480 Ruger Bullet Weight

[wtfooptimax200]

I have read plenty of articles and various posts recommending the 400 grain and larger bullets for 480 Ruger and 475 Linebaugh. My question is has anyone experimented with bullets in 325 grain range, especially with mid-range powder loads (such as 2400)? Is it significantly less accurate than the 400+? I don't need all of the power that the 480 offers all of the time and think that a 325 would be more than sufficient for deer hunting.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

[buck1]

The 325ish gr is my favorite wt in the .480 . The 400 gr will go through anything but lacks in shocking power. The 325 "smacks and penetrates very well. The 325s shoot every bit as well as the 400s do out of my BFR.

[Whitworth]

I used 325s when that was pretty much all that was available commercially when I just got my first SRH in .480 when they were first introduced. I was unimpressed with the performance of the Speer loads -- very inconsistent on the game I shot with it. I think the .480 is right at home with a 400 to 425 grain bullet for any and all game. You don't need a whole lot of speed for it to work and work well on large animals. When you are starting out at .475, why do you need expansion?? JMHO.

[buck1]

I had jack rabbits run off with chest shots with the 400 grs. Not at ALL with the 325 gr. The 400 makes a nice big hole then dumps all the energy in to the ground and not the game. My observations only......Buck

[warf73]

I had jack rabbits run off with chest shots with the 400 grs. Not at ALL with the 325 gr. The 400 makes a nice big hole then dumps all the energy in to the ground and not the game. My observations only......Buck

LOL

I've not shot anything lighter than the 400grs and still working on getting the accuracy I want.
That said I have a load with Red Dot and the Lee 400gr. boolit that runs 1050fps and is fairly accurat at 25 yards.

The 325gr boolit should be fine on anything that walks in North America.

[Whitworth]

I had jack rabbits run off with chest shots with the 400 grs. Not at ALL with the 325 gr. The 400 makes a nice big hole then dumps all the energy in to the ground and not the game. My observations only......Buck

Jack rabbits......okay.....not quite what I had in mind when I was talking about game animals, but......:bigsmyl2:

Energy dump? LOL!

[wtfooptimax200]

Are you buying boolits or casting your own? If your casting, what is you 325 gr mold of choice?

[buck1]

I couldnt help it . After I got my load worked up with the LEE 400 gr boolit I took it when I went rabbit hunting with my kids. To my dismay It was not as good of a killer as a .22LR .
After a few I refused to shoot anymore with it as it was crule. These were well placed chest shots. Thats when I realized there was no shock to that big old boolit from the 480.

With help I then had a Moutain mold made in a 325 gr SWc keith copy. It was a new ball game then. The 480 with the 325 gr boolit began dealing out instant death. Much much better.
I think the 325 gr will handle anything I put in front of it just fine.
It was a learning thing for me . It takes more than a big hole to kill quickly.....Buck

PS..... The Lee 400 gr did in fact group very well.

[Groo]

Groo here
We go way to heavy with bullets for most of our shooting and hunting...
We also go way to hard......
Think of out hunting handguns as Black Powder rifles.....
They have similar bullet sizes and speeds .....
The main reason for a heaver bullets is to drive deep in big game.
But not for the reason you might think..
The bullets were made with soft lead or a soft mix....
When a soft bullet hits game ,, the bullet rounds off [ a mild form of expanding]
which made them more effective that one might think.. but would wear down.
To drive deeply , had to be long enough to allow for the loss from the rounding
and still have enough weight to get in there.....
With our hard cast bullets , we loose little weight and therefor need
less bullet length..
Also Keith observed that the flat of the nose "did all the work"
And that HP cast was much more effective on Small game.
We now use All Copper Hp bullets at lighter weights in handguns and
rifles because they do not loose weight like lead and jackets,,
so lets treat Hard Cast [ and most of all heat treated] the same ..
We do not need the extra length [ weight ] to get in to the good stuff....:cbpour:

[Whitworth]

Yes, but all things being equal (like nose shape, meplat size, bullet hardness, etc), the 400 will out penetrate the 325. I'm not advocating 400 grain bullets for squirrel, I have other bullets and calibers for that matter for varmints, but on big game, for me at least, the heavier bullet will get the nod. I don't have to be so selective with shot angles as I know the heavier bullet will reach the vitals from any and every angle.

I think it was a marketing error that Ruger introduced the .480 with the 325 as the heaviest factory load. It made the caliber mediocre particularly with Smith & Wesson's big releases of the .500 and the .460.

I know folks like to taylor their bullets to the game, but I find the one load for the worst case scenario and then I practice with that one load until I'm really good with it. Saves a lot of hassles with sighting in, etc.

JMHO.:bigsmyl2:

[Groo]

Groo here
Whitworth
You are correct " all things being equal" but they are almost never are..
the biggest variable is the game..
As you say , I have other guns for smaller game and select "The Big Ones " for the big stuff.
However ,, even Linebaugh said that 390 gr was for the biggest game when using 475's.
How many Yards [ not feet ] of game do you need to drive through..
[ JD Jones put a 45-70 500 gr solid through the horn and 6ft of cape buff
from a TC Load was 13 to 1400 fps barrel depending]

[Whitworth]

Ah yes, but we have complete control over the bullets we choose. John Linebaugh's original loads for the .475 varied from 390 to 420 grains. Oh, and he advocated pushing it to max velocity, which he has since back down from.

Sure, if the bullet punches through, there is obviously "enough" penetration. But if it doesn't, then you don't have what I would consider enough. Obviously if the bullet has a good nose, it will be more than adequate, but when heavy hardcast bullets are substituted with light expanding bullets at high speeds, its a recipe for inconsistency. That is all I am saying.

I had a Speer 325 fail to exit on a small meat hog about ten years ago. The next day, the same bullet/load exited on a 250-lb hog with a thick gristle plate. That is the inconsistency that I find unnerving and unacceptible. But that's just me!

I am not a bare minimum kind of guy. Load for the worst case scenario and you will never be left wanting. Then I can focus on more important things like my shooting. Still no replacement for placement.

[Groo]

Groo here
Whitworth
I am not in conflect with you just replying to buck1's problem with "Killer" rabbit's.
I tend to fine a weight that my gun works well with [ usually a Mid weight]
and then adj the effect with a change in the nose type [ hollow , small flat. large flat]
and hardness.. as many of my guns have fixed sights...
The only time I go to the max ether in weight or speed is when I have a special case.
Hunting or going into bear country ..
For hunting I match the bullet to the game light for light med for med heavy for heavy
My bear load is the heaviest bullet that I can load to about 1200 fps in that gun
very hard and not with a large flat [ smaller the flat deeper you drive]
and as the range will be short, how well it will group is not important, bear are rather
large at spitting distance.

[buck1]

Penetration is a big part of the game but not all of it.
Shooting rabbits with a .480 is a big mis match, thats a given. But they tought me lots.
Those -little- rabbits handled a seemingly awsome .475 hole all the way through their chests.
A clean kill needs more than hole , it needs shock and the tissue disruption from that shock.
As a example..........
FMJs have great penetration but kill poorly. And boolit nose shape and makeup makes a big difference.
We got to get in to the vitles with penetration, AND shock them as well. Or else we are just bleeding the game out.
As far as cast boolits go in the 480 I choose the 325.
My .02.........Buck

[Lloyd Smale]

dont shoot the 480 but do shoot the 475 alot and if i was loading the 480 id go with a 375-400 grain cast bullet at about 1100 fps and would feel i was well armed for any hunting situation

[41 mag fan]

I shoot the 355 gr LGC backed by 23 gr of H110. I got a mold for xmas thats the 325 gr GC. Haven't played with it yet.
355gr flatnose bullets group good at 35 yrds using open sights. Prefer my 480 over my 44mag or my 500 or 45/454

[475/480]

I have a 4 cavity - LBT mould - 325gr LFNGC that shoots very well at 1350 fps in my Ruger 480. Plenty of power to spare for anything around here.

Sean

[44man]

I shot thousands of rabbits with a slingshot and lead balls. The ball would go through and the rabbit just died right now. I hunted where no guns were allowed, city. I never shot less then 16 rabbits a day, slingshot, crossbow, bow and even shot some with a blowgun. I can hardly eat a rabbit to this day.
Shooting a rabbit with a .480 is like shooting a paper target to the boolit, there is just nothing there!
I did shoot a fox that was running past my deer stand with the 320 gr LBT with my .44. Slammed the critter right to the ground without a wiggle. I swear there was smoke above him! :drinks:

[buck1]

Since I was just a kid we have shot rabbits with .44mags. That was and is the cal of choice. Way more than whats needed, But fun ad we just like shooting .44s .
The 240 keith and clones have never failed to be impressive.

[Ed K]

I'm a mental midget when it comes to cast boolit "authority". However through life I've learned to take advantage of those who have covered a stretch of ground before me. Linebaugh's breakthrough article "Dissolving the myth" stated the "balance point" of the 45 Colt to be 350gr. Either in that same article or another of the era he also suggested a practical limit of 320gr in the 44 mag. Note the sectional densities of each at those weights. It has already been noted in this thread that he recommends 390 in the 475 - interesting SD figures aren't they?

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee153/mvesk/sd1.png

Given this remarkable consistency in SD across a number of handgun bore diameters I'm not inclined to mess with this. Remember: these are the heavyweights. There shouldn't be a need to go higher. In fact, for most uses lighter would be more appropriate:

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee153/mvesk/sd2.png

Note the 45 Colt weight and that it represents one of the more popular weights cited on this board. Certainly 270gr is a respectable figure for the 44 mag and lies nicely in between my personal RCBS 250K and LBT 280gr LFN GC molds. So the question is why shouldn't the 475/480 find a happy home in this grouping?

[Piller]

I shot a 250 pound wild hog with a lever action model 92 chambered in .480 Ruger using a 425 grain wfn from Cast Performance bullets. I was at 50 yards and the hog actually rolled about 270 degrees from the side on shot. I was using H110 and a Winchester WLP primer in Starline brass. I use this load for both my SRH and my model 92. So far, nothing except a wild animal on a game ranch near Hondo, TX that I really shouldn't have hunted with that gun has needed a second shot. The 425 grain bullets did penetrate 31 to 32 inches of big, tough animal. Believe it or not, it was a water buffalo. It took 9 shots. I would never do that again, and don't recommend it to anyone else as the water buffalo charged twice. Speer does make some 400 grain JSP bullets in .475 which also work very well. I don't think they would be deer bullets as they probably wouldn't open. The wfn bullets from Grizzly do penetrate well and leave a good would channel. I am not a fan of the 325 grain factory loads as they show inconsistent expansion.