I would very much appreciate expert input. I have read related posts here and the opinion appears divided! Yesterday, on an on line auction, I bought a SRH in 480 which is said to be "rechambered" to 475 by John Linebaugh. I do intend to call Linebaugh when the revolver arrives. But in the interim would you kindly give me your opinion on the safety of shooting the 475L in this revolver?

Thank you,

The Red Hawk is one tough revolver. I would call John to verify he did do the work and then start with a low powered load and work up from there. Great round but if you don't reload it will put you in the poor house.

I personally wouldn't unless the original cylinder has been replaced with a five shot. But if Linebaugh says it's okay I would.

I very much doubt that John Linebaugh built that gun.

It seems that I've been guilty of wasting the time of you good people. I , at first, thought that I should wait until I had the SN before I called Mr Linebaugh. But when one here said "I very much doubt John built that," I was motivated to call Mr L. immediately.

So, I just got off the phone with John and when I mentioned the seller's name, and the revolver, Mr Linebaugh was kind enough to confirm: (1) that he had , in fact, done two six shooter rechamberings from 480 to 475L for that man ,and, (2) that the revolver is quite safe to shoot 475L as the 475L is not much greater in pressure than the 480.

This site is a tremendous source of info and interest to me.

So, thanks to all here who give their time help us less informed folk,

Bill

2,000 psi separates the two cartridges' maximum levels.

yes. I think Mr. L. said 48,000 vs 50,000. I know nothing of this, just happy to take an expert's word.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill G. in Oregon:
I would very much appreciate expert input. I have read related posts here and the opinion appears divided! Yesterday, on an on line auction, I bought a SRH in 480 which is said to be "rechambered" to 475 by John Linebaugh. I do intend to call Linebaugh when the revolver arrives. But in the interim would you kindly give me your opinion on the safety of shooting the 475L in this revolver?

Thank you,

No safety problem at all IMHO......

BGiO, I would hate for you to hurt yourself with that POJ so you better sell it to me and I'll dispose of it for you!

Dennis

Sorry but I cannot bring myself to put any others in harm's way.

Bill
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Well then, why did Ruger stop chambering the 480 in the SRH? I have a 480 in the Alaskan model, in a 6 shot and they made very few and then discontinued them....but then made it in a 5 shot which also was discontinued very quickly. If the 475L is safe, why discontinue in the 480 in either the 6 shot or 5 shot? It don't make sense cause they can sell a boat load of 480's in the Alaskan model. Something must have happened.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodrow S:
Well then, why did Ruger stop chambering the 480 in the SRH? I have a 480 in the Alaskan model, in a 6 shot and they made very few and then discontinued them....but then made it in a 5 shot which also was discontinued very quickly. If the 475L is safe, why discontinue in the 480 in either the 6 shot or 5 shot? It don't make sense cause they can sell a boat load of 480's in the Alaskan model. Something must have happened.

First off the big bores do not sell like hot cakes. Second safety had noting To do with Rugers decision to cease manufacture of the 480. The SR does not have a strength issue

Extraction issues have plagued it since inception. There are no strength issues whatsoever.

The seller did tell me that the revolver does have some trouble with extraction, but I think I can live with that. I'll soon get a chance to shoot it and see.

I have a 6 shot SRH. Even with factory loads I still get sticky cases occasionally FWIW

Simply put, in a double action revolver (swing out cylinder ) you are extracting all 6 cases at once compared to the single action ( fixed cylinder and loading gate ) which is one-at-a-time.

The disparity between surface area you are trying to move is 8% more for the 480 Ruger compared to the 44 magnum and 15+% more surface area for the 475 Linebaugh compared to the 44 mag. Add to that the operating pressure of the 480/475 compared to the 44 and now the resistance is far more for the shooter to overcome.

You know things can get bad when some range fellow is shooting a 44 mag SBH and needs to wack the ejector rod several times to get single empties out, then wonders why when shot in his swing out double action, they won't come out at all and decries the gun as substandard.

That's when I have to bite my tongue, smile and look for his picture on the Darwin awards.

Polish the chamber with a bit of emery cloth. My .480 SRH hasn't had a problem.

400 gr cast, 21 gr of H-110, light it off with a CCI 350. It should clock 1200 fps from a 7 1/2" barrel, and cases will drop out of the cylinder.

In my SRH you need to get up to around 25 gr of H-110 with 400 gr cast to get sticky extraction.