Reloading The .480 Ruger

American Handgunner, Sept, 2001 by John Taffin

one of my passions when it comes to handguns of any kind, and sixguns in particular, is working with the unknown. I relish the prospect of working up loads for new cartridges with nothing to go on but past experiments, a lot out of shooting experience and, above all, a great deal of common sense.

When I began the process of building loads for the new .480 Ruger there was no information available. However, Hodgdon's has now done considerable work and made information available with their powders to shooters on their website. Flying by the seat of my pants is especially enjoyable. when my results align with the results of the component manufacturers.

The .480 Ruger is basically a .475 Linebaugh case trimmed to 1.275, down from 1.4". If you have a custom .475 Linebaugh and are accustomed to making your own brass from .45-70 brass, be informed that you cannot trim your .475 Linebaugh brass and have it work in the .480 Ruger.

The custom brass that we have used for years in .475 Linebaugh sixguns has the larger diameter rim of the .45-70 brass and as such does not work in a Freedom Arms chambered for .475 Linebaugh nor is there enough room in the six-shot cylinder of the .480 Ruger Super Redhawk to accept this brass. In fact, space is so tight in the Super Redhawk cylinder that the rims of factory .480 Ruger brass literally touch each other.

It is also necessary to make a few modifications to current .475 Linebaugh loading dies to use them for loading the .480 Ruger. Original dies designed for loading trimmed .45-70 brass are too tight to seat and crimp bullets in factory .475 Linebaugh brass. The solution here is a new seating die from RCBS. The "good ole boys" thoroughly understand the situation and can correct it.

Once the new die for seating and crimping is in hand it will be found to be too long to crimp .480 Ruger brass. I had approximately .125" removed from the bottom of my new seating die. Finally, it will be necessary to replace the shell holder if you have been using .45-70 brass. The right number for the new shell holder from RCBS is 475L.

Before starting such a project, one must have components, and I first turned to Hornady for factory ammunition, empty brass and the same bullets that are used in their factory loads. I also selected one other bullet from Hornady, supplementing the Hornady products with both jacketed and cast bullets from four other suppliers.

For powders I decided to go with six propellants that are normally used with big bore sixgun cartridges. For ignition I settled on Federal's #155 Magnum Large Pistol Primers. I have used these primers in the past for thousands of large caliber reloads and they have always performed exceptionally well.

At the outset of this major reloading project, I had three goals in mind. First, I wanted to duplicate Hornady's factory load using their 325 gr. XTP-HP bullet with all six powders. I also felt it was desirable to find some easy-shooting loads as we do not always have to run every sixgun and cartridge at full-house levels. Sometimes we just need to shoot for pure enjoyment. Finally, for serious hunting of large critters I wanted loads in the 1,100 to 1,200 fps category with heavy bullets.

The .480 Ruger was approached with the idea of not making it into a .475 Linebaugh. I do not try to push my .44 Specials and .45 Colts up to .44 Magnums and .454 Casulls. I also see no profitable future in attempting to make the .480 Ruger into something it was not meant to be. In other words, if you want .475 Linebaugh performance, then buy a factory or custom sixgun chambered in the Linebaugh cartridge.

In addition to the Hornady factory 325 gr. XTP-HP, I added four other jacketed bullets and five hard cast bullets, all designed for use in the .475 Linebaugh. They all worked quite well in the .480 Ruger.

Bullet Selection

Although the new cartridge is named .480, it actually uses the same .475" bullets used in the .475 Linebaugh. Both Hornady and Speer offer 400 gr. jacketed .475" bullets with the former of the XTP design and the latter a flat point.

Jacketed bullets are also available from Hawk Laboratories. Hawk's bullets are of the controlled expansion type. That is, one has a choice of jacket thickness depending upon whether one is more concerned about expansion or penetration. For smaller animals such as whitetails, I would go with a jacket thickness of .025" while for larger animals, such as elk and moose where penetration is necessary to get through strong muscles and heavy bones, Hawk's .035" jacketed bullets would be a better choice. For use in the .480 Ruger or .475 Linebaugh, Hawk offers this choice in both 350 and 400 grainers.

For quality hard cast bullets for serious hunting applications I normally go with two suppliers, Cast Performance Bullet Company and BRP Bullets. CPBC is headed up by Kelly Brost while Jay Sanders is the honcho at BRP. I have not only discussed bullets and bullet performance at length with these two gentlemen, but also I have stood shoulder to shoulder and shot with both of them. I know they are both concerned about turning out excellent bullets for handgunners.