480 Ruger bullets

What do you guys use for hunting with your 480's. I picked mine up Saturday but had to leave Sunday and wont be back home until the 20th.
I have 2 boxes of the Hornady load with 325's, and one box of Grizzly with a 375 cast bullet. At least for now that will leave me with 60 pieces of brass. I have Hornady dies and a 30mm red dot waiting for me at the house as well. I also have a lot of H110 powder.

I'm looking for a load to be used for black bear and deer. Probably a hard cast bullet in the 355, 370, 400 or 410 grain persuasion. What bullet is your favorite?

I have a Miha built mold that I have only used a little & it's showing a LOT of promise. Before that, I was primarily using my Lee 400 grn mold. While Lee is the "cheaper" route to go,,, that bullet,,, so far,, has been a good performer for me. I don't hot-rod,,, I look for accuracy.

Just my opinion, I can justify using a hard cast bullet on a black bear, but for deer a large, hard cast bullet is not needed, it'll zip right through and probably not do a lot of internal damage. For bear however you will want the deep penetration a hard cast offers.

I like the 355gr Oregon Trail. It's plenty heavy enough for the lower 48.

whichwatch said:

...it'll zip right through and probably not do a lot of internal damage.

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Yeah, right. :roll:

CraigC said:

I like the 355gr Oregon Trail. It's plenty heavy enough for the lower 48.

whichwatch said:

...it'll zip right through and probably not do a lot of internal damage.

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Yeah, right. :roll:

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Won't mushroom like a JSP or SJHP will

whichwatch said:

Just my opinion, I can justify using a hard cast bullet on a black bear, but for deer a large, hard cast bullet is not needed, it'll zip right through and probably not do a lot of internal damage. For bear however you will want the deep penetration a hard cast offers.

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Been using hard cast WFN bullets on deer in both a .44 Marlin Carbine and a .44 SBH Hunter. Trust me, it may zip right through but it causes extensive damage while zipping through and the deer don't go very far. Last one I shot went less than five feet.

whichwatch said:

CraigC said:

I like the 355gr Oregon Trail. It's plenty heavy enough for the lower 48.

whichwatch said:

...it'll zip right through and probably not do a lot of internal damage.

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Yeah, right. :roll:

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Won't mushroom like a JSP or SJHP will

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They don't have to. If you think a good cast hunting bullet just pokes a small hole because it doesn't expand, you've never used one.

I agree with the good performance of a WFN cast bullet, and that is what I will be using. Just trying to figure out what weight I want to go with for an all around load. Thinking 400-410 somewhere around 1100 fps.

whichwatch said:

Just my opinion, I can justify using a hard cast bullet on a black bear, but for deer a large, hard cast bullet is not needed, it'll zip right through and probably not do a lot of internal damage. For bear however you will want the deep penetration a hard cast offers.

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Actually, a large meplat will do a lot more internal damage than you may think. Shoot an animal with a true WFN and perform a necropsy and you will see what I am talking about. The hole will be considerably larger than the diameter would suggest. Plus, you're starting out at nearly a half-inch in diameter, so how much expansion does one really "need?"

My son shot a deer Friday afternoon with a 429421 bullet from a 44 special...deer fell straight down on it's feet...DRT. It did zip right through...but it was deadly while doing it. This was just the most recent example, for us, of the killing power of a cast bullet. Cast is all we use...

I have had good accuracy from a 410 gr LFN over a less than max charge of H4227 @ ~1100 fps.

Jim Luke said:

My son shot a deer Friday afternoon with a 429421 bullet from a 44 special...deer fell straight down on it's feet...DRT. It did zip right through...but it was deadly while doing it. This was just the most recent example, for us, of the killing power of a cast bullet. Cast is all we use...

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Jim, Do you know the velocity of that load? IME, it really doesn't take magnum velocity to bring down deer.

Hornady........325's

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Those worked extremely well in my 480 with H110, so I looked no further. I'm sure a hard cast will as well, but I don't care to "mess" with them ;-)

Ahhhhhhhhh, the age old debate of hard cast vs. jacketed bullets, pros and cons to each.

whichwatch said:

Ahhhhhhhhh, the age old debate of hard cast vs. jacketed bullets, pros and cons to each.

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And as usual, rife with misinformation and misconceptions.

CraigC said:

whichwatch said:

Ahhhhhhhhh, the age old debate of hard cast vs. jacketed bullets, pros and cons to each.

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And as usual, rife with misinformation and misconceptions.

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And there will never be a clear cut winner no matter what side you take.

I don't look at it that way and perhaps, therein lies the problem. They are different, they work differently and sometimes one is better suited to the task than the other. Sometimes either works just fine, just differently.

If one is hunting smaller game, such as deer, 300 lb. black bear, the smaller hogs, then any 325 grain bullet in the 480 should be just fine. I shoot (but have not hunted with) the 325 grain cast GC in the Alaskan because it seems to prefer bullets of that weight. The 7-1/2 inch gun likes 375 grain bullets so that is what I shoot in it.

Neither of these guns have been hunted with yet, although I could be coached into a hog hunt real easy, in which case I would be thinking 325 grs. 8)

whichwatch said:

Ahhhhhhhhh, the age old debate of hard cast vs. jacketed bullets, pros and cons to each.

Click to expand...

I don't see it that way. I still use jacketed expanding bullets on thin-skinned game, but to claim that a hard cast bullet with a large meplat zips through with little damage is disingenuous. What I like so much about a good hard cast bullet, not driven too fast, is the terminal consistency. Often times expanding jacketed bullets perform well, but they fail fairly frequently as well. I find inconsistent performance more than a little off-putting. Back in 2002 or '03 I was hunting wild hogs in Florida with my .480 SRH. I was shooting 325 grain Speer Gold Dot ammo. I shot a small hog with that load and the bullet failed to exit. The next day, I shot a 300-kb hog and it worked flawlessly. I hate inconsistency.

I like the speer gold dots(275 gr) for white tail and 350-375 cast for "bigger" critters....all I know them gold dots are a "dead right there" on deer sized game

and as for 400 gr stuff, I never had good enough expansion but it will plow though anything like a bulldozer!!!!!