I’m looking at the Ruger Bisley in 480 Ruger and saw Max's (Whitworth) recent write up in one of the gun pubs (Handgunner?). I currently have a BFR 475 L that I shoot well. My ‘but’ is that it is giant. It has the 7.5” barrel which actually measures 8” and with the plow grip is a really large revolver. I’m still really considering selling the BFR and buying the Bisley. I have a SS Bisley 5.5” barrel 45 colt that I really like and shoot well. I run BTB WFNGC 300 gr through it at ~ 1300 ft/sec. Recoil isn’t bad at all.

I’d really like to have a ‘matched’ pair of Bisleys – one in 45 colt, the other in 480 Ruger. The 480 will have a true 6.5” barrel and weighs a bit less. Calculated recoil is about the same between my BFR loads and similar loads in the Ruger. Plus is has a smaller footprint than the BFR.

To those that have handled the new Bisley 480 – are the new 480 Bisley’s the same gun as the 45 colt except a slightly longer cylinder and 5 shot capacity? Any other observations to note on the Bisley?
Thanks.

May be TexnCal will stop by, shot his 480 Ruger at a hog hunt, IIRC we were firing 400+ gr bullets, a really sweet shooting revolver, and somewhat modest recoil for all the performance we were putting downrange, nice cartridge.

I'm hoping Whitworth weighs in as well. I run 325 Speer and 420 BTB in my Linbaugh. I run the 325 at 1400 and the 420 at 1200-1250 - all 480 Ruger vels. I've shot the 420's at 1400 and I didn't care for the increased recoil.

Same gun, better (read tougher) cylinder and barrel material. The very slight extra cylinder length is on the case rim side to compensate for the counter boring. They are considerably lighter than a BFR, and the recoil between the .454 and .480 is what you would expect, the Casull being a lot faster and sharper versus the big push from the .480 (assuming heavy loads in both). Both of mine (the .454 and .480) are exceedingly accurate. Fit and finish is okay, and about what I expect. They both have the longer ejector rod housing as well. I'm really happy with the way they perform.

It was American Hunter magazine.

You van always cut the barrel to 5 1/2".

I'm considering that as well. I think in your picture, looks like you also had a Bisley frame conversion as well. Likely cheaper to just go with the Ruger.

Mine is the Super Redhawk, with 7½" barrel, an early production SRH. That load we shot at the Tenn. Hog Hunt was 24gr of Lil'Gun under a 355gr Oregon Trail gas checked bullet, in Hornady brass. It was running about 1325 fps, but varied more than I liked in velocity. I think I have some 370gr BFN bullets from either Beartooth or Cast Performance, but have not tried them yet. One of those big hard cast slugs would probably shoot through anything in North America. Recoil is significant; I usually wear a PAST glove at the range otherwise it will start to bother me after 10-15 shots.

Speer makes a 275gr jacketed bullet for the .480 and I suspect that one will easily kill a deer and kick less than the big cast bullets. I also plan to try some Accurate #9 in it - also Starline brass. The Hornady brass seemed to me to be inconsistent, so I want to see if brass helps the problem.

The Super Redhawk is sorta homely looking. But it easily accepts Ruger's scope mounts, and is a 6 shot gun. Arguably, it's the most powerful 6 shot production revo ever made.

I think the Bisley .480 is neat and will be fun for hunting. For serious big bear protection, or if easy scope mounting is desired, I think the big double action SRH is arguably a bit more functional.

Bowen will do a conversion on the regular Redhawk, to install a full lug barrel, and add a 5 shot cyinder. I think that approach with a 5" full lug barrel in .480 or .475L - maybe with integral scope mounts - would make an awfully slick revo. Good for hunting or big bear protection.

I recently picked up a Bisley 480, used to have a 5.5 SS Bisley 45 Colt, and currently have the older model 5.5" Bisley Vaquero 45 Colt. I believe I read that one of the differences with the new 5 shot Bisleys is that they have a heavier untapered barrel as compared to the others.

OOPS, maybe we were talking about your Linebaugh/Turnbull too, a few years past and 'then events' clouded by fermented corn liquid have clouded my memory.

You have a nice shooting revolver nonetheless.

Ed who did the work on your BFR? I really like that. Been wanting to do something with mine.

Alan Harton. I bought the piece from a gent on the Ruger Forum for cheap (back when CDNN was selling them for $500). He included the (Huntington tweaked) second grip frame and grips. I sold the originals and Alan leaned the grip/gripframe down to fit my hand. It is a pleasant gun to shoot using Sixshot's 370 gr LFN HP's at 1,100 fps and extremely accurate. I need to scope it just to see how it will do at 100 yards.

I bet it would do great.

For those with 6.5" guns, what vels you getting with 400 gr lead? Is it possible to get 1200 at sane pressures?

I don't have a chronograph but here's Buffalo Bore's advertisement: Heavy 480 Ruger Pistol and Handgun Ammo
Heavy 480 Ruger Ammo - 410 gr. L.B.T. -W.F.N. (1,200 fps/M.E. 1,311 ft. lbs.) - 20 Round Box

bwinters
I'm shooting 400 gr at 1200 fps.
It's not a max load. The posted pressure was 35500 psi