Question

from yesterday. Everything in a heavy recoiling revolver has to be tight with no loose parts. Anything loose will beat the gun to death. Even loose screws in the gripframe will shear off and cause lots of problems. My advise to anyone shooting the 475 Linebaugh would be to buy a box or two of 480 Ruger. It is just a lighter loaded 475 Linebaugh but it will help you get used to the heavy recoil. The 475 Linebaugh, 500 Linebaugh and the 510 GNR are all cartridges that were meant to be carried in dangerous game territory and not just for target shooting. A lot of guys take these cartridges out and shoot 2 or 3 boxes thru them on a Sunday afternoon. All this does is give you a helluva flinch, that is extremely hard to get rid of. I load my 475 Linebaugh down to 480 specs and my 510 GNR down to 950 to 1000 fps. You are not gaining anything running a constant max load thru your revolver.

For my recent African lion hunt I used my 510 GNR. Before the hunt I hadn't shot the gun but maybe 25 rounds in the last year or so before the hunt so I shot one cylinder thru it to make sure it was still sighted in and working fine. Then I put it away until the hunt.

I shoot probably 750 to 800 rounds a year and a lot of them are max loads to check the gun out and make sure it is functioning the way it should. But for fun and enjoyment I load it way down. There is not an animal alive that can tell the difference between the 480 and the 475. My main hunting round is my 41 GNR. I shoot a 220 grain 41 caliber bullet in it and that bullet has taken 11 big buffalo over the past 8 or 10 years or so and if I did my part right each one was a one shot kill. So if a 220 grain bullet at 1900 fps will put an 1800 lb animal down why go to a 400 grain bullet at 1400 fps. Bullet placement is the priority in any hunting situation.

Shooting max loads do you nor the gun any good. If you hunt animals like bull elk or larger, save the hot loads for that hunt and shoot the lighter loads for fun. Just my personal recommendations.