I know that this has been asked more than once , but here goes . 454 or 480 and why.

I read your post and still don't understand the bigest reason you would pick one over

the other. I know it just can't be recoil or just a number of other things like speed

bullets , powder and such. There must be some under lying thing that makes you want

one over the other . All I can see is you just must like one better than the other.

So what gives . I am new to handgun hunting but I am not new to shooting them . So

please guys give me a hint. Thanks

I think the 454 Casull and 480 Ruger are pretty much equivalent and sufficient for anything in North America. One advantage of the 454 Casull is the ability to shoot 45 LC in it if needed.

The cartridge I really prefer is the 460 S&W. It's flatter shooting and more powerful than either of the above and you can shoot 454 Casull and 45 LC cartridges in it if you like (though I would not desicrate mine with either of these).

I second what Grumulkin said.

Don't forget the S&W 500 The most powerful handgun in the world. It can kill deer also and most any other animal.

Hi ,
I got the 480 Ruger since it shoots heavier bullets and has a bigger meplate on cast bullets.
If you decide on the 480, email me I will send you load data for the 480,I have a bunch of data for cast bullets.

Sean

well i thought of both of the cartridges before but decided to have a 475 linebaugh made which you can shoot the 480 round through it also as a lighter recoil

I've had a 480 for about a year and a half. Its a great gun. Reloading is about the only way you can afford to shoot it often. Both are very capable handguns.

The 454 would be my choice if I did it over again because of the ability to shoot 45LC and the readily available ammo and reloading supplies for the 454.

I am using 23.5grains of Lil gun and CCI large pistol primers under 325 Speer Gold dots in my 480.

My vote is for the .454 I love my FA and I shoot a 300 gr.horndy mags a few grs. over listed max. The jacketed bullets are the way to go with the FA's I also carry my .45 redhawk for the double action feature when in bear country (most of the time) I shoot a 375 gr. hard cast loaded light years beyond sammi specs.
I can't get into the x frame smith just to big for carrying in a holster. Just my point of view

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:
Don't forget the S&W 500 The most powerful handgun in the world. It can kill deer also and most any other animal.

It's not the most powerful handgun the 600 nitro is by far the most powerful.There is a revolver made in europe that is the most powerful,I thought the S&W 460 magnum exceeded the 500.

What's the intended USE?

FN in MT

First I will say thank you to all of you. FN I am sure I will be deer hunting most of the

time and just shooting it at the range. But if I get proficient with it I would

like to try my hand at elk. Let me resay that , I would only go hunting for anything

once I became proficient. Thanks once again.

dont forget the 500 s&w can shoot the 500 special...

the bfr can shoot a loooong oal 500 s&w

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:
Don't forget the S&W 500 The most powerful handgun in the world. It can kill deer also and most any other animal.

You know I like the 500 Mag also. Hell I have 2 of them.

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:
Don't forget the S&W 500 The most powerful handgun in the world. It can kill deer also and most any other animal.

It's not the most powerful handgun the 600 nitro is by far the most powerful.

I've never heard of the 600 Nitro handgun. Who makes it? What bullets does it shoot? It is a rifle cartridge and NOT a revolver cartridge.

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:
Don't forget the S&W 500 The most powerful handgun in the world. It can kill deer also and most any other animal.

It's not the most powerful handgun the 600 nitro is by far the most powerful.

The 500 Mag is the most powerful production handgun. The 600 nitro is a novelty handgun, NOT A PRODUCTION HANDGUN!

I guess a good question would be, "Do you reload?" or cast your own bullets?
If you reload, then shooting both will be about the same cost once you have your brass.
With the 454 you have the option of loading lighter bullets, 200, 250, 275. You also have heavy 45's, 300, 350+.
In the 480 the available bullets start around 300 grains and go up to 500ish.
There is a very interesting article by John Linebaugh about his wife shooting an Elk with a 45 colt revolver and wimpy loads(I think it was a cast 265 going less than 1000 fps.)(my memory isn't as good as I'd like it to be, so you guys that can quote the article give me a little brake if it was a 255 @ 900)
I don't have a 480 Ruger, but I've read some good reports from reliable people about it being accurate and easy shooting.
I have a Taurus 454 that is very accurate and easy to shoot with 350's at 1350.
I would say to get the 454 as it has a wider variety of bullets availible to load.
But then why choose? Just get them both.

If you're talking about the Ruger Alaskan, then get the 480. (Bigger hole in the end of the barrel)

Lar45

Yes I do reload. It has been mostly for 45acp but I do load a few 357 , 45LC , 9mm

and such. I have no knowledge of loading for the 454 or the 480 . What I do want is

a new hand gun. I had got down to either the 454 or 480 and needed a heads up on these

two guns. Because one is all I can handle right now. So I posted another line on

these two guns knowing it had been more than likely run into the ground. But was in

hope of picking up some more info on these two fine hand guns. Which I think I may

have. Thank's to everyone .

I have both an SRH in .480 (actually the .480 is becoming a .475 Linebaugh soon!) and .454 Casull. I choose the .480 over the Casull. Bigger heavier bullet capability trumps everything else for me. They both shoot well and are very accurate.

The 454 casul has alot more power than the 480 ruger. It also has alot more recoil. I don't understand why anyone would buy a 480 ruger, heavy loaded 44 mag ammo from buffalo bore ammo will give you more power than the 480. Why buy a new gun for no gain in power. I just don't get it.

bigdoggy -- if you are using muzzle energy as the only criteria for a cartridge's effectiveness than yes, the .480 looks like a glorified .44 magnum. But, the .44 mag is sporting a .429 diameter bullet, the .480 a .475 diameter bullet. That pooch of a .480 can sling some pretty heavy bullets that penetrate like hell. Hell, the .475 Linebaugh doesn't generate the muzzle energy that the Casull is capable of, but that doesn't make it by any means a less powerful cartridge.

I have hunted with both the .480 and the Casull and you are correct that the Casull kicks harder. Does it kill better than a .480? Not in my experience.

Why not just get a 500 Mag, a 1/2 inch hole and it penetrates like you would not believe. I shoot bullets from 275 gr. to 700 gr. What other handgun can do that? And it is accurate as hell.

I had the same dilemma several months ago. Paul H on this board had me really interested in the .480. But I ended up buying the .454 SRH.

I made the choice for the .454 because of the ready availability of plinking loads (.45 Colt), because I thought I might want to try long range handgun shooting at some point, and because Bass Pro had one in stock and on sale while I was looking.

Steve

As much as I am a Ruger fan I would not recommend neither. Up to a 44mag the Rugers are great but for some reason the larger ones just beat my hand to death. I have shot and owned several in 454 and shot a couple of 480's but everyone to me recoils more than either of my 460 or my 500's.
My vote is for either the 460 or 500

Snowwolfe -- the factory SRH grips do suck! But Hogue makes a nice wrap around rubber grip (the one used on the Alaskan) that is a big improvement. With stock grips, my Casull beats you up pretty good.

Actually, I've been pretty happy with the stock grips on my SRH 454. I had anticipated getting the Hogues (and I still might), but between the weight of the gun and the grips I was pleased with the recoil absorption.

Not that there's not still significant recoil. But I like shooting the SRH with full loads better than my 4.75" Vaquero 44 Magnum with full loads.

Plus, mine's awfully accurate.

Steve

.454 or the .460, hands down. They can handle north america and deer just fine. Since you mentioned going to the range, either of these wont drain your pockets and with time you will be very proficent.

I fired my new 460XVR for the first time today. I found the recoil very managable with 200 grain SWC TMJ over 45 grains of H110. The Chrony averaged 1900 fps with this load. The Hodgdon Web Site showed 2237 fps with 200 grain Barnes XPP and 45 grains H110.

I will try 240 grain Hornaday XTP Mags over 45 grains H110 and work up to Max, will post the results.

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:

quote:

Originally posted by scr83jp:

quote:

Originally posted by jro45:
Don't forget the S&W 500 The most powerful handgun in the world. It can kill deer also and most any other animal.

It's not the most powerful handgun the 600 nitro is by far the most powerful.

I've never heard of the 600 Nitro handgun. Who makes it? What bullets does it shoot? It is a rifle cartridge and NOT a revolver cartridge.

In the members section is a clip of a guy shooting it.

If you have kids...turn the volumn down before playing it or they may learn a new word...

That 600 nitro hand gun weighs 7 1/2 lbs, if you can still call that a hand gun. A 72 oz Bfr revolver with a 10 1/2" barrel can beat the hottest 500 S&W 500 load by 400 to 700 ft.lbs. in the 50 alaskan cartridge. It doesn't hurt you and you can actually have fun shooting. Granted it is a big gun, but it weighs no more than a 500 S&W with an 8 3/8" bl. The loads in the 600 nitro were not full house loads, but did give off around 4,000 ft.lbs of energy.

I would go with the 454 over the 480 ruger anyday. I've had both, and with the additional bullet availability, more factory loads, and the ability to shoot 45 colt for cheap practice. If you don't mind the extra money, the 460 smith is better yet for all the same reasons, with more power available. Good luck. wk

If memory serves, the .480 was created to fill some performance gap between the .44 Mag and the .454 Casull. Really, I think it was created to sell more guns. I've got a FA M83 .454 Casull and think I made the right choice. Then again, I like chocolate, others like vanilla-which really is the difference between the two.