mr. bisley is going back...picture added...

Need to conduct a poll to see if anyone has a 454 or 480 with a good barrel. From your experience and my experience and according to Ruger all the earlier guns have blem barrels. I don't think any guns with good barrels have shipped before this month(if at all).
I have not seen my new gun or heard from Ruger in a week. I'm interested to see what they send me.

Update on my saga. My new gun arrived today at the dealer. The metal fit and finish on this new gun are excellent. The grip panels almost fit the grip frame. Front sight is on straight and erh looks good. I examined the bore and see no pits at all! The bore actually looks like it is supposed to! There was quite a bit of jacket material in the barrel so I know it was shot a few times. I feel a little choke starting 1.25" from the muzzle but that is better than on the other end. This is the quality I expect from Ruger. If this barrel is an indicator, Ruger has finally figured out how to make these barrels. I will shoot this weekend and give it a good work out. Report to come. Also, examine those bores! Ruger should replace all barrels that have any pits or flaws. This will help future quality control if they are held accountable.

Shot some loads today and the gun seems to be accurate and is holding together. Nothing loosened up after 40 rounds of fairly stiff reloads. I took the gun apart, cleaned, greased, and stoned the hammer before shooting today. I take back what I said about the grips, they are horrible. Replacements are on the way and I may end up sending the grip frame out for custom panels... Satisfied at this point.

Another update. After shooting a bit, the gun is still holding together. The barrel is not as perfect as I originally thought. I think I was scared to look too closely when I received the replacement gun. There is a 2" section of barrel starting about 1.5" in front of the forcing cone that is slightly frosted with pits/voids from the forging process. I'm still convinced they can't produce a .480 barrel without the flaws and pits in the bore(I would love to see one). This is based on the failed attempts to get a good barrel on my gun and from Cleardatum's (the OP) ordeal.
The pitting in my replacement gun is causing some minor leading and fouling but it's not a huge problem. Check those 454 and 480 barrels.

ebg3 said:

Another update. After shooting a bit, the gun is still holding together...

Click to expand...

How does it shoot?

Captain America said:

ebg3 said:

Another update. After shooting a bit, the gun is still holding together...

Click to expand...

How does it shoot?

Click to expand...

Having issues with 345gr swgc hard cast bullets not being very accurate and actually fouling a little. Bullets were sized to .476 and I don't think they are quite big enough(bought bullets, 22 bhn). Loading the RCBS 400gr swc with 18.5gr 2400 and using a soft lube it seems to shoot pretty good. Fouling is not bad but after 60 rds or so the bore needs cleaning. I'm sizing these bullets to .4765-.477. Alloy is at most 12 bhn and seems to work well at 1150fps.
I can't help but wonder how well the gun would shoot with a good bore.