I am thinking of making SWC Keith style for Ruger 480 and would need input from experienced shooters and hunters. Somebody would ask why SWC, why not LBT. Well. According to several sources, one of them is article "Real Keith Sixgun Bullets" written by Brian Pearce (Handloader/August 2002), SWC is better choice for accuracy at 1200 fps or less, than LBT, where later one is better suited for top loads. And according to very credible folks, long time handgun hunters, 45-475 cal 320-350 grains at 1100-1200 fps is more than enough for anything that should be hunted with handgun, in my case wild boars, without punishing recoil and muzzle blast. I made some calculations and looks like that from same handgun weight and configuration, recoil with 250 gr at 1400 fps from 44 magnum should be similar as 352 gr at 1180 fps from 480. There are several sources for good LBT bullets, but I am not aware of any for SWC in 475 cal.

I had done preliminary design and here is my proposal:

Weight: 352 gr
Meplat dia.: .360"
Crimp to meplat: .490"
OAL: .850"

As a reference, I used Lyman 429421 and RCBS 44-250-K, scaled up 3-dimensionaly in order to preserve true proportions and ended up with noted dimensions. Of course, I made minor dimensional adjustments, especially making front driving band almost .150" wide for better alignment as on LBT. As for weight, I consider 352 gr (in WW) as a minimum weight. For the first mould we will take existing 38 and bore it on the late to get true concentricity. As for the mould diameter, idea was to have sized bullet .476" dia, and to get it out of mould .4765"-.4770", I added .002" for shrinkage, total main mould dia. .479". Any opinion or suggestion is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Onty (e-mail; ibcdiesel@netscape.net).