Type Handgun Designed 1958 Case type Rimmed straight | Place of origin United States Parent case .45 Colt | |
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Designer Dick Casull, Jack Fullmer | ||
The .454 Casull (/kÉ™'sul/) is a firearm cartridge, developed as a wildcat cartridge in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fullmer. It was first announced in November 1959 by Guns & Ammo magazine. The basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved .45 Colt case. The wildcat cartridge finally went mainstream in 1997, when Ruger began chambering its Super Redhawk in this caliber. Taurus followed with the Raging Bull model in 1998 and the Taurus Raging Judge Magnum in 2010. The .45 Schofield and .45 Colt cartridges can fit into the .454's chambers, but not the other way around because of the lengthened case (very similar to the relationship between .38 Special and .357 Magnum cartridges as well as the .44 Special and .44 Magnum cartridges).
Contents
Specifications
The .454 Casull was finally commercialized in 1998, when SAAMI published its first standards for the cartridge. The new Casull round uses a small rifle primer rather than a pistol primer, because it develops extremely high chamber pressures of over 60,000 CUP (copper units of pressure) (410 MPa), and the rifle primer has a significantly stronger cup than a pistol primer.
The round is one of the most powerful handgun cartridges in production. The .454 Casull generates almost 5 times the recoil of the .45 Long Colt, and about 75% more recoil energy than the .44 Magnum. It can deliver a 250 grain (16 g) bullet with a muzzle velocity of over 1,900 feet per second (580 m/s), developing up to 2,000 ft-lb (2.7 kJ) of energy from a handgun. One Buffalo Bore loading drives a heavier 300 grain JFN bullet at 1,650 ft/s for 1,813 ft-lb of muzzle energy. The .454 Casull round is primarily intended for hunting medium or large game, metallic silhouette shooting, and bear protection.
The Casull cartridges were originally loaded with a triplex load of propellants, which gave progressive burning, aided by the rifle primer ignition, resulting in a progressive acceleration of the bullet as it passed through the barrel.
Similar cartridges
The first commercially available revolver chambered in .454 Casull was made by Freedom Arms in 1983 as a five-shot single action model 83 revolver that is capable of firing .45 ACP, .45 Colt and .454 Casull with interchangeable cylinders. The .460 Smith & Wesson Magnum cartridge introduced in 2005 is basically a lengthened .454 Casull cartridge and has the same diameter as a .45 Colt or .454 Casull. Therefore, revolvers chambered for the .460 S&W will also chamber the .454 Casull, the .45 Colt, and the short .45 Schofield (.45 S&W).