480 Ruger

[DLCTEX]

Anyone casting/loading for this one that can give me some advice/pointers. My #2 son has a new one that I'll be loading for. DALE

[Glen]

Here is some of what I have learned about the 480 Ruger:

http://www.lasc.us/480Ruger.htm

[Whitworth]

I haven't started reloading for the .480 yet (my brother-in-law has one), but plan on using the same 420 grain WFN (designed by 44man) that we use in our .475 Linebaughs on top of 296 (charge to be determined). Plan on running it right around 1,200 fps, but am more concerned about accuracy than velocity. It's a great round, and very effective on big game!

[targetshootr]

I liked the part about 11-12 bhn boolits. Keith wrote his slugs were fine up to 1200 fps, iirc, but you see so much about hard cast boolits out here that it makes me wonder sometimes.

[crabo]

Dale, I think you are in trouble. You need to get your boys shooting cast in some smaller guns or else get in good with a truck tire company. They are going to take a truckload of lead with those big boolits.

What part of the panhandle are you in?

[Tom W.]

I was loading 400 gr plain base cast from an RCBS mold with near max charges of H110. I did notice a difference when I used regular primers as opposed to magnum primers. For my son I loaded 25 gr. of H110 and a 325 gr Speer JSP. I know that he shot lengthwise through a big 400 pound hog with that load, and a side to side pass through was child's play...

We both had a Ruger SRH 9.5 inch barrel model.... The 6 shooters.

[Whitworth]

I shot two hogs with that 325 grain Speer JSP back when I just bought my 7.5-inch SRH, and said never again. They worked, but they're not reliable from a penetration standpoint IMHO. It's a .475-inch diameter round, why not take advantage of it and use big, heavy bullets? That is the strong suit of the .480. A 400 + grain flat-nosed hardcast at a moderate velocity will take any animal that walks this planet!

IMO, you can't go wrong with the .480.........

[cbrick]

targetshootr, To try to help clear up "hard cast".

Hard cast is simply a term from commercial bullet casters with the intent of selling their bullets. Hard bullets withstand the rigors of shipping better than softer bullets and so are better for the commercial casters, not necessarily better for the shooter buying them. Same as hard lube, it stays on the bullets better during shipping but that doesn't mean it is better for the shooter. Assuming proper bullet fit more leading is caused by too hard of an alloy than by too soft.

Bullet fit in the revolver and the revolver's critical dimensions are far more important for both accuracy and not leading than is a hard bullet. Elmer and Glen are both correct, 11-12 BHN WW alloy should work well. Even with highest pressure revolver rounds 18 BHN is about as hard as should be needed and many commercial cast bullets run 20-22 BHN. My 1911 45 shoots 6 BHN HP with no leading and good accuracy, compare this to the "hard cast" of commercial cast.

The term "hard cast" confuses a lot of buyers of commercial cast and those new to casting. The odds are very good that in your revolver you neither need nor want "hard cast".

Rick

[BABore]

I load and cast for my 9.5" Ruger SRH 480. The 400 grain boolit seems to be the ideal weight for velocity/penetration. So far I've killed two bison with two cast rounds expended. The first one was with a commercial cast. It worked, but didn't meet my expectations. Got me into casting though. The second bison went down with a quarter forward shot that broke the front shoulder knuckle bone and continued on for a total of 4 feet of penetration.

My current 400 gr GC cast design was custom built at Mnt. Molds (pictured below). It's a weight forward design that allows near Linebaugh case capacity. Flies very well at 300 yards too. I've tried and compared 2400, Lil Gun, and WW 296 from min to max. Best accuracy has always been with 296. Both standard and magnum primers, of several makes were tested and CCI 350's won out. I also shoot a PB Keith-style SWC from a mold I built in both solid and HP form. It also excells with WW 296/CCI 350's. Lower end loads have also been worked up with WW 231 and 2400 using CCI 300 primers. Inch and smaller 50 yard groups are the norm.

I was casting with WW alloy both air cooled and heat treated. I've since switched to 50/50 WW-Pb OHT'd. The slug shown on the first pic was recovered from soft dirt after punching the 50 yd target board. I size all boolits to throat(s) diameter which in my case is 0.478. My groove slugs at 0.4571. I use either LBT blue soft or a homemade lube from 357Maximum. Both shoot equally well. My max 400 gr load clocks at 1,251 fps and I believe my gun is on the slow side. Max load data for a 400 gr boolit and WW 296 is 21.5 grs (I believe). I'm several grains over that, but my case capacity is increased due to boolit design.

One important thing I've found in loading for the Hornady 480 case and the Ruger SRH is that the brass is soft. It will be very sticky on extraction with even modest (warm) loads. After a few cycles through the sizing/expansion die, the cases work harden enough that it is not a problem. Also be aware of the Hornady crimp die that is supplied as a 4-die set. It has a sizing ring that will size down a cast boolit and lessen the tension. The Lee FC die does the same thing in any pistol caliber format. Use the crimp ring in the seating die in a seperate step after seating. The Redding Profile crimp die is also very useful. Hornady brass seems to last forever and never need trimming.

[Gungrubber]

i also like the 400 gr boolits in my 480 9 1/2 in barreled SRH

use hodgdon lil gun powder 20 gr. and a cci primer. Drops big whitetail like a bolt of lightning.

Would probably take any game animal in North America. For target shooting
I might reduce the charge a bit.

And yes them big boolits use up ww fast!!



I LOVE my 480.

GG

[Heavy lead]

that's an aweful big hole in that hp.
I'll be you really here the::mrgreen:

[BABore]

that's an aweful big hole in that hp.
I'll be you really here the::mrgreen:

That little stack of round newspaper disks came from a 6 inch cylinder of them. The bullet penetrated 8 inches into dry, tightly packed, newspaper. The round disks came from the media beyond where the bullet stopped.

[Mack Heath]

If you go over to the Accurate Reloading Forum and register, you will be able to search for various posts on the .480 Ruger. It is well worth the time as there is one fellow there with extnsive experience with the .480.

The search terms to use are: 480 Ruger, Paul H for the author, and if you confine the search to just the Favorite Loads category, you will pull up two very extensive posts on all kinds of loads. The pictures will no longer be viewable, because it is an old posting from around 2001 or so. Very good loading data though.

If you don't confine the search to the Favorite Loads category, you will pull up over 100 posts that will deal not only with favortie loads, but handgun hunting and cast bullets as well.

It makes for very interesting reading and will be worth your time.

[targetshootr]

The odds are very good that in your revolver you neither need nor want "hard cast".Rick

I agree. I only use straight ww but there are plenty of threads on how to water quench or heat treat pistol caliber boolits. That's the part I no comprende. Also, most commercial cast are bevel based which can cause leading.

[cbrick]

targetshootr,

Don't discount quenching or heat treating. There is a place and valid use for this, it's just that for most handgun loads and many rifle loads too hard is a detriment, not an advantage. I use a lot of oven heat treated bullets but I did a lot of testing to determine how hard for the given load/firearm was a benefit and how much was a detriment.

Many purchasers of commercial cast bullets and many new to casting blame the alloy being too soft for leading or accuracy problems when in reality the alloy is already too hard.

The term "hard cast" floating around like it is confuses the issue and makes the uninitiated think that if a cast bullet isn't hard as diamonds it'll not work. Too soft is not the first thing a handloader with leading/accuracy problems should think of, bullet fit is.

Rick