After purchasing a box of ammo for my Ruger 480 today, it became very apparent that I will need to reload in order to make this more cost effective to shoot.

For those of you who own a Ruger 480, what type of bullets,powder and primer are you using? I was going to purchase the brass through Starline. Any information you have would be greatly appreciated?

The loads will be designed for hunting.

Thanks

What do you intend to hunt?

Out of my redhawk i am loading cast 325 grain gc, dropped from a lee mold.. drops at almost 340 gr . Sized in a 476 lee sizer die. Starline brass winchester lpp over 20 grains 2400. Im getting inch and half groups at 50 yds. Worked great on the russian boar i shot in September . I do have the mihec hollow point mold i havent casted yet. Will have to wait for close of deer season .

I'm still shooting factory 325's through mine. I'm looking at the Barnes and Speer 275's for reloading. I only shoot deer, so not much need for a larger slug.

With the prices and availability of bullets all over the place, I may just go to a 325-355 grain hard cast in the end. It's not needed, but they are more available. I'm going to try powder coating this spring for grins and giggles.

I've got enough 2400 and 296 to last me for a day or two.

Brenden

I am going to hunt elk, moose, deer, etc. Thanks for the feedback.

I use an MBW (Montana Bullet Works) 400 gr. WFNGC over 19.0 gr of Accurate #9 which generates 1126-1135 fps in my guns. This load is accurate, reasonably pleasant to shoot, and will shoot through just about any big game animal in North America.

That sounds like a great load for everything!

It is a great load for all around use. I was happy to see that MBW is back in business. For some reason, I have had better luck with 400-425 gr. cast bullet loads in the .480.

A very accurate handload for me in 480 consists of a 325gr Speer JFP over 27.0grs of 296 over a CCI 350 in Hornady brass. The bullet holds together very well giving great penetration for any of the game listed....Good hunting.

So far I have bought 355 gr WFN-GC bullets, I have cast Lee 325 WFN-GC, Lee 400 WFN, and my last bullet is a Mountain Mold that casts a 375 with 70% Meplat, is set up for a Hornady Gas Check, and has one healthy Grease Groove. I am lubing this bullet with White Label "Carnuba Red".
For powders H110, WW296, AA#9, and 300MP will all work very well.
I have been using Winchester Primers.
My brass is a mix of Hornady and Speer. If I were buying my Brass today I would get Starline and not look back. So far I have not lost a 480R Case. My loads have not been hard on brass at all.

I normally load a couple grains under a maximum load. I am currently using 300MP powder and Mountain Mold 375 gr. bullets. I worked up from 20.0 to 25.0 grains doing load development, and settled on 23.0 at 1200 fps from my 9.5" Super RedHawk. Check back to about September for my Load Development Post on 300MP Powder.
I have no idea how well any of the jacketed bullets work. I have never fired a jacketed bullet through my revolver.
I just got my PatMarlin Gas Check Maker for the 480 Ruger. I will be running Aluminum Gas Checks in the future. I am not expecting any difference from Hornady Gas Checks in accuracy or performance.

Good Luck, and Enjoy your 480R

Bob R

I'm becoming quite fond of the Oregon Trail 355gr LBT over enough H110 for 1400fps. Although I did buy a bunch of the 275gr Speers to push hard to see how they do on deer. Speer #14 has them at nearly 1700fps out of a 9.5" Ruger. Probably make a good varmint load too!

Don't forget 275 Xs. Less recoil, shoot through anything, very accurate.