I have a new in the box Ruger 44 mag blackhawk and its going to Hamilton Bowen for conversion to 480 Ruger. My question is has anyone done this conversion and has it been used on large game ? How did it work ?

I would think with a good hard cast Keith bullet it should be the bees knees for Bison..............JJ

Most Ruger conversions are for the 475 Linebaugh, 500 Linebaugh, and 5-shot 45 Colt with tight chambers. I don't see why not have a 480 conversion. While you're at it, I'd suggest that you get the Bisley grip/frame conversion on it too. When you get upwards in caliber with boomer loads, the Bisley has the right configuration to handle recoil without letting the gun recoil all the way to the hammer. This saves the web of your hand and keeps you from buying stock in Band-Aids. Some use a shooting glove, but once again, get the Bisley conversion and have the grip panels slimmed without the flair on the bottom.

one thing i would consider is that if your having bowen do it why not make it a .475 you could allways still use .480s in it or load .475 brass down to .480 levels. With the avialabilty of finding brass for the .475 from hornady as cheaply as the .480 stuff its kind of a waste to limit yourself.

Lloyd,
Things that make you ho hmmmmm............

Good thought........................JJ

As a big fan of the 480, I'd actually go for the 480 chambering. The cylinder is long enough to long load bullets to the 475's powder capacity. That said, I see the 480 as just enough, 400 gr @ 1200 fps. I also believe the 480 will produce superior accuracy with reduced loads.

Paul,
I agree on the reduced loads. My goal is a 420gn Keith at 1100 fps. That will be a great woods/working load in an easy packin' revolver..........JJ

19.0 grs of H-110 will do just that, and it should be scary accurate. What's amazed me most about my 480 (7 1/2" SRH) is that it will shoot every cast bullet I've tried in it well, and that goes from a 310 gr LFN all the way up to a 460 gr WFN, and many, many in between. I'm still planning on having a ~270 gr keith swc mold made for it.