.480 Ruger - Why didn’t it catch on?

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

It's more like bigger recoil amplifies anticipation, especially when that recoil results in increasing levels of actual pain. But it can come from shooting anything though, even like with the relatively silent, recoil-free bow you're talking about. Anticipation itself is more about the perceived consequences going around in your brain, keeping you from being clear-minded and in-the-moment. Things like a trophy animal, or the last shot in an otherwise perfect string of shots, tend to amplify it a lot more than a culling shot or the first round in a string. It's about what you're making it mean. Add in painful recoil, and that's like throwing an exponent onto that mental equation.

I feel like this would be a great conversation to carry on elsewhere. We’ve thoroughly hijacked the thread, but I have really enjoyed the side quest.

 

[Luke S]

I think the problem with the 480 is it came out about the time the 10mm became popular as a bear defense choice. You can debate that (see various posts above) but the undeniable fact is a LOT of guys in Alaska choose a 10mm now, Glock 20 seems to be the most popular. I think people figured out revolvers bigger then a standard size 44 are just hard to carry regularly. A 480 in a Super Redhawk is on the upper end of practicality for carry (to big for me actually). I think a single action 480 would be cool but my recollection is that was only available briefly with a longer barrel. A shorter 480 single action would be interesting.

 

[Steve300xcw]

One thing to consider, when a bear has you down and is chewing on you, at least a revolver doesn't have a slide to disengage and make your shooting iron inoperable if you have to shoot with the muzzle pushed into him!

Personal experience?

 

[3gunyotehtr]

Personal experience?

Nope!!! Just conjecture!!

 

[Choupique]

The more rounded shape will also make it hurt less when the bear shoves it up your poop chute

 

[Steve300xcw]

Well it started off as a decent thread..

 

[Texas270]

I think the problem with the 480 is it came out about the time the 10mm became popular as a bear defense choice. You can debate that (see various posts above) but the undeniable fact is a LOT of guys in Alaska choose a 10mm now, Glock 20 seems to be the most popular. I think people figured out revolvers bigger then a standard size 44 are just hard to carry regularly. A 480 in a Super Redhawk is on the upper end of practicality for carry (to big for me actually). I think a single action 480 would be cool but my recollection is that was only available briefly with a longer barrel. A shorter 480 single action would be interesting.

I wonder if it also lost momentum because it came out after 9/11.

Plus, I think that the S&W fanboys probably weren’t the biggest fans of a Ruger cartridge in a Ruger revolver.

It just seems solid ballistically in a good sized package. Hate that it’s not taken off as well as anticipated.

 

[Marbles]

Hyperbole is not a strawman

Miss stating what others say in an argument is a strawman. It is similar to hyperbole, but context defines it.

and 0.75" refers to seconds, not inches.

Obviously, are you saying you wanted me to argue that world class shooters are not doing 0.75" draw times? Does that really meaningful contribute anything? I'll take the cue and explain things that should be obvious and assume you cannot follow context.

Whatever someones draw time on the range is, it is in a situation where they are primmed and know it is coming, thus it will be slower if they are taken by surprise. The best shooter on earth is getting chewed if they first awareness of the bear is it launching a full blown charge from 20 yards or less, even if they have their competition rig on that day. Lucky for us humans, that is rare.

Now, you still haven't answered if you train braced point shooting. If you don't, you are in fantasy land arguing for a semi due having more rounds once the bear is chewing on you. Do you know what happens when the muzzle of a simi is jammed into something? The next conversation is does your slide get entangled leaving you with a single shot? You are the one who mocked the focus on trying to kill it before contact while using a simi, so the are legitimate points YOU need to address.

Using hyperbole, assuming others are stupid by explaining the painfully obvious, and apparently not knowing the basics of how your gun works is a bad look.




To everyone else who carries a simi, I think it is a reasonable choice, like other choices, there are trade offs. Please don't take the above as me saying you should carry something else.

 

[B Harrison]

Looking into handgun calibers for hunting and bear defense and the .480 Ruger just seems absolutely perfect for most everything while still being relatively controllable.

Why is it not more successful?

I remember when it came out, I was running the six gun version of this forum for Joel Cosby. Jim Taylor did a heck of a review on it. The 480 didn’t do anything that a hot 45 colt wouldn’t do, and it was very over shadowed by the 475 L which was already “the big bore magnum “
Most people who would actually practice and run a big bore sixgun on purpose and regularly, would have been down grading to drop from a FA 83 or a Custom Ruger in 475L to the 480 in a much heavier DA gun.

I can’t tell you about that situation now, as it’s been 18 years since I stopped running magnum 6guns for fun.

If you want some good old history, look up the articles on lever guns.com and read some of Jim T and John Taffin’s writings, the Linebaugh Tests were big back then and gave real world results.

Also there was no marketing for it, and it really is more fun than 99% of the population can actually shoot well. If we’re being honest a standard 357 mag load in a SA is about all most people want to deal with on a regular basis. A warm 44 mag with 300’s at 1300 fps is extremely heavy recoil for most, and cost- recoil goes up fast from there on up.

Add to that the difficulty to learn to accurately shoot big bore 6’s and you can imagine how many were becoming safe queens every year.

FYI, if you haven’t shot any heavy six guns.
300 grains at 1000-1000 fps is not bad from a heavy SA

240-280 at 1300 or 320-400 at 1200-1350 are a different world, that most people just can’t get used too.
Those guns drew blood on a regular basis in my experience at the range.
I wiped blood off of my guns often when people wanted to try them.

My most accurate long range load was a 280 41 mag load at 1360 FPS and it was violent. If very relaxed the break felt like it made your heart skip off bags or over my knees

 

[Choupique]

240-280 at 1300 or 320-400 at 1200-1350 are a different world,

Yes.

I used to carry a .45 blackhawk with grizzly +p 300something grain at about 1200 fps. It shoots well but the recoil is stout.

I suspect stuff like that also kept the .480 down. The .480 is more better but the world isnt producing many new big bore enthusiasts. The ones who are into that were already hot rodding .45's or using .44's and .454's.

I only know two guys still into wheel guns. Im one of them and the other is 60 years old.

 

[Q_Sertorius]

If the OP really wants to see the .480 Ruger take off again, he just has to convince Hollywood to make it the star of a popular movie.

 

[RockAndSage]

If the OP really wants to see the .480 Ruger take off again, he just has to convince Hollywood to make it the star of a popular movie.

Lol, so true. A movie, video game, or good novel.

Or some counter-culture Gen Z'er with a TikTok account, bashing 9mms as Fudd. "Gitchoo some rizz, gitchoo a LINEBAUGH."

 

[WoodlandCritter]

Miss stating what others say in an argument is a strawman. It is similar to hyperbole, but context defines it.

Obviously, are you saying you wanted me to argue that world class shooters are not doing 0.75" draw times? Does that really meaningful contribute anything? I'll take the cue and explain things that should be obvious and assume you cannot follow context.

Whatever someones draw time on the range is, it is in a situation where they are primmed and know it is coming, thus it will be slower if they are taken by surprise. The best shooter on earth is getting chewed if they first awareness of the bear is it launching a full blown charge from 20 yards or less, even if they have their competition rig on that day. Lucky for us humans, that is rare.

Now, you still haven't answered if you train braced point shooting. If you don't, you are in fantasy land arguing for a semi due having more rounds once the bear is chewing on you. Do you know what happens when the muzzle of a simi is jammed into something? The next conversation is does your slide get entangled leaving you with a single shot? You are the one who mocked the focus on trying to kill it before contact while using a simi, so the are legitimate points YOU need to address.

Using hyperbole, assuming others are stupid by explaining the painfully obvious, and apparently not knowing the basics of how your gun works is a bad look.




To everyone else who carries a simi, I think it is a reasonable choice, like other choices, there are trade offs. Please don't take the above as me saying you should carry something else.

If you're gonna be that intent on misconstruing what I say and making assumptions about my skill or knowledge level, I really don't feel compelled to address your talking points.

 

[RockAndSage]

I suspect that very few succesful defensive pistol use cases against bears involved the guy making a perfect 0.75" draw and braining the thing with it sliding in dead at his feet without a scratch on the human. Seems a little too storybook.

To be honest man, the quote above did come off as a strawman in general, and meant to dismiss my own points about balancing accuracy, speed, and chambering specifically, by making an argument that just didn't hold any bearing to the reality of my actual words. I wrote it off because people occasionally just say things in a way that don't exactly match what they're meaning. But it did come across poorly.