Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 480 Ruger should I be tempted

Buddy has come up with one in his shop. I always thought it would be a neat cartridge to play with, but you rarely see the revolvers around here.

Midway doesn't have ammunition or brass available, but I have seen it in a few places online.

Is the cartridge going Teetsup?

IMHO it is the best big bore hunting cartridge in terms of power and shootability. Get a couple hundred cases and you'll be set. I've been using the same Hornady brass for about 10 years and just loose a few now and again from case neck splits. Don't go crazy on belling and crimping and you'll get long life from the brass.

I'll make your load work simple, 390-410 gr cast over 21.0 gr H-110 lit off with a CCI-350. Clocks ~1200 fps from a 7 1/2" barrel and should group very tight.





Pretty flexible with 275-460 gr bullets, but IMHO a 300-320 gr is ideal for target practice and smaller game, and 400's for big game. Then again, the 310 gr @ 1000 fps target load would do in many cases for game.

Many thanks! He's got a Super Redhawk in 454 with the 9.5 inch barrel as well. The 480 has a 7.5 inch tube.

The short answer is yes! I have the first one in the new profile in my possession, and it is amazingly accurate. Nothing not to like about it.

The .480 is a great round. for the life of me I can't figure out why it's not more popular. I still wish Ruger had introduced it in a 5 shot single action.

More info Whit? Is Ruger going to produce it again?

It's being produced and sold now. I couldn't be happier with mine.

I did not know. That's pretty awesome.

Was there ever a earlier Ruger production run that had problems with sticky .480 cases...?

There was and that resulted in a long Hiatus in production. I've got one in the Ruger Alaskan. They are nice. A big heavy bullet moving at moderate speeds works wonders. Buffalo Bore manufactures the ammo as well.

I've felt for years that a Ruger factory 5 shot Bisley made a lot of sense - I'd wait in line for one.

I'd love a 5-shot SA as well. I'm not a fan of the sheer size of the SRH, and a 5 1/2" bbl would be preferable to me over the 7 1/2" as well.

There you go Ruger. Build a 5-shot Bisley in 480, and offer it with 5.5" bbl. You may sell more than one.

They won't do it on the Blackhawk platform. They do not feel it is up to their safety standards.

Well then - maybe that's a good excuse to have Bowen, Clements, etc. build one (but then the price tag just went way up)! I do think if I were to build a custom Ruger, 480 is what I'd want it in...

Are these new Super Redhawks five shooters?



Travis

No, per Ruger's website.

I have the target gray 9 1/2" model. No problems with it. I have used a 30 mm Ultradot on it. It shoots under three inches at 50 yards with 17.5 grains 2400 and 400 cast bullets. I plan on shortening it to 5 1/2" and getting a custom shoulder holster made for it. My only issue is that it shots a bit slow compared to 6 1/2" Tarus Raging Bull, which is really a 5 1/2" barrel if you subtract the porting. This is most evident with very slow loads of fast powder. The gap narrows with 2400 and slower powders, to around 15 fps.

6 shot -- they changed the chamber dimensions and have purportedly fixed the extraction issues. I haven't had any issues with mine at all and it is extremely accurate.

5 shots at 50 yards:

That's UBER.




Travis

The original run of 480's shoot just as accurately.

I never had an issue with extraction in my first gen 480 because I never found a need to run max pressure. 400 @ 1200 is IMHO perfection. When I pushed 460's 1100 fps I got slightly sticky extraction, and 400's @ 1300+ will do the same.

The SRH may look massive, but it really isn't that heavy of a gun. With most of the cylinder cut away for cartridges, the big hole in the barrel and the stub back strap a 7 1/2" SRH is the same weight as a 5 1/2" FA mdl 83 454.