Personally, I absolutely love the Alaskans for the novelty they are, but in terms of actual use, the 5.5” Toklat is a far better revolver.
What do you have to watch for when considering buying a 480 alaskan, as far as the revolver goes. Some of the early ones had sticky cylinders? Then they went to a 5 shot that was super rare? Is there a revised 6 shot?
The Alaskan 480 was originally introduced as a 6 shot, but had some sticky extraction issues - Ruger quickly punted and retooled to 5 shot, but the small market was largely disinterested, and not impressed by the initial market failing. So it was taken out of the catalog for a year or so, before finally being reintroduced as a 6 shot once again. All of this only spanned a handful of years. The early revolvers are easily identified by the old (now) target grey finish. Any 480 recent production Alaskan in bright brushed stainless steel will post-date any of these issues, and even among the old target grey models, only the initial 6 shot models had any issues at all.
Personally, I strongly favor the 5.5” Toklat to the Alaskan, but recognize there are no Toklats in 480. A 7.5” could be cut down to produce a Toklat clone, and if a guy were considering a 480 Alaskan as a defensive revolver, I would highly recommend this path. I tend to find the Alaskan to balance like a bowling ball, and roll like one in recoil. They’re well built, and great revolvers, but they’re not my first choice for a defensive revolver - which they were (purportedly) designed to be. The Alaskan is a great “second place option,” and better as bear defense than the 7.5” model, but I’d forego a 480 for a 454 Toklat, buy a 7.5” 480 and cut it down to 5.5”, or buy a 480 Alaskan, in that order.