480 Ruger or 454 casull

[RIFLE MAN]

As most of us are aware, both the 454 Casull and the 480 Ruger
are chambered in the Puma model 92 carbine? Which of the two
chamberings do you like better? Has any manufacturer produced
a premium load for the 480 Ruger that substantially out performs
the Hornady load?

Thanks,
Rifle Man

[Graybeard]

Personally I like the .480 Ruger better. Both are handgun rounds even if now used in some rifles. With handgun rounds if ya need more killing power you don't get it by speeding up the bullet you get it by using a larger diameter and heavier bullet. That's the .480 Ruger as compared to the .454 Casull.

[Lloyd Smale]

i own a 454 but not a 480 but do own a couple 475s. Personlay id take the 480 hands down. I seriously think its the most ballanced big bore round made. I just havent found it in a platform that i like. My buddy has a puma in 480 and its a little sweetheart. I do like that one but allready own a custom marlin in 475 so i really dont need one. I think youll have problems finding a new 480 though as pumas arent made anymore and a while back they quit that chambering.

[Flashole]

I have one of each.  A simple answer would be if I had to keep just one it would be the 480. I hand load so I'm no good  for the answer about manufactured loads.  One thing to think about is I'm pretty sure the 454 will fire 45 lc although I have not tried.  454 will wear you down faster with a little sharper recoil.

=FLASH=

[mcwoodduck]

I would vote for the 454.
Loads out of the rifle are real close to 45-70 in terms of speed with a 300 grain projectile.
If you are hunting something that the 45-70 can not kill the 480 is not going to do much better.
I think you are more likely to find 454 Cas in local shops, as well as 45 Colt ammo for plinking and playing not to mention for white tail at close ranges.

[kynardsj]

I own the 454 in a Puma. The 45 LC's in it are sweet to shoot and the 454's are just awesome in terms of power but you'll pay for that power in recoil. Mine will rattle your teeth when you touch it off. Good part is that there aren't too many critters that I would be afraid to tackle with the 454 and the proper bullet.

[dpe.ahoy]

I have 2 of the 454's, a Trapper and a 20".  Haven't tryed the 480 but would like to.  Shame, but that chambering seems to be fading away around here.   Shoulda bought one when there was a shortage on ammo, 480 was and still is on the shelf.  Don't know why, but both of my 454's are smoother than the other 3 Rossi's I have, and I don't feel they hammer ya that hard.   Mini 45-70's is what they are.   DP

[Cabin4]

The 480 is clearly the better big game killer. The 454 has a bit more versatility in that you can also shoot 45lc.

[mk454]

i would completely disagree the .480 is the better anything, had both, had a.475 and just never did see a difference in that little bit of diameter and i'd agree with graybeard that bigger heavier bullets are the ticket to increased power IF you're just using hardcasts.  the best wound channels i've had are the ones from the barnes xpb loads.  if ya think the .480 is somehow gonna hammer game better, it's not, if you think there's a difference b/w a 360 grain 454 load and a 410 grain 480 load you're truly kidding yourself.  if you compare the number of 454 loads out, bullet types, what can be bought and whatnot, when you compare and ad in the 45 colt loads you'd be hard pressed to find a reason for the .480.  guess that's why ruger makes a 454 still and not a 480.  there's several factory 454 loads that won't jar your teeth, and it's easy to handload easy shooting loads just as well.  the casull has enough popularity that there's many different power levels you can purchase over the counter and factory loads that will run from 400grain bullets and almost 1700fps out of the 92 to 250gr bullets at about 1550 out of the 92.  then there's the 45 colt loads.  there's a reason the .454 and .44 mag are the two handgun rounds i still own and hunt with.  480 was never in the mix.  nothing wrong with it, just no reason for it imho

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree and disagree. Personaly if faced with something dangerous id rather have the added bullet diameter and metplat and weight of a 480 bullet then the speed of a 454. Ive shot game with 475s and 454s and its tough to tell the differce granted but then again i can say the same thing about comparing a 44 mag to a 454. A cast bullet is only going to perform optimately to about about 1300-1400 fps. the 480 will easily push a 400 grain bullet to those speeds out of a rifle and that puts it in the same league as a stout 475 revolver and ive been around enough pentration testing on media and on big game to know that there aint much that outpentrates a 475 be it rifle or handgun of any caliber. I have a custom 475 marlin 94 and after building it learned that i might as well of done it in 480 as thats the level its loaded to anyway. Anymore and bullets deform and dont penetrate reliably. As to jacketed bullets i wont go into that because i really dont think they have a place in either gun shot out of a rifle because there just isnt to many bullets for these caliber designed for the speeds a rifle will push them. Now you said that increased bullet diameter and weight are the keys to more power in these guns and i agree totaly. the 480 delivers more of both. And if that doesnt matter i wonder why someone hunting in africa would chose a 375 h&h over a 300 weatherby mag. the weatherby is no doubt faster but when animals get over 500 lbs slow and heavy is better then fast and light anyday. the reason that the 454 pushes on and the 480 has about died is there are just to many uniformed shooters out there that really believe faster is better. Thats the same reason an insane gun like the 460 smith is going stronger then the 454. People like bragging about speed. whether it be a handgun a rifle a motorcyle or even a pickup truck. Same people that buy 460 smiths are the people that buy 180mph crotch rockets. Most buy them to brag. In the case of the smiths id bet 3/4s of the ones sold have only seen a couple boxes of factory ammo 95 percent of the people buying crotch rockets have no bussiness driving them over 60    thats my story and im sticking to it!!!

[efremtags]

I think the 480 made sense for Ruger because they had a frame they could utilize, and it wasn't too much gun for a moderately experienced shooter. The 475 LB in a handgun can be punishing (and expensive) and the 454 is no slouch in terms of recoil. It really bridges the gap between 454 and 44 mag (which it was marketed for).

that said, the 454 is here to stay and the 480 will always be an obscure caliber that used to be available once. The difference of the 2 on game is academic as both have killed their share of big critters. You would be hard pressed in a rifle to distinguish the 2 as the 454 can shoot some pretty heavy bullets it could not push fast in a revolver. The limitation may be reliable feeding.

If you handload and buy lots of brass, either are good, the 480 might be better for bragging rights. The 454 is much more practical.

[mk454]

lloyd, good post, just a few points.  i agree, i've seen very little in the killing power of ANY OF these calibers until i started pushing velocities in bullets that WOULD hold together.  imho, corbon missed the boat on the 460.  to get the best out of this bullet, the penetrator bullets should be an available load, a 320 at over 2000fps would get the job done on anything and i've always said the barnes loads in the 460 are freaking dynamite, love em in the casull. 


the reason the .480 is gone and the 454 is here to stay is b/c the 454 can run sooooo many more combinations of smaller faster hot loads, smaller easy 45 colt level loads, faster barnes and xtp mag loads, AND with the heavier 360-400grain bullets it'll do everything a 480 or a 475 will do for that matter.  there's over 30 factory loads available and almost 200 if you count he 45 colt loads.  480 is only good with heavy hardcasts at a moderate speed.  that's it.  if that's you're thing then it'll do everything a 475 linebaugh will do.  the possibilities with the 454 are sooooo much more.  hell i got easy 900fps 300 grain loads that my 9 year old can shoot, give him the lil puma carbine and it's running about 1200fps, that load and will kill any deer that walks and kicks a touch more than a 357 lever action.  perfect for the kid with a 50 yard limit at the deer stand.  give my older son the punch bullet load out of the carbine and it's punching a hole through anything including an elephant as 320 grains of brass and lead will be about 2000fps, 1550 out of my 7.5 inch pistol. that versatility is harder to come by in the 480 and impossible if you don't reload and search for the right components.

[Lloyd Smale]

thats a point thats often missed. The 480 was never made to compete with the 454. It was made so that the average joe who doesnt live and breath handguns would have the option of a true bigbore that is shootable without running to the doctor to get a wrist brace or wearing a sight blade in the forehead. It was allways chambered in heavy revolvers that really kicked no more then alot of 44 mags. It is no doubt a cast bullet gun. I couldnt see wasting time even sighting in a jacketed bullet in it. What it does well is push 400 grain cast bullets to 1100-1200 fps and penetrate like theres no tommarow. Loaded like that its great on deer and will take any animal on earth. I guess the versitility of the 454 doesnt do anything for me. Im not going to shoot 45s in my 454 as i have enough 45s to do that in. Im not going to shoot reduced loads as ive again got 45s to do that. Im not going to shoot jacketed bullets as I cast see paying money for a bullet that is inferior to what i can make myself for about nothing. My 454 is shoot about exclusively with 300-350 grain cast bullets at 1300-1400 fps. To me thats what the gun does best and i cant see fooling with anythig else. But push come to shove if i had to grab a gun for a once in lifetime hunt id probably pass on it and pass on my 500 linebaughs and grab one of my 475s. How would it be loaded? With a 400 grain cast bullet at about 1200 fps. Sounds suspiciously like a 480 doesnt it. Recoil at that level is stout but not arm ripping. Easily handled by anyone that shoots 44s and will put a bit of extra time in mastering it. Its farily flat shooting for a revolver, hits hard and doesnt tear up a bunch of meat, and i dont have to change loads to fit what im hunting. That load will take care of  bussiness on about any game animal i hunt.   Now thats the defintion of versitile to me,

I think the 480 made sense for Ruger because they had a frame they could utilize, and it wasn't too much gun for a moderately experienced shooter. The 475 LB in a handgun can be punishing (and expensive) and the 454 is no slouch in terms of recoil. It really bridges the gap between 454 and 44 mag (which it was marketed for).

that said, the 454 is here to stay and the 480 will always be an obscure caliber that used to be available once. The difference of the 2 on game is academic as both have killed their share of big critters. You would be hard pressed in a rifle to distinguish the 2 as the 454 can shoot some pretty heavy bullets it could not push fast in a revolver. The limitation may be reliable feeding.

If you handload and buy lots of brass, either are good, the 480 might be better for bragging rights. The 454 is much more practical.

[mk454]

lloyd, you certainly couldn't go wrong with your 475, or your 500 either, i would however use my 454 with the 320 grain corbon penetrators.  almost as fail proof a bullet as exists, has killed everything up to elephants.  in fact, anything that round or buffalo bore rounds wouldn't kill?.  great trajectory.  i sold my 475 for the simple reason that it didn't do anything the 454 didn't do and never saw a difference with anything hit with either.  as i go through the linebaugh seminar results, doesn't really outpenerate the best 454 loads, the linebaugh load that penetrated so far one year was outpenetrated by a 454 round when the box was bone and paper, not saying one is better, just that they're all pretty equivalent.  anyway, with the advent of the factor 300+grain .44 mag rounds, if you're not competing with the .454 or 475 really doesn't add much.  it does it thing and i'm sure if you stick to cast bullets then it's as good as any .454 or .475, however the .480 is just limited compared to those two rounds and if you got 20 other pistols then no big deal.  however, if you're getting that one big bore pistol then there's better choices.  btw, i find many jacketed and monometal bullets perform quite well and have had failures with factory hardcasts on game, so far no failure with barnes xpb, hornady xtps, or the FA bullets on game.


btw, if i was on the hunt of a lifetime on some type of dangerous game, wouldn't it be silly not to use the punch bullets or the corbon penetrators, had the 475 buffalo bore 420 grain load blow into about 100 pieces on a cow elk shoulder 3 years ago, also had a 45/70 hardcast blow apart this year on a cow elk shoulder.  both required 2nd shots.  hardcasts are not infallible imho anymore than the best jacketed are.  i've not had a failure or serious deformity with the punch, penetrators, or the xpb bullets when fired into piles of sand and gravel.  haven't yet had a hardcast survive that.

[Lloyd Smale]

no doubt punch bullets but a gun into a differnt caliber (for lack of a better word) and if i was going to africa id have them loaded at least for the dangerous stuff. Cast bullets can fail but they fail when you dont match the alloy to the job intended. Buffalo bore buys or at least used to buy there cast bullets from cast performance bullet company. They water drop all there bullets and in my opinion water dropping makes them to brittle for really big bone or for velocitys at tad higher then normal handgus produce. Ive killed a number of large animals with cast out of the 475 500 45 and 44 and that includes 6 bison and ive recovered exactly two bullets doing it. One was a 500 450 grain swc that angled into the left front shoulder and came to rest under the skin after break the bone in the oposite hind quarter. the other was a lyman devestator 44. I went there to shoot hogs that day and just got the itch to kill a buffalo and the only gun i had was my 4 5/8s super loaded with devestators at 1200 fps. Believe it or not it was the quickest kill i have ever witnessed on a buffalo. It dropped at the shot. the bullet went in behind the front shoulder and blew off its nose and the base was poking out of the skin on the other side. Not bad for a cast 250 grain hp. Id have to doubt if theres a factory hp that woud have done any better. Why? again because alloy was right for the job. It was cast relitively hard (ww plus 2 percent tin) It basicaly acted like a nos partition blowing off its nose and allowing the base to penetrate. In that case id about bet a dime to a dollar that if it were cast softer it wouldnt have penetrated very well at all. Ive also withnessed 500 linebaugh hps and soft nosed cast bullets shot into buffalo that barely made 8 inches. Bottom line is if your buy cast bullets and have no control over the alloy or the hardness your running in the dark. To me not knowing how my bullet will perform is no differnt then heading out hunting with a new rifle thats just been bore sighted.

[temmi]

I always prefer a 480… especially if you hand load, it is a very good round.

Both my son & I have 480s in Super Redhawks… I wish I could find a Puma in 480 around here… but it is not to be.

So I will get a Marlin in 45 colt and call it a day