480 Ruger

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480 Ruger Ammunition

From Hornady, Remington, Winchester, and Federal

The .480 Ruger is a revolver cartridge, introduced in 2003 by Sturm, Ruger and Hornady. This was the first new cartridge introduced by Ruger, and was at time of introduction the largest diameter production revolver cartridge, at .475 in (12.1 mm).

.475 caliber handgun cartridges are not a new idea. The .475 Linebaugh was introduced around 1988 as a custom, 5 shot Ruger Blackhawk single action revolver. The .475 is a wildcat cartridgemade by cutting the .45-70 case to a length of 1.5 inches (38 mm), and necking it to accept a .475 bullet. The .475 Linebaugh is an immensely powerful cartridge, more powerful than the .454 Casull, the most powerful production revolver cartridge at the time. The .475 diameter bullet allowed bullet weights over 400 grains (26 g), a feat not possible with the .45 caliber cartridge cases, and the terminal ballistics of the heavy bullet, even when loaded to moderate velocities, were impressive. The .475 Linebaugh was designed for handgun hunting of large game, such as bear, where deep penetration is required for a quick, humane kill, and the heavy, cast Keith style semiwadcutter bullets out of the .475 Linebaugh penetrated very well.