Advice from users of 480 Ruger...need to know plus and minus of the round.

[mayor al]

I am considering bidding on a Rossi Levergun chambered for the 480 Ruger round. I have owned Rossi Carbines over the years, but never in this caliber. Have any of you used a 480 Ruger firearm and can you share the goods and the bads of your experiences? I am concerned about availability, cost, effective range, compared to the 44 mag how does it perform? Any comments (well, almost any) will be appreciated.
AL

 

[Six Shooter Steve]

I have had a Super Redhawk in 480 for quite a few years. Obviously the range with a carbine would be different than my revolver, but I have harvested several deer with mine in the 20 to 75yd range. I really like the performance of the 480 round. I used to load a speed 400 gr gold dot but due to not being able to find them anymore I have switched to a Hornady bullet. Hornadys I have never had a problem finding them. I use H4227 powder behind the Hornadys @ around 1500fps. For deer I have had excellent success. I want to try on hogs one of these days.

 

[kludge]

Never shot one myself (I have a .454 Ruger SRH), but IMO the .480 never got the credit it deserved. Milder pressures that the other super magnums (.454, .460, .500), but hand loaded to it's full potential, more muzzle energy than the .454 Casull and can handle heavier bullets.

Compared to the .44 Mag... well there's little to compare... the .480 leaves it in the dust.

Cons? Recoil, expensive ammo... are you a reloader?

What will you use it for? For hunting, performance is on par with the .454 and the .500. Sleeker bullets are available for the .460 so I would give it the nod at 200 yards and beyond (we're taking rifle here, but in a tubular magazine that may be a moot point). I would also give the nod to the .454 for being more versatile since you can also shoot .45 Colt and .45 Colt +P loads, and with factory loaded ammo I don't think you will notice any difference between the .454 and the .480.

Any of the super magnums, especially for handgun hunting (unless you're really really good with a handgun), is way more power than is needed for deer hunting. From a rifle the .44 Mag will get you to 150 yards, from any of the super mags you can probably add 50 yards. The advantage is range and trajectory. And if you are after range and trajectory for deer hunting... have you considered a .35 caliber rifle?

 

[wolfman]

I have 2 handguns in .480, a SRH with 7.5" barrel, and a SRH Alaskan and love them both. The 7.5" barrel wears a Burris 2x7 EER optic, and has taken deer out to 100yds. I have a Rossi in .480 on my wish list, and will own one in the near future to round out my collection of that cal. My SRH is the reason I got into both reloading and casting my own bullets, and I can load my own hard cast 400gr Lee flat point's over 19 grains of Lil-gun powder for right around $8.00/100.

 

[mac45]

Now that Ruger is listing the .480 again, a SRH is on my short list.
Here's a link you may find interesting.
480 Ruger in perspective - Load data, range testing, a bit of history and an Elk hunt

 

[mayor al]

I am considering the Rossi Carbine to add to 3 different 44 mag carbines I currently use for deer and hogs. I pretty much limit my shooting ability to a little over 100 yards, and haven't actually killed anything beyond that for many years, Deer locally and the annual Missouri Hog Hunt (next week) are my major expeditions each year. The 480 sounds like it might be an interesting experiment for those hunts.

 

[Broom_jm]

To my way of thinking, the various super magnum long guns, whether lever-action or single-shot, are like hunting with a modern muzzle-loader, minus all the messy clean up! The bullets fired are about the same size and the velocities attained are pretty similar. A good shooter, with a properly-sighted rifle, can make clean hits out to 200 yards without too much fuss. If it were me, I'd skip right over the 480 lever-gun and buy something in 460S&W, but I enjoy single-shot rifles.

Also, if you're going to stick to 100 yards or less, the 44 rifles you already have will do absolutely everything the 480 Ruger will do...with less recoil.