Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .454 or .480 Ruger Bisley

^^^This ^^^
I own Ruger RedHawks in .480, .454 Casull, & 45 Colt. Plus numerous Blackhawks & Bisleys in .45 Colt & 44 Mag.
If I could only choose one for Handgun Hunting, I would choose the new Ruger Bisley in .480 hands down and twice on Sunday. I've got one on order with my LGS, and should have it soon!

With a moderate handload pushing a 400 grain LBT Hard Cast Lead bullet at 1100 fps, it will easily take any game animal in N. America. And with less recoil and muzzle blast & much more pleasurable to shoot than my .454 Casull.

Yeah, but why is the cylinder chambered in .454 a drawback. Fits in the same place. My .454 SBH shoots .45 Colts with unbelievable accuracy. Just not sure why you're making the distinction.

Not a fan of the .500 S&W. There are better .50s that fit in a revolvers that weigh a lot less than 5-lbs that work as well if not better without the 62,000 psi pressure ceiling. As mentioned elsewhere, the .475s (.480 and Linebaugh) are real, honest, game-getters that can be carried all day every day. JMHO.

Going with the .480

You will be well served!

No way in hell would own a bulky X-Frame 500 S&W. No practical reason to do so. I've seen them used in the feild and they are not Amy more effective than a 500 JRH or Linebaugh that fits in a Ruget Bisley and BFR.

A wise choice.

My dealer hasn't been able to find one in stock so I guess I will grab one off gunbroker

You guys are a bunch of commie-rats! When I was getting ready to order my Ruger, y'all said the 454 and NOW you're touting the 480??? arrrgh!

I have both, Jorge!

I had both as well, but since I also have a 45 Colt Bisley 5.5" barrel I decided I didn't need the 454 so I sold it.

Go to Hornady.com. Click on the tab "Ballistic Resources" on the left. The second choice from the bottom in the drop down menu is called HITS, the one you want. Fill in the blanks and not the differences. The number generated is momentum based instead of kinetic energy based.
The 480 with 400 grain bullets @ 1200fps hits harder than a 460 S&W's 300 gr bullet @ 1700fps.

Blackhawk in 45 Colt. It has ben doing the job of a long time and will still be getting it done long after we are gone.

I don't need a reason to buy and/own any firearm I can legally possess. The only criteria is if I want said firearm and I have the means of getting it.

No one said any different, but IMHO a handgun needs to easily handy and IME the X-Frame is too big to be easily handy.

Well, John, I'd be the last guy to deny you your opinion regarding things that apply to you. I have no trouble handling the large X-frame 500 Magnum. I purchased a holster from the S&W Custom shop made for the X-frame revolver. The holster comes with a strap that crosses your body and places the weight of the revolver on the opposite side shoulder and trapezes muscle, not your belt. It has a great piece of padding that fits around that strap, and the padding is covered in synthetic fur to eliminate rubbing from the strap. I've donned it many times and walked around the house for a full day to determine if I could carry it in relative comfort. Guess what; I can.

I suspect when guys say they can't/won't "handle" a .500 S7W, they don't mean carrying it around in a holster, but actually holding and shooting it.

My choice is the .480, also. Never shot or really cared to shoot a .454. I do have, and use, a .45 Colt Blackhawk, but don't try to load it to .454 levels. In my .44's and the .45 I tend to shoot 300+ gr hard cast at +/- 1000 fps, and they really get the job done with less recoil, which is good for my wrists and my revolvers. I look at the .480 as more of a good thing. 400r or heavier hard cast at the same velocity makes a bigger hole and should be hitting "harder". I would probably like to have a .480 Bisley, but my Super Redhawk does a fine job.

Handgun hunters are a fickle group that is very divided on Smith & Wesson's X-frame offerings. Some feel, myself included, that those who embraced S&W's aggressive marketing, were relatively new to hunting with a handgun and had probably never shot, or owned, or used anything bigger than a .44 Magnum in the past. Hence the success they had marketing "2,500 foot pounds of muzzle energy!!!" -- gotta have that, that's somehow significant! Whereas cartridges like the .475 Linebaugh, .500 Linebaugh, .500 Maximum, etc., though largely a handloader's proposition, preceded the big S&W cartridges by decades and those who embraced those cartridges knew that those numbers that look so good and convincing on paper, don't really amount to much with regards to lethality.

But let's take a quick look at how Smith & Wesson got to their impressive numbers. First, they designed two BIG cases, that required a whole new revolver to house, but that was only part 1 of the equation. Part 2 required them to run the pressures really high, leaving only one commercial cartridge with a higher SAAMI maximum, the .454 Casull. So, now you have a scaled up N-frame, with huge by large proportions, that generates an enormous amount of muzzle blast and noise. How attractive.

Now, that is not to say that they have no place in handgun hunting. I know guys with real experience who have embraced them, but they are open minded enough to know that there are other (and sometimes better) ways to skin a cat. If long range is your deal, the .460 is a great place to start. It's a matter of choice. For me, I would rather get close as that is the essence of handgun hunting. But again, that's just me. The .500? Well, I personally feel that the extra 150 - 200 fps you can squeeze out of the S&W over let's say the .500 Linebaugh or .500 JRH, or .500 WE doesn't buy you much of anything in killing power. But it does force you to carry a much heavier and bulkier revolver and you have the noise and muzzle blast now to contend with. So no, I don't think that stepping up to the .500 S&W is somehow moving up to the ultimate or plateau of handgun power. I had one and it really wasn't all that -- but I might not have known that had I not had .475s, .480s, .454s, .500 Linebaughs, etc. in the past and known how they perform on game.

Sorry for the thread hijacking, but I sometimes feel that various members sling commentary out there without explaining what it is they are basing their opinions on. Again, my apologies.

Spot on Whit! Those that argue how easy the X-frame is to pack I suspect haven't flown in to hunt Alsaka in a small bush plane and got dropped off. The amount of camp chores make the smaller package so much easier to deal with on a constant daily basis. Not to mention sleeping in a dome tent on the ground in prime bear habitat. The larger the firearm the tougher to get into play if a big bear gets on the tent and you. BTDT