Need a .480 favor

[timothy]

I've had a 480 srh for a few years and its never shot for beans. We're talking 3-4 inch groups at 25 from a rock solid rest. I've found both hornady and speer 475's will fall through the throats by gravity alone and I was wondering if someone who has a good shooting 480 could see if either of those bullets also fall through their throats with no pressure. I'm also wondering if anyone knows of any cast .476 bullets? Thanks

[7-30 Waters]

I would slug your barrel first to see what the diameter is.  You may need a cast lead larger than .476.  Worth trying.  Otherwise try Midway for cast leads for your gun.

[Tom W.]

Well, you got my curiosity up, so I opened a box of Speer .475 cal bullets and tried dropping them through the chambers, and they fell through just fine. They would not, however fall through the bore from the muzzle. I took some bullets that I had cast Saturday, but I haven't sized them yet. My sizer is .476. The "as cast" bullets measured .477, and would not fall through the chambers. I rooted around and found a box of sized and lubed bullets, put the mic on them and they were .476. That bullet could easily be pushed through the chamber, but wouldn't fall through on it's own.  Almost, but not quite.The nose would protrude, but I had to take a small dowel and poke it out.




You also may want to try www.pennbullets.com

[kennisondan]

I think that the rounds of cast are supposed to be able to be pushed thru with light pressure.. you should probably slug the barrel and the cylinders.
I cannot educate you on the rest of it, but I did read that.. post a query on the reloading sections and see what you get.\dk

[Tom W.]

No need to do something else to make me wonder... When I have it sighted in properly I can regularly hit clay pigeons at 100 yards.....

[blhof]

There is an Ask Veral section in the cast bullet area and he can answer your question and he has the supplies or advice to correct problems with accuracy.  Worked wonders on my DW 357max.

[LarryL]

I tried the 275 and 325gr Gold Dots that I have, and they also fall through.  I do not have any cast bullets to try.  My SRH will shoot 3" groups at 100 yds off a solid rest with a 2X scope.  My best effort at 25yds is just under 1/2".  You don't say how much shooting experience you have with bigger bore handguns. 

If you have plenty of experience and shoot well with other kickers, perhaps it is a problem with your loads? 

If you have good performance with these same loads in a different 480, then it sounds like your gun has a significant issue. 

Have you had a gunsmith take a look at it?  Perhaps there is an alignment issue between cylinder and barrel?  Have you sent it back to Ruger for them to do a rework on it? 

I had troubles with hard extraction on my 480 SRH the first year I had it.  It was a pain in the butt with factory loads, requiring heavy duty pushing to get the cases out.  When I started doing even moderate handloads, it became impossible.  I had to bang the extractor pin with a wooden mallet multiple times to work the cases out.  I saw some comments on line about the combination of rough cylinder walls and high spec chambers with thin cylinder walls allowing expansion and contraction during firing to grab the cases (why they went now to a 5 round cylinder).  The fix was to replace the cylinder with one that had thicker walls with the chambers on the small side of spec.  I sent it to Ruger and they replaced the cylinder and polished the chambers better, no questions asked.  It gives me very little trouble now.  A slight bump takes out the factory loads, and a good push takes out the handloads. 

I would send the gun along with a sample 25yd target and explanation to Ruger.  They might surprise you!

Either way, good luck

[timothy]

Thanks a lot everyone.