480 Ruger / 475 Linebaugh

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BigBoreOr

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 18, 2023
Messages
10
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Oregon
Is Hornady, Speer, and Grizzly done manufacturing 480 Ruger and 475 Linebaugh Ammo? I can't find the stuff anywhere:/. Need to feed my BFR. Can't get Brass for reloads either.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,441
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Lake Lure NC USA
Only a direct call or email to those companies will get you correct answers.

HOWEVER,, due to the last few years of ammo shortages,, the lack of available primers & the market demands,, I'd GUESS it's More of a; "We aren't making any right now, but will in the future." type of thing.
 

Skeet 028

Single-Sixer
Joined
Sep 3, 2011
Messages
170
Location
Northwest Wyoming
John Linebaugh was at my table at the last Cody Gun Show. Talking about guitars and music. He all of a sudden said you need one of my guns...I can make you a nice 500 on that Ruger you have there. I told him I wouldn't have a 500 anything. So he said I'll make you a 475...if you would wimp out on a 500. He had cases and I had primers. I wish I had let him do it now. He cleaned me out of the 32-20 stuff I had though. He gave me some hot 32-20 load data he had tested.
 

Enigma

Hunter
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
2,527
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Houston metro area, TX
Starline recently advised me that they will not make a run of .480 brass this year. They didn't sound too certain about next year, either. IMHO, the ammo and brass manufacturers (and the reloading equipment manufacturers) have abandoned the cartridge due to slow sales. If you need brass or ammo, I advise you to buy it whenever you see it. There are small quantities of factory ammo out there - it's expensive, at $3-$5 a round, but it's out there.
 
Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Messages
527
Location
FL
There's new 475 Linebaugh brass on GB. I can always find brass and primers there, but not as cheap as it used to be. Like most reloading components is the past few years, if you want pre-pandemic bargain prices, you'll likely have to give up shooting for a while.

It's like buying racing fuel for a drag car… long gone are the days of $40-50 for 5gal pails, and now it hovers around $100 a pail.
 
Joined
Nov 30, 2022
Messages
4,484
Location
Maryland
Yeah you want obscure dead calibers. Anyone seen any 41ae lately? That's the absolute beauty of the 460S&W. It'll eat almost anything that fits in the cylinder. Stock up on brass or ammo when you can find it. My first year with the 350 legend I had 2 boxes of WWB and one of hunting JSP's. I had over 10 loads on that brass before Starline came through!!!
 
Joined
Mar 5, 2015
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the Great State of Wide-open (WY)
... Stock up on brass or ammo when you can find it. My first year with the 350 legend I had 2 boxes of WWB and one of hunting JSP's. I had over 10 loads on that brass before Starline came through!!!

Definitely words of wisdom! When I bought my Ruger 350 Legend, I was using credit from a couple of ARs I traded in; I had enough store credit left over to add 15 or 20 boxes of ammo. Turned out, the Walmart in my area generally had it in stock, even during the Wu Flu and post-election panic - but nothing beats having what you need already sitting on the shelf!

As always FWIW, YMMV, IMHO, etc., etc.
:)
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,441
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Lake Lure NC USA
Any manufacturer is going to make & sell something that will produce quick sales & in larger volumes. Starline has a lot of different calibers to try & catch up on. Re-setting the tooling costs money, and they are most likely focusing upon the higher demand stuff currently. But enough demand, followed by the market softening in other areas will allow them to eventually make some more of it. Just maybe not as quick as some would like.

We can look at history, and see many calibers have come & gone. It's all about demands,, and if something comes along that is a better caliber, and is pushed enough by the companies AND market demand,,, it stays around.
Hard to predict the future.
But I do think there are enough .480 Ruger calibered guns out there that the demands will allow companies like Starline to eventually tool up for another run.
 

weaselmeatgravy

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
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Mar 28, 2001
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Colorado native, Vermont transplant
The really rare stuff is the .475 Ruger ;)

hornady-475-2.jpg
 

Fujicon

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 15, 2024
Messages
22
Location
Washington
FYI, saw some Buffalo Bore ammo in 475 Linebaugh on the shelf at a small town LGS couple weeks ago. Of course, the cost was in the stratosphere so I passed on it. Rolling my own works fine anyway. Still, kind of heartening to see it in stock after such a long absence. Didn't see 480 Ruger.

On a side note, there seems to be a peculiar phenomenon. Throughout the pandemic and continuing today, ammo, brass, powder, and especially primers have been far more available in rural areas than metro areas. If I drive 50 or more miles beyond the metro area, bingo, availability and in calibers never seen otherwise (and most often at lower prices to boot). I don't get why that is, but that's the main way I've been stocking up over the past three years. I did ask the LGS about that a few weeks ago and he thought it was due to scalpers; because he knew most all of his customers personally in that small town he never allowed them to just buy out his stock and resell online, but he suspected that is what's going on in metro area gun stores. Maybe, maybe not...
 

Sean1

Bearcat
Joined
May 7, 2022
Messages
3
Location
Maryland
I received my order today of Starline 480 brass that had been backordered since Oct 2021. They said they have no plans to discontinue production of the 480 brass but it will probably not be on the shelf too often.
 

Fujicon

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 15, 2024
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Washington
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