480 Ruger

[41 mag fan]

I hope this is in the right section, but I'm looking for loads anyones had good luck with in the 480 Ruger SRH. I'll be using both cast and jacketed. I've got a 9 1/2" barrel on my RSH. I'll be looking to use this maybe next year for deer and black bear. Thanks to any who reply.

[Glen]

Cast bullets shoot very well in the .480 Ruger. For details see:

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

[41 mag fan]

thanks Glen, that website was pretty interesting. I'll be looking at it more when I get up in the morning. Thanks again, I appreciate the post.

[Vance in Ak]

I just picked up a 7.5" SRH in 480 & stuck a 30mm Ultradot 4 red dot sight on it. So far I've only had a chance to put 12 factory 400gr loads through it, but I LIKE it!!! Hopefully my Wolff spring kit will be here tomorrow. The trigger pull (single action) is a bit stiff). I also put Hogue Tamer grips on it since I shot it last so that should make it even more pleasent. I have some handloads with 370 Hardcast ahead of 24.5gr of H-110 ready to play with as a starting point. I have a Lee 400gr mold on the way too.
Should make a good moose/bear thumper.

[BABore]

Any 400ish grain cast boolit and WW296 powder. I have tried both CCI 300's and 350's in my loads, and the 350's win out. Winchester primers didn't do as well.

Working up loads for the 480 is fairly painless, except for dealing with the brass. Number one is don't trim it til after you fire it and size it the first time. Then only to uniform the lot up. I trimmed all my new Hornady cases after full length sizing them. A big mistake as after firing and resizing they were 0.005 to 0.007" shorter than before. They have never changed from that after many firings.

The second brass related item is softness. I've only used Hornady brass, so I can't speak to the use of CCI or Starline. Hornady brass is really soft. When working up initial loads, I never made it to Hodgdon's maximum with out pound the case out of the chamber. I settled about a grain shy with 296. A while later I was working up loads for a new 400 grain boolit. This time the brass had been fired and resized several times. My most accurate and consistent load, with 296, was several grains above max. Cases fall right out and primers are still rounded. Just something to be aware of on the brass.

In load developement I have used 2400, AA #9, WW 296, and Lil Gun for maximum loads. 2400 will shoot very good and you have some case capacity left. Velocity is a bit less than what you can get with the others. It's a good powder if you want to back off the velocity just a bit as it still burns well. My gun did not like AA #9 at all. Accuracy was never in leauge with the others. Lil Gun can be accurate, but it works up real funny and kind of scared me. It got real spikey as you approached maximum. Just when things are beginning to tighten, group wise, and pressure signs are just noticeable, the next half grain charge increase will go wild. Sticky extraction and severely flattened primers showing extrusion. Made me think I screw up and added a couple more grains. I don't need that kind of powder temperment with Michigan's 0 to 90 F temperature swings. I pretty much settled on WW 296 or it's H110 mate.

My Ruger SRH, 9 1/2", slugged out with 0.4751 groove diameter and 0.4781 cylinder throats. I size all my boolits to 0.478. My Ruger is kind of a freak with cast boolits. I cast my boolits from 50/50 WW-Pb. Air cooled they're 10 bhn, water dropped they're 22 bhn. I can shoot both hardnesses with the same load, to the same point of impact, with the same group size. In fact I've even mixed the cylinder with no noticeable difference. One should not be so lucky.

When choosing a cast boolit, keep in mind your SRH's cylinder length and potential. It has alot of extra length and you can run a boolit nose length of 0.500" and still have 0.030" to spare. The first boolit I design and made a mold for took advantage of this and provided extra case capacity for powder. With cast I've tried from 350 to 420 grain boolits. I keep coming back to the 400 grain weight as the best one in regards to accuracy, velocity, and penetration. With jacketed, the only one I've shot is the Speer GD 275 grain. I had the need for speed at the time and this one will do it. Over coupous amounts of 296, I was doing around 1,700 fps (IIRC). It was accurate, but not good for longer ranges.

The 480 has enough recoil that it may take you some getting used to. It did me. I dumped the factory grips and opted for a set of Hogue's. With good bench technique, I was able to do well below an inch at 25 yard with OS's, scope, or red dot. 50 yard groups run around 1" to 1 1/2" and around 2-3" at 100 yards. The recoil characteristics and muzzle climb are interesting on my setup in that with a 50 yard zero, I can use the same point of aim at 100 and 200 yards. No hold over. The barrel time of a 1,250 fps, 400 grain boolit, and the muzzle climb do the work for me.

Hope this helps.

[41 mag fan]

Thanks for the posts. I'm still waiting on my SRH to come in. Ordered it on Gunbroker, got everything else in but the gun. The brass I swear by is Starline, for all my wheel guns. It seems alot of people who use or buy a 480 hover towards casts. Either for price or availability reasons.
BABore did you notice a stiff trigger pull like Vance did on his SRH?

[BABore]

Mine was not bad initally. After a couple hundred rounds I ran into a snag. Every once in awhile the pull weight would jump to like 30+ lbs. Maybe once or twice during a cylinder full, then go away for awhile. My shooting buddy thought I was nuts and just shaking, afraid of the recoil. Til it happened to him. This all happened after I had tore the gun apart for a complete cleaning. I found two problems. One was that the sear had a small groove right where it engaged the mating ledge of the hammer. The second problem was the spring loaded latch pin that locks the trigger group into the frame. The pin wasn't extending out fully and setting the subassy. fully into the frame. The tunnel the pin was meant to extend into was rough as hell. With the trigger group not fully seated, it allowed the hammer notch to ride out of that small groove in the sear, causing the intermittent problem. In a fit of rage, on that 90+ F August day, we tore it apart and worked things over with needle files. Including the sear. I seated the trigger group snugly with the use of a plastic mallet and Sha Bang. A perfect 2 lb S&W trigger. Haven't ever took that SOB apart again either.

Please let us know how the Starline brass works out. I was planning on ordering some. One thing I forgot to mention was die sets. I went with the Hornady 4-die set. You get a sizer/decapper, expander, seater/crimp, and a special 4th die that is for crimping. Beware of this 4th die, especially if you use cast boolits larger than 0.475" diameter, which you will. It has a sizing ring in it to wipe the case OD so you get easy chambering. Supposed to iron out the hump you would get if you roll crimp excessively. It does a real good job of it too. It also will size down a cast boolit real well too. It does such a good job containing the case that you can over crimp, fracture the boolit at the crimp groove, and never know it. The Lee Factory Crimp die does much the same. I did try a Redding Profile crimp die which does a similar thing, but much lesser so. In the end I went with the normal seater/crimp die that came with the Hornady set. It works just fine. If you use boolits much bigger than 0.476, you may have to polish out the sliding sleeve that helps with boolit alignment. They're made primarily for 0.475 jacketed or 0.476 cast. Left un-modified they will size down a boolit too. Even with the minor stuff you have to fix or watch out for, I still consider them the best choice. RCBS would be next. You really don't need a heavy crimp on the 480 anyway. Lots of diameter and bearing length there. Never had one even give a hint of movement. I always seat and crimp in seperate operations with these so I can get the right feel.

[Vance in Ak]

My trigger is consistent & shootable, but I would guess it's in the 5-6# range. I need all the help I can get accuracy wise, so I'd like to shave a couple #s off that. Especially since I'm setting aside my S&W mod 29 in favor of this gun. HUGE difference in SA trigger pulls between the two.

[Glen]

My .480 Ruger Starline brass has worked great. Haven't lost a case yet.

[Whitworth]

Thanks for the posts. I'm still waiting on my SRH to come in. Ordered it on Gunbroker, got everything else in but the gun. The brass I swear by is Starline, for all my wheel guns. It seems alot of people who use or buy a 480 hover towards casts. Either for price or availability reasons.
BABore did you notice a stiff trigger pull like Vance did on his SRH?

The .480 is a great round! You won't be disappointed or left wanting more. I personally wouldn't waste my time with jacketed bullets. This is no .429 magnum in need of more diameter. You have size in spades, you just need penetration and with th various 400 + grain flat-nosed hardcasts discussed in the post, you will be in great shape. Some really good advice offered here.

I too prefer Starline brass........

[44man]

I bought Hornady .475 brass because I could not find any other at the time. It has worked fine but one day I loaded a few of Whitworth's Starline brass cases and shot a smaller group.
I tried .480 brass in the .475 and have accuracy problems just like .44 special in the .44 mag and .38's in the .357.
Babore has shown the exact same things I have found with dies, etc. Watch some of those crimp dies.
The Hornady dies have the best expander and seat dies.
The .480 is not wanting for anything except maybe a 5 shot cylinder in the SRH. Cylinder expansion along with soft brass can cause sticky extraction. But there is no need to load the .480 hot enough for that, it is accurate and a great hunting round without looking for the hottest loads.
Too bad Ruger is doing it's dance again with a great gun.

[41 mag fan]

Thanks BABore for the info. I use RCBS dies exclusively. I have Lee dies for other calibers and Redding, and a new Hornady set for the 41 mag. But my choice, guess it's called getting old and set in my ways, is RCBS. And the Starline brass I've found to be the one of preference for me, unless it's in the 1911's. I loose too much brass from them to buy starline.
I will probably end up going to casts in this caliber. Damn jacketed costs more than it would for some other popular caliber like the 44 mag.
I still haven't heard whether my pistol has shipped yet. Bad thing about Gunbroker purchases. Supposedly the place had a death in the family.

[41 mag fan]

I bought Hornady .475 brass because I could not find any other at the time. It has worked fine but one day I loaded a few of Whitworth's Starline brass cases and shot a smaller group.
I tried .480 brass in the .475 and have accuracy problems just like .44 special in the .44 mag and .38's in the .357.
Babore has shown the exact same things I have found with dies, etc. Watch some of those crimp dies.
The Hornady dies have the best expander and seat dies.
The .480 is not wanting for anything except maybe a 5 shot cylinder in the SRH. Cylinder expansion along with soft brass can cause sticky extraction. But there is no need to load the .480 hot enough for that, it is accurate and a great hunting round without looking for the hottest loads.
Too bad Ruger is doing it's dance again with a great gun.

This 480 more than likely will be used for deer and black bear. We're in the process of moving to N. Minnesota, where I'll have the opportunity to use the 480 on these game animals and maybe moose sometime up along the border.

[BABore]

You won't have a problem with 400 grain cast and penetration. I've killed two 1,000 lb+ bison cows with mine. On the last one I took a quartering shot where I broke the big shoulder bone above the elbow joint. Then a rib, through the heart, lungs, skidded off the last couple off side ribs (which were broke), and finally stopping in front of the hip. About 48" of penetration with a 22 bhn boolit. Both cows piled up within 20 yards. I sure love to line up 3-4 deer and play domino's.:mrgreen:

[41 mag fan]

Sounds like its got the power and then some if it went that far thru a couple of bison. That's equal if not better than some of the rifles out there nowadays.

[44man]

You won't have a problem with 400 grain cast and penetration. I've killed two 1,000 lb+ bison cows with mine. On the last one I took a quartering shot where I broke the big shoulder bone above the elbow joint. Then a rib, through the heart, lungs, skidded off the last couple off side ribs (which were broke), and finally stopping in front of the hip. About 48" of penetration with a 22 bhn boolit. Both cows piled up within 20 yards. I sure love to line up 3-4 deer and play domino's.:mrgreen:
:bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:
I hate butchering just one at a time! [smilie=l:

[41 mag fan]

I've been trying for years to invent a bullet that skins and butchers and packages all in one step or shot. So far no luck!

[500bfrman]

Too bad Ruger is doing it's dance again with a great gun.

what's that mean?

[41 mag fan]

Probably meaning, Ruger dropped the 480 and he wishes they'd start that caliber up again. I'm guessing on it though.

[44man]

Probably meaning, Ruger dropped the 480 and he wishes they'd start that caliber up again. I'm guessing on it though.
Yes, they should have made the 5 shot cylinder and kept it going. I understand they made a few. They should also make a .475.

[500bfrman]

I didn't know they dropped it. I guess you can tell I don't follow the 480 that much.

[41 mag fan]

Scored on some good deals today before work. Picked up 400 loaded rounds of 44-40, 100 rounds of 7mm Rem Mag, 100 loaded rounds of 480 Ruger, plus 225 new unfired Starline brass in 480 Ruger. All loaded rounds come in the green MTM boxes. Got it all $220.00. I thought I was getting a steal.

[bobke]

more like felony theft....

[41 mag fan]

They place i got it from is a bow shop that is selling it for the owners late father-in-law. Lots of good deals have went out the door before I found out about it.

[Whitworth]

I talked to Ruger about the .480 and the reason for dropping it from production and was told that it was a marketing decision. Probably weren't selling many. That's too bad as it is a fine gun/caliber combination.

[500bfrman]

I am still in the process of picking my jaw up off the floor. AFter i figured out Ruger made the 480, yet I can't know get a 480 from Ruger. But I can get other places. MRI

[wolfman]

As for an answer to the OP, I am shooting a Lee 400 grain water dropped, pan lubed -w- felix lube, in Hornaday cases, over 19 grain of Lil-Gun, with CCI Mag LP. Out of my 7.5" SRH -w- 2x7 Burris optics, if I do my part, I am getting sub 3" 6 shot groups at 50 yds, -w- no leading and right at 1100 fps.

[Mack Heath]

Check this site out:

http://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4911043/m/55810309?r=55810309#55810309

The images are no longer available as it is several years old, but the info is pretty good.

[Vance in Ak]

Wolfman, have you tried pushing that bullet any faster?
I just picked up that mold but haven't cast any yet. I'm hoping for around 1250 from my 7.5" barrel with H-110 & ww aloy, probably heat treated, tumble lubed.

[wolfman]

Wolfman, have you tried pushing that bullet any faster?
I just picked up that mold but haven't cast any yet. I'm hoping for around 1250 from my 7.5" barrel with H-110 & ww aloy, probably heat treated, tumble lubed.

Not yet, but im gonna :bigsmyl2:

I just got into casting and making my own lube this summer, and worked this load up as a plinking load, just to see how hard it was going to be to control leading. I have had a lot of fun with the reaction it gets at the range I work at, and am getting ready to start heating it up a bit to see where it can go.