480 Ruger Shot Shells

[Bob R]

Well I have been wanting a shot shells load for my 480 Ruger for the last year. Well I finally did something about it. A little research came up with some basic information on loading shot shells without Speer Shot Capsules. The first issue was finding a source for cards to put over the powder, and also over the shot. I did a little looking on the computer and did not find anything I thought would work. I got to thinking. I have some fairly large leather punches in my leather working box. Sure enough I had one that looked like it would punch a wad just under .500. Next for some Card Stock. A Dixie Paper plate looked like it would work. The Dixie plate made cards .012 thick. They ended up a hair larger in Diameter than I thought. They measured .510. Next was powder. I decided to try Clays. A charge of 5 grains looked like a good place to start.
I primed the Speer 480 Ruger cases with WW Large Pistol Primers.
Next I charged the cases with 5 grains of Clays.
Next I placed 4 each card wads over the powder one at a time. This was reduced to 3 cards for the second batch.
I next added #9 shot to a point about .100 from the top of the case mouth.
I then placed a single card wad on top of the shot. I made sure to press the sides of the card down so that brass case was visible all the way around the card.
Last a bead of super glue was applied around the edge of the over shot card.
The 480 shot shell load with 5 grains of Clays held 170 grains of #9 shot.
For Comparison a 38 Speer Shot Capsule will only hold 100 grains. A 44 Shot Capsule will hold 135 grains, and the 45 Colt Shot Capsule will hold 153 grains.
I tryed a second loading with 4 grains of Clays. This load held 180 grains of shot, or 225 pellets.

How did it work? Great
At 10 feet my first shot trashed a pop can.

I did some testing, leaving one shot shell in the Ruger Super RedHawk cylinder for 3 shotshell firings, and also 4 of my all purpose Summer Plinking loads. 7 grains of Unique under a 400 grain Lee. No problem with the over shot card.
No trace of the super glue after firing either.

I made up a loading tool this afternoon using a 3/8 Dowel Rod section about 6 Inches long. I added a 40 S&W case to one end of the dowel. I epoxy and pinned the case to the dowel. This worked out fine for seating the Card Wads.

I loaded another 26 rounds for some pattern testing tomorrow.

Bob

 

[dougader]

Would love to see pics o fyour loaded rounds and the shot patterns, etc.

I read an article once where the author used gas checks for the over powder and over shot "wads." A slight roll crimp at the top kept it all together. Never tried it myself...

 

[edlmann]

I read an article once where the author used gas checks for the over powder and over shot "wads." A slight roll crimp at the top kept it all together. Never tried it myself...

Years ago I made .45LC shot cartridges out of .444 Marlin cases cut down to cylinder length. Leaded the bore like crazy.

 

[contender]

Cool info! We'd love pics!

 

[mattsbox99]

Instead of super glue you can use wax and do a light roll crimp over the shot card.

 

[M'BOGO]

Sounds like a winner.

Over on Castboolits, there is a thread about making your own shot containers (for cartridges that speer cups aren't made for) out of plastic milk jugs. FWIW, if you're bored over the winter.

 

[Bob R]

Test Results:
At 5 Feet shooting off a rest the shot charge shot a hole out a little over 1 Inch in diameter, with all shot remaining inside a 4 inch circle. The main shot pattern would have been in a 2.5 inch circle. The center of the impact was app 1 inch under the aiming point. At 5 feet you need to aim at the target with that small a pattern.

At 10 Feet the main shot density would have been in about a 3.5 inch circle. Most all the remaining shot was in a 5 inch circle, with a few straying outside 5 inches.

At 15 feet some of the shot was off an 8.5 X 11 sheet of card stock. It looked like top to bottom it was pretty much all on the sheet. My count was 200 pellets on the 8.5 X 11 Card Stock.

At 20 feet the target did not look much different than at 15 feet. The pattern was a little lower on the sheet, probably due to me not aiming a little high. My count was 181 pellets on the 8.5 X 11 Card Stock.

A 25 feet the pattern was getting a little thinner, however it would have still put enough shot on a snake to have disabled it for additional follow up shots. My count came up with 140 pellets on the 8.5 X 11 Card.

I may tinker with the card material, and over shot card sealent, but the basic concept is going to work just fine as it is.

Shot shells for the 480 Super RedHawk will make the old girl even more user friendly in the Summer for snakes. My plinking load of 7 grains of Unique under a 400 grain Lee is a great off season shoot whatever load also. From cans to armadillows my plinking load with a 400 grain cast bullet at 735 fps works fine. Recoil is lite, and muzzle blast is down to where you can shoot it without hearing protection in a pinch without ringing your ears.

More shotshell refinement to come.

Bob

 

[contender]

Great follow-up info. It sounds like a great combo for snakes. Of course, I was thinking, hmmm at 20-25 ft, a hornet nest, and lots of fun. (Of course, after the first shot, I'd have to move quickly away from the immediate area.) Still it'd be fun to take out a hornet nest near your favorite tree stand site.

 

[Bob R]

Contender
I would skip the hornets nest test. Some have no sence of humor at all. I everything but ran over one in sage grass mowing. Looked like I almost brushed it with the bushhog. Next pass when I came upon the nest it looked like atoms circling beside it. I cut the wheels, and went by it at 15 feet or so and did not get stung. A Miracle

Same mowing job, other end of the same field. Hornets nest in a tree about head high. They would start comming out of the nest when you got the tractor within probably 125 feet of the nest.
I decided that I was going to put a couple rounds on it using my 18" riot gun at about 20 yards. I drove my Jeep up to 20 yards from my drivers window late that afternoon. They bounced off the Jeep for 20 minutes, until I left. I am thinking we have more than one kind of hornet. The ones in the tree looked to be way more agressive.

So far no chance to try the shotshell load on a poison snake.

Bob

 

[GP100man]

I get rite good performance from formed 357max to make cyl. length shotshells for a GP100

 

[contender]

The nests I'm talking about are the round, paper nests with whitefaced hornets in them. And as I said, after one shot, a quick exit is necessary. THe nests in the ground are usually yellowjackets. Another nasty variety. I let my skunks dig them up. Shotshells have a lot of good uses,,,!

 

[Northerngos]

I get rite good performance from formed 357max to make cyl. length shotshells for a GP100

Interesting, do you size down for the portion in the chamber throat (Mini shoulder)? Or just size the case down and let it form to fit when fired?

 

[protoolman]

I took a different approach on .357 shot loads. I bought a second cylinder for my sp-101 cheap on e-bay ($30). Took that cylinder and bored one hole straight through. .357 max cases are just 1/16 shy of full cylinder length so perfect for a full length shot load. I carry it for outdoor activities in eastern Montana. 1 cylinder shot load, 4 remaining chambers cast bullet heavy loads. If I wanted I could load a full wad cutter bullet into a max or magnum case in the full length chamber.

 

[Enigma]

I think the way to make .480 shotshells would be with either .475 Linebaugh brass or .45-70 brass trimmed to length. You can neck down the case mouth until the brass will chamber. Of course, you'd have to turn the rim of the .45-70 brass down to clear your cylinder ratchet. Using the longer brass would allow you to use a larger payload of shot.

 

[Skook1]

I've had good luck making cylinder length cases from 45-70 for the .475 and the .348 win for the .500L. Put a heavy card wad right on the powder and the fill the case with #9 and seal with epoxy. Will stand a reasonable amount of bouncing around. (Need to keep powder charge light or the full length case will expand tight enough to hamper easy extraction.)
Russ

 

[BBarn]

Before Speer made shot capsules for 45 Colt, I loaded some shot rounds using gas checks. One cup up over the powder charge add shot, and one cup down over the shot, followed by a crimp. Seemed to work OK, no messy wax and no worries about cardboard deterioration.

 

[10mm]

I recently had the bug to make shot cartridges for each of my calibers, 38, 41, 44., and 45 revolvers. Didn't get to the 45 but all others were successful and produced respectable patterns. I tested first for pattern density, then penetration. I was impressed with all results. But upon examining the barrel of each gun ( all Blackhawks), the leading was horrible. Took lots of scrubbing on each to get the lead out. So I'll wait and try to find the Speer shotshells. Just my .02.