Hunting with the SBH .480

[CPL Lou]

You might want to look into the Bisley Blackhawks. They make them in 480 Ruger and I can tell you from experience, the recoil is far easier on the hand with the Bisley grip frame.
I have one in 45 Colt and from mild to wild, its easy on the hand. My SBH in 44 Mag had a nasty habit of bloodying my middle finger.

CPL Lou

[Oklahoma Rebel]

yeah I would definetly prefer bisley. have pretty much decided on a SBH bisley .44 MAG

[Lonegun1894]

Sounds like a good choice to me. My SBH is a 5.5" with round trigger-guard, but it's what I'm used to and have never tried a Bisley, but keep hearing good things about them. So those of you singing the praises of the Bisley grip, please stop it before y'all cost me money.

[44man]

Why a .480?---Because!
True most of my deer have been taken with the .44 and I love it. Same with .45 Colt but it is a vaquero and sights ran away.
I don't own a .480 and wish Ruger would bring a 5 shot out in the SBH Hunter.
I have the BFR in .475 and never seen a revolver drop deer so fast with a full hard boolit like it does. I have not lost any meat at all with it either unlike some of my other calibers. I would use it up to T Rex without a single change.
Yeah, not needed like is said for the .480 but when you see results, they speak for themselves. The .480 should be great on any game.
But a .44 is never a bad choice either.

[bbailey7821]

I hope you go for the 480, KIDD! I also shoot 44's, 45's, 500's(I enjoy all of them, by the way). Call me a Contrarian, but sometimes it's cool being different. I haven't taken live game with the 480 yet, but I can sure tell it will do a great job, based on the "CLANG!" coming from my swinger.

[Swede44mag]

Why a .480?---Because!
True most of my deer have been taken with the .44 and I love it. Same with .45 Colt but it is a vaquero and sights ran away.
I don't own a .480 and wish Ruger would bring a 5 shot out in the SBH Hunter.
I have the BFR in .475 and never seen a revolver drop deer so fast with a full hard boolit like it does. I have not lost any meat at all with it either unlike some of my other calibers. I would use it up to T Rex without a single change.
Yeah, not needed like is said for the .480 but when you see results, they speak for themselves. The .480 should be great on any game.
But a .44 is never a bad choice either.

Check this out 44man

Ruger New Model Super Blackhawk Bisley
Not the Hunter but close
http://www.ruger.com/products/newMod...eets/0870.html

[44man]

I can't shoot a Bisley, my middle knuckle gets beat to blood from the trigger guard and I found I can't hold it the same shot to shot so groups suffer. Others love it so it is personal.
I prefer a SBH with Pachmeyer grips. Ugly rubber that works instead of a brag over pretty grips. BFR rubber, Uncle Mike's grips are one hole shooters. I would like $1000 grips for show but they come off for shooting.
A revolver is like a shotgun, doesn't fit and you miss.
I have a hard time stressing to find what works for you and do not believe others. I did and owned a Bisley for 2 weeks. Never again! Recoil reduction, you need to be on the couch with a bag of chips and beer.
Let a revolver ROLL, Another pile of pig poop. It persists to this day. I really hate to read that a gun ROLLS nicely.

[44man]

Check this out 44man

Ruger New Model Super Blackhawk Bisley
http://www.ruger.com/products/newMod...eets/0870.html

I hate the .454 because of the primer and I will never buy a Bisley again.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

hmmm.... you all have valid points, this is going to be a tough decision, glad I have a while to decide.too bad you cant test drive guns! thank you,
Travis

[C. Latch]

hmmm.... you all have valid points, this is going to be a tough decision, glad I have a while to decide.too bad you cant test drive guns! thank you,
Travis

You could always buy the .454 Casull version and use .45 Colt brass. I really like the 6.5" barrels like the .454 and .480 have. I just don't see the need for that much power.

[Swede44mag]

The O.K. KIDD
I have a Ruger 44mag Bisley Hunter I took it deer hunting last fall and with cotton gloves I cant get a good enough grip to shoot it accurately.
The pistol is very accurate without gloves I checked for checkered grips or rubber grips but could not find any.
I asked Ruger about checkered grips they said they don't make them.
I am planning on trying gloves with a rubber coating on the grip side this winter if it does not work I will take my Blackhawk .45colt with Hogue grips.
I do not like the Hogue grips on the .45 but they do make for a good hold.

Good luck and let us know how it works out and post pics of whatever game you harvest.

[5.7 MAN]

The O.K. KIDD
I have a Ruger 44mag Bisley Hunter I took it deer hunting last fall and with cotton gloves I cant get a good enough grip to shoot it accurately.
The pistol is very accurate without gloves I checked for checkered grips or rubber grips but could not find any.
I asked Ruger about checkered grips they said they don't make them.
I am planning on trying gloves with a rubber coating on the grip side this winter if it does not work I will take my Blackhawk .45colt with Hogue grips.
I do not like the Hogue grips on the .45 but they do make for a good hold.

Good luck and let us know how it works out and post pics of whatever game you harvest.

checkered grips!

http://www.altamontco.com/experiment...ger_bisley.php

[white eagle]

bought many guns off gun broker
if the seller is saying its new it probably is
especially if it is from a gun shop
I have had both cals and still have 44's
the 480 went to someone else
now that Ruger has a super blackhawk in 480
I may want another
can't loose with either

[DougGuy]

Bisley in .44 with 7.5" sounds like a good place to start. I have only owned and shot the plowhandled rugers, never have got to shoot a bisley with heavy boolits.

I am not a big fan of K type LSWC boolits, I think the wide meplat, smooth ojive Lee RF style boolits transition from cylinder through forcing cone and into the bore better than a design with a front driving band, and I like the broad frontal area for hunting better than the K type.

For whatever reason, there seems to be a sweet spot just shy of 1200fps that in game, the RF style boolits do terrific damage. I think it is like a shock wave that pushes tissue away from the front of the boolit and it makes a larger wound channel because of this than what you would get with a K type LSWC design.

Also this long wound channel is made better by a heavy for caliber boolit rather than a lighter one, and hitting 1200fps from a 7 1/2" doesn't even require max loads in the .44, in fact mine are stepped back some by 17.0gr H2400 but it's the perfect heavy boolit hunting load for thin skinned game. Overkill for deer, but hogs NEED to be hit with a heavy boolit, as do elk and moose. To that extent, I just use the 300gr RF for all my hunting. One load, one gun, one point of aim, keep it simple..

[44man]

The Bisley is said to push into the hand better but the trigger guard has that space where my huge knuckle can't escape. I hate the SBH square guard too but Pachmeyer grips have a filler. Yes a SBH can draw blood even with 240 gr IHMSA loads.I hate the thing but you can fix it. Most Bisleys have no choices.
I found it sensitive to hold and too hard to hold the same. Like the S&W 29 that would shoot 1/2" groups at 50 meters but would change POI 10" at 50 right quick. You can get FEEL with a Bisley but might miss like crazy. Blame the gun or load when it is the grip.
The S&W 29 were the most accurate guns I owned with 1/2" or less at 50 meters with opens. But they NEVER won any shoot and NEVER were in the top spots. It is the grip! Set the gun down for target setters, pick it up and miss every target. Bisley does the same. Bisley is worse since keeping it in hand will not shoot groups.

[Charlie U.]

I picked up a SBH in .480 off gunbroker back in 2011 and it has been my favorite pistol for deer hunting.
Feeding that .480 is what got me into reloading. You can't help but love it once you get reloading for it. Bigger (wider and heavier) bullets than the .44 and .45s and you have a ton of flexibility in loads....Mild to Wild.



The .480 SBH Bisley is a fine revolver, but for a hunting handgun my old eyes like an optic, so I'm waiting till they make one in the HUNTER configuration.
Single action or double action......get one of those ruger revolvers in .480 and you won't be disappointed.

[Markbo]

44 man are you familiar with thr grip alteration Huntington does? If not, look into it. It may allow you to shoot a Bisley without knuckle rapping and maybe learn why so many people love them. He increases that space between the the trigger guard and front strap and lengthens it slightly. Made my .475 BFR actually tolerable to shoot.

[44man]

44 man are you familiar with thr grip alteration Huntington does? If not, look into it. It may allow you to shoot a Bisley without knuckle rapping and maybe learn why so many people love them. He increases that space between the the trigger guard and front strap and lengthens it slightly. Made my .475 BFR actually tolerable to shoot.

I had one in my hand and it IS a big improvement. I never got to shoot it though.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

I finally held a sbh and I find that the regular grip is comfortable, I was assuming it would feel like my S&W, it kinda squishes my pinkie up over the next finger and just doesn't feel right, I modified mine, but ruger's is alright. say I get the 480 and just want to do all my shooting with a 325-350gr boolit. what kind of charge with h110/296 would get me to 1250-1300 with the 350 and 1200-1250 with the 325? I am just asking for a round about estimate. thanks for the help/ interesting conversation, keep it coming!

[mattd]

i have a SBH 7.5 in 44mag. I love it, but would probably go with the 5.5 if I had it to do over. sitting in a tree stand the 7.5 gets beat up hanging from a hip holster, and pulling it from a shoulder rig, out of my jacket is a little awkward. I don't shoot deer that far tho.