[stuii]

I'm thinking of picking up a used 480 Ruger with 7.5 barrel and scope rings. The use would be deer hunting. Any thoughts does anyone have one?

[JonM]

you can get the same if not slightly better ballistic performance with the 44mag from what i understand. i could be wrong just my take on it. just looking at the raw ballistics of a few loadings it appears to me a repackaged 44 magnum. im sure some one else will have better info. just my take on it.

fad round in my opinion

its got the right speed and weight of bullet for a excellent deer round just use softpoints if you can find ammo for it.

[Hairtrigger]

I had a Super Redhawk in 480 ruger and loved it... until... I bought the same gun in 454 Cassull. The bullet choice at the time was very limited for the 480

[freefall]

My main dislike of the .480 Ruger is that it's not a .475 Linebaugh. They could have made it that if they were willing to take a little more trouble in their manufacturing process. Instead they made a .44 Sp version of it so they wouldn't have to do things right enough to handle the extra pressure. John Linebaugh makes his living converting SBHs to .475, the SRH has one heck of a lot more steel in it. Same-same, there's no reason couldn't make a .454, they just don't want to spend the time and $ on precision fitting and metallurgy. So there Ruger.

[stuii]

Thanks guys it's sounds like I should just save for a 454. The 480 sounds like a dying caliber.

[30-30remchester]

I never owned one but I witnessed first hand a 480 kill a 900 pound buffalo cow. The shooter was using factory Hornaday hollow point ammo. The entrance hole was very inpressive letting enought air escape her lungs that every breath she exhaled could be easily seen in the crisp winter air. The bullet wrecked havoc in the lungs and was lodged in the off shoulder perfectly mushroomed. Very impressive.

[stuii]

Wow that means the 480 might have deeper penetration than a 454 very interesting.

[mes227]

Originally Posted by JonM

you can get the same if not slightly better ballistic performance with the 44mag from what i understand. i could be wrong just my take on it. just looking at the raw ballistics of a few loadings it appears to me a repackaged 44 magnum. im sure some one else will have better info. just my take on it.

The .480 Ruger delivers substantially more robust ballistics than a .44 Mag. Nominal factory loads deliver almost twice the muzzle energy. This round is just short of a .454 Casull. I have two .44 Mags, three .41 Mags, a .454 Casull (two if you count the .460 XVR) and a .480 Ruger. Each is an excellent caliber on its merits and each serves a different purpose. If I were to buy only one big caliber, it'd be the .454 Casull rather than the .480 due to the slightly stronger ballistics and - mostly - due to the ability to chamber the much more affordable and comfortable .45 Colt. And if you're not a handloader, .480 Ruger factory rounds are very limited in supply and expensive.