I have just bought a Ruger Redhawk Alaskan in 454. I shoot quiet a bit of 45 Colt so I figured it would be a good addition. I went ahead and bought 100 pcs of Starline 454 brass and thought I was ready to load. As I researched I wound up with plenty of questions. IF I can comfortably get these questions answered I will do some loading with what I have. But I have no issue waiting until I get better supplies if need be.

1 I thought my 45 Colt dies said "45 Colt-454 Casull". They do not. Only my factory crimp die says that. Can I use them as I would my 38/.357 dies? All dies are Lee.

2 My go to powder on this was going to be H110 since I have plenty of it but for now all I have is 250g bullets. Between the low bullet weight and the 2.5" barrel is the H110 too slow to be efficient? Will a good crimp make up for this? I also have Unique available. Or trail boss which I see as useless in this cartridge.

3 250g hard cast RNFP but I do not know how hard. No gas check. These bullets do not lead the barrel of my 45 Colt lever action with a stout load of Unique but am I pushing my luck with this bullet at 454 pressures? I am absolutely starting at the bottom of charge chart. But that again makes H110 inefficient.

4 Primers. The book calls for small rifle primers. Which were in front of me today at the store had I only known. What I have in good supply on the bench is small magnum pistol primers. Any thoughts on this?

Ok the internet is my friend. So far I have found that I can use the 45 Colt dies. I'm better suited using the Unique with the 250g no gas check hard cast and have found data for that load.

As far as primers it suggest the pressures of the 454 will blow pistol primers since they are thinner. Heres my stopping point. Magnum appears to not be an issue but blown primers are for me.

I am still very open to advice.

But then again you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

Refer to post #5 in this thread.

http://benchrest.com/showthread.php?68276-Powder-burn-rate-VS-Barrel-length

There seem to be instances where this is not strictly and exactly 100% true, but in general it is. Don't sweat the barrel length when it comes to powder selection's effect on velocity. If muzzle flash is a concern---and I DO think you might want to consider it---then go with a faster burning powder to reduce it. But don't expect velocity advantages because it generally does not work out that way.

If you keep your velocities under 1200 you should be fine with the non gas checked bullets. If you get GC bullets, you can go on up to 2200 or so.