I have a taurus raging bull in 454 casull. My son and I are reloading this cartridge with 16gr. of Hodgon HS6 powder pushing a 250 gr Berry's Bullet. This load is on their chart as close to a max load. My problem is blow back. When standing to the side and behind this small hand cannon, one can feel particles flying. As a matter of fact the particles cut my son the last itme and caused minor bleeding. My concerns are as follows:
1. Did I use the right bullets
2. Powder not proper
3. Space between the barrel and cylinder to wide

Any helps would be appreciated.

The gap between the cylinder and the barrel will spit debris, and the more powerful the cartridge the more it spits. Check the cylinder for alignment, and check the gap with a feeler guage and make sure it is within specifications for that revolver. Chief

CIH
The other obvious question is do you have a ported barrel? I have had cast bullets spit back at me in my Ruger- then I know they are not hard enough. Chief 101 had it covered with his suggestions! I would second the gap being excessive.

I don't load to max when I'm plinking or practicing with 454 casull,only do it when I'm developing hunting loads using H110/W296.My loads are in the 45 long colt range easier on the system but my 15" Encore doesn't shed lead at me maybe others in the range of my muzzle brake get splattered.

Put a full water bottle on either side of the cylinder gap when shooting from bench, you'll be surprised at how much and how fast the debris squirts out (without any body parts nearby as you could lose them) when you shoot a full-house load and you'll see what I mean...also ball powders such as H110 and 296 will squirt right out the gap so it's adviseable to steer clear and stay well back. Do make sure you revolver is in good condition tho. Chief

CIH
The other obvious question is do you have a ported barrel? I have had cast bullets spit back at me in my Ruger- then I know they are not hard enough. Chief 101 had it covered with his suggestions! I would second the gap being excessive.

Yeah, all the Raging Bulls are ported. Based on the behaviors of my .44 Mag Raging Bull, I'd second the suggestion to stand well behind it if you're off to the side. Some of my H110 + Berry loads will have just enough burn time to spit flame out of the ports, but none out of the muzzle. And those little snorts of flame will go a foot and a half.

I usually try not to stand directly to the side of someone shooting any revolver, or a flintlock for that matter. The only time I actually got hit with spit particles was from a .357 mag years ago. They are HOT! I would imagine a high pressure round like the 454 could be worse.

The only time I got hit with shaved lead from the shooting position was with 45 Colt loads from a R&D conversion cyclinder in a 1858 Remington cap & ball revolver. A tiny sliver of lead hit me in the face, and actually drew blood. It's a good arguement in favor of using shooting glasses. An 11 degree reamer on the forcing cone solved that problem.

Hey everyone thanks for the input. Your information is exactly what I needed. I am with you about not standing directly to the side of a revolver. What is concerning was the fact that my son was standing to the side and behind the shooter. I spoke with Berry's Bullets yesterday and the gentleman that I spoke to told me their bullets are good up to about 1250fps. The charts tell me that I was probably pushing this bullet at about 1420fps. We will probably back our loads down to somewhere in the 1200fps velocity to save on recoil and wear on me and the revolver. I am using HS6 instead of H110 or Winchester 296 because of my powder hopper. I am reloading with a Lee Turret Press (4 hole) and it has a powder hopper that will not drop the required larger volume of the slower burning powders. Any suggestions?
By the way I kind of like this little turret press........it keeps everything organized and is relatively quick to load with. It makes for changing calibers easy also.
Does anyone know the spec for the gap between the cylinder and barrel?
Thanks everyone

Hey everyone thanks for the input. Your information is exactly what I needed. I am with you about not standing directly to the side of a revolver. What is concerning was the fact that my son was standing to the side and behind the shooter. I spoke with Berry's Bullets yesterday and the gentleman that I spoke to told me their bullets are good up to about 1250fps. The charts tell me that I was probably pushing this bullet at about 1420fps. We will probably back our loads down to somewhere in the 1200fps velocity to save on recoil and wear on me and the revolver. I am using HS6 instead of H110 or Winchester 296 because of my powder hopper. I am reloading with a Lee Turret Press (4 hole) and it has a powder hopper that will not drop the required larger volume of the slower burning powders. Any suggestions?
By the way I kind of like this little turret press........it keeps everything organized and is relatively quick to load with. It makes for changing calibers easy also.
Does anyone know the spec for the gap between the cylinder and barrel?
Thanks everyone

For the autoloader on the die, you might consider setting it up to put half of the load with each pull, and just remember to pull twice without letting it go down far enough to rotate the turret.
Keep in mind, though, having it feed twice for each cartridge doubles the possibility for variance in loads.

CIH...as for cylinder to barrel gap,that's an easy one but I still may be in error. The manufacturer will have the answer but I have always liked the .006" number. I know the ported barrels spit some to the rear, but the cylinder gap spits to at least 45* back.
You know something Ko, I would never recomment using a turrett press that way as there are way too many chances for error. You never wants to have a half a caseful of H110. I've always loaded cartridges one ata time with an 0 press, even so I've caught myself in error often enough to know "not to change the routine". Just a thought. Chief

You know something Ko, I would never recomment using a turrett press that way as there are way too many chances for error. You never wants to have a half a caseful of H110. I've always loaded cartridges one ata time with an 0 press, even so I've caught myself in error often enough to know "not to change the routine". Just a thought. Chief

Quite true. I tend to be the type that looks into the case to make sure the powder is at the right level every time it comes out of the powder feeding die, so I didn't immediately think of that downside.

There was a suggestion years ago on testing a revolver for misalignment, which was to take the top and bottom out of a box about 12 " square or so tape white paper on each dide of the box inside and then fire the weapon from inside it then check for splatter, powder would show black and lead or copper would show holes. Also indicating which side the cyl. was mis aligned on rigt splatter cylinder was off on te right side ETC.

I am reloading with a Lee Turret Press (4 hole) and it has a powder hopper that will not drop the required larger volume of the slower burning powders. Any suggestions?

Are you using the Auto Disk? Lee sells a "Double Disk Kit" that lets you stack two disks, allowing you to double the powder capacity.

If that's not good enough, Lee also sells a Universal Charge Die that hooks up to the Perfect Powder Measure. I tried it with rifle cartridges, and it works, but I didn't like it enough to continue using it. The die won't flare the case mouth, but it looks like the the upper parts of the kit will go onto your regular pistol charge/flare die (it screws on, but I haven't actually set it all up to try it). You might want to call Lee and ask them if it works that way.

Or you could stick a funnel on the top of the die and measure the powder elsewhere.