Sorta. But it wasn't a Ruger part that broke.
Gary Reeder made the custom five-shot cylinder seen here. Which included the forward bushing, which came apart. Bad metallurgy of some sort, which is REAL scary considering the horsepower level of the cartridge. The 475Linebaugh cartridge is a monster. The 480Ruger is basically a shortened version of the 475Linebaugh, and a gun like the one pictured is also compatible with 480Ruger if you want a "lighter round".
Reeder is building these on a Ruger base platform (pretty much any Ruger large-frame New Model SA):
http://www.reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/classic475.htm
http://www.reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/americanhunter.htm
http://www.reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/ultimate_backup2.htm
http://www.reedercustomguns.com/revolvers/africanhunter.htm
The 475Linebaugh is actually more energetic than the 500Linebaugh - the latter operates at lower pressures. The 475L is basically as much gun as you can shoot on a gun frame basically similar in size to a 44Magnum. To go past 475L horsepower you need to scale the frame WAY up to something like the S&W X-Frame or the Magnum Research BFRs.
John Linebaugh has been building guns similar to these Reeder specimens for a lot longer, and without the cylinders coming apart like this. Gary Reeder focuses a lot of attention on cosmetic issues, which is fine, but...it's probably leading to a lot of Reeder guns being shot little, admired much...or treated as safe queens.
To be fair, Gary Reeder himself DOES shoot a lot, and hunts with his guns. I would think that a metallurgy problem of this sort would have been revealed in testing if it was common to his product line. It's possible we're looking at a bad heat treat here.
Still...given the power levels involved, this is a frightening picture. To see what I mean, look at the energy levels involved in Buffalo Bore's 475L loads:
http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm#475
1,700ft/lbs energy is NO JOKE. Compare to Buffbore's best 44Mags:
http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm#44
Buffbore also has some "44Mag+P" stuff that borders on 475L horsepower, but it requires large-frame, very strong guns. I would guess that Buffbore's 44+P is operating at even higher chamber pressure than the 475L.
