, this is one reason why they recommend an extra cylinder chambered in .45 Colt if you plan on firing a lot of .45 Colt ammunition in your .454.

      .454 CASULL

      (0.451" or 0.452") Note: When loading this cartridge and you desire maximum loads, you must use a bullet with a thick jacket, so check your manual’s recommendations carefully.

      As the .44 Magnum raised handgunning up a notch, in 1957 the Freedom Arms single action revolver and 454 Casull cartridge took it up two notches. At a SHOT Show years ago when I was speaking with Dick Casull, he told me that he got started when he had the idea to push .45 Colt loads above and beyond what was thought possible in what I believe were Modified Colt single actions. To safely chamber this new cartridge, Freedom Arms then built what was and still is a premium single action revolver. Bob Baker, who is now the president of Freedom Arms and with whom I have hunted deer over the years, has taken deer, pronghorn and many elk that I know of with the .454.

      What is interesting about the .454 is that until 1998 it was a proprietary cartridge available only from Freedom Arms. The premium Freedom Arms revolver, when coupled with the then most powerful revolver cartridge available, set the handgun hunting world on fire. My friend Lynn Thompson of Cold Steel Knives fame has used this combination with open sights to harvest the biggest and baddest game Africa has to offer. This is quite a revolver cartridge but one that is easy to control as long as the handgun has a Mag-na-brake from Mag-Na-Port, and as long as you use hearing protection, even when hunting. 250-, 260- and 300-grain factory loaded ammunition is available.

      .460 S&W MAGNUM

      (0.452") Note: When loading this cartridge and you desire maximum loads, you must use a bullet with a thick jacket, so check your manual’s recommendations carefully.

      This cartridge followed in the footsteps of a truly big bore of S&W revolvers, the .500 S&W Magnum (see below). The .460, introduced in 2005, was dubbed the .460XVR. From its name designation, you may think that it uses a bullet different in diameter from that of the .45 Colt or .454 Casull but in reality it does not; therefore, the .45 Colt and .454 Casull cartridges can be fired in any revolver chambered for the .460. Like the .454, this is an extremely high pressure cartridge that must be loaded with bullets appropriately designed. When it comes to recoil, due to the weight and design of the S&W revolver, its bark is worse than its bite. Again, if you can handle a .44 Magnum, you can handle this one. The factory loads I use include 200- (Cor-Bon), 260- and 275-grain bullets.

      .45-70 GOVERNMENT

      (0.458") As an official military cartridge back in the 1880s, the .45-70-500 was a 45-caliber boomer loaded with 70 grains of black powder, which pushed a 500-grain bullet. It was the 1980s when Ruger, Marlin, SSK Industries (who made T/C Contender barrels so chambered) and Thompson/Center Arms in 1990 that brought this fine big bore back from the road to extinction. For hunting and taking shots from short to moderate ranges, say, 150 yards, I prefer the 300-, 325- or 350-grain bullets. Recoil in T/C handguns – especially if they have muzzle brakes from SSK, T/C or Mag-Na-Port – is moderate and again in the .44 Magnum class. In fact, I prefer firing the .444 Marlin, .45-70 and .450 Marlin in handguns to firing them in carbines since, to me, they’re actually easier to control in a handgun. In carbines, the shoulder takes the hit; in handguns, the recoil raises the firearm and if you hold on and don’t let the blast cause flinching, the energy generated doesn’t knock you around.

      .450 MARLIN

      (0.458") This cartridge originated from another joint venture with Marlin and Hornady in 2000. The result was a .45 suitable for big game at moderate ranges in the Marlin carbine. Then Thompson/Center chambered it in their Encore carbine and handgun. Now, in the handgun, even with a T/C muzzle brake, this one is a handful. In fact, its recoil is the most of any of the cartridges I cover here. Yet it is surprisingly controllable, though certainly not for the faint of heart. Common bullets I used are the 325- and 350-grainers. Today this chambering in the Encore is available only from T/C’s custom shop.

      .480 RUGER

      (0.475") Back in 2001, big news at the SHOT show was that Hornady and Ruger had worked together on a project, the result of which was the introduction of the .480 Ruger. Like many of the cartridges that can be fired in the cylinders of others, this cartridge can be fired guns chambered for the .475 Linebaugh. This is possible because the Ruger cartridge is simply a shortened Linebaugh. Again, if you do this, thoroughly clean the cylinder’s chambers so as not to increase the pressures of the longer cartridge. Although a step up from the .44 Magnum, I do not see it (or the .44 Magnum, for that matter) as a 200-yard revolver cartridge. In a Ruger revolver, the .480 cartridges I have fired were loaded with 325- and a 400-grain bullets. The most pleasant to fire was with a 325- grain bullet and that only makes sense. Recoil in the well designed Ruger is moderate: