Brass - 475 LINEBAUGH or 480 RUGER?

[MGySgt]

I just became the owner of a NIB of a BFR in 475 Linebaugh/480 Ruger (that is the marking on the barrel).

As I have nothing for it (brass, dies, mould, etc) I am wonder if I should get the 475 or the 480 brass.

I plan to shoot (mostly) 370~ gr bullets (LBT mold yet to be purchased) at about 1000 FPS from it.

I am going to start with the Lee 400 grain (PB), Why? GC are EXPENSIVE, come on GB, and it needs to be fire lapped, there is a restriction where the barrel is screwed into the frame - Shame too - bore is smooth as silk until the lead slug hits the constriction.

Comments?

Thoughts?

Drew

[44man]

I can't detect any restriction in either of my BFR's so it is strange that you have it. You can fire lap it but I would really make sure it is enough to cause a problem.
I would buy only the .475 brass for it. I started with .480 brass for light loads and when I went to the .475 brass my accuracy improved 200%. The gun does not seem to like the lighter loads but they do shoot good enough for anything except very small groups. I haven't found a load or boolit that won't shoot, just some that are so accurate as to be boring.
The BFR does not like light boolits and the 400 gr Lee is super accurate, maybe the most accurate boolit I shoot. With a hot load of 26.5 gr's of 296 and a Fed large pistol magnum primer, I have from 5/8" to 1" groups at 50 yd's.
Shoot the gun before you do anything else with it.
The best dies are the Hornady's, makes the most accurate loads in all of my revolvers and believe me, I have retired a ton of other dies. My RCBS dies have made parts for BP compression dies, etc.
Use Felix lube or Lar's carnauba red and shoot for a boolit diameter of .476 to .477. I had Lee make me a custom push through size die at .476, my boolits come through it at .4765 to .477 and I use it to remove excess lube only.
If your gun is as accurate as mine, you will never part with it.
Keep us posted.

[MGySgt]

Thank you 44man - I thought that's what I should do about the brass, 475 vice the 480. Midsouth has the Hornady dies and I need to order a seperate seater/crimp as I started crimping everything as a seperate operation.

I am going to call in my order to Midsouth tomorrow and order 250 475's from Star Line, they have a better price then Hornady brass.

I always planned to shoot it before I frielapped it. Some need it and some don't.

I guess I need to send an order to Buckshot also for a sizer die. Need to slug the cylinder again so I get the right size. I THINK it will be .4765+.

I have some LARS Red (Carnauba?) that I might try before I go looking elsewhere.

It will be awhile until I get everything in - Something to day dream about.

I will post results when they happen. I am looking forward to playing with this. I have wanted a 480 since Ruger teamed with Hornady to create it. I always thought that Ruger missed the boat by not chambering a 5 shot cylinder for their Super Blackhawk and offer a 4 5/8's, 5.5 and 6.5 barrels. I was going to have one them built (5 inch), would have cost me a lot more then this BFR did.

Drew

[Bass Ackward]

GC are EXPENSIVE, come on GB, and it needs to be fire lapped, there is a restriction where the barrel is screwed into the frame - Shame too - bore is smooth as silk until the lead slug hits the constriction. Drew

Drew,

You got excited didn't ya. Just had to run that slug. :grin:

Same as everyone else told you. Shoot it first with jacketed. Sometimes manufacturers get buildup of goop on the threads with the stuff they use to prevent the barrel from coming off. When it hardens, it can and most likely will swell and can cause a constriction if the guy got excited and used too much. A few jacketed can cause it to displace evenly and the constriction can disapper.

Then if you have to fire lap look into the Tubbs set up. Virtually no cutting only where it is needed. Otherwise, it just polishes.

[MGySgt]

BA - Tubbs Setup????

I bought LBT's a long time ago and have been using it for the fire lapping. Always been pleased with the results. Just did a RBH in 45 Colt today for my son. 30 shots and can bearly feel the constriction - which is where I quit. They do smooth out after a few hundred rounds. No sense in over doing it.

Had to run a slug - check for Bore size and throat size.

I am putting my order together for dies, brass, etc. Hadn't thought about ordering some j's, guess I will add some to the order!

Thanks for the hint. Sometimes we overlook the obvious.

Drew

[44man]

My Hornady die set came with four dies. There is a seperate crimp die. They call it a taper crimp but it is not and crimps perfect. Works more like a profile crimp die.
If you look at my avitar, the lower gun is the .475 with a 5/8", five shot, 50 yd group.

[Bass Ackward]

BA - Tubbs Setup????

I bought LBT's a long time ago and have been using it for the fire lapping. Always been pleased with the results. Just did a RBH in 45 Colt today for my son. 30 shots and can bearly feel the constriction - which is where I quit. They do smooth out after a few hundred rounds. No sense in over doing it.

Had to run a slug - check for Bore size and throat size.

I am putting my order together for dies, brass, etc. Hadn't thought about ordering some j's, guess I will add some to the order!

Thanks for the hint. Sometimes we overlook the obvious.

Drew


Drew,

This is great as a finisher after lapping too. There won't be any extra diameter as smooting continues, so you don't have to guess. This is a coated jacketed bullet that 50 does the work of 500 jacketed is about all. So if you have more than .001, this won't clear it. Go to Midway under gunsmithing, bore insp & prep, and then scroll down passed the loaded ammo to the bullets.

Biggest thing is that gives a fire lapped finish with out any danger of throat enlargement.

[MGySgt]

One of the problems that I have found with fire lapping Rugers is that most of the time the cylinder throats are rough, you can see the ridges from the boring tool. It is very easy to knock off the top of these ridges and increase your size more then .001 when you only needed about .0002+. That is what happened with my Ruger SBH (.430 bore and .432 throats) and could have happened to this 45 colt I was working on.

Ain't life fun?

Drew

[Bass Ackward]

One of the problems that I have found with fire lapping Rugers is that most of the time the cylinder throats are rough, you can see the ridges from the boring tool. It is very easy to knock off the top of these ridges and increase your size more then .001 when you only needed about .0002+. That is what happened with my Ruger SBH (.430 bore and .432 throats) and could have happened to this 45 colt I was working on.

Ain't life fun?

Drew


Drew,

That is what I am saying. Tubb says this only removes .0003 unlesss it encounter more. That's not a typo, .0003 is all. No more than 500 rounds of jacketed would do without the time and expense.

I got one to do next weekend with tool marks I want out of there.

[MGySgt]

I got one to do next weekend with tool marks I want out of there.

I can get the tool marks out - 800 grit Wet/Dry paper - puts a super smooth/polish finish on it. It is my son's RBH and he doesn't cast, I just don't want to take it out enough to get ride of it because I think J's will be too small then - nothing bigger then .452 out there.

I shot it some today. Didn't shoot half bad with the RCBS 45 270 SAA and unique. I was actually surprise by how clean the unique burned - never seen that before - 8 gr Unique in Rem cases with CCI LP. Should be just shy of 900 in the 5.5 incher.

475 - I did get my order placed for dies, some J's and a Lee 400gr. I also ordered 500 Star Lines.

I need to try some different bullets in it, I am thinking of trying some Cast Performance bullets before I order the LBT mold.

I know the power range I want (no it is not top end 475 level) and think it might just be a good idea to try some before I lay out the $$$$ for the LBT. I am thinking of a 4 banger with 2 different bullets, a PB and GC. I know Veral did that in the past.

Drew