Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots #1 .460 S&W

Always wanted a Ruger #1 but could never decide on a caliber. Saw one recently in .460 S&W and this handgun cartridge will be legal for deer in a rifle in IN next year. Now I'm excited because I would get to use the #1 at home to hunt. Has anyone had any experience with this setup?

Only in the pistol. Muzzle blast was ferocious, and shot the innards loose
in the scope after about 20 rounds. But it ought to be sweet out of the rifle!
Think I'd try to find some different ammo than what I was shooting, 200 gr
flex tip Hornadys... Only shot some stumps and an old freezer with it, but was not
terribly impressed with their penetration - or rather lack of.

That may be the classiest rig a person can deer hunt with here! Good luck if you go that route.

I've often thought it would make a better ".45-70 light" rifle. That means close to the ballistics of the .45-70 with 300 gr. bullets, w/o alot of the .45-70's recoil. It would come close to the .45-70's performance because the .460 is factory loaded to much higher pressure. Which means you'll get good velocity w/o burning nearly as much powder. E

FWIW and guys probably already know this, they do chamber this model in .475Linebaugh/.480Ruger too...

Indiana has strange rules on deer hunting firearms. Shotgun with slugs, ML, or you can hunt with a handgun shooting rifle cartidges above .243 or with a rifle shooting a handgun cartridge with a bullet .35 or larger and a case 1.8 inches long. The .460 makes the rifle requirement and as E says shoots like a 45/70. I've been hunting with my ML for years but this would sure fill my desire to have a #1.

Yes I have a No.1 chambered in 460 s&w mag. Mine has a 24" douglass barrel. I love it. I used it this year with the case cut to 1.625,lil gun and a hornady 300 SST ML bullet. 2125 fps.I shot a doe at about 50 yards. The bullet entered the rear of the left shoulder, (missing the bone) entered the rib cage leaving a 3" wound. It exited the far side with a 1.5" hole. It would seem with them very large entry hole( of the rib cage) that the bullet blew up, but I didnt find any bullet fragments at all.Needless to say the doe dropped on the spot and didnt move.The fps rating on this bullet, according to a Hornady tech is 2300 fps. The same for the 200 gr factory load.
I checked the velocity of the factory 200gr in my rifle and it was very close to 2800 fps. And that, jeffdwhite, is probably why you werent getting much penetration.
The fastest velocity i have gotten has been 2400fps, but groups were between 2-3" at 100 yards. My normal load is 35.5 gr 2400 and a 300 SST. This gives me 2175 fps and moa groups.
The load I plan on using next year with the full length case will be 43.5 gr of lil gun and a 290 gr Barnes FB ML bullet. this load gives me 2300 fps with 1" at 100 yards.
I absoultly love my No.1's!

Bogus,

Now I'm convinced. I sent you a PM.

>bogusmcall

Could you tell me the length of the chamber in that Ruger No1 in .460?

MrLinsky, i'm not sure the chamber length, but I load the Hornady 300SST bullets at 2.488 These are just off the lands.The factory 200 gr SST's measure 2.280.
Mine is a custom barrel so the chamber may differ on a factry rifle.

>bogusmcall

Thanks for the quick reply. If I may pry a bit more, why did you choose a custom barrel for this particular gun?

At the time, Ruger wasnt producing them in 460. They had them listed, but hadnt started production yet. Also I wanted a 24" barrel. I also wanted more muzzle weight.
The donor rifle started as a 1-S 45/70. It was butt heavy. This barrel follows the factory 45/70 barrel down to the front of the forarm and then strait out. A heavy barrel if you will. The ballance point is about 1.5" in front of the reciever.

I think I would just bow hunt with regs like that......

I think I would just bow hunt with regs like that......
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What, and miss out on 2 weeks of hunting? I dont like the regs either but i wll play the game just for the extra tme in the woods!

Our archery season starts Oct 1 thru Jan 1 including the Nov 15-30 rifle season. I guess if we had such regs I would just continue through with a bow is all. But you're right, you can't let em win, thats what they want.

How does the 44 mag fit in being its kinda both a pistol and rifle cartridge????

Fits in fine as the regs don't state it has to be a 'pistol' cartridge to be legal. Just has to meet the following specs:
-Case length between 1.16" and 1.8"
-Bullet diameter of .357" or greater