I’m thinking I want one...

Fo for sure

You reload, OP?

No, but ammo cost isn’t really a consideration.

If the price is right, buy it....I have one in stainless in a Super Blackhawk Bisley.

Attached File

Please send me all your brass, please...

They are Big and heavy! If you want something lighter and easier to pack go with the Super Blackhawk Bisley 5 shot.

The Super Redhawks are pretty accurate and the 480 can be loaded with 295-420 grain bullets. you cam probably get 1200 FPS out of a 420 grain bullet, lots of power.

I have the Bisley and load a 350 grain at 1000-1100 fps, plenty of zip for anything I'd shoot in NH.

If I remember correctly, it kills on both ends.

One day I was shooting next to a guy who had something like a S&W 460 monster and at the break, we went out to check targets and one of his jackets had peeled off and embedded into my target backing board!

Chris

I've read that it's not nearly as punishing as a 454, This spring I'm planning on getting one, just haven't decided on the Redhawk or Blackhawk.
Ballistically it sounds like a sledgehammer, you won't find glancing shots or bad penetration even with hollow points in that thing

That’s what I’m looking for, something that can separate whatever it hits from it’s extremities.

I've got the SRH480.  I like the round a lot...will the gun after I get a trigger job done on it.

I like shooting heavy bullets.  Never shot a factory round in mine.  My cast bullets for practice and I have some bought hard cast to load for when I carry it in the wilds.

I eyed the 5 shot Blackhawks, but didn't pull out my $.

I'm in the market for a SRH. I can't decide on caliber. The .480 is in the running.

.480 ruger is a silly cartridge.

.454 - which can also shoot .45 LC and .45 LC +P, is a far more versatile option. .454 is the most versatile 'super magnum' handgun chambering.

.480r = 325gr @ 1350fps

.45 LC +P = 325gr @ 1325fps

There is also a wide variety of .45 LC +P for you to shoot:

https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_list&c=8

https://www.underwoodammo.com/collections/handgun-ammo/cartridge_45-colt-long-colt

As well as quite a bit of full power .454 should you feel the need for speed:

https://www.underwoodammo.com/collections/handgun-ammo/cartridge_454-casull

Lastly, there are far more .454 projectiles and styles then there are .475's. And the .454's will have better sectional density for a given weight.

My suggestion - get the 5" .454 Super Redhawk:
https://ruger.com/products/superRedhawkStandard/specSheets/5517.html

Or get a 460 and shoot all of those and have a lot more power to shoot flat to 200 yds and pushing a 240 grain bullet past 2000 FPS with factory Ammo.  Reload and add more horsepower.

The .480 was designed to deliver .454/.475 level knock down power, with less recoil and blast.

But it doesn't.

.480 is basically ballistically identical to the .45 LC +P; 325gr @ 1350 vs 325gr @ 1325

.454 = 325gr @ 1550fps, and 300gr @ 1650fps.

Not only is it comparable in power to .45 LC +P, and well below .454, but .480 has worse sectional density for penetrating bears - its whole raison d'etre.

.454 325gr = 0.225 SD

.475 325gr = 0.206

There is absolutely no reason to go .480 - one of the most niche and soon to be discontinued of calibers - over the far more widely available and versatile .454/.45lc +P.

Problem is pistol size/weight for the .460 is absurd, and 5 shot to boot.

460V 5" = 60oz 3.75lb, 11.3" OAL, 5 shot

.454 5" = 47oz, 10.5" OAL, 6 shot

.454 can launch a 240gr @ 1900fps:
https://www.underwoodammo.com/collections/handgun-ammo/products/454-casull-240-grain-xtp-jacketed-hollow-point?variant=18785719943225

vs 2000fps for .460
https://www.underwoodammo.com/collections/handgun-ammo/products/460-s-w-magnum-240-grain-xtp-jacketed-hollow-point?variant=18786994913337

Pretty minimal gain for a much larger handgun.

If you get one of the .454 or .480 Rugers look at the steel of the frame, barrel, and cylinder - it looks different than on other Ruger revolvers.

Here is an interesting article on why:

https://www.carpentertechnology.com/en/alloy-techzone/technical-information/success-stories/one-of-the-worlds-most-powerful-revolvers-get-lift-from-aerospace-alloys

I have the 5" Super Redhawk and like it much better than the longer barrels - called the Toklat .454 Casull.

If they made the .480 in a 5" I would buy one of those too.

Why didn't Ruger make the Black Hawk in .475 Linebaugh?  You could still shoot .480 Ruger through it.

I have one of the early Ruger #1's in .475 and 200 or so rounds of Hornady factory ammo that I need to get shooting.

Why are you comparing SD of a heavy for caliber .45 and a lightweight .480? How about the 410gr/1200fps Buffalo Bore load?
Either way, .480 is more than adequate for bear and easier to shoot than .454/.475. I've spent hours reading arguments between handgun hunters on THR. I think it's 9mm vs .45. Pick what you like and it will get the job done.

325gr was and is the projectile weight the .480 was designed around by Ruger and Hornady in 2003:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.480_Ruger

[url]https://www.rugertalk.com/articles/the-ruger-redhawk-480-is-back.25/[url]

As mentioned, 45 LC +P can duplicate .480's 325gr performance, and .454 is capable of handily exceeding it.

Objectively, the development of .480 doesn't make any sense - and this has been borne out by the abysmal sales of .480; Ruger themselves had discontinued the line in 2010, making .480 less successful then .45 GAP.

The goal Ruger/Hornady - superior bear defense to .44, with less recoil then .454 - should have been handled with just a custom 'Bear Defense - Reduced Recoil' .454 load optimized for the Ruger Alaskan.

And this 'reduced recoil .454' has subsequently been achieved by Underwood and Buffalo Bore with their .45 LC +P loads.

As an aside, that grey matte finish version made me .

Instead of discontinuing that finish, they should have made that available to all of their revolvers.

I love the Super Redhawk .480!
This thing is ported and it is a joy to shoot!
Jacketed soft point on the left, hollow point on the right, and a .44 magnum in the middle - the bullets were recovered from a wet phone book that made the mistake of attacking me.

This.  It's been shown that 1000 to 1100 fps is the sweet spot for penetration and it's not punishing to shoot with even in a relatively light weight Super Black Hawk.  I don't see any point in shooting 325s.

I'm obviously not any sort of authority on this subject, but it seems like you are cherry picking data to suit your argument. The "subsequently developed" .45LC +p is not the original .45LC load, but you are putting it against the original design factory ammo for the .480?
That argument seems like it would be better to compare the .45LC BB offerings with the .480 BB stuff and see what comes out ahead.

Again, I'm just a guy that likes to read stuff, so I very well may be out of line.
My understanding is this-
Bullet diameter matters when shooting hard cast, or solids, looking for maximum penetration.

If a .480 gets you sufficient penetration in a bear, it will have an edge on a .45. Is that correct?

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell480Ruger.htm

I always forget about that website. It's got some great stuff! His thoughts align with my conclusions based on my light internet reading. Heavy bullets at 1000-1100 fps get the job done.

And they don't beat on you.  I'd rather shoot the HSM 400 grain Speer loads at a claimed 1200 fps in my 480 Ruger Blackhawk Bisley than hot 44 magnum in my 6.5" 629.

With Lil' Gun, you can get well over 1500fps with a 325gr bullet in the .480....can't really do that in the Colt.  Regardless, the .480 really shines with the heavyweight bullets...there's really no reason to buy one just to shoot 325's.

That being said, I don't really like shooting any of the big revolvers much over 900-1k fps.  1k fps with a good, hard cast lead heavyweight will over penetrate anything I am likely to encounter, and do it without too much recoil or muzzle flash.

My central point is that .480 Ruger is a silly cartridge - it didn't make sense when it was released in 2003, and it especially doesn't make sense now in 2019.

To begin with, we need to first look at the .454, as this is highly relevant to the development of .480:

While the .454 was invented in 1959, it was only introduced in factory handguns (the Ruger Redhawk) in 1997, and did not become an official SAAMI cartridge until 1998. .454 is capable of firing projectiles from 240-400gr, and there are a wide variety of suitable .454" projectiles on the market....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.454_Casull

http://www.doubletapammo.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=125_202&product_id=148

Given that Ruger had just introduced the .454 in 1997, and SAAMI had certified in in 1998, it's highly unusual that Ruger would decide to introduce a new and competing cartridge just 6 years later, with the .480 Ruger in 2003...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.480_Ruger

.480 Ruger was developed to be an intermediary caliber between .44 Magnum and .454. The original and still most common load was a 325gr @ 1350fps out of the Ruger Redhawk.

Given that a) .454 can fire 325-400gr projectiles and b) Ruger had just released the .454 Redhawk only 6 years prior, creating a new, lower power 325gr Redhawk cartridge didn't make any sense.

If Ruger/Hornady wanted a lower recoil .454....they should have just made a lower recoil .454, tailor made for bear defense. "Light Magnum" loads were already common and popular with .357 and .44 Magnum at the time, so it would have only been natural (and logical) to create a ~80% power .454 load, which is what the .480 ruger offers.

The subsequent discontinuation of the .480 Ruger in 2010- just 7 years after its introduction - bears out this assessment.

Flash forward to 2019, and .480 Ruger makes even less sense, because now 3 different manufacturers offer ".45LC +P / .454 lite" loads that equal the ballistics of .480 Ruger. While .480 Ruger didn't make much sense in 2003, now it truly makes no sense at all.

http://www.doubletapammo.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=125_201&product_id=434

Here's a look at the Ruger Alaskan - a gun designed for Bear Defense - in .454/.45LC +P vs .480 Ruger. Due to the wider swept bore volume of the .475" bore, this is the barrel length where the .480 would most likely to manifest a ballistic advantage over .45 LC+P/.454, as wider bullets get up to speed faster then their equivalent weight, narrower competitor.

.454/.45LC +P 2.5" barrel:


.480 Ruger 2.5" barrel:


Now if someone already has a .480 Ruger, more power to them.

But for the OP in 2019, looking at 2 identical Ruger Redhawks, one in .454, and one in .480? The choice, I hope at this point, is clear.

I would worry about it becoming an obsolete cartridge. 44 magnum and 454 Casull are tough competition.

I'd still go with the .480, no question about it...and this is coming from someone who also owns .44 Mag and .45 LC +P+ capable revolvers.  I've even owned a .454 Casull, albeit in a lever rifle, and just don't care for the cartridge (and I've shot a decent amount of it through a Freedom Arms).  I'm not sure why you keep getting hung up on ballistics comparisons between it and the .45 Colt/.454 Casull.  It wasn't designed to out muscle the Casull, it was designed to be a happy medium between the .44 Mag/.45 LC +P loads and the Casull/Linebaugh rounds.  Sure, you can almost get similar ballistics in the .44 Mag and .45 LC with 325gr bullets, but the round really comes into its own with 400-420gr bullets.

For a lot of shooters, me included, the .480 is the absolute limit of punishment I want to experience in a revolver.  Matter of fact, most shooters stop with heavy .44 Mag loads.  I absolutely don't like shooting the Casull, or the .460/.500 Smiths.  Recoil is plain uncomfortable, with excessive muzzle blast (braked .460 Smiths are the worst).  There's just something fun about shooting a 400gr lead bullet at 900fps, and watching it bang heavy steel targets around.

I will agree, though, that the .480 will never outlast the Casull.  I'm stocking up on brass, now, and have enough bullets to last me a while.  Would it be my only revolver?  Absolutely not.  Hell, its probably one of my most useless revolvers....but it is a lot of fun.  Think of it as the 6.5 Creedmoor of revolvers, except with less marketing.

To decide if you really want one, why don't you first just hold a 12ga shotgun only by its grip and pull the trigger. Try that a few times to see how you like being abused.

Something that tears meat from bone?

I think what you’re wanting is a shotgun

I shoot the lightweight 44 S&W 4" Mountaingun at the range with one hand and full 240gr factory loads because it bores me afer a couple of minutes and so too does my 6" nickle model 29 I bought in 1974 that i still have.  But I fired some guy's S&W 460 one day at the range....yawn.  Then a year later some other guy let me fire his full power 454 Cusulll; held it with a firm 2 handed grip and that SOB twisted my wrist back enough that I'd never attempt it with one hand. It left my hand stinging! My conclusion was that if you want a brute gun to begin with, then why carry anything other then the 454? If I'm looking to protect myself from bear attack, or knock a deer on its ass, the 454 is best!  Heavy guns with less power make no sense to me? If one wants a mild plinking 454, then one should enter the wonderful world of handloading. Then you can have it both ways.

All this talk about 325 grain bullets.  If that's all I wanted to launch I'd just use a .45LC or .44.

I bought the .480 to launch 400 grain bullets.  RCBS 400 grain mold for my light loads, like the loads shown above.  And for now I'm buying 410 WFN hard cast for my heavy load until I figure out what mold I want.

After Ruger pulled the .480 off the market and then brought it back to life I was a bit worried about getting brass so I bought 800 pieces at a closeout price from Midway when I bought the gun.  Both Midway and Midsouth show .480 brass in stock.

yep, same with the old African rifles, big high sectional density bullets with cutting meplats at lowers velocity are the ticket. 375 H&H 300gr loads were 2400 fps for one, 470 NE is 2k or so.

Uhhhh, the beauty of the 480 is it delivers a 400 gr bullet at 1100-1300fps, and is much more pleasant to shoot.
It's somewhere between 454 and 500 smith

almost 0% of Alaskans carry a 2.5 inch bear revolver, 4" and 6" were normal until the lightweight S&W short barreled guns came out

Sectional density doesn't mean shit when you're looking to go that deep. Momentum and speed is what you want, the bigger and heavier 400+ gr bullets in 475 caliber will make a bigger whole and go deeper than even a 460.

I get that .454 has punishing recoil, and that a lower recoiling 325-400gr cartridge would be desireable.

The point is that .454 can just be downloaded to '.45LC +P' levels and deliver on that performance, without resorting to a proprietary uber niche caliber.

Here's a 400gr .454:
http://www.doubletapammo.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=125_202&product_id=148

And 360gr .45 LC +P:
http://www.doubletapammo.net/index.php?route=product/product&path=125_201&product_id=434[/url]

Since it would be easy to download a 400gr .454 to 900fps, what then is the point of the .480? To be 0.023" wider?

To use an analogy, imagine if Ruger was looking for the "ultimate LCR load." A round with more power then a .38 +P, but less recoil and blast then a .357 magnum. The goal is a 125gr @1050fps from a 2" barrel.

The obvious solution is to take the .357 (125gr @ 1200fps avg from a 2" barrel) and simply reduce the powder charge / optimize it for short barrels, so that it produces the desired 'goldilocks' 125gr@ 1050fps, with less recoil and blast then a full house .357.

Instead, Ruger decides to create a brand new cartridge, the ".380 Ruger" - firing a 0.380" 125gr @ 1050fps from a 2" barrel....

We would rightly call that an absurd, silly cartridge idea.

And that's essentially what Ruger has done with the .480 Ruger. Rather then simply making a Reduced Recoil .454 load, they chose to create a completely new proprietary caliber to achieve the same effect.

Thats...wrong.

Sectional density is the primary driver of penetration assuming projectiles of equal weight and energy.

Per Hornady (co-creator of the .480):

"A bullet’s sectional density also affects the amount of damage it can cause. Sectional density (a bullet’s weight in pounds divided by its diameter squared) describes a bullet’s length for its diameter: The higher the number, the longer the bullet. Generally speaking, the larger a bullet’s sectional density, the deeper it will penetrate."

The 400gr .452" projectile has a SD of 0.28

The 410gr .475" projectile has a SD of 0.26

.45 LC +P = the velocity and energy of .480, while .454 has far more velocity and energy then .480. Having higher sectional density, both will offer better penetration potential then the .480 due to their higher sectional density.

Just to provide some more historical context of the .480 Ruger, here is the earliest review I could find, from May 2001 - one of the first .480's made:

https://www.gun-tests.com/issues/13_5/features/Monster-Handguns-Rugers-New-480-Pales-Next-to-the-Linebaugh-Brothers-4706-1.html#.Xfnqa9ZKhE4

"For 2001, Sturm, Ruger & Co. has introduced its new proprietary .480 Ruger handgun round in the firm’s double-action Super Redhawk revolver, available with 7.5- or 9.5-inch barrels. Recent testing we performed on the gun head to head against two other monster revolver rounds, the .475 Linebaugh and the .500 Linebaugh, call the company’s introduction of the round into question. Though we are well aware of Ruger’s proven ability to make and market world-beating firearms when everyone else thinks they’re nuts (the No. 1 single shot and the 10-22 rimfire rifles come to mind), we can only say we were underwhelmed with the .480 Ruger.

"We acquired a Ruger .480 Super Redhawk with 9.5-inch barrel."

"The ballistics of the .480 Ruger are advertised as a 325-grain bullet running at 1,350 fps. Our Oehler 35P chronograph told us they were going right at 1,400 fps out of that long [9.5"] barrel. The .475 Linebaugh gave a 420-grain lead flat-nose bullet a velocity of 1,330 fps. With a 350-grainer the .475 Linebaugh got over 1,500 fps. These larger numbers define the realm of monster-handgun horsepower, and they leave the new Ruger behind. Our test .500 Linebaugh gave a 440-grain bullet—one full ounce of lead—over 1,200 fps with its 5.5-inch barrel. In fact, Buffalo Bore’s “Heavy” .45 LC loads gave a 325-grain bullet nearly 1,300 fps out of a 5.5-inch-barrel Bisley Vaquero. With a 7.5-inch barrel, performance of the .45 LC would come close to matching that of the new Ruger, in our opinion."

Points being:
-At the time of the .480's introduction, it was designed and marketed for 325gr projectiles @ 1350fps from 7.5" barrels
-At the time of .480's introduction, 325gr .45LC +P's were already on the market, offering identical performance

-->There was no reason for the .480 to be developed; Ruger should have either gone all the way and released a .475 Linebaugh (with options to fire reduced power .475 loads) or just developed a lower recoil .454 cartridge (ala .45 LC +P). And this was all known in 2001.

We get it, you don't like the .480 Ruger.  But to suggest it serves no purpose is foolish and short sighted.

It was designed to be able to shoot 400+ gr bullets at respectable velocities, don't blame Ruger for the initial load offering being anemic.  Besides, I don't know a single person who bought a .480 just to load 325gr bullets....and I'm talking about people who actually own and shoot the cartridge, not just read about them online.  If I wanted to just shoot 325s, I would have stuck with my .44s and .45 LC's.

You don't say.  That's like towing 20k lbs behind medium duty trucks with 400+ hp, and then doing it with a 325hp F350 and saying, "You know, we just weren't all that impressed".

With that logic, a 320gr 44mag will outperform a 320gr 45lc, because of better SD. If that is the case, why isn't the .429 platform used for something similar to the casull or .460?

As far as marketing goes, that argument doesn't hold weight. There have been plenty of excellent cartridges and guns that didn't sell well. .45 GAP was a great cartridge, but it was going against 80 years of infrastructure. I'm sure the .480 faced similar hurdles, as the .452 projectile is well established.

Sectional density does matter but lets be fair.
44 mag 320gr = .248 sd
454 casull 360gr= .250 sd
480 Ruger 410gr= .260 sd

It makes a bigger hole. It probably goes deeper with 400gr bullets. For dangerous game, this is a good thing.

Sectional density is ballistics 101.

A 320gr 44 mag would and will out penetrate a 320gr .454.

Here's a comparison of the 300gr Underwood 44 mag XTP vs the 300gr .454 Cassul XTP against 48" of ballistics gel:
https://youtu.be/DeGveytigQk?t=239

Underwood Specs:
44 Mag = 300gr @ 1300fps / 1126 ftlbs
.454  = 300gr @ 1650fps / 1814 ft/lbs

Despite the .454 having 38% more muzzle energy, the .44 offered slightly higher penetration due to its higher sectional density.

.44 = 37" penetration
.454 = 31" penetration

This is due to the higher sectional density of 300gr/.429 vs 300gr/.452.

As such, a 325-400gr .452 will out penetrate a 325-410gr .475." Especially once we consider the fact that unlike the .44 vs .454 test, the .45 LC+P vs .480 have the same energy.

Laughs in 410 grain bullets

Thats the point though - it was not designed to fire 400gr+ bullets. It is capable of being loaded with 400gr+ projectiles, which is an entirely different matter.

When we discuss "was this a good idea to develop," what matters is the design intent at the point of invention.

Case in point, there are 147gr and even 158gr loads developed for the .357 SIG. But, anyone familiar with the design and purpose of that cartridge can tell you, it was designed to fire 125gr projectiles. When we discuss the origin and 'did this make sense' of the .357 sig's development, its performance with 125gr vs 9mm 124gr +p+ loads of the day is the basis of comparison.

Likewise, when the .480 was drafted, put into production, and released to the public, it was designed by Ruger & Hornady to fire 325gr projectiles. Thats what the .480 was built to do.

While there are heavier loads for the .480, it was designed to fire 325gr. And based on that original design intent - 325gr @ 1350fps - it never should have been made. It didn't make sense vs the 325gr .45 LC +P that was already on the market, much less against the ability to download .454.

Now, 2019 is here.

4 companies - Hornady, Underwood, Buffalo Bore, and Grizzly make a total of 10 loads for the .480 Ruger. Of those 10, only 2 are 400gr and above. The remaining 80% of .480 ruger loads on the market are 275-380gr; comfortably within the 325-400gr weight class of .452" projectiles.

Even now, by and large, .480 is not a "400+gr" cartridge. And it certainly wasn't when it was introduced.