Ruger entered the double-action revolver market in 1973 with its Security Six in 357 Magnum. I traded the local sheriff out of one, not long after. I owned and carried a number of Security or Speed Sixes over the years, and they reinforced my opinion that Ruger knew how to build a stout, foolproof and accurate double action revolver. The only thing missing from Ruger’s lineup was a true, big-bore DA revolver. 

The .44 Magnum Redhawk finally arrived in 1978 and it was more than a sized-up Security Six; it had a crane lock and an easily replaceable front sight. While not as svelte as Smith & Wesson’s Model 29, the new Redhawk was built like a tank. 

So what did we gain over the Smith & Wesson offering? The Redhawk provided us with a revolver capable of handling an indefinite number of heavy .44 Magnum loads, and doing it without shooting loose. The Redhawk also has a significantly longer cylinder than most .44’s, which allow advanced handloaders to seat the bullet further out- thereby increasing the available working space for the powder charge. We are talking loads beyond what the Model 29 will even chamber, much less handle without accelerated wear; some of these .44 loads approach the .454 Casull in raw power.

Buffalo Bore offers a “Redhawk only” .44 load that sends 340 grain bullets downrange at over 1400 fps. Hodgdon’s Powder Company lists .44 Magnum loads that propel 325 grain bullets at around 1350 feet-per-second. There’s not an animal in North America that can’t be reliably taken with such loads.

An objective look at the Redhawk reveals a few faults. They are heavy, even in the shorter barrel lengths; poking them full of loads featuring a lot of powder and 300+ grain bullets don’t make them any lighter, either. You’ll need a good holster and sturdy belt to pack one all day.

The Redhawk’s single-action trigger is less than perfect. They are generally afflicted with significant over-travel and I’d be willing to wager that no Ruger DA has ever left the factory with anything approaching a hair-trigger. Elmer Keith reviewed the Redhawk for his column “Gun Notes” in the March, 1980 Guns & Ammo. Keith suggested that something needed to be done about the Redhawk’s trigger, if we were ever going to realize its true accuracy potential. When Elmer talked, people listened- and it wasn’t long before there were lighter replacement mainsprings offered for this gun. We soon learned the Redhawk’s single-spring mechanism was precisely balanced and that misfires are almost sure to follow if you trifle with the factory spring weight. I leave the factory spring alone, having decided long ago that a half-pound more trigger pull beats the heck out of misfires.

A competent gunsmith or hobbyist can make significant improvements in the Redhawk’s single-action trigger. I start by cleaning up the sear for minimum movement, with absolute certainty that it will not “push off” from full cock. Don’t mess with the angle. This involves considerable assembly-disassembly to get it just right, and it is easy to go too far. A gunsmith will earn his money on a Redhawk.

Over-travel stop- I use the locking-latch orifice, in the rear of the trigger-guard, as the starting point. I drilled through from the rear and tapped the hole for a set-screw which protrudes into the rear of the trigger-guard, limiting the trigger’s rearward movement. If the sear engagement is already sorted out, you can achieve a crisp break with almost zero over-travel. Loctite Red secures the final setting.  The eventual result was a safe, reliable 3-3.5 pound trigger that is eminently more shootable than the factory offering.

 

It is worth mentioning that the example gun, which was made in ’79, was very tight and this may have something to do with the success of the trigger work. If the hammer pin and its corresponding hole in the hammer aren’t a tight fit, don’t expect smooth sailing.

 

I find no fault with the factory double-action trigger of the Redhawk. The pull itself is light enough, smooth and the cylinder locks early in the DA stroke, allowing the shooter a final opportunity to correct the sight alignment.

There is a fair assortment of aftermarket grips available for the Redhawk. A lot of folks dislike the factory wooden grips; I like them fine for anything up to and including 240 grain 44 magnum loads. The discontinued rubber “Butler Creek” are probably the handiest if you intend to do any DA shooting with 300+ grain heavy loads. You can find them on Ebay and other internet gun parts auctions.

The final gremlin with Redhawks applies to post-86 Ruger DA’s in general – insufficient firing-pin protrusion. It is not present in every Redhawk revolver, but it is a common enough problem that Hamilton Bowen installs a longer firing pin as part his custom conversions on these guns. Industry specifications for firing-pin protrusion in center-fire revolvers is .050-.055 inches, and I have checked a number of GP/SP series DA’s that did not meet the minimum spec. This article addresses an end-user way to get around that.

Optimizing the Redhawk…

Once the Redhawk’s few issues are sorted out, we can really begin to enjoy these superb revolvers. There is a wide range of bullet weights available to us, but changing bullet weights requires re-zeroing the sights. If you’re like me, you hate to mess with the sights once you get them spot-on for a particular load- and you probably have several favorites. With the Redhawk, start by centering the rear blade, and cranking the elevation all the way down. The secret to optimizing the Redhawk lies in fitting a replaceable front sight for each load.

If you intend to use several bullet weights, get several of the factory serrated steel front sights.  These can be adapted for loads in the 180 to 240 grain range. Start with an appropriate front sight height, which will shoots a little low with the load you are using. I find the Millett front sights work well for bullets up to 300 grains; still-taller front sights are available from Brownell’s, for loads using even heavier bullets.

Next, you pick a specific range to zero your chosen load, and then file off the top of the front sight (if necessary) to correct the elevation. Small windage adjustments may be accomplished by filing lightly on the side of the front sight, in the direction you want to move the point of impact, as viewed from the shooter’s perspective. Go slowly, because it generally takes very little material removed from the front sight, to correct POI. If you are using a steel blade a little cold blue cleans up the work.

When you are finished, mark the front sight for load it is corrected for.  Repeat the process until you have a sight for each load you intend to use.

I used this process to zero this 5.5″ .44 Redhawk for six different loads, using bullets weighing from 190 to 300 grains. On the light side of the spectrum, we have a Midway 190 grain SWC loaded over a .22 LR case full of W-231; in effect, this is a “.44 CB cap.” While not “silent”, it is vastly quieter that any .38 wadcutter load and it will just bury the nose of the bullet in a soft pine board. This load will shoot through 10-15 pound varmintd and it knocks squirrels out of the tree like a lug nut from a slingshot. It is accurate to 15-20 paces, which is where it will be employed. This front sight is cut from a white Delrin aftermarket sight, and it is easy to see at night- when this class of varmint becomes a nuisance.

My standard defense load for the .44 Magnum is the Winchester 210 Silvertip, supplemented by CCI Blazer .44 Specials using the 200 grain Gold Dot JHP. I cut a blue steel front sight for these loads, zeroed for 50 yards with the Silvertips. It also works well at 25 yards, with my practice & small game load of 8 grains of Universal Clays and a 200 grain RNFP lead “cowboy” bullet.

Next up we have a Keith load, but using a little slower powder than Elmer’s beloved 2400. I use 22 grains of W296, and an authentic 250 grain Keith SWC bullet. This load generates about 1250 fps and will handle any handgun chore up to deer and black bear. As a bonus, the 200/210 grain front sight planted this load about two inches above point of aim at 50 yards. One-pound coffee cans cannot hide from it at 100 yards, either. Windage was right on, and no correction was necessary.

Finally there the 300 grain loads, of which I have two, used only in a 44 Redhawk. The first load uses a 300 grain Hornady XTP, seated in the bottom crimping groove, over enough W296 to give it 1310 fps from the 5 1/2″ barrel. A Millett orange ramp plants this load on the button at 100 yards, with iron-sight groups right around 4-5 inches at that distance. My other heavy 44 load a Hunter’s Supply 300 grain WFN over 22.5 grains of W296. The load is as accurate as the XTP load above, and at 1330 fps the big hard-cast bullet penetrates like crazy. It also shoots close enough at 25 yards the Millett sight to call it good.

The Redhawk is a fine double-action revolver, in the tradition of big thumpers like the Colt New Service; but it possesses power on the upper end of the spectrum that outpaces its early predecessors.