480 SRH ?

I was looking at Rugers website and they are showing the 7.5" 480 SRH again. Is this for real or is it a mistake ? I thought Ruger had done about everything possible to kill the 480 Ruger maybe it's to good to die.

The 480 is making a resurgence and production has been started up again both in the SRH and Alaskan varieties.

I think the 480 is one of those rounds that did not take off due to the lackluster performance of the initial factory loads. The 325gr XTP that comes in the Hornady factory stuff does not really provide much over the 44 mag in speed or performance....but when loaded with heavier bullets 400-420gr the 480 is nipping at the heels of the 475 Linebaugh and seriously eclipses the 44 Mag. It also seems to be an inherently accurate round. Pretty much everything I have loaded exhibits significantly better than average accuracy.

They do have them. I saw some for sale and asked my LGS to check and sure enough! I don't have any feedback to give yet though.

Rabon said:

I thought Ruger had done about everything possible to kill the 480 Ruger...

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Earnest question: What, in your opinion, has Ruger done to try to "kill the 480 Ruger"?

Yes, Ruger is indeed producing 480 Ruger SRH's in 7.5" and 2.5" Alaskan this year. They resurfaced a few months ago, and have been flooding around. It's a limited interest item, it makes sense that it's a limited production item as well. More cost effective to make higher volume production runs every few years rather than to continually produce a trickle stream.

I view "limited interest" and the .480 as really meaning "limited understanding" on the part of the public.

The strong suit of the .480 is not that it's faster or hotter or sexier than something else already out there ....... it's that it is a more efficient and affordable platform and cartridge than what was already available.

It excels at hunting and protection with big critters at an affordable price.

Three 44s

Earnest question: What, in your opinion, has Ruger done to try to "kill the 480 Ruger"?

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They introduced the Alaskan and .480 Ruger was a listed chambering. Hard to find but out there. I wanted one but there weren't many. Then they sent out a press release that they were going to start making the .480 as a five shot. A few places even received some and reviewed them. I got excited and tried many times to order one. Ruger produced something like 50 of them, declared them to be a low interest/low sales item and discontinued the whole thing. No more .480 Alaskans at all. I was able to post here and get one of our good guys to sell me his six shot Alaskan.

I just remember the frustration back then. Being told Ruger was going to make something I liked, then turning around and discontinuing it because it wasn't selling... even though you made almost none of them. IMO, .480 really does have a lot of potential. And it was perfect for the Alaskan. I never, ever understood why Ruger failed to promote it. I'm thrilled they are making them again. I need to buy a 9.5" SRH for the deer stand. My 9.5" .44 Magnum has been doing the job for years and years but that big bore is tempting!

Gregg

tulsamal said:

Earnest question: What, in your opinion, has Ruger done to try to "kill the 480 Ruger"?

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They introduced the Alaskan and .480 Ruger was a listed chambering. Hard to find but out there. I wanted one but there weren't many. Then they sent out a press release that they were going to start making the .480 as a five shot. A few places even received some and reviewed them. I got excited and tried many times to order one. Ruger produced something like 50 of them, declared them to be a low interest/low sales item and discontinued the whole thing. No more .480 Alaskans at all. I was able to post here and get one of our good guys to sell me his six shot Alaskan.

I just remember the frustration back then. Being told Ruger was going to make something I liked, then turning around and discontinuing it because it wasn't selling... even though you made almost none of them. IMO, .480 really does have a lot of potential. And it was perfect for the Alaskan. I never, ever understood why Ruger failed to promote it. I'm thrilled they are making them again. I need to buy a 9.5" SRH for the deer stand. My 9.5" .44 Magnum has been doing the job for years and years but that big bore is tempting!

Gregg

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Gotcha...

Considering your comments, I think you're misunderstanding the history behind what was ACTUALLY happening. Ruger wasn't changing the 480 SRH and didn't pull it from the shelves due to market interest or sales. They did so because so many were coming back as warranty replacements, or returns.

The driving force behind why Ruger all but recalled the original 6 shot 480 Ruger SRH's, converted to 5 shot, then discontinued temporarily. The original 6 shot 480's had pretty serious issues with sticky cases due to the high degree of "stretch" in the alloy used to build a strong enough 480R cylinder. When many of us bought the initial release 480s, had issues, and called Ruger, they would replace the revolver with a new 5 shot model. The subsequent 5 shot's somewhat alleviated this issue, but not perfectly so, and as such, Ruger pulled them and went back to the drawing board. When my 5 shot started having the same problems, Ruger simply offered me a refund. Naturally, they lost a lot of momentum in the market by "fumbling" the 6 shot, then still not fixing it in the 5 shot conversion, so they did, at that time, cut their losses to go back to the drawing board and fix the problem.

Fast forward a bit, and they re-released the 480R SRH as a 6 shot, and it's been an on-again-off-again production relationship for them ever since.

Personally, I'm just happy to be rid of the "target grey" finish the stainless guns used to come with. Stainless should be stainless!!!!

So while you might have felt that Ruger was intentionally trying to kill the 480R, they were really putting it on life support!!!

Three44s said:

I view "limited interest" and the .480 as really meaning "limited understanding" on the part of the public.

The strong suit of the .480 is not that it's faster or hotter or sexier than something else already out there .......

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To be clear, my statement that the 480R is a "limited interest cartridge" was not meant to imply that the 480R is a 'less desirable cartridge' than its peers, but rather that it's entire "weight class" has limited market interest. The entire class of "large and tall" frame or extra large frame revolvers chambered for cartridges above say 1300ft.lbs. up to 2000ft.lbs. revolver cartridges like the 454C, 480R, 475L, or the S&W mags, all have a much smaller market appeal (everyone wants to TRY ONE, nobody wants to spend $1000-2000 on one), and enjoy a much much smaller market share of handgunners.

The market proportion of shooters that HUNT with their handguns has always been considerably smaller than those of handgun owners that have handguns for other purposes, and the market distribution of that already smaller subset of handgun hunters that pursue game big enough to warrant that class of cartridge is smaller still. While the 480R makes a lot of sense for 1) handgun hunters that 2) pursue big game, that entire demographic just really isn't that big in the "grand firearms scheme of things".

They should have chambered a complimentary rifle in 480 from the start. Preferably a lever gun. They also should have made it work in a Super Blackhawk - even if it had to be a 4 shot cylinder! As a revolver hunter, I don't mind not having a fifth and sixth shot.

drastic_quench said:

They should have chambered a complimentary rifle in 480 from the start.

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That woulda been a heck of a deal, a revolver for $750 (back then) and a free rifle to boot! But heck I'd even settled for a complementary rifle and willingly paid them for it! :twisted: Other than the fact that I always found the Ruger 96 to be dreadfully ugly.

I've always wondered what a Marlin 1894 or Win 92 clone would do in 480R. The Rossi M92 in 454C isn't particularly strong, but with the longer barrel I can run loads that aren't too far from 45-70 specs. Too bad it's in a toggle link, and too bad Remington doesn't have a clue what to do with Marlin's more robust action...

Win 92 clone would do in 480R.

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They were made. They did work and well. I always wanted one but never saw one for sale when I had the money. Now they seemed to be totally gone.

http://www.gunblast.com/Puma480.htm

And Ruger did make the No. 1 in .475/.480. Never actually seen one of those either.

http://www.gunblast.com/Ruger-No1-475L.htm

Might as well throw in Jeff's review of the five shot Alaskan....

http://www.gunblast.com/Ruger-480Alaskan.htm

Hope you don't mind Jeff.... you are an incredible resource to gun people. Thank you for all you do.

Gregg

I'd like to see a Desert Eagle chambered in .480! You hearin' me Magnum Research?!?!

Varminterror,

I wasn't meaning to take issue with your use of "limited interest".

What I really like to convey to members is the versatility of the .480R ........... I envision a lot of folks out the small number who really buy the big guns as opposed to just kicking tires and moving on as either not appreciating how close the .480R is to the .475L or not understanding just how much power the .480R has at a slightly reduced level of loading.

I have not had the sticking problem, however I nor the fellow who had my SRH .480 before me have loaded it to the very top. We are talking about a grain below max and brass comes right out.

To me, it was just intuitive that caution was appropriate where there is so little "meat" between chambers.

I guess, in hindsight .... Ruger should have made the frames just a tad bigger so the cylinders were also a small amount larger to make room for everything.

But be that as it may, the gun as it was built and loaded just a bit down has my complete confidence.

Three 44s

I have an "older" 7.5" SRH in .480, one of the "Target Gray" versions. Still trying to decide whether it or my SBH Hunter in .41Mag is the more accurate piece. I know they are both better than I am. In early 2013 I worked out a layaway deal with LGS for an Alaskan, they put it on order with all their distributors. Finally gave up last November after they got pulled from the Ruger catalog, got a full refund.
Walked in last Saturday to kill a few minutes and there it layer in the show case, had been there about 3 days. On layaway again, hoping my bonus this month covers it. Planning to take a Concealed Carry class with it. Should be a blast with a batch of Trail Boss loads!
Kevin

I'd rather be lucky than good any day.

I have owned 2 of the 480 SRH's so far. I traded my 7.5 in on another handgun. I still have my 9.5 Inch 480 with Hogue Tamer Grips, and UltraDot 30 optical sight.
I bought the 9.5 new, and I have never fired a factory round through it. I have a custom 375 grain WFP-GC bullet mold, and load it about 2 grains or so under max.
It is one deer killing piece of machinery.

The 480 Ruger has about all the recoil I can enjoy. It is reported to have less felt recoil than a 454 SRH with factory ammo. Way less than a 460 or 500 S&W. My brother has a 44 SRH with a 9.5 inch barrel. With 310 WFP-GC bullets it seems to recoil about the same as the 480.

In my experiance Big Drain Holes in and out makes for short and easy trailing.

Bob R

The .480 SRH is back and I have the first one to leave the factory in the new configuration. What "new" means is that there is a different barrel profile -- it is no longer tapered, but the same diameter the whole length of the barrel, a consequently different front sight, and the six-shot cylinder remains (of Carpenter 465) with new chamber dimensions to aid with extraction. Gone is the Target Gray finish and the 9 1/2-inch barrel is also gone. I have been testing this revolver for more than six months and it is proving to be one of the most accurate revolvers I have ever shot - period. I have also taken a number of game animals with it through the course of testing. I have a full test/feature coming up in Gun Digest magazine as well as a full feature in American Hunter about a trip I took with the .480 SRH to Argentina for big game.

Excellent, Looking forward to reading them.

What "new" means is that there is a different barrel profile -- it is no longer tapered, but the same diameter the whole length of the barrel, a consequently different front sight, and the six-shot cylinder remains (of Carpenter 465) with new chamber dimensions to aid with extraction. Gone is the Target Gray finish and the 9 1/2-inch barrel is also gone.

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That all sounded good... except for no 9.5" barrel. I generally like shorter barrels in my revolvers. Own a bunch of old S&W N frames and don't even have a single 8 3/8ths model. But 9.5" on the SRH is a different animal. It's a hunting gun. Especially good out of a tree stand. Put an optic sight on it and it isn't even muzzle heavy. I have a buddy with a 7.5" 44 Mag SRH and I always preferred my 9.5".

Perhaps if the new gun sells well they will start making the longer barrel again. Hope so!

Gregg

I don't think the 9.5-inch barrel sold well. In my humble opinion, the 7.5-inch barrel is plenty. When you add a couple of inches to the barrel it becomes a bit unwieldy for me at least.