480 Ruger Pains

[warf73]

Finally got away to the range this afternoon to try out more test rounds in the 480. I had two different loadings with a total of 96 rounds to test.

My first test loads were with WW296 at 50 yards off the bench over the chrony. I laddered my charge in .5 gr increments to the max charge.
First load was at 18grs and the final charge was at 21.3grs all with star line brass, WW standard pistol primer and Lee 400gr boolit on top.
As the powder charges went higher the ES got smaller, but the groups remained the same size 5~6” for the most part. I had one group that stood out to be the best at just over 4”.
I did run a dry patch threw bore after the 296 run and only got powder res, looked down the bore and it was nice shiny like when I started.

My second test loads were with Red Dot at 25 yards off the bench over the chrony, and were also laddered in .5 gr increments to the max charge.

First load was at 6.5 grs and the final charge was 10grs all with star line brass, WW pistol primers and Lee 400gr boolit.

Over all I could see the groups get smaller with every charge increase till it opened back. With the best group being 2 ½” with 9.5grs at 1050fps.

Please note this data for Red Dot in a 480 Ruger was created by me for my pistol. At 10grs which was my created max charge was touching the boolit seating at 1.680” with a Lee 400gr boolit. If you use my Red Dot data do so at your own risk.
Got home and ran a dry patch down the bore and had a few streaks of lead just past the forcing cone. It took a few wet patches of hopes then dry patches and it came out. I’m guessing my alloy was a touch to hard for the slow rounds (alloy was ACWW) but I’ll test it again with just the 9.5grs loads later to make sure of my results.

Over all my wrist and elbow is stiff and sore. I’m very disappointed with the 480 as it was purchased to be a 100 yard and in side arm. I wouldn’t feel comfortable shooting anything past 50 yards with it as of right now. I’ve given consideration on buying an ultra dot for the gun but I’m still on the fence about that. Shooting the red dot loads were fun and I got results that made me happy. I know that 2 ½” at 25 yards isn’t all that but 3 clover leaved 4 and 5 were touching but just outside of the first 3 and number six opened up the group.
Not sure what to do next other than maybe the dot sight or look into different molds which might be my first step. Thinking about laddering 2400 powder but not read a lot of good results with it but maybe it will work for me.

[BABore]

If your not real used to the big boomers, give it some time and round count. I have no problems with a hot loaded 44 mag. It took me a few hundred rounds to get comfortable with the 480. For what it's worth, I use CCI 300 and 350 primers. I did try substituting Winchester primers and reworking the loads. I couldn't get he same accuracy. MY Ruger SRH has a 0.4751 groove and the throats are 0.4781. I'm shooting 0.478 boolits. I use 50/50 WW-Pb alloy and my gun cares not a lick whether they're air cooled at 9-10 bhn or water dropped at 20-22 bhn. In fact I can mix the cylinder and shoot groups.

Here's some of my initial, virgin gun, groups with a *** Lee boolit. My current boolits, of my own design, shoot better. I no longer shoot loads at 25 yards and start off at 50 yards now.

[Whitworth]

Don't give up or be discouraged. Sometimes you find that load right up front, other times you have to work for it. It might be time to switch bullets.

Have you slugged your gun?

[Swede44mag]

Have you tried any jacketed bullets they are pricey but it may help you figure out if it is the gun or the boolits giving you the trouble.
Before I bought my Taurus 454 Raging bull I was looking real hard at a Ruger 480 but for some reason they were no longer available.

[Groo]

Groo here
Sounds like BaBore is on the right track, the lack of tighter group may be operator
limited.
As you shoot the heavy kickers more you learn to ride the kick and not fight it.
Also do not get hung up on ES or bullet speeds-- let the gun tell you what It likes.....
Often you will find that after that ,,, you will be trading small groups for power..
After all ,, will you be going after ground hogs[ small groups, low power] with the power you need for bear [much power ,larger groups]??????????

[warf73]

If your not real used to the big boomers, give it some time and round count. I have no problems with a hot loaded 44 mag. It took me a few hundred rounds to get comfortable with the 480. For what it's worth, I use CCI 300 and 350 primers. I did try substituting Winchester primers and reworking the loads. I couldn't get he same accuracy. MY Ruger SRH has a 0.4751 groove and the throats are 0.4781. I'm shooting 0.478 boolits. I use 50/50 WW-Pb alloy and my gun cares not a lick whether they're air cooled at 9-10 bhn or water dropped at 20-22 bhn. In fact I can mix the cylinder and shoot groups.

Here's some of my initial, virgin gun, groups with a *** Lee boolit. My current boolits, of my own design, shoot better. I no longer shoot loads at 25 yards and start off at 50 yards now.

My SRH has a .474" groove and the throats are .4785" and I'm shoting .476" boolits. My two lee molds drop right at .4765" ish with my WW alloy at around 700~725*. I noticed on your targets you were using the lighter 325gr boolit with 2400 powder. Think I'll change to the 2400 powder and see were that gets me. What boolit design did you make for your SRH? As for getting used to the big boomer that could be it also only ran just under 200 round threw the pistol so far. I can tell you this for sure shooting it off the bench sucks.

[warf73]

Swede44mag I did shoot some jacketed but nothing serious like I'm doing now.

[44man]

I do not have a .480 but have shot the brass in my .475 with the Lee 400 gr. It did not do much until I got to 23 gr of 296.
I agree with Babore and Whitworth, do not give up. And get away from Red Dot, go to HS-6 for reduced loads.
You must get immune to recoil and learn to shoot the big ones.

[BABore]

My SRH has a .474" groove and the throats are .4785" and I'm shoting .476" boolits. My two lee molds drop right at .4765" ish with my WW alloy at around 700~725*. I noticed on your targets you were using the lighter 325gr boolit with 2400 powder. Think I'll change to the 2400 powder and see were that gets me. What boolit design did you make for your SRH? As for getting used to the big boomer that could be it also only ran just under 200 round threw the pistol so far. I can tell you this for sure shooting it off the bench sucks.

I wasn't making molds yet and the Lee 325 grain was cheap and available. It's a fugly little boolit, but shot ok. I was just getting my feet wet with the 480 back then. No bore brushes, case trimming tools, or ammo boxes were even available.

I don't shoot any plinker or moderate loads in mine now. I worked up loads with 2400, Lil Gun, and WW 296. 2400 is a good powder and pretty accurate, but you max out pressure-wise with case capacity left and velocity is not the highest you can acheive. Lil Gun just plain scared me. It worked up like 296/H110 til you were getting close to a max load. Just when accuracy seemed to improve, ES was coming down, and you were thinking "about a half grain more", it would spike and you had to pound cases out. Just too fickle in Michigans 0 F to 90 F climate. WW 296 has always been the accuracy and velocity champ for me.

The 480 seems to thrive on boolit around 400 grains. When buying my first custom mold, I took advantage of the 1.720 long cylinder and designed a 400 gr. boolit that didn't take up so much case capacity. My current BRP 478-400 GC is an updated version of this. I use about 3 grains more of WW 296 than what Hodgdon data says is max for a 400 gr. boolit. Sadly, the added powder capacity didn't boost velocity much. It works out that way sometimes.

If your using new Hornady cases for your loads, be aware that Honady 480 brass is dead soft. It shows pressure several grains below book max. After a couple loading cycles, it stiffens up nice and you can continue load developement.

Were I you, I would be using a bigger boolit to fill your throat up some. Send me a PM with your address and I can try to get you some boolit samples if you want.

[BABore]

I do not have a .480 but have shot the brass in my .475 with the Lee 400 gr. It did not do much until I got to 23 gr of 296.
I agree with Babore and Whitworth, do not give up. And get away from Red Dot, go to HS-6 for reduced loads.
You must get immune to recoil and learn to shoot the big ones.

When I first started with my 480, I could only fire about 2 cylinders full before things would go bad. I'm not a trigger yanker nor afraid of a little pounding, but I would develope a twitch or muscle spasm under my left eye when I fired enough. Funny as hell to see. I would take a break and then giver her another 10-12 rounds and it would come right back. Probably took 3-4 shooting sessions til my brain finally told my nerve endings that it was ok. Now I can shoot it all day. Bench sessions are the worst, but exactly where I was stuck developing loads.

[brimic2]

My small amount of testing somewhat mirrors the OP's.

I started with the Lee 400 gr boolit (air cooled WWs) with 16gr 2400 and CCI 300 primers. The starting change was somewhat disappointing, leading was bad. I then loaded a bunch with16.5gr 2400, a little better accuracy, leading still bad. 17gr 2400, accuracy got surprisingly good, but still some leading- very pleasant to shoot. I didn't get a chance to shoot that load at 50 yards as I shot this on our club's 25 yard range after my Highpower relay on the rifle range (range was booked up for the next few hours with more relays), but it shot like a lazer at 25.

I'm thinking about trying 296 or H110 next.

[brimic2]

Bench sessions are the worst, but exactly where I was stuck developing loads.
Yeah.
I'm not sure of the proper technique of shooting a handgun off a bench, but I used a rifle rest to lay the barrel on and my elbows would be on the bench. When shooting, the recoil would lift my elbows of the bench and slam them back down- kinda painful.

[brimic2]

If your using new Hornady cases for your loads, be aware that Honady 480 brass is dead soft. It shows pressure several grains below book max. After a couple loading cycles, it stiffens up nice and you can continue load developement.

Any word on Speer Brass? That's what I've been using. Have some hornady from factory loads but haven't reloaded it yet.

[Frank]

brimic2:
Yeah.
I'm not sure of the proper technique of shooting a handgun off a bench, but I used a rifle rest to lay the barrel on and my elbows would be on the bench. When shooting, the recoil would lift my elbows of the bench and slam them back down- kinda painful.
You need a rear bag to steady it. Get an elbow pad from the sporting goods store, $10.

[RobS]

My SRH has a .474" groove and the throats are .4785" and I'm shoting .476" boolits. My two lee molds drop right at .4765" ish with my WW alloy at around 700~725*. I noticed on your targets you were using the lighter 325gr boolit with 2400 powder. Think I'll change to the 2400 powder and see were that gets me. What boolit design did you make for your SRH? As for getting used to the big boomer that could be it also only ran just under 200 round threw the pistol so far. I can tell you this for sure shooting it off the bench sucks.

I've always had better results when I fill my cylinder throats. This allows the boolit to stay centered in the cylinder and keeps the boolit from yawning upon ignition causing it to not have straight alignment into the forcing cone/barrel's throat. If you have a hard time making the Lee's shoot see if you can find someone here in The Boolit Exchange subforum to send you a handful of 400's that cast out at .478 as an option. I've done this for people with 45 cal revolver boolits in the past and people even helped me out with some 375 boolits. Usually 20 or so and all I ask is they pay shipping.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Not speaking for either 44man or BABore, but maybe they have some boolits just laying around collecting dust. Another option is to beagle your mold or lap it to get yourself a larger diameter boolit.

[RobS]

brimic2:
You need a rear bag to steady it. Get an elbow pad from the sporting goods store, $10.

For the elbows...........cheaper is to use an old bath towel and fold it up a few times. I have one I use for benching revolvers and rifles.

[warf73]

Any word on Speer Brass? That's what I've been using. Have some hornady from factory loads but haven't reloaded it yet.

I've not read anything about Speer brass having issues. I bought all star line because of all the post about soft hornady brass.

[warf73]

I've always had better results when I fill my cylinder throats. This allows the boolit to stay centered in the cylinder and keeps the boolit from yawning upon ignition causing it to not have straight alignment into the forcing cone/barrel's throat. If you have a hard time making the Lee's shoot see if you can find someone here in The Boolit Exchange subforum to send you a handful of 400's that cast out at .478 as an option. I've done this for people with 45 cal revolver boolits in the past and people even helped me out with some 375 boolits. Usually 20 or so and all I ask is they pay shipping.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Not speaking for either 44man or BABore, but maybe they have some boolits just laying around collecting dust. Another option is to beagle your mold or lap it to get yourself a larger diameter boolit.


BaBore is setting me up with some samples so that cylinder can get filled up. 44man sent me some samples last month just waiting to find something more accurate before I load them boolits up.

[warf73]

I do not have a .480 but have shot the brass in my .475 with the Lee 400 gr. It did not do much until I got to 23 gr of 296. Which crimp groove did you use? top or bottom?I agree with Babore and Whitworth, do not give up. And get away from Red Dot, go to HS-6 for reduced loads.
You must get immune to recoil and learn to shoot the big ones.


I'll start at were I left off and keep my eye open for pressure signs and head up to the 23gr ish range.

[RobS]

BaBore is setting me up with some samples so that cylinder can get filled up. 44man sent me some samples last month just waiting to find something more accurate before I load them boolits up.

Excellent!!! It's nice to have great people on this forum. :cast_boolits: