Anybody try a 480 Ruger?

[DLCTEX]

21 gr. of H110 under the Lee 400 gr. boolit. Fixed it. My tablet is doing strange things tonight, may need a reboot. Had to come to PC to correct.

[DLCTEX]

I read some where this week that Ruger is bringing the 480 back due to popular demand. Maybe only in the SRH.

[white eagle]

bout time they snapped out of it

[Three44s]

I think it's an understatement to refer to the .480 Ruger as a "special" in comparision to the .475.

The Sammi pressures on the .480 Ruger are higher than a .44 mag.

They are lower than the .475

Now it's a fact you can load the .480 to a level even below a factory .44 or .38 special. I have done so with Trail Boss.

Long story short, I have a SRH v. 7.5 in .480 Ruger and like it VERY MUCH!

I load it a touch off max and down to an upper medium field level .......... usually HS-6 for that medium load.

Two molds so far: The RCBS 400 gr. plain base and a new to me Mihec 476460 with the extra pins .......... I can't wait to run that Mihec ........... oh baby ......... what a beautiful work of art!

Viva the .480 Ruger and the .44 Mag!!

Three 44s

[jonp]

I'm having Jack Huntington build a 5 shot 480 on a New Vaquero. I think the mid sized frames are the perfect platform, big power in a tidy little package. Here's a work in progress pic from a couple month's ago.

The nose of the frame still has to be welded and reshaped to match up with the re-bored S&W barrel. It's also getting a S&W rear sight and Turnbull case colors. It should be done in a couple months, it's gonna be one slick little piece!!

That will be nice to carry but isn't that a lot of power in a medium frame? How do you think it will hold up?

[doubledown]

[QUOTE=Bullshop;2621814].
It did look like it was about to be dropped from production so brass might become an issue.
QUOTE]

I don't think 480 brass is going away anytime soon.
https://www.starlinebrass.com/brass-...0-Ruger-Brass/

Ruger would be smart to bring it back, it is a great cartridge that gets the job done without beating you to death.

[SteveM]

That will be nice to carry but isn't that a lot of power in a medium frame? How do you think it will hold up?

It should hold up just fine. Jack's built a few of them, and wouldn't do it if it wasn't safe. I plan to shoot mostly 370 gr bullets at 1000fps or less, so it won't see a steady diet of heavy loads. When I feel like abusing myself, I'll just shoot my 500 Linebaugh maximum

[jonp]

It should hold up just fine. Jack's built a few of them, and wouldn't do it if it wasn't safe. I plan to shoot mostly 370 gr bullets at 1000fps or less, so it won't see a steady diet of heavy loads. When I feel like abusing myself, I'll just shoot my 500 Linebaugh maximum

Or full house 454 in a snub Alaskan. Hurts my hand just writing that

[TMenezes]

That's a beautiful gun!

[TMenezes]

Ok so all I can find in 480 Ruger is mostly Ruger SRH and some Taurus Raging Bulls. I know little about either one, never owned a double action Ruger and no Taurus of any kind. So which one do you think is the better gun? I have a bid on a Taurus as its the only 6incher that I can find. The Rugers for sale at the moment are 7.5 to 9 inches.

[Lefty SRH]

Ruger is the way to go!

[Hickory]

Ruger could make Bisley 5 shot 480's for no more than it costs to make a comparable .44 or .45 Colt. They would sell like crazy, I'm not sure why they haven't done so yet.

Ruger has a fixation on 6 shooters, no 5 shooters allowed.

[44man]

Steve, that is going to be a nice gun. Looks like Jack's version of the Bisley that I have not tried, it has knuckle room.
The .480 is a great caliber, I have shot a bunch and like them. I bought the BFR in .475, run my 420 gr boolit at 1350 fps and almost every deer has dropped in place. The .480 is up there on the food chain too.
Ruger SHOULD make a SBH in .480 with a 5 shot cylinder but since they make the frames and parts for the BFR's, maybe there is some agreement with larger frames. The BFR's are just large Ruger's.
The new owners of Magnum Research have decided to discontinue production .475's and .500 JRH's so only custom shop guns can be bought. A very sad day and the guys at BFR agree with me. If you can find one of these, you better buy it.

[DLCTEX]

I have two Tarus pistols and just sold one more. They have never given me any problems. However I would not be confident of service if problems did develop as I have heard so many bad stories. Ruger is number one for service . The two I have are the Raging BUll and a Raging Hornet, which is the same gun with a much smaller hole in the barrel and more holes in the cylinder. The Hornet is heavier due to more metal being retained. The one I sold was a mod. 85 in 38 Special. My wife wanted a semi-auto for concealed carry is the reason it was sold. I personally would not hesitate to buy another Taurus.

[TMenezes]

I have two Tarus pistols and just sold one more. They have never given me any problems. However I would not be confident of service if problems did develop as I have heard so many bad stories. Ruger is number one for service . The two I have are the Raging BUll and a Raging Hornet, which is the same gun with a much smaller hole in the barrel and more holes in the cylinder. The Hornet is heavier due to more metal being retained. The one I sold was a mod. 85 in 38 Special. My wife wanted a semi-auto for concealed carry is the reason it was sold. I personally would not hesitate to buy another Taurus.

Good info on the Taurus. I have had great luck with my Rugers and wouldn't trade them for anything. But to be honest I never really cared for the looks of the Super Red Hawk. Just looks a bit fugly to me lol. Bet its built like a tank though.

[calinb]

I don't have time to check this forum very often so I'm late to the party with this post. However, I have a 7.5" SRH in 480 Ruger so I'll chime-in. I have a S&W 29-2 44 Mag and wanted more gun for carry in the bear country of northern ID and northwest MT. I've shot some Hornady factory 480 ammo and perhaps it shoots with the perceived recoil of many 44 Mag loads, but cast bullets are what make these big bore revolvers perform the best, of course, and the Ruger 480 can be loaded to kick much more in the SRH than any S&W Model 29 round! I use the Lee mold and it drops 393 gr. bullets ( ~3% Sb alloy) for me. I've water dropped bullets and also used an oven. The oven is the more consistent method for me--both for BHN and not having to be in a big hurry to whack the sprue cutter and open the mold during the time-critical cooling window.

I use 21 gr. of W296 instead of DLCTEX's H110, and, as you'd expect, it also yields a very fun shooting load of 1084 fps on my Chrony at 10 feet from my 7.5" barrel. I can shoot a box of 50 rounds no problem and be wishin' I'd loaded-up more!

For backwoods carry, I use 26.5 gr. of Lil'Gun and it produces 1352 fps at 10 feet. The cases extract easily and look like they could take more, but I don't want any more! One cylinder full and I'm done having fun with these loads. I guess I'm either a whimp or an old fart or both. My load is over SAAMI length at 1.785", because my Redding crimp die works best in the second groove with this much Lil'Gun in the case. I slugged my chambers and barrel and custom bored and honed a Lee .457 bullet sizer on my lathe (to about .476, as I recall) to size the Lee bullets down slightly. Overall, the cartridge is a tight fit, with both the forcing cone and cylinder length producing a nearby limit for this load. It barely chambers but, together with my Redding crimp die, I don't have to worry about bullets backing out and jamming the cylinder on the very nearby barrel! I use 45:45:10 proportions of LLA:JPW:MS (Lee liquid Alox, Johonson's paste wax, mineral spirits) and tumble lube. After the lube dries, I hand-fill the grooves with more of the same lube blend, but I use an old and thickened supply. I don't experience any significant leading.

I love the revolver. From what I've read, it seems like Ruger couldn't quite fit six rounds of the 50,000 psi Linebaugh into an SRH cylinder with adequate design margins so they dropped the pressure limit a couple thousand psi and created the shorter 480 Ruger. Even so, Ruger needed some fancy cylinder metallurgy to do it. The only negative that I see is Ruger did nothing to make the SRH more pleasing to the eye. In fact, with its lack of any cylinder fluting and the frying pan finish (very tough and functional), my SRH is uglier than the 44 Mag SRH. Soviet-inspired styling comes to mind but my S&W 44 mag is too pretty to carry in the woods anyway and neither a charging bear nor I will care what my SRH looks like, if I ever need to use it!

[Three44s]

When you add it up, the BFR's are a great bargain in .475L

If I was in steady contact with Grizzlies etc. ...... that's what I'd have.

But the worst thing we have (officially) in my area is black bears. If a grizzly were to wander this way ........ I'd still feel properly equiped with my .480

For my tastes, I don't have a problem with the SRH's lines if you will ....... nor the 7.5" barrel length.

I had a 9.5" SRH in .44 mag and originally bought it to chop it back to 6" as White Eagle did with his .480 ...... but after I installed a "One Ragged Hole" peep sight and the Ruger front bead ....... I just could not stand the thought of losing that wonderful sight radius.

In short, these guns have a lot more reach than most of us realize.

I already have a four inch gun for easy packin' ........ a Smith MG in .44 ........ so I just kept the big guns "big".

One day a good friend showed up with the .480 I ended up with ....... and he was not too smitten with the .480's recoil.

I wanted his .480 SRH worse than I wanted my 9.5" SRH in .44 mag ........ AND, he liked my long .44 SRH with that peep sight!

We swapped!

I miss my long SRH once in a while but I still have my RH 7.5 " that out shoots it .......... AND .... I sure am hangin' on to that .480 in the SRH!!!

Three 44s

[HollandNut]

I got my 7.5" SRH 480 seven years ago and it will never be for sale , it is a fantastic round , and to me is much easier to shoot than a 44 mag ..

I think it's dawg uglee to look at , but it werkx for me very well ..

[Four-Sixty]

I see the 480 Redhawks show up on the classifieds in my parts for about six hundred and sit. Seems we don't have enough folks with the courage down here to operate them. I hope to one day make one mine.

[calinb]

One day a good friend showed up with the .480 I ended up with ....... and he was not too smitten with the .480's recoil.

I see the 480 Redhawks show up on the classifieds in my parts for about six hundred and sit. Seems we don't have enough folks with the courage down here to operate them. I hope to one day make one mine.

Yup--that's how I got a great deal on my 480 SRH! Nearly NIB for $500. The seller said he shot three rounds but his arthritic hands couldn't handle it. From the appearance of the box, and gun, and also the gun's performance, I believed him! I did invest in the Hogue grips so, hopefully, my own arthritis won't get too bad anytime soon.