Today was a really nice day & exactly one week from the opener of my elk hunt so I decided to do some shooting with my Ruger SBH 480 while the weather was still good, it's suppose to get rough in a few days.
My normal hunting load for this big 5 shooter is 14 grs of HS6 & the great Miha 385 gr HP seated in the bottom crimp groove. Normally you wouldn't use a HP on something as big as an elk but this bullet handles not only elk but even animals bigger than elk with ease. Cast from the correct alloy & run at the correct velocity it's a great game killer with great expansion & usually full penetration. Don't use this load without working up to it in any other gun.
I'm zeroed at 75 yds with this load but feel very comfortable with it out to 125 or so if I'm steady & something as big as an elk is standing still. I couldn't shoot in my normal spot today because there were some others guys already there so I had to shoot in another bay. I could only stretch it out to 52 yds & be safe so that's where I set up my chair so I could shoot from my normal Keith reclining position.
With my piece of heavy leather between my knees I touched off the first shot & it went a tick high, I forgot to allow for the closer distance. I ran the next 4 & this is what I came up with. When these big hollow points whack this piece of 1/2" 8X8 hard steel it really does the Teaberry Shuffle. Hopefully in the coming days I'll be able to ram one into a big cow elk. I'll never recover the bullet, it hasn't happened yet, even on bigger game.
Dick
