454casull

Hodgdon shows that load as max, so no, I certainly wouldn't go higher.  Are you still getting the erratic velocities with the chrono farther out?

And what primers are you using?

Get the jacketed bullets working OK... then think about the cast.  No sense in trying to solve 3 or 4 different problems at once.

For whitetails... I've shot them with a .357.  So... basically, anything out of a Casul is going to be deadly if you do your part (as long as you don't have a really fragile hollowpoint).  The Hornadys that you have... they are for the 'magnum' velocities, right?  If so I would assume that they would perform OK.

I don't have a .454 but I shoot bullets between 300 and 340gr. in my .45 Colt for hunting (works great on pigs).  Seems to me that something in that weight range would be just fine in the Casul.  A WFN at 1500-1700fps ought to really do the job, I would think.

When you get the jacketed problems (velocity/accuracy) straightened out, then reduce your loads a good 10% or so, get some good cast bullets that are sized for your gun, and work your way back up while watching the bullet speed over the chrono.  Shouldn't be too much trouble.

joe454

joe, when I purchased my FA454, I recieved data from freedom arms that indicated the top charge of h110 with a 300g jacketed bullet was 31.5 for a 55000 cup and a really fast 1750. that data is for freedom arms guns,  In my actual experence I load the same load as you decribe and have excellent results from my revolver 3in at 100yd.  the thing I have found out with jacketed bullets used  (hornady xtp, barnes, and speer) the xtp gave me the best performance. It kills whitetails like my 7mm rem mag.  Hornday xtp will allow 30 g of h110 in the case without compressing the load,  the same load using the barnes bullet compresses the powder  resulting in a 4 in impact shift at 75 yds.  The other thing most all reloaders will tell you is h110 takes a good hot primer to get good  burn ( I have had good success with cci350 small rifle)  The second part of the reloading process using h110 is good resizing and a good crimp.
extra care is needed with the 454 to insure repeatable accuracy . In summing up you are probability going to have to try a couple of brands of bullets and primer combos to get the best out of your ruger.  I personally have never found a need to exceed 30 g of h110  with a 300g bullet, that load should give you 1700+ out of a 7 in tube. I also have had very good results with hs6 powder 20.3g and a 260 g speer hp pretending to be a 45lc .  This load again is thru a freedom arms gun and may not be what you are looking for in the ruger.  anyway hope this helps and just think of all the fun you will have working up the perfect whitetail load and shooting that new ruger  (It just dont get much better)