TRIPLE P RIFLE?

[JimT]

(This is another article from the old Sixgunner.Com days)

by Mike Rocole

My first exposure to the 475 Linebaugh was the "Three Ps". This is the phrase used by John Linebaugh to describe his 475 Custom Handguns. Powerful, Practical and Packable. I scoured magazines and read articles by Taffin, Seyfried and others about the 45 and 475 Linebaugh’s. Finally tallying the amount of hard earned cash I would need for this endeavor, I saved and was able to order the 475 Handgun.

I sent the base gun , a Ruger Bisley and money to John, then sent off for the forming dies, reloading dies, brass and bullet molds. I figured it would take some time as John was busy and "good things come to those who wait". So over the next couple of months I formed brass and casted bullets from my two LBT molds.

The day came, my gun arrived, and it exceeded every expectation I had. I was in "Hand Gun Heaven" ,and liking the way it felt.

Over the next few months I put, literally, hundreds of rounds through this gun. I reloaded the brass several times.. I ran light loads heavy loads. I purchased bullets from Golden Bear, Barnes and Mt Baldy Bullets. I casted hundred of rounds from molds I purchased from Veral Smith at LBT. The fun was more than any man should be able to have without feeling guilty

There was one problem. I felt something was missing. Then it hit me. Surely this fine Gun should have a companion ? Yes, that was it, I needed a rifle to go along with this handgun. Some guys are never satisfied.

This was a project that would take planning and some advise from the man who knows this caliber better than anyone else. I placed a call to John to talk about the potential of rechambering a rifle to the 475 Linebaugh. John told me at the time he had a helper that had done some work with lever actions and had some things to work out with the feeding. Bottom line was, it was not something John at the time, had time for, as his work load was heavy enough. But, John is a fine man. As we talked further, he offered to provide to me, the use of a reamer. The deal was simple. He would have a reamer made for chambering a Rifle, then he would ship it to my rifle builder. We could use it and pay him some rent , but if we broke it, we bought it. That deal was more than generous, it was great! John also provided the name of his barrel supplier.

The next step was to choose a rifle that would do the job. Having given it some thought and also considering that any good companion should share the same or similar characteristics, I knew it had to be Powerful, Practical and Packable. I looked at all the lever actions and the potential of feeding problems kept popping up. One day while looking through a gun store I noticed they happen to have a Ruger #1 in 458 Magnum on consignment, and the owner wanted to dispose of it quickly. I guess it hurt him too much and he didn’t think he would sell it very fast. I guess the number of elephants in the midwest was not enough to entice potential buyers. The deal was done and that was the basis for the "Companion Rifle".

One of the things that attracted me to the Ruger No.1 was the short action (Packable). The other was the simplicity of the falling block action (Practical). The rifle would easily rechamber into the 475 Linebaugh (475-Powerful). I contacted John , he ordered the reamer. I took the gun to a very talented Rifle Builder, he has done many projects for me in the past. I then ordered the Barrel. I decided that the barrel should be short, as the faster burning powders would not tremendously increase the velocity of the bullets in comparison to the Handgun. I decided on a finished barrel length for the gun to be 20". This would still allow a "short packable rifle". The action of the Ruger No.1 is short and compact to begin with. It would be like having an 16"-17" barrel on a standard action. We decided that we would not replace the quarter rib on the rifle as the hardness of the quarter rib made it all but impossible to machine and match to the contour of the new barrel. I am sure it could have been done, but I really didn’t want spend the extra money. The front sight and ramp was off of a Remington 700. This gun is, primarily a close cover gun and for that a Williams Rear Receiver Peep sight was in order. I chose this sight because of positive adjustments and it fit the contour of the receiver and required just two mounting holes. The barrel was drilled and tapped for mounting a scope just in case down the road my aging eyes couldn’t adjust to the open sights. It is also nice to have a scope for load testing. I wanted to "ring out" all the possible accuracy from a gun. The scope I chose was a Weaver variable 1 X 3 model V3. The forearm of the original Ruger No.1 was the John Henry style and that is very appropriate for this gun and helped with the lines and looks of the gun. We just ordered the extractor for the No.1 45-70 and put it in. I also put on sling swivels, one in the butt stock and one barrel band swivel. (yeh, I know, but we actually use them up here.) The gun is finished in high gloss deep blue.

Specifications of the gun:

Caliber: 475 Linebaugh

Gun: Ruger No.1

Over all length: 36.5" ( from end barrel to back of recoil pad)

Weight: 6.25 LBS

O.D. Barrel @ the Muzzle: .75"

O.D. Barrel @ Chamber: 1.90"

Front sight: Remington ramp and White Bead.

Rear sight: Williams Receiver Peep Sight.

Scope Mounts: Weaver 2-Piece Weaver rings

Scope: Weaver V3 1X3 Variable

Stocks: Fine Figured Factory American Walnut with John Henry style Forearm.

Recoil Pad: Factory Original Red Ruger

Well, how does this Rifle stack up to its companion. Lets look at some loads. First off, all the loads are safe in my two Guns and are only offered as information to the readers. They should be reduced by 10% and worked up in your guns. The idea of the "Companion Gun" is simple. Two guns, one a Handgun the other a Rifle, they will use the same loads so the loads were not specifically developed for one or the other but for both.

Referring to Fig. #1, you can see that the appreciable gain in velocity that the rifle has over the pistol. It is enough to turn an already "Powerful Gun" into "Really Powerful Gun". A couple of observations though; The margin of difference was less with the faster burning powders as was expected. The larger margins of velocity or gains over the Handgun were with the lighter bullets and slower powders. One would have to agree the 400 grain LBT WFN at 1700 FPS would be a stellar performer on anything in North America and beyond.

The Barnes 300 grain copper solid was the top performer in regards to velocity. This Bullet was originally designed for the 475 Wildey and is a true solid. The problem with it is there is no cannelure for crimping. This is not a problem for the rifle, but in the handgun it’s a real problem, because the bullets back out from recoil. I do have a cannelure tool that does put a crimping groove in the bullet and that takes care of the problem. (I purchased all of these bullets that Barnes had, some time ago, I think about 1500 bullets or so.) They are great for plinking and playing around. I suppose if I ever go to Africa they would make a good solid for deep penetration on dangerous game.

If I were to pick one powder, it would be Hodgdons H110. John Linebaugh once wrote me and said you can make a little mistake with H110 and get away with it, as its a very stable powder. H110 did give the best combination for top end loads with the lower pressures.

rocole1.JPG

Accurate Arms #9 worked well but a word of caution, this Powder caused pressures to rise very quickly with small changes in charge weight. So you must approach the top end loads very carefully.

I used all Magnum primers and adjusted the charge weights to accommodate the increased pressures. All the loads listed above were the most accurate in both the Handgun and the Rifle.

Note that the barrel length of the Handgun is 6.00". I had John make mine 6" because in Wisconsin they were contemplating one of those laws that would require that you have a 6" barrel length on a Hunting Handguns. As it turned out, the common sense prevailed, and the law was changed. The barrel is measured from where the firing pin strikes the bullet to the end of the barrel and must be 5.5". But I like the 6.00" just the same.

I then decided to take the rifle and the handgun and run some bullet penetration tests. Now understand, that these tests and the test media are by no means a comparison of performance of a particular bullet in game. In other words just because it performs like this in the media I used, is no guarantee that it will do the same in an animal.

With all that said, this test does give us some comparisons against some loads that have been field proven. From our own experiences and this data we can draw our own opinions. Fig. #2 is the result of that testing.

I first water soaked newsprint for 24 hours. I then set up a box to contain that soaked newsprint. I set the chronograph up just in front of the water soaked newsprint. I set the chronograph at the point of impact, because, the impact velocity was recorded right there. Now, after each bullet was shot into the media, I changed out the wet newsprint, so that each bullet had fresh water soaked newsprint. I was striving for consistency. The measurements where taken from the point of entry to the point of which the bullet stopped in the wet news print. All the loads were fired from rifles.

The 444 Marlin with the Barnes XPB at a high velocity gave about 10" of penetration. The wound channel was shallow but very disruptive. I don’t think that you would have any edible meat left within a 2’ diameter of entrance on game animals. I also wouldn’t use this bullet in this application as its would appear very fragile at rifle speeds.

Now the 300 grain 444 load is a great comparison for deep penetration and performance. The bullet drove deep and straight. The wound channel showed excellent disruption of the media tapering down as the bullet came to rest. This particular bullet may have driven deeper but was cast of Wheel Weights and expanded some, which impeded penetration.

Then the time proven, and highly regarded 375 H&H, with the Barnes-X at a very high velocity drove 15" and the material was shredded. I was surprised that the penetration was not deeper, given the reputation of the Barnes bullet, and the velocity in which it struck the media. But it may have been a repeat of the Barnes 444 scenario, the expansion more than likely impeded the depth of penetration.

The 475 -350 grain Golden Bear HP driven at 1555 FPS violently expanded and shredded the newsprint but only drove 8" into the wet newsprint. This is what you can expect driving pistol bullets at rifle velocities. My brother used this rifle and shot a small Whitetail Spike Buck at about 50-yards. The opposite leg swung up stuck between the horns. You could put your fist through the wound channel. The butcher didn’t salvage much from that front shoulder. Not a good choice for the combination. After all, how much expansion do you need with a 475 anyway?

The next bullet is a Barnes 475-300 grain soft point with the Barnes heavy .040 jacket. This bullet expanded and showed major disruption of the media and the penetration was better than I thought it would be. It was on par with the 375 H&H. I think the thick jacket aided in controlling the expansion and allowing it to drive deeper into the media. I do not believe Barnes is making this bullet anymore. This bullet was also developed for the Wildey and had no crimping groove.

I previously provided information on the Barnes 300 Grain Solid Copper FP. This bullet was running at over 2000 FPS, it drove deep and straight. This was the #2 performer in regards to depth of penetration. The media disruption was as good as any bullet I shot. I could literally reload this bullet and use it again. The only damage to the bullet was from the rifling. I don’t know what I’ll ever do with 1000 of these, but I am sure I can find a use. I’m just going to have to shoot more.

The 350 grain h&LBT LFN cast from Linotype was a top performer. This bullet penetrated 25.4" into the media. The disruption of the material was devastating and tapered to where the bullet came to rest. As with the solid copper bullet, this bullet was not deformed hardly at all. just slightly rounded on the front. This is an excellent performer at the top end loading for both the Rifle and Handgun.

My top choice for performance and loading is the 400 Grain LBT WFN. The meplat of this bullets measures .900 of the caliber. That’s allot of frontal area to displace tissue. Now, as you can see in the chart, (Fig. #2) the load I tested was a reduced load and the striking velocity was relatively low, compared to the other loads. But, it penetrated deeper and was devastating with regards to the material displaced . This bullet is an excellent performer on game equally effective as any combination I have used. Especially effective on deer size game in close cover. It may be an excellent combination for Hogs as well. I was carrying this gun and saw a large dry Whitetail doe facing me at about 50 yards. She was on high alert, but before she could make up her mind the #1 Ruger was to my shoulder and that 400 WFN was on its way. The next time I looked, she was flipping over backwards. The bullet had struck her in the left front shoulder, and traversed the length of her body. The bullet exited just to the right of her tail. Everything in between indicated she probably never new what hit her. This is what I consider the best close cover deer combination I own. If I where to load for heavier game as Elk I would go with the 400 grain LBT WFN at the higher velocities. Devastating performance and sure results from any angle.

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The #1 Ruger shoulders as fast as a shotgun, its light weight for long days afield, and full of enough Power to take on most anything on this earth. The combination of the Handgun and it’s "Companion" gives me a two gun battery to satisfy most of my needs. But who of us would put that restriction on ourselves

[Nath]

Awesome horse power. Excellent article..

[piller]

I have the Linebaugh's little brother. The .480 Ruger in both a pistol and a leveraction. 410 grain WFN LBT style bullets over H110 are great on wild pigs. I give up a couple of hundred feet per second, but nothing I have ever shot with it has cared. The only bullets ever recovered were from a hybrid water buffalo/cape buffalo shot on a texas game ranch. 400 grain Speer JSP over H110 with WLP primers. Two bullets punched through ribs on the left and became embedded in the ribs on the right side. I found the bullets while preparing the ribs for the smoker. I sawed the bone and cracked out the bullets. 86er and Miķe Rintoul were with me while hunting that buffalo. It charged twice. The first time was after 2 shots to the ribs by me, and a shot by 86er with his .45-90(?) using punch bullets. CRS ended up with that model 86, and he can correct me on caliber if I got it wrong. 86er had bored the 45-70 chamber out to a longer caliber. The bullet from it was not recovered.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Jim,

I have a factory Ruger No 1 chambered in .475 Linebaugh and is so marked.

Wicked accurate.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Good story Piller. Time to resurrect this thread.