Is the 454 Casull a compromise? Perhaps ... guess it depends on who you ask. There are more than a few highly skilled and motivated handgun hunters who went to the 454 and then stuck with it.

One school of thought is: a strong, light bullet at high velocity with a flat trajectory. Essentially what the 454 Casull was designed around and probably peaked with the excellent 260 grain Freedom Arms jacketed flatpoint design. I cannot argue with the killing power of this load ... there are too many head of North American big game on the wall of my hunting mentor, including upwards of 20 bull elk.

Another school of thought is: a strong, 300-335 grain bullet at moderate velocity with a fairly flat trajectory. This is where I have settled with the 454. I abhor the muzzle blast and sharp recoil of a fast 260 grain load. I've found the 300-335 gr range at 1200-1550 fps to be accurate and to have a trajectory that works well out to 150 yards with a 100 yard zero. I've tried taking this load up to 1750 fps - all that happens is my point of impact climbs substantially with the recoil. 1450-1500 fps with a 325 grain bullet is my choice for hunting. I can keep all my shots in a small kill zone at 150 yards with this combination. That is all I've got any business doing and all that I am interested in doing.

Others would choose a 360 grain or heavier bullet ... most of these folk also seem to think that the 454 is not the ideal handgun hunting caliber and would opt for the 475 or 500 calibers. Disciples of Keith - caliber, and bullet weight, put game on the ground. Not much to argue with here, I've tried 360's to 395's a good bit, but don't care for them as much.

Really, I agree with all of the above.

I "seriously" got back into the 454 Casull right at a year ago. I've had quite a few examples over the last six years, but never took the cartridge seriously enough to try to master it or even get reasonably adept with it. This attitude of course never lends itself to good handgun hunting. Last spring I picked up a 4" and 6" 454 FA, and over the summer added a 7.5" and 9" that I scoped. Those guns have been shot well over 10,000 rounds in the last twelve months ... probably closer to 13,000, but I am far from a meticulous record keeper. That included something well over 20 different loads before settling on the few that I like and work well for me. The favored loads have one thing in common: they all hit within a practical distance of each other at 100 yards.

I could be quite happy sticking with this cartridge as it will do all I need it to do, and do it well ... Lynn Thompson does a lot of his practice at an indoor range shooting at 1" stick-on targets with the goal of keeping all his shots on that target. My guns and loads will do that, too, and I spend a great deal of time at this sort of practice. It ultimately leads to dramatic improvement in trigger control and follow through as it is harder than one might think to keep A-L-L his shots inside a square inch, even at 50 feet. And for what it is worth, I do this with irons and with scopes. With iron sights, I generally stand on my hind legs and work from 50 feet to 30 yards. With scopes, I try to work from all conceivable field positions.

So - it may be that the 454 Casull is a compromise. What I consider to be an outstanding compromise between caliber, bullet weight, velocity and trajectory. It will cleanly take all North American game . It can be loaded down or up and do outstanding with either. It works well with cast heavyweights at moderate velocity for penetration, and it works well with lighter jacketeds at high velocity for ... whatever reason it really is that jacketed high velocity bullets may kill faster. I know I have done more with the 454 in the last twelve months than I really thought possible.

And that may be the real reason why I hesitate to move to anything else for hunting. Spending this much time with "a" gun in "a" caliber and particularly "a" load has done so darn much for my shooting ability that there really is no room for argument. I know of no other way for the "average but dedicated" shooter to really get to be a pistolero with a sixgun than to shoot the ever-living daylights out of it until it holds few mysteries. Frankly, I believe that this is the reason that so many dedicated 454 shooters also do not "move on." Their guns work, they work well, and they are darn near married to them. Their trigger time gets to be quality time and less of an experiment. Sure, they could add other calibers to the stable ... or they could spend their time getting better with what they already have. Real and tangible results, and not just talking about what other people have done on some internet forum.

I can't say as I see anything wrong with that outlook.

Now, having said all that, my kids are getting old enough that we can spend all day in the country without having to track down diapers and formula and the like, and consequently my shooting time has increased dramatically. It may just be time to pick up a pair of 475's or 500's ... solely for variety's sake.