Ruger Redhawk .44 Mag vs Super Redhawk Alaskan .454 vs .480

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Going to Western Montana next Elk season. Every input would be great. Decided on the heavier hitting side of the Grizzly Defense debate. .44 I’m imagining would be the easier to shoot on target better? I’m not sure, would appreciate all input.

 

[jmez]

You can shoot 45 Colt in the .454. That would allow you practice with light recoil and affordable. Be able to get familiar with the gun that way rather than shooting the big stuff all the time. Can do the same with 44 specials in a 44 mag.

I'd also look at Smith 460v. Shoots 460 s&w mag, 454 casull and 45 Colt out of the same gun. If you decide the 460 is too much you can still use the Casull with plenty of punch. Again practice with 45 colt, cheap ammo easy on the hand.

480, never shot one but can't imagine it's pleasant. I'd guess you wouldn't want to spend extended range sessions with it.

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[dla]

Going to Western Montana next Elk season. Every input would be great. Decided on the heavier hitting side of the Grizzly Defense debate. .44 I’m imagining would be the easier to shoot on target better? I’m not sure, would appreciate all input.

You want something you don't mind packing. Weight matters.

 

[mt100gr.]

I have an alaskan in 454. The +p 45 colt stuff is easy to shoot and accurate. Full house 454 is fun but it's a pretty wild sight picture if you're trying to get multiple rounds on target.

Where do you live? Im in Western MT and routinely toodle around in griz country. I'd let you give it whirl if you're ever in the neighborhood. Then I'd let you unload my glock 29 with 200gr and see whats more appealing. My ruger hasn't left the safe since I bought the 29.

 

[mt100gr.]

You want something you don't mind packing. Weight matters.

This is the real reason I went glock. The ruger is a hefty piece. Comforting, I suppose, but heavy.

 

[eamyrick]

Spend a week fly fishing in thick Griz country every summer. I settled on a gp100 357. I can actually squeeze off 6 rounds pretty fast, conceal it in town, and it doesn’t weight much more than a glock 10mm. I run hardcast ammo.

 

[jmez]

Big revolvers are heavy. A couple pounds for 10 days isn't that big of a deal though, especially with the intended use.

A Glock is only 10oz lighter than a Smith 629 .44 with s 4 inch barrel.

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[thinhorn_AK]

I have a standard redhawk 44mag, I chose it because I wanted a longer barrel than the snubby Alaskans have, I also like having a much wider choice of ammo to choose from for practice at the range up to 340g +P hardcast. I dont like shooting 44spcl in 44mags or 45lc in 454 revolvers, I hate those carbon rings that get left in there, same with 38spcl/357 mag some people might not mind it though.

The 44 dosent come as long as much as my glock 20 just because of weight, also, my diamond custom holster really squeeks under my pack straps no matter what I do, my gunfighters in for my glock 20 dosent have that problem.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

im good on lugging around a tad extra weight, the army has kind of carved that into me however I’m just wondering how difficult a big recoil revolver is going to be to get on to target. I read somewhere on here someone was saying .480 was designed specifically with Ruger for the Redhawk and that it actually recoils less than .454.... didn’t make much sense to me......I was talking to a YouTube gun reviewer and he was claiming the .44 mag is a good middle ground between the heavy hit and getting rounds off on target

 

[Wrench]

I have every gun mentioned in this thread so far minus the 480, I would suggest a 329pd with x frame grips if you're a revolver guy or a test drive on a g20/21 to see if it works for you.

I personally carry a g23 most of the time because I'll have it. The others are big and heavy (sans the 329) and end up in a pack too often.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

I have an alaskan in 454. The +p 45 colt stuff is easy to shoot and accurate. Full house 454 is fun but it's a pretty wild sight picture if you're trying to get multiple rounds on target.

Where do you live? Im in Western MT and routinely toodle around in griz country. I'd let you give it whirl if you're ever in the neighborhood. Then I'd let you unload my glock 29 with 200gr and see whats more appealing. My ruger hasn't left the safe since I bought the 29.

I wish I lived close, I appreciate it. I currently live in Colorado Springs stationed at Fort Carson, but getting out and moving back to Pennsylvania in about 2 weeks.

 

[chinook907]

I've tried three different 10's and still have one; have had a 41 mag for decades; had a 480 the last few years.

For carrying, one handed shooting, and multiple shots the 10 semi auto, well there's no comparison from the others.

480 recoil is stout, but between a full house 44 load and the full house 454.

If I were to carry a 44 it would be a smith model 69. Very controllable, and much nicer to carry.

Anymore the 10mm gets carried the most.

 

[AkMtnRunner]

I’ve had the ruger sp101 and S&W 340 in 357, S&W 396 in 44 spc, Alaskan and S&W 69 and 329 in 44, SRH in 454, glock models 29 and 40, also S&W 500 in 6.5” and 5” barrels. I keep eyeing something in 480 but the options are limited (wish it was in a redhawk).

After experiencing the above, my favorite is the 329 with x frame grips loaded with 265 grain copper monometal from buffalo bore. It’s got a wide meplat, much better than a semi auto can reliably feed. To get to the next level, I’d go up to a heavier steel frame revolver in 45 colt in the redhawk. There’re powerful loads for 45 colt specifically for the stronger rugers out there that beat the 44 mag. In my opinion, 454 casull doesn’t gain much performance for the recoil and blast penalty. Which is why the 480 has potential if it’s in a revolver that you like. Those who’ve used it, say it hits big animals harder than the 454 with less recoil.

My 5” 500 is a John Ross edition. It weighs 57 oz (similar to the 4” version) so it’s about twice as heavy as the 29 or 329 but not unpackable. It’s a bucket list item of mine to take a moose or bear with it.

 

[Runningwater]

I've got the Alaskan in 454. I typically shoot the HMS "bear loads" in it, which are a fairly mild 325 hatdcast load. It's fun to shoot, big but not sharp recoil, not near as unpleasant imo as my buddy's 44 mag taurus tracker with heavy loads (that one kind of stings my hands after a few rounds). That said, it's still pretty big and bulky to carry around, I've generally shifted to carrying my glock 29 with 220 hardcast - much more pleasant to carry and a pussycat to shoot. I could probably shoot 10 rounds in the glock in the same time I could squeeze off 3 from the Alaskan. That said, I don't feel compelled to carry a handgun when rifle hunting unless it's in a really thick heavy bear area. Rifle is plenty. Nice to have one pistol around camp for getting water/firewood/bathroom duties. Can be handy if you're packing out multiple loads as well as you can drop off the rifle on the first trip.