Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns New to me Bowen 5-shot Ltwt 480 Ruger

I had been planning basically this identical revolver except I was going to use an old Vaquero as a base gun and go with color case-hardening. And I mean everything else down to the caliber in a 5-shot Longhunter, 4" barrel, fluted and chamfered cylinder, scalloped recoil shield/loading gate, Bisley hammer, lanyard ring, etc. This one came up on rugerforums and I couldn't resist after holding out for some ammo and brass. Seller sent me 100 rounds of Buffalo Bore "light" 370 Gr LBT's at 1,000 fps in some big-ass boxes that I will try out tomorrow. My bet is it will bark with the best of 'em. All I need now is grips!

Droolin' here:)

SWEET!

I still don't understand why Ruger hasn't made a 5-shot Bisley in either .480 Ruger, or .475 Linebaugh

Very nice

Makin me soooo jealous. I think I might hate you

yeah i was looking over that 480 Redhawk that safariman had thinking if it were a Blackhawk i might actually be interested....loved the 44mag Blackhawk i had....

I suggested a 5-shot .480 to Lipsey's and they were intrigued by the idea. If enough people email / call, perhaps they'd ask Ruger to make a special run of them.

Tom

Thanks guys. The idea is to run the 370's at around 900 fps or so when I run out of factory ammo. I already load 475 Linebaugh so all I needed was brass and the seller sent me 100 pcs of new 480 brass. I also got a 20-rd box of Grizzly 400 Gr Hawk at 1200 fps.

Price for the work from Bowen would be $2,800 + the cost of the base gun. So I saved quite a bit. Or did I? Now instead of selling the old Vaquero, I'm thinking about a 6-shot Longhunter conversion in........say.......357 Mag.......shooting 180's.

And I'd be down for several factory 5-shot Blackhawks if they made them.

Very nice!

I've asked the management at Ruger several times why when there people standing in line to have their Super Blackhawks converted to .480 Ruger why they don't build their own 5 shot .480... And the answer I get back is that the guns will not hold up to Ruger's standards in the long run... So they won't build them...

I am hoping that one day they will as that is one beautiful gun...Bob

I'm lovin' it.



Travis

I love that Bisley hammer paired with the plow handle grips.

Not going to happen. As RJM pointed out, they feel the platform is not up to the task.


Beautiful revolver, BTW!

You will love it!!! It's almost a twin to my Bowen Custom. Mine has the Bisley grip frame & a 4 & 5/8"s barrel. It's a hammer on feral hogs. They are DRT. Even with the mild loads.

If you don't like it, you won't have any trouble selling it. Just let me know, first

Nice little piece.

I guess that would be why the .480 Ruger SRH is made of the same super-steel as the .454 guns. Apparently the stuff is just a bear to machine as well, so they're not eager to make any Blackhawks from it.

A five shot Blackhawk does not require any special "super-steel".

Took it out yesterday. Shot all 3 Bowens and the FA. The 4" 480 is not bad at all with the 1000 fps 370 Gr loads. Very pleasant after shooting the 500L and even seemed milder than the 44 Mag with 320-Gr loads. Here's the target after 5 rounds at 25 yards. Others were similar. I need to practice more and want to get good at 50 yards.

The difference in tolerances is huge between a stock Ruger Blackhawk and a Bowen-reworked gun. I can see why maybe a Factory revolver would not last as many rounds as a tight gun. But I think a factory 5-shot would still last a lifetime for most big-bore shooters.

Damn nice revolvers 257, and that old Speedmaster lying there brings back a lot of memories, my first rifle at 8 years old. <G>

Gunner