Hornady has bailed on 480 Ruger and 450 Marlin shooters

[Beaverhunter2]

I saw 18 pieces of once-fired 450 brass for sale for over $4 a piece.
I guess we kind of knew this but I emailed Hornady about brass for these two calibers Hornady helped develop and market. Here is their response:


_____

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we have discontinued the 450 Marlin and 480 Ruger Unprimed Brass as a component. Please understand that we only started making our own brass about 7-8 years ago. Before that we would rely on Vendors. Then during times like this of high demand, we could not always get what we needed to load our ammo. When we purchased the brass machines our intent was to supply our own ammo. Then came a few years where we had extra brass, so we packaged it. Now due to the demand of the ammo, we are using everything we make in our own ammo. So these 2 cartridges for brass we are no longer able to offer as a component.

Thank you again.

Hornady/SnapSafe Sales Team

____________

Fortunately for me, I have enough brass in both that my grandkids will be set. I will say there won't be any "PRC" or other new Hornady developments in my gun safes. Sad. My reloading bench and shelves are covered with "red". There's probably going to be a lot more "green" and "black/gold" in the future.

[Tracy]

Starline still makes it, although they are out of stock right now. But both of those are pretty good rounds to have because you can make .480 from .45/70 brass, and 450 Marlin from any number of belted magnum cases.

[delftshooter]

if you go through history and add up the number of guns chambered in these calibers, youll most likely find out that its more economical for them to load up 38 smith and wesson to sell.

[dverna]

Not surprised.

I have posted this before. If someone decides to purchase a "boutique" caliber, they should purchase a "lifetime" supply of brass if that brass cannot be made from a popular parent case.

That applies to the older calibers that are or are becoming obsolete. Say the .25-20??? Some great calibers are going to be affected as well. The .35 Rem is one of them.

This will be happening to folks buying .30SC, .400 Legend etc etc. Once the marketing hype wears off, and sales slump, cartridges are abandoned. There have been many calibers this has happened to in the last 30 years. Try buying affordable .225 Win brass.

[Kestrel4k]

[...] you can make .480 from .45/70 brass, and 450 Marlin from any number of belted magnum cases.
Good luck making the 450 Marlin, its belt is ~twice as long and cannot be made from other belted magnum cases.
This was to "protect" people from using the 'wrong cartridge' - lucky them. :-/

If Marlin would have done the sensible thing by legitimizing the .458x2 wildcat instead, there wouldn't be that problem.

[Kestrel4k]

And honestly - the manufacturers /want/ orphaned cartridges - so they can line up even more suckers for the next time around.

[rkrcpa]

The way I read their response is that they are using all the brass they can produce to make factory ammunition. If that is the case it is hardly a case of having "bailed" on the cartridge.

[35 Rem]

I would say this is a fair warning to buy up enough factory ammo to be a lifetime supply of brass while you have that option. I love oddball cartridges but I always stock up a big box of brass for them when I get the gun. I know it's distasteful for a handloader to buy factory ammo to get brass but if that option goes away you will wish you had. I'm VERY glad I bought 200 cases for the 460 Weatherby back when they were $30 per 20. Now it's closer to $100. When you can even find them. And they do split right along the shoulder/neck area.

[delftshooter]

I would say this is a fair warning to buy up enough factory ammo to be a lifetime supply of brass while you have that option. I love oddball cartridges but I always stock up a big box of brass for them when I get the gun. I know it's distasteful for a handloader to buy factory ammo to get brass but if that option goes away you will wish you had. I'm VERY glad I bought 200 cases for the 460 Weatherby back when they were $30 per 20. Now it's closer to $100. When you can even find them. And they do split right along the shoulder/neck area.

hey lets go buy ammo right now..

480 ruger on gunengine is 3.40 to 4.95 per round at the 5 places that claim to have it instock.

maxammodepot has cases of the 450 instock. 500$ for 200 rounds. wow, i thought 44 was bad.

[35 Rem]

I didn't say it was a good situation in the present time but it will be if they discontinue factory ammo and there is no other choice but scalpers prices on Gunbroker.

[cpaspr]

Like rkrcpa said, it appears they're using everything they make for their own ammo, and don't have any excess production to offer bare components to the public.

That said, Hey rkr, same occupation?

[rkrcpa]

That said, Hey rkr, same occupation?

Going into my 35th tax season, just can't seem to get enough.

[LeonardC]

I have a .480 Ruger. I have no Hornady brass for it. I have mostly Starline and a couple of boxes of FC used to top off my inventory. I "shared" with those in need a couple of times when I thought I could hold out until new supplies hit the market; I won't be doing that again!

I read the note from Hornady as: "We can make more $ on loaded ammo than we can on the brass." Thank goodness for Starline.

I have a .375 Ruger and brass is unobtainable for it as well. I hear people can find some loaded ammo ($95+ a box); never tried any.

Great rounds, sad situation.

[376Steyr]

Note my screen name. As soon as I realized the 376 Steyr wasn't going to take the world by storm, I stocked up on brass. I never saw a box of loaded ammo on a store's shelves. At least I can always form some more from 9.3x64 Brenneke (ha!)

[Beaverhunter2]

I too have plenty of brass. I feel for those that don't. When loaded ammo costs $4/round and is essentially being bought for the brass because it doesn't shoot as accurately or to the same POI as your handloads, it's not much of an option. I agree with Kestrel- the 450 Marlin brass has a taller belt. You can load to headspace on the boolit or hope you don't get misfires and/or head separations.

I bought 3 boxes of 450 when I got my rifle and brass after that. I never bought a 480 factory round until I wanted some nickle plated brass to put in leather loops. Darn near cried when I had to pay $42/20 rounds.

I figured I'd best hedge my bets buying new calibers that I couldn't make brass for so I got above the 500 round point early. The only reason I risked a 6.5 Grendel is I could make brass from 7.62x39mm. Im glad i did because I love Grendel and have 3 of them now. I won't tell you how many rounds.... ;-)

[elmacgyver0]

I think dverna summed it up pretty well.

[dtknowles]

I mean thank God for reloading and cast bullets. For many guns 500 rounds of ammo would cost more than the gun.

Tim

[Gray Fox]

I'm seriously thinking about selling my Pedersoli .45-110 Quigley rifle, and I think the fact that I have 120 pieces of new brass and 30 loaded rounds will be the key to selling it. GF

[725]

I guess the best thing to do with a .450 Marlin is to have it re-barreled to .45-70. I'm hard pressed to think of a need greater than the abilities of the 'ol Gov't round. Especially in that strong marlin action.

[Bmi48219]

Can’t speak from experience about 450 and 480 but I have reservations about Hornady brass, specifically their case length. I understand they have their reasons but IMO, if you make your brass shorter than industry standard length you’re screwing any reloader who doesn’t have it in large quantities. From that perspective I agree with LeonardC’s take on the Hornady response and also Don’s advice on ‘stocking up’.

[Tracy]

Good luck making the 450 Marlin, its belt is ~twice as long and cannot be made from other belted magnum cases.
This was to "protect" people from using the 'wrong cartridge' - lucky them. :-/

If Marlin would have done the sensible thing by legitimizing the .458x2 wildcat instead, there wouldn't be that problem.

Learn something every day. I stand corrected on the .450 brass.

[fastdadio]

hey lets go buy ammo right now..

480 ruger on gunengine is 3.40 to 4.95 per round at the 5 places that claim to have it instock.

maxammodepot has cases of the 450 instock. 500$ for 200 rounds. wow, i thought 44 was bad.

Careful,
Maxammodepot is a known scam site;
https://stopgunscams.com/maxammodepot-com

https://www.scam-detector.com/validator/maxammodepot-com-review/

[BobT]

Regardless of the brass situation for some calibers, I have to give Hornady credit for one thing at least, when I go to the local shops looking for components Hornady is present on the shelf. Maybe not a big selection but I don't find anything else at all as far as brass or bullets for anything, let alone the cartridges that never sold in quantity. Try finding a box of .348 Winchester on the shelf anywhere, ditto .300 Savage, .307 Winchester, .30TC or even .35 Remington in this area.

[nicholst55]

Starline still makes it, although they are out of stock right now. But both of those are pretty good rounds to have because you can make .480 from .45/70 brass, and 450 Marlin from any number of belted magnum cases.

Starline hasn't made any .480 brass for a couple of years, and they MAY make a run this coming year sometime. I believe that most people who need .480 brass are buying .475 Linebaugh brass from Hornady and Starline (when available), and trimming it down. Starline knows that, and doesn't care. I look for Starline to either formally discontinue .480 brass, or else just continue to ignore us and make an occasional production run of .475 Linebaugh. Also note that all brands of .45-70 brass modified to .480 length except for Winchester WILL require internal reaming before reloading. Also, your revolver's cylinder may or may not require modification to allow it to chamber the formed brass unless you turn down the case rim in diameter.

And while we're talking about reloading, if you don't have everything that you need to reload for your boutique cartridge, you'd best buy it while it's available! Although you probably don't need to trim your .480 brass, try to buy a case trimmer pilot in that size. You can't, except for the Lee trimmer. Lyman doesn't support the cartridge at all except possibly for 1-2 bullet mold designs - if you can find them.

Same with some of the flash-in-the-pan AR cartridges. They seem to fail at a prodigious rate! Looked for brass for your 6mm ARC recently?

[Bmi48219]

…..Same with some of the flash-in-the-pan AR cartridges. They seem to fail at a prodigious rate! Looked for brass for your 6mm ARC recently?

Reloaders are the fair-haired stepchildren of ammo manufacturers. Good enough to buy up surplus components, but out of luck when ammo sales are good.

[elmacgyver0]

Reloaders are the fair-haired stepchildren of ammo manufacturers. Good enough to buy up surplus components, but out of luck when ammo sales are good.

I think you mean "Red-Headed stepchildren"; the "Fair-Haired children" get the goodies.
Small thing, but hey, we need to be accurate.

[LeonardC]

For my .480 Ruger "fun" loads I use a RCBS 400 grain mold; almost all of my .480 shooting. I have a couple of boxes of 410 grain hard cast bullets from Cast Performance for serious carry.

I avoid having a different caliber head stamp on my brass than what I'm shooting. One gentleman told me he was buying the .475L brass and cutting it down on a lathe to .480R length. Works for him.

[dtknowles]

For my .480 Ruger "fun" loads I use a RCBS 400 grain mold; almost all of my .480 shooting. I have a couple of boxes of 410 grain hard cast bullets from Cast Performance for serious carry.

I avoid having a different caliber head stamp on my brass than what I'm shooting. One gentleman told me he was buying the .475L brass and cutting it down on a lathe to .480R length. Works for him.

I prefer no headstamp to wrong headstamp. I obliterate the headstamp on a lot of my formed from other brass. I cut a groove thru the writing using my lathe or just spot grind critical number off leaving the manufacturer and random characters.

I have a box of Cabelas Obsolete ammo that is marked in small print the headstamp might not match the actual caliber. I got this box of .351 Win Auto from a seller who thought they were .357 Mag reloads because they are .357 Mag. headstamped but it does not take a close look to see they are modified.

Tim

[dtknowles]

How much is the most you would pay for hard-to-get brass? Would you use Berdan primer brass if that was all you could find? If $5 per was the cheapest you could find how many would you buy? I paid $100 for a box of 20 loaded rounds of Hornady 450 Nitro Express. I have paid as much as $5 a piece for loaded 50 bmg but it probably has a dollars worth of powder in each case and the cheapest bullets are a $1 each. Can't find primers for them but I have not looked hard. I got a bunch of mil surp that I got cheaper, looks really cool all linked in a belt.

Tim

[dverna]

How much is the most you would pay for hard-to-get brass? Would you use Berdan primer brass if that was all you could find? If $5 per was the cheapest you could find how many would you buy? I paid $100 for a box of 20 loaded rounds of Hornady 450 Nitro Express. I have paid as much as $5 a piece for loaded 50 bmg but it probably has a dollars worth of powder in each case and the cheapest bullets are a $1 each. Can't find primers for them but I have not looked hard. I got a bunch of mil surp that I got cheaper, looks really cool all linked in a belt.

Tim

Tim, I see no point in spending a lot of money on ammunition or brass. I live in Michigan and will never go to Alaska or Africa. Anything I need to kill can be handled with the two rifle calibers I have downsized to…. 5.56 and .308.

After owning over a dozen rifle calibers realized I did not need them. They were merely expensive toys.

I don’t kill a lot of critters anyway, and putting holes in paper or shooting steel does not require much.

People spending $2+ a case or $4+ per round have a lot more money to throw at the hobby than I. Doesn’t make much sense to me. There are more economical ways to get r’ done.

[dtknowles]

Don, you are certainly right. I think maybe you own an air rifle or two, like me. I can shoot for almost free if I recover my lead. I just spend time and electricity to cast new projectiles and run the compressor. My biggest air rifle is 9mm.

I have the money to shoot the BMG and the 450 BPE but I don't shoot them much. Having them without having ammo just did not seem right. These things are not losing value.

Tim

[dverna]

Tim, I have two air rifles and two air pistols. IIRC, it costs me about $15/1000 for pellets and air. Like you said, not quite free but darn close. And they are not toys. Well under an inch at 50 yards with the rifles and 1/4” at 10 yards with the pistols.

Besides the low cost, I will be able to shoot targets and small varmints/game without concerns about where to find primers or powder. Love trigger time!!

BTW, came close to getting a 9mm air gun for coyotes but I have so much 5.56 stuff hoarded it did not make much sense. If I got anything bigger than .22 cal, I would want to buy a compressor and the decent ones are not cheap. Would be interested in knowing how your 9mm is working out for you.

[dtknowles]

Tim, I have two air rifles and two air pistols. IIRC, it costs me about $15/1000 for pellets and air. Like you said, not quite free but darn close. And they are not toys. Well under an inch at 50 yards with the rifles and 1/4” at 10 yards with the pistols.

Besides the low cost, I will be able to shoot targets and small varmints/game without concerns about where to find primers or powder. Love trigger time!!

BTW, came close to getting a 9mm air gun for coyotes but I have so much 5.56 stuff hoarded it did not make much sense. If I got anything bigger than .22 cal, I would want to buy a compressor and the decent ones are not cheap. Would be interested in knowing how your 9mm is working out for you.

The 9mm is not great, very heavy, not well under an inch at 50 yards but around an inch. I keep thinking I would get a .22 PCP but I don't and just shoot my CO2 .22's instead. Still pretty cheap to shoot and you don't need to find powder and primers. I have a CO2 .30 I made out of a paint ball gun but the trigger is not nice, needs more work and does not shoot that much more power than a .22 PCP.

Tim

[Texas by God]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20240102/c72c7db2b6615a1e437a43670b9928ab.jpg
Here are two .450 Marlins with an 8mm Remington magnum in the center.
The belt height difference is easily seen.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[elmacgyver0]

If I were in that situation, I would make cases out of a similar magnum case and solder a small ring of brass to lengthen the belt with low temp solder, then cleanup in a lathe.

[MUSTANG]

Years ago I put away and still have 250 new cases for my .350 Remington Magnum rifle. The .350 RemMag was introduced in 1964. In 1992 they ceased to produce the .350 RemMag for a decade. Ability to locate .350 RemMag is difficult and impossible at times. I make .350 RemMag from 7mm Mag brass as I do not have a Rifle for that caliber and collect them off and on as Range Pick Ups.

An old story repeating itself is my interpretation.

[dtknowles]

If I were in that situation, I would make cases out of a similar magnum case and solder a small ring of brass to lengthen the belt with low temp solder, then cleanup in a lathe.

I would be worried about that annealing the case head making it too soft. I think glue would be better. Clean it good, but a bead of JB Weld on it and then machine the JB Weld.
Tim

[Loudenboomer]

I may be missing something here. On the .450 Marlin long belt issue why couldn't the barrel be set back one thread.
Brass could be trimmed to fit the new chamber length or chamber could be lengthened slightly with a new short belt reamer.

[dverna]

I may be missing something here. On the .450 Marlin long belt issue why couldn't the barrel be set back one thread.
Brass could be trimmed to fit the new chamber length or chamber could be lengthened slightly with a new short belt reamer.

One thread may not be enough, but the idea would work. The bottom line is "the bottom line".

Is it worth the cost of having the work done and ending up with a bastard case?

I do not have the problem, but if I did, I would look at the cost to convert the gun to another caliber if I intended to shoot it a lot.

In my case, I have no need or desire to "plink" with something like that. I would buy 3 boxes of ammunition, or 50 cases and they would last my lifetime to hunt with. If you can get 6 reloads per case, that is a lot of game downed.

I like Tim's suggestion of trying JB weld on a case and seeing how it works out. If that failed, machining a small bushing to increase the length of the belt and attaching it with super glue might work.

[MT Gianni]

Years ago I put away and still have 250 new cases for my .350 Remington Magnum rifle. The .350 RemMag was introduced in 1964. In 1992 they ceased to produce the .350 RemMag for a decade. Ability to locate .350 RemMag is difficult and impossible at times. I make .350 RemMag from 7mm Mag brass as I do not have a Rifle for that caliber and collect them off and on as Range Pick Ups.

An old story repeating itself is my interpretation.

Yep, Graff and Sons used to run an annual brass sale on 307 and 356 Winchester cases. They contracted with a Yugoslavian company for an annual run. Those guns might shoot rimless brass but might not too.

[cpaspr]

Going into my 35th tax season, just can't seem to get enough.

#29 for me. Tis a lot more complex than when I started. Pretty much tax only, though. Audits went bye-bye when I switched firms 18 years ago.

And keeping it gun related, I need to go review my components stashes.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

The 450 Marlin is a real problem, I avoided the 303 Savage until Prvi made brass then I stocked up, though there are some work arounds - a wrap of tape around a slightly shortened 30-30 will work to start. I have plenty of 35 Rem, but you can turn the rim off 303 British for that, I stocked up on .444, but added another 500 Starline who does still make them. 300 Savage is easy - .308 Win shortened, .307 Win and 356 Win - size and shorten 444. Most cases come from a few that existed in the 1890's to 1920's. Think the .284 is recent, turn the rim off a 45-70 and size down in steps - there ya go.

I do stick with my .243, .308, .358 and .300 Savage's in Savage 99's for most of my shooting, ever since military brass was sold by GIBRASS - 1970's for me

[siamese4570]

This conversation makes me appreciate my 30-30, 30-06, 243, 223.
Siamese4570

Oh, forgot 45-70

[Barry54]

I didn’t realize I had a goldmine with once fired 450 BM brass sitting around.

Hey, anybody wanna send me some 480 brass for it? Heh heh