What Ruger 45 Casull, 45 Colt, 44 Magnum or 480 Ruger

[huntersdog]

Looking for something for deer hunting, black bear and for woods carry. They are all very very good options for hunting, I have shot the Rugers 480 and it is a very nice shooting handgun.

Decisions decisions

[shoot-n-lead]

It might depend on what size gun you want to carry.


For your stated purpose, the only one would be the 44mag...for me...however, I have all but one of them.

[wlc]

I just recently bought a Ruger SRH Toklat in 45 colt/454 Casull. I have enjoyed it so far. I bought it for bear protection while salmon fishing and general carrying around in the woods gun outside of hunting season.

[contender1]

Well, I have several Blackhawks/Super Blackhawks in 45 Colt & 44 Mag, both plow handle, Bisley & even Hunter variations. I have a few Redhawks & a Super Redhawk. My Super is in 480. My only 454 is in a Freedom Arms.
That said, my best advice is to find the one that fits YOUR hands, that YOU can shoot comfortably. All caliber will do the tasks you listed.

[DougGuy]

Deer and black bear a 7 1/2" .44 Magnum or .45 Colt loaded to Ruger Only pressures with 300gr wide flat nose cast boolits is ALL the gun you will ever need, and that goes for elk, moose, and wild pig also.

The other calibers you listed would be a necessity in Alaska but are just too much cartridge and subsequently too much gun to tote in the deer woods in the lower 48.

[birch]

If you are new to casting and reloading boolits, I highly suggest the .45 colt. It was the round that I fell in love with and I truly believe will always be my favorite round to shoot, cast and reload. It is a work of art and somewhat forgiving as long as you use your head and dont' double charge anything.

I would also suggest a really good bullet mould. I cast with Lee, but there is something about casting for the Colt with steel seems right. I would get the Ruger--just not an old model Vaquero.

[DougGuy]

What's wrong with an OM Vaquero?

For hunting, for someone rather new to revolvers and cast boolits, adjustable sights are a help but to the old guys that know how to load and "bring the boolit to the sights" we get by just fine.

[wrench man]

What's wrong with an OM Vaquero?

You NEED to keep the "Case Colored" frames oiled up nicely!, mine has a rusty finger print on the frame that pizzes me off every time I look at it!
When I got it I KNEW! it would be a 44Mag with the case colored frame, the only decision left was plow handle or Bisley?, I handled both and about three seconds into the hold on the Bisley I KNEW it would be the Plow Handle!, but I do kinda wish it had adjustable sights like the regular Blackhawk's.

[35 Whelen]

I would get a 45 Colt. For what you need, it's all you need. It simply doesn't take an enormous cartridge fed a double handful of powder to kill a 300 or so lb. animal. I would recommend a NM Vaquero (I own one in 45 Colt), but I find the front sight a tad too narrow. Too bad Ruger couldn't have made it a full 1/8" in width. So that leaves the Blackhawk. Just this evening I've been taking a very close look to the Lipsey 45 Colt Flat Top. It's basically a NM Vaquero with adjustable sights. While not capable of handling loads as heavy as the full size Blackhawk, it will run this bullet right up to 1100 fps. If that won't do it, you need a rifle.

35W

[762 shooter]

+1 Above.

My Lipsey's 45 flat top is a sweet shooting pistol. Those "medium" loads are potent.
Small enough to carry well.

The Mihec 270 SAA meplat moves a lot of meat out of the way.

762

[FlatTop45LC]

+1 Above.

My Lipsey's 45 flat top is a sweet shooting pistol. Those "medium" loads are potent.
Small enough to carry well.

The Mihec 270 SAA meplat moves a lot of meat out of the way.

762

+2!!!

My Lipseys FlatTop 45 Colt is my most used firearm. Keep it under 23000 psi and run a wide meplat and it will last you a long time and kill anything in the lower 48 states.

I have been trying to talk myself into a full sized Blackhawk for a while now and have come to the conclusion that the only two I would have are the 7.5" Bisley 45 Colt or the plow handle Hunter 41 mag.

Anyway - enough of my ramblings. At 36 oz unloaded with a 4 5/8" barrel, the smaller frame, and adjustable sights that are tall enough to run any bullet weight you can fit in the cylinder there just isn't anything not to love about this gun!

[Jupiter7]

I'll also vote 45 colt as an all around wild to mild cartridge. I won't recommend any but the Blackhawk just in case the urge for Ruger only loading hits ya. My simple reasoning is that I can share molds and sizing dies with 45auto. If DA is a requirement the new Toklat SRH looks awesome.

[44man]

Ruger SBH Hunter in .44. Next is a .480 SRH. The .45 will not match them. I shoot both the .44 and .45 Colt, No way the Colt will equal a .44. But look at a BFR in .475 or .500 JRH. NOW you have a hammer!

[Cornbread]

For your stated purposes so long as you mean black bear not grizzlies or brownies, all will work.

My personal favorite for woods carry here in MT where we do have grizzlies, sometimes in my yard as well as in the forest at large, is the 454 Casull. I have 3, love the caliber. Purely personal preference there though as you listed a bunch of good calibers although I personally do not care for .429 cal (44 mag) for carry in Montana and Alaska. Again purely personal preference from having had bear encounters myself (two this hunting season alone, didn't have to shoot either time but the first of the two he was definitely going back and forth on the charge or run idea for longer than I cared for). My closest friend out here prefers to step up to the .475 Linebaugh which you did not list but is also a good choice in the heavy handgun category. He uses that as his woods carry and he lives most of his life out of doors up here in the mountains as do I.

Really will depend on what fits you best and what you enjoy shooting the most......if you have the money, get one of each, and post reviews back here of how you like them

[ballistim]

Recent purchase of a 77/44 makes me want a .44 mag handgun to go with it, either a SBH or SRH most likely, have seen a few SRH shortened to 5.5", very nice!

[str8wal]

45 Colt

[jonp]

Deer and black bear a 7 1/2" .44 Magnum or .45 Colt loaded to Ruger Only pressures with 300gr wide flat nose cast boolits is ALL the gun you will ever need, and that goes for elk, moose, and wild pig also.

The other calibers you listed would be a necessity in Alaska but are just too much cartridge and subsequently too much gun to tote in the deer woods in the lower 48.

You sure that a 45Colt with a 300gr over a very nice dose of H110 would not fit the bill in Alaska as well as a 454Casull?

[DLCTEX]

I am biased toward the 480 Ruger. Controlable recoil and will penetrate a black bear from stem to stern with a cast 400 gr. boolit.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I don't think that you could go wrong with a SBH 44 magnum 7 1/2" barrel

[dubber123]

Ruger SBH Hunter in .44. Next is a .480 SRH. The .45 will not match them. I shoot both the .44 and .45 Colt, No way the Colt will equal a .44. But look at a BFR in .475 or .500 JRH. NOW you have a hammer!

Curious as to how a .45 Colt won't equal a .44? Accuracy wise maybe? Power is pretty easy to equal a .44, and if the gun's strong enough, it blows right on by a .44 mag. 30% greater case capacity makes that pretty easy.