Ruger .480 Blues

[Doug in Alaska]

I have a Ruger Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger (9.5" barrel) that was unfired until today. The date it was fired at the factory was 12/19/2008. The revolver has the six shot cylinder. When I ordered brass the first time, all that was available was Hornady. I loaded fifty rounds of the original 100 pieces I ordered. I have since received 100 pieces of Starline brass. I'm loading a 355 gr. hard cast, gas checked bullet over 16 gr. of Unique. The revolver was a real joy to shoot and it is very accurate. The only problem I had was the sticky brass issue, had to bang the cases out with a screw driver handle. Loaded case diameter was around 0.5025 and fired case diameter is 0.5085, not a huge difference in my mind. Do you guys think if I switch to the Starline brass using the same load my problem will be solved? It really isn't quite warm enough up here to spend a lot of time on the bench but I should be able to in another month.
Thanks much!

 

[mike7mm08]

All my 480 issues were solved by doing two things. However my problem was not as bad as your describing. Hard extraction with Hornady but no tools needed to get the cases out.

I switched to starline that solved nearly all the issues right away. Still a little stickiness but not anything like hornady.

Next I cleaned the cylinder holes very well and using some JB bore paste followed by flitz polish. I used a bore mop on a short section of cleaning rod chucked in a drill and just went real slow. Neither product I used is all that abrasive so I was not worried about getting the holes out of round. Once things were nice and clean I lightly oiled as usual then but it in the safe.

Now the key is before shooting again use a patch soaked in denatured alcohol to completely degrease the cylinder holes. The alcohol will leave no residue like some gun cleaners. Soak each hole then wipe dry.

The general thoughts on the 480 and sticky cases is bad brass and cylinder expansion. There is real no argument that hornady brass expands more than starline. As for the cylinder expansion there is not a lot of agreement. To me it makes sense though.

Don't know the exact science behind it. But the cylinder will return to it's same dimensions after firing the brass does not. As the cylinder contracts any debris or oil between the case and cylinder walls gets compressed and will cause sticking.

Since I have gone to keeping the cylinder spotless and oil free no issues I can even shoot Hornady factory loads with minimal stickiness. No worse than a hot loaded dirty 44. Starline case drop right out. I have not used a load similar to yours. But I gone as hot as the books say for a 400 grain with H110. Starline cases dropped right out.

So hopefully this helps. Enjoy the gun. Also keep an eye on Midway clearance sale. They have offered 480 bullets on a fairly regular basis. I have around 3500 of various types that were half the cost or less sometimes way less than retail.

 

[Hondo44]

Never had any issue with factory loaded Hornady brass, dropped right out. Do your primers show any pressure signs?

 

[tulsamal]

I guess I got lucky as well. I've got a .480 Alaskan that has never shot anything but my reloads and it is no harder to extract and eject cases than any other revolver. True, it's never seen anything but Starline brass either.

Gregg

 

[5of7]

In mine, it was the Hornady brass.

I am now shooting 21 Gr. of 2400 behind the 365 Gr. hard cast RNFP and the brass pops right out with no problems at all.

This load chrono's at 1250 on an average and no pressure signs, so I think I may have a little freeboard in the pressure department, but I usually stop at a good honest 1200 fps in any large bore handgun anyway.....gun is a SRH with 7-1/2" BBL. 8)

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

All my 480 issues were solved by doing two things. However my problem was not as bad as your describing. Hard extraction with Hornady but no tools needed to get the cases out.

I switched to starline that solved nearly all the issues right away. Still a little stickiness but not anything like hornady.

Next I cleaned the cylinder holes very well and using some JB bore paste followed by flitz polish. I used a bore mop on a short section of cleaning rod chucked in a drill and just went real slow. Neither product I used is all that abrasive so I was not worried about getting the holes out of round. Once things were nice and clean I lightly oiled as usual then but it in the safe.

Now the key is before shooting again use a patch soaked in denatured alcohol to completely degrease the cylinder holes. The alcohol will leave no residue like some gun cleaners. Soak each hole then wipe dry.

The general thoughts on the 480 and sticky cases is bad brass and cylinder expansion. There is real no argument that hornady brass expands more than starline. As for the cylinder expansion there is not a lot of agreement. To me it makes sense though.

Don't know the exact science behind it. But the cylinder will return to it's same dimensions after firing the brass does not. As the cylinder contracts any debris or oil between the case and cylinder walls gets compressed and will cause sticking.

Since I have gone to keeping the cylinder spotless and oil free no issues I can even shoot Hornady factory loads with minimal stickiness. No worse than a hot loaded dirty 44. Starline case drop right out. I have not used a load similar to yours. But I gone as hot as the books say for a 400 grain with H110. Starline cases dropped right out.

So hopefully this helps. Enjoy the gun. Also keep an eye on Midway clearance sale. They have offered 480 bullets on a fairly regular basis. I have around 3500 of various types that were half the cost or less sometimes way less than retail.

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Doug in Alaska]

Thanks for the help guys. I'll give your suggestions a try. Funny thing is, the primers aren't showing signs of pressure. I have been told that others have experienced this using Unique. I'll definitely switch to the Starline brass and try H110 or Lil' Gun.

 

[farmall1456]

I have not had any extraction problems using Hornady factory loads. I have done any reloading yet. However when I started inspecting the once fired Hornady cases 3 of the 6 have a very slight bulge and discoloration about 1/2 hway between the base and the mouth of the case. I put the fired cases back into the chambers and all went back in to each chamber. (Eash fired case went into all six chambers. I cleanded each chamber very well. When I inspected the chambers with a bore light I can see a darh line in 3 of the chamber about the same place the buldge in on the cases. I can barely feel the grove with a small dental pick. Is this a major problem that needs to be handled by Ruger? The date of the fired case is October 2001. I haave had the RSR for several years but only recently started shooting it.

 

[Hondo44]

It's not the best ream job that's for sure. But if the cases don't stick, it's not bad enough to be an issue. If you complained however, they would most likely fix it if they still have tooling for 480 or spare cyls in inventory.

 

[farmall1456]

I think I will call Customer Sevice just to see what they say.

 

[Charlie U.]

I have the 9 1/2" SRH 480Ruger also. Mine is not the target gray. Initially I did experience some sticky extraction with Hornady factory ammo as well.
Not too severe, but I did have to rap on the extractor rod a few times in a couple of cylinders full. I have reloaded that brass a couple of times now and have had no further issues. Resizing the Hornady brass seems to have strengthened it up.
I have picked up a couple more boxes of more recent production Hornady ammo (same 400gr XTP stuff). There were no sticking issues whatsoever for me with that newer ammo......so I think it might just have been a matter of some of the older run Hornady brass being a bit soft.

I've got a back order with Starline for a supply of their brass and am looking forward to trying it out. From what I have heard it is a bit heavier and stouter than the Hornady brass.

My gun likes hard cast bullets from the Lee 400gr. mold. I'm slinging them out using a charge of 21.5 grains of w296 over a CCI 150 primer. That loading seems to be comfortably warm and accurate enough with no signs of pressure or sticking.

 

[Doug in Alaska]

Charlie U,
Nice looking handgun you have there! I haven't had a chance to pull the bullets on the remaining Unique loads yet. I had very little H110 left but scored an 8# jug of W296 yesterday for $156 which really made my day. Also, picked up 2000 WLP primers from the same guy. I couldn't believe it as the shelves have been bare up here for some time. Anyway, I'm in good shape now and will let you guys know how it goes with the Starline brass. I absolutely love this .480 so have no intention of giving up, just need a little warmer weather to give it a good workout.

 

[Fatdaddy]

I had the exact problem with my 480 SRH.
I got the gun used with 5 boxes of factory loaded Hornady ammo.
One of the boxes was 400gr which didn't result in the extraction issues.
Ruger offered to take a look at it if I would pay to ship it to them$$(not the original owner).
Before paying $80+ to ship it to Ruger I bought one more box of factory loaded Hornady 325gr and didn't have any issues. I also noticed the FPS rating on the new box was a little different than the other older boxes. Something seems to have changed in the factory loading that Hornady is offering.
I pulled the bullets on the remaining ammo and downloaded by 1gr., it took a while but just that little download got rid of the extraction issues I was having saving $150 worth of ammo.
Don't give up on it, they're great revolvers.

 

[jules]

Just wondering where you found that load data. Did you work up to 16 gr. of Unique?

 

[Doug in Alaska]

The load data was given by the bullet manufacturer. Suggested powder charge was 14.0 gr. - 16.0 gr. of Unique.