The
.454 Casull (pronounced Ka-Sool) is a firearm cartridge, developed in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fulmer. It was first announced in
November 1959January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in November, 1959.-November 1, 1959 :...
by
Guns & Ammo magazine. The basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved
.45 ColtThe .45 Colt cartridge was a joint development between Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, and the Union Metallic Cartridge Company of Bridgeport, Conn. Colt began work on the revolver in 1871, and submitted a sample to the U.S. Army in late 1872. The revolver...
case. .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 way
.38 SpecialThe .38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round...
cartridges can fit into the longer chambers of a
.357 MagnumThe .357 S&W Magnum, or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
and
.44 SpecialThe .44 Special or .44 S&W Special is a smokeless powder center fire metallic cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908.-Development history:...
cartridges can fit into the longer chambers of a
.44 MagnumThe .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the ".44" designation, all guns chambered for the .44 Magnum case, and its parent case, the .44 Special, use...
).
The
.454 Casull (pronounced Ka-Sool) is a firearm cartridge, developed in 1957 by Dick Casull and Jack Fulmer. It was first announced in
November 1959January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - DecemberThe following events occurred in November, 1959.-November 1, 1959 :...
by
Guns & Ammo magazine. The basic design was a lengthened and structurally improved
.45 ColtThe .45 Colt cartridge was a joint development between Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, of Hartford, Connecticut, and the Union Metallic Cartridge Company of Bridgeport, Conn. Colt began work on the revolver in 1871, and submitted a sample to the U.S. Army in late 1872. The revolver...
case. .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 way
.38 SpecialThe .38 Smith & Wesson Special is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & Wesson. It is most commonly used in revolvers, although some semi-automatic pistols and carbines also use this round...
cartridges can fit into the longer chambers of a
.357 MagnumThe .357 S&W Magnum, or simply .357 Magnum, is a revolver cartridge created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, Colonel D. B. Wesson of firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. It is based upon Smith & Wesson's earlier .38 Special cartridge. The .357 Magnum cartridge was introduced in...
and
.44 SpecialThe .44 Special or .44 S&W Special is a smokeless powder center fire metallic cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908.-Development history:...
cartridges can fit into the longer chambers of a
.44 MagnumThe .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles. Despite the ".44" designation, all guns chambered for the .44 Magnum case, and its parent case, the .44 Special, use...
). The new Casull round uses a small rifle
primerThe percussion cap, introduced around 1830, was the crucial invention that enabled muzzle-loading firearms to fire reliably in any weather. Before this development, firearms used flintlock ignition systems which produced flint-on-steel sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the...
rather than a pistol primer, because it develops extremely high chamber pressures of over 60,000 CUP (
copper units of pressureCopper units of pressure or CUP, and the related lead units of pressure or LUP, are terms applied to pressure measurements used in the field of internal ballistics for the estimation of chamber pressures in firearms. These terms were adopted by convention to indicate that the pressure values were...
) (410
MPaThe pascal is the SI derived unit of pressure, stress, Young's modulus and tensile strength. It is a measure of force per unit area, defined as one newton per square metre...
), and a rifle primer has a significantly stronger cup than a pistol primer. The .454 Casull can deliver a 250 grain (16 g) bullet with a muzzle velocity of over 1900 feet per second (580 m/s), developing more than 2000
ft·lbfThe foot-pound force, or simply foot-pound is a unit of work or energy .-Other units of energy:...
(2.7 kJ) of energy, although energy levels from common .454 revolvers with 7-8 inch barrels are typically somewhat lower (1,600-1,700 ft·lbf). The round is primarily intended for hunting medium or large game,
metallic silhouetteMetallic silhouette shooting is a group of target shooting disciplines that involves shooting at metal cutouts representing game animals at varying distances. Metallic silhouette shooting can be done with airguns, black powder firearms, modern handguns, or modern rifles...
shooting and predator defense.
The 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 up the barrel. The first commercially available revolver chambered in .454 Casull was made by
Freedom ArmsFreedom Arms is a Freedom, Wyoming-based firearm manufacturing company, known for producing powerful single-action revolvers. The company was founded in 1983 by Dick Casull to produce a revolver chambered in the powerful .454 Casull chambering. This 5-shot revolver was the Model 83....
in 1983 as a 5-shot revolver. Ruger began chambering its
Super RedhawkThe Super Redhawk is a line of double action magnum revolvers made by Sturm, Ruger beginning in 1987. This model also marked Ruger's foraay into larger more powerful cartidges such as the .454 Casull and .480 Ruger.-The introduction:...
in this caliber in 1997 and
TaurusForjas Taurus S/A is a manufacturing conglomerate based in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Beginning as a tool and die manufacturer, the company now consists of divisions focusing on firearms, metals manufacturing, plastics, body armor, helmets, and civil construction.-History:Taurus produced its first...
followed with the
Raging BullThe Raging Bull is a revolver manufactured by the Brazilian Taurus International firearm company.In its larger calibers it is marketed as a hunter's sidearm because it is a potent weapon with plenty of stopping power...
model in 1998.
The recently introduced .460 Smith and Wesson Magnum cartridge has the same diameter as a .45 Colt or .454 Casull, and therefore revolvers chambered for it will also chamber the .454 Casull and .45 Colt. Until the introduction of the .460 S&W Magnum and the
.500 S&W MagnumThe .500 S&W Magnum is a cartridge that was developed by Cor-Bon with the "X-Gun" engineering team at Smith & Wesson for use in their Model 500 revolvers and introduced in February 2003 at the SHOT trade show...
the .454 Casull was the most powerful commercially produced handgun round on the market, significantly eclipsing the more recent .50 AE in both power and availability.