I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

The Rossi Model R92, a lightweight carbine for Cowboy Action, hunting, or plinking! Includes Rossi manufactured Interarms, Navy Arms, and Puma trade names.
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I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by Glacierwolf »

I live in Alaska - 7 tours with the US Coast Guard and 11 years a volunteer EMT3 doing bush rescue. Family decided to stay after retiring from USCG in 2000. The wife, son and I all have 480 Ruger Super Redhawk we carry for bear protection - fishing, hunting, berry picking, gold camp. I do allot of photography - you can see some of my bear and northern lights photos at www.northpolegallery.com ( need to update it this winter) I once was attacked by a cow moose in the middle of the night doing Aurora photography....Pretty sure the head to calf wolf coat was the 'issue' but I am not sure, lol. I am a certified bear magnet - its why the ex-wife, best friend, and best friend's dad all have grizzlies on their wall. A lever action 480 Ruger would simplify my families bear protection planning. It's troublesome to lug around bolt guns with different ammo. I have been looking for a 480 lever 92 about ten years, have put saved searches in lots of places - no luck. Missed one that went for $745 or so. I do not need a nice pretty one - I need one that is going to be put to use - on the handle bars of my ATV or back of the wife's F-250. Stainless would be a Godsend.

I feel like I need to nail a big silver piece to the ships mast, talk like a pirate and offer the silver to the first man to spot the 480 lever gun.

Thank you in advance for any help.
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by Ranch Dog »

Welcome to the forum.

A GunBroker saved search is about the only way you will find one. Personally, I feel they are not worth what they are selling for (and I have one).
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by GasGuzzler »

Rumor has it there were only 100 made, right? Or was it 200? There's not many of them.
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by Ranch Dog »

GasGuzzler wrote:Rumor has it there were only 100 made, right? Or was it 200? There's not many of them.
100. No count on the SS vs. blue.
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by rondog »

Wow, only 100? Damn.....

Would it be possible to convert/rebarrel a .44mag carbine into .480?
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by GasGuzzler »

The 454 and 480 have a few differences. Not sure it's feasible.
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by Ranch Dog »

rondog wrote:Wow, only 100? Damn.....

Would it be possible to convert/rebarrel a .44mag carbine into .480?
Maybe starting with the 454 Casull. You would need a heavy magazine tube. The barrel and barrel bands are unique to the rifle.

Personally, it might be heresy; given the OP's need, I'd choose something else. Other than the rarity, I've not been taken by the 480 Ruger's performance. I killed a lot of whitetails and hogs with it, but I learned real quick it would not stop a rutting mature buck. It will make it to thorn brush were recovery is hell. If I just had to have a Rossi 92, I'd get a 454 Casull. From my practical experience, it has much more killing authority than the 480 Ruger. There are only a couple of rifles that I own that I consider nilgai worthy; the 444 Marlin, 45-70 Govt, and the 454 Casull.

Over the Casull, I'd take my Rossi Rio Grande chambered in 45-70 Govt. Outperforms both the 480 Ruger and 454 Casull. Honestly, boots on the ground with large bears; I'd want my Western Field 170 with a Lee 1 ounce slug.

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I push all my loads hard. Here is real-world performance using the Thornily Index, a measure I consider to be very accurate. Pound for pound; the R92 480 Ruger weighs 6.12 lbs, and the Western Field 170 weighs 6.88 lbs; the slug gun is a lot more protection.

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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by Ranch Dog »

When I had my mold business, a fellow in Russia ordered my TLC432-350-RF bullet molds for the 444 Marlin. Throughout a couple of years, I communicated with him and found out he was a big bear outfitter/guide. My bullet design was used on the big bears, and they felt it very appropriate for their needs. The outfitter went through great lengths to import the Marlin 444P Outfitter for his guides, reloading equipment from Lee, and molds from me. Somewhere in Russia, there are some big bear guides toting 444Ps.
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by Archer »

We all want what we want.
I've never much felt the need to get into .480 Ruger.

As has been mentioned, conversion to .480 is a bit problamatic. You might have better luck converting a .45-70 to .480 but I suspect the cartridge length would not chamber easily through a lifter system designed for the longer cartridge.

If the object is to get matching calibers between a handgun and a rifle...
I know Ruger makes a .454 Super Redhawk in at least three barrel lengths.
Big Horn Armory makes a .454 lever action. Cost you an arm and a leg but it can be had or you might have more luck finding the Rossi 92 in .454 as opposed to .480. BHA makes no mention of the rifle being able to shoot .45 Colt and they offer both a .45 Colt model and a .460 Smith and Wesson model BTW.

Big Horn Armory also makes a .475 Linebaugh although they make NO MENTION of it being able to fire .480 rounds through it so I wouldn't expect to be able to run the shorter .480 through it without problems.
You could however get the .475 rifle and match it with a Freedom Arms revolver and load it with the lighter .480 rounds or load .475 light for use in one or both of the platforms. That would keep you with the same chambering between the two guns even if you didn't want to fire .475 out of the handgun as a general rule. Of course that's a rabidly expensive option and it is still somewhat of a compromise unless BHA tells you their rifle will feed .480 smoothly and you find it to be a fact.

BHA has become very proud of their guns. The prices on more recent models have increased by at least 25% over the 500 the initially offered and it was not and is not inexpensive. You could of course get a .500 Smith and Wesson in both the BHA lever and a Smith X-frame or the like and drop the .480 caliber all together.

I suspect, for my own use, I'd probably go with either the aforementioned .45-70 Govt or .444 Marlin in a Marlin lever action with a .44 Magnum or .454 revolver as backup and just deal with the differences in ammo between the handgun and the rifle. In fact I have the rifles in .45-70 and .444 and I have revolvers in .44 Mag which work well enough for me down in 'the lower 48'. I don't feel the need to bust my wrist bones from repeated use of monster handgun calibers but I find the larger rifle calibers to be fun. IF i was convinced of smooth operation I might consider the .50 Beowulf or one of the other large caliber ARs but I haven't put enough rounds downrange with the Beowulf at present to have broken it in yet.
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Re: I need a 480 Ruger Model 92 - Please Help

Post by Archer »

P.S.
As I recall, RD can confirm or correct, the heavy hitters in the Rossi 92 required additional/different construction than the more run of the mill pistol caliber guns. Up through .44 Mag in the Rossi guns the magazine tube is simply slid into a counterbore in the receiver. The barrel bands support it and there's a screw through the end cap that seats into a small recess in the barrel.

On the heavy magnum calibers this proved insufficient to hold the mag tube in place under recoil and it needed to be screwed into the receiver. In fact there have been reports of .44 Mag guns having a similar problem although it is usually due to ill fitting parts that can typically be corrected by shortening a screw or other rather remedial fitting.

The BHA guns and those manufactured for .45-70 and .444 Marlin would typically be designed with the heavy recoil in mind from the get go.

Just another caution about converting one of the run of the mill guns into something with more recoil.
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