Ruger's New .45LC/.45ACP Redhawk...

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Well, i went to the range yesterday, to try out some hotter 'ruger only' loads. I shot about 100 rounds of regular 45c, hot 45c, & 45acp. I had ordered a hogue bantam grip, & was using it.

Wow. I like this pistol. The hot loads were hot.. nice kick to them, but not abusive. I don't think i want or need a 45 casull, though! I spent a little more time sighting it in, with regular colt loads, then compared to the others. They were all pretty good. I didn't do a side by side this time with the smith 625, but i found the accuracy was much better than last time out. Maybe the barrel is more 'broken in' after the last cleaning & shooting, or maybe i'm just getting a better feel for it. But subjectively, from my fading memory, it seems as accurate as the smith, which would be reasonable, since they are both 4" barrels.

The range was empty, so i took a few longer shots.. ~ 130 yds, then some at 200+. The 45acp were like artillery shells, & did not shoot flat at all. The factory long colts were not much better. But the hot ruger only loads were pretty flat shooting. At 130 i only had to aim a few inches higher to get on target. It was not moa accuracy, but it hit a 24" circle with 5 of 6 rounds, off a pickup cab rest. I would be very comfortable hunting anything around here to ~ 100yds.

I shot a lot of 45acp both in single & double action, both, weak, & strong hand. It was very capable at normal pistol range.. between 10 & 30 yds it would consistently be on a 10" target.. except weak hand.. i've got to get it in better shape. I had 2 ftf weak hand, which was probably a limp wrist thing, & only in 45acp. I did not shoot the hot 45c loads one handed.

I'm going to change back to the pachmayr gripper, & shoot the same hot loads with it, to see how it compares. I have 3 grips now, for 2 redhawks, so i can experiment.

The last time out i was disappointed with the accuracy, & thought the smith 625 was much better. Now, they are very similar, & i'll have to do a side by side to see if my reloads work better in one or the other.

The hot ruger loads were with 250 gr, fn plated, and 300 gr, fn hitech coated. I tried both 21.1 & 22.6 of 4227, & they both were fine. A lot more kick with the 300 gr, but that is to be expected. I could go a bit higher, but am very happy with either of these. I'll probably use the higher charge for the 250 gr plated ones, & the lower for the heavier bullets.

The bantam hogue grip fits this pistol very well, except for the round butt part. If i decide to go with this grip, i plan to shave off the grip, so it fits the butt better. If i do, i'll post a pic. The pachy gripper is still softer, & has a backstrap covering, but not much. I'll take my time, & shoot a bunch with both, & keep the one i like better.

The 45 acp are like 22s. There is hardly any recoil with this heavy gun, but it is very accurate. This combo really intrigues me. You get the power of a 44 magnum, with the moonclip versatility of 45 acp. BTW, the moonclips are outstanding. They are easy to load & unload with just your fingers, & they are very fast to load & unload from the pistol. I've got moonclips in 4 of my revolvers, now, & don't know how i ever did without them. The ruger ones, especially, are quick & easy. I had to go aftermarket for the smith to get range friendly moonclips.

I'm partial to the 45acp round anyway, & with the ability to go hi power 45 colt magnum loads, AND 45 c cowboy loads, this is almost a 3 in one pistol. It's a keeper. I thought i would like it, & i do.
 
usfan- Thanks for the detailed update! Post some pics when you get a chance. I would like to see what happens when you shave down the bantam grips.

Thanks again...eagerly waiting for this to be approved in California,

Matt
 
Benefit over GP100

If I started reloading 45's would this be a better option than a 4",5, or 6" GP100 for range, personal defense and hunting?
 
If I started reloading 45's would this be a better option than a 4",5, or 6" GP100 for range, personal defense and hunting?
I don't know if i'd say, 'better', but it is a good option. I've got several 357s, & it one of my favorite calibers. But i don't want to give up the 45s, either.

My 6" gp100 is still probably my most accurate centerfire pistol. But the 45c in hot loads would pack a big wallop, & probably beat the 357 ballistically.
 
Requires proprietary clips. Boo!

I just picked up one of these new Redhawks at Palmetto State Armory today.

It didn't come with any moon clips (supposed to come with three), but I wasn't really concerned; I have dozens of Ranch Products clips for my Colt 1917, so I figured they would work. A moon clip is a moon clip, right?

Unfortunately, the outside circumference on the old clips (also on my few GI half-moon clips) is too great to drop into the milled recess on the cylinder.

The only place I can find the correct configuration is on the Ruger accessories site, $15 for a three pack. This is what I get for jumping on something brand new. :(
 
Pork Fat, Call Ruger tomorrow AM and I am sure they will make it right. They have been pretty good to me when I have contacted them.
 
Pork Fat - that was discussed earlier, maybe in a different thread, and is the reason I gave up on the revolver. From my previous experience with Smith's I would need at least 100 clips. That's $500 plus shipping. I'll stick to my .44 Kodiak Backpacker and .45 ACP Birdshead Vaquero.
 
PF: That is weird it didn't come with clips. ..and yes, i agree that settling on a 'standard' of something simple like moon clips would be nice. But they didn't. In all fairness, the ruger clips are much nicer, easier, & lighter than the ones that came with my smith 625. You need a tool to load & unload them. You can do the ruger ones with your fingers. I agree with ECV that you should call ruger to make it right.

They are a lot like magazines. Sure, it would be nice if all semi auto makers used the same magazine, but they don't. I have to have mags for beretta, glock, m&p, & a host of other pistols. Why didn't they all settle on the 1911 magazine, since it has been out for a long time?

I have moonclips for a 9mm LCR, a taurus 5 shot 45acp, the smith 45acp, & now the ruger 45acp. I have a lot more magazines for auto pistols. Even my para double stack 1911 won't take a regular 1911 mag. But there are different moon clips, calibers, magazines, & so on in the firearm market. They don't standardize, much, except on ammunition. So while i wish they could have made them all interchangeable, the improvements on the ruger clips are worth having to go with proprietary clips.

I did try to modify one of my plastic moon clips, by trimming off the tips of the clips so they would fit in the ruger extractor well. But it weakened them too much, & the clips don't hold the bullets securely. So i'm stuck with proprietary clips for each of my revolvers that work with them. And since this pistol is primarily built for hot 45 colt loads, it is a minor inconvenience. I will never *need* more than 3 clips, at the range or anywhere. They are easy to load & unload, so if i get more, it will be for fun & convenience. Hopefully, too, there will be 3rd party makers to bring the price down & make it easier to have more.
 
I'm extremely tempted by this new Ruger, but I think I will wait and hold out for a little longer for this one.

It looks like failures due to week ignition when using .45 ACP are somewhat common with these guns right now. .45 ACp is likely the vast majority of what I would shoot through the gun, so I think I'll wait to hear from some more early adopters and see if Ruger does anything to address the issue if things do play out that way.
 
FWIW, my Blackhawk convertible shoots 45C and 45acp with equal accuracy, as far as I can tell. And they both seem to have the same amount of recoil with range ammo.

Those are both great calibers, and I like 44 special, too. Those three all feel pretty similar to me when shot out of my big revolvers: nice fat calibers with nice slow recoil. I don't know if they all feel the same in smaller revolvers, too (I don't have 45C or 45acp snubbies).
 
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rcmodel said:
You can't use moon clips in a Blackhawk, or any other single-action.

You would have to remove the cylinder to load it or unload it.

rc
___

True, but on a short-barreled Blackhawk (4 5/8" or less) I think it would be faster to remove the cylinder and use moon clips instead of unloading/loading each chamber individually. 5.5" and longer would probably be faster too but the cylinder pin isn't retained by the ejector so I tend to bobble it when I want to reassemble quickly...

I've thought about removing the cylinder on my .357 or .44 special and trying a speed loader to see what sort of difference in reloading speed there might be. If I had a Blackhawk with a 9mm or .45 acp cylinder I'd rig up a way to punch out empties on moonclips too. I wouldn't use moonclips in any 'working gun' scenario but at the range where you load six, shoot six and then load six again they might be fun to experiment with.
 
yes, i agree that settling on a 'standard' of something simple like moon clips would be nice. But they didn't. In all fairness, the ruger clips are much nicer, easier, & lighter than the ones that came with my smith 625. You need a tool to load & unload them. You can do the ruger ones with your fingers.

I totally agree with that, I purely hate unloading the old style clips. My beef is really that there has been nothing in the marketing (and I include Youtube stalwarts like Gunblast in said marketing) that explicitly mentions this. Yes, semiautos all have different mags, but we've expected this since the late 1800's. In the US, a six shot large-frame revolver has used the same .45 ACP clip dimensions from WWI to Jerry Miculek raceguns. It's just the novelty of a new wrinkle that was unexpected. I'm over it.

I'm not going to worry about extracting (get it?) the 15 bucks worth of clips from Ruger, when it's likely they got lost by my retailer in the "display gun showcase shuffle" somewhere, probably kicked underneath something. I went and ordered 9 clips from
Ruger, that should be enough given how much easier they'll be to use at the range.
 
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This has got to be one of the coolest and best looking Ruger DA revolver in a long time. To say I want one is a TREMENDOUS understatement. Unfortunately, I just bought a rifle so it's sucking up all my time/money!!

But maybe someday...
 
swopjan said:
True, but on a short-barreled Blackhawk (4 5/8" or less) I think it would be faster to remove the cylinder and use moon clips instead of unloading/loading each chamber individually. 5.5" and longer would probably be faster too but the cylinder pin isn't retained by the ejector so I tend to bobble it when I want to reassemble quickly...

Learn to cradle the gun in your left hand correctly so your thumb controls the rolling of the cyilinder and your strong hand flicks the ejector smartly to spit the brass out fully. Holding the gun up at a 45 to 50 degree muzzle high angle helps as well.

Doing it this way you can unload the gun in about three seconds.

I did a test a while back where I went from a dry fire on a cylinder full of spent cases to fully loaded and dry fired on dummy "snap cap" reloads in a total of 15 seconds from hammer drop to hammer drop. It wasn't that hard or rushed either. It just uses complementary hand movements that share the work load.

There's just no way I could go to half cock, draw out the base pin shuck a moon clip of empties, load a moon clip of fresh ammo and insert and replace the base pin correctly with the funky little notch correctly snapped up by the catch in the same amount of time.
 
Anybody have an update on specific .45 ACP accuracy in this Redhawk model?
Need comparisons.

Finally got the one here out to shoot today & looking to see if mine is representative with the short stuff.

Measured groups at 25 yards would be very helpful.
Denis
 
US,
How well did the Bantam fit around the curved backstrap?
Denis
 
US,
How well did the Bantam fit around the curved backstrap?
Denis
I haven't shaved off the grip, yet.. still shooting some through it to see if i like it. I might try the pachy again, but i tend to prefer the hogues.

I also picked up a 454 rossi today, & stopped by the range on the way home. I had loaded some test loads of 454, & they certainly do pack a punch. I even decided to put a slip on butt pad to help with recoil. You wouldn't need it for hunting.. a shot or 2 with the built in pad would be fine. But many rounds at the range, & the additional pad makes it more comfortable. I fired a few out to ~200 yds, & they were pretty flat shooting. I didn't have to adjust much for elevation. This is a lot of power. 300 grains of 45 caliber going ~ 1600fps packs a wallop. Even though it is a small carbine, it would handle any big game in north america.
454rossiartvert.jpg

I also shot some low & high power 45 colt loads through it. No need for the additional pad at all, & they still are very accurate, though the cowboy loads drop quite a bit past 100 yds. And of course, the Ruger redhawk had to get a few rounds through it, too. Some 45acp & both powers of 45 colt. I'm really liking the accuracy of this gun, especially with hot 45 colt loads. All in all, i'm pretty happy with this combo.. it gives me a lot of versatility in a pistol & rifle in the same caliber.

I shot 45acp, cowboy 45 colt, & ruger only 45 colt back to back & randomly through it today, to see if it had a hiccup. Not a one. I took it with me to Utah last week, when visiting the SIL & daughter. We shot it a bit there, too.. probably 50 of each 45 colt r/o, & 45acp.

At short range, the 45 acp is as accurate as a 1911.. in my hands, anyway. At distance, up to 100 yds, it drops ~ 1-2'. This is not a long range pistol, i know, but i like to push the limits to see what it can do. :D

Now, the hot colt loads are very flat out to 100 yds & more. I even shot some 300 yd rainbow shots up in Ut. I wouldn't hunt with it, but it would reach out if you had to. Inside of 100 yds, both the cowboy & hot loads were pretty accurate. I could dance a soda can inside 40 yds. The double action is very smooth.. not quite on par with my smith 625, but pretty close. I suspect the more i shoot it, the slicker & smoother the DA will be.

If i shave the bantam hogue, i'll post up some pics, or if i put the pachy back on, i'll post it too. Heck, i should go ahead & shave the hogue, since i won't put it on anything else. I might as well put the pachy back on the 44mag redhawk.. it fits better there, anyway.

edit: I realized there was not a pic of this pistol on this thread... unconscionable!!

ruger-redhawk.png
 
After sticking a Hogue woodie on this one I did the chronographing of all 12 long & short .45s through it today.

The Hogues, being built for a square-butt Red, obviously were not an ideal fit, but provided much more grip to hang onto.

I would not run hot sauce through this gun with the factory grip configuration again, unless I had to.
With the bigger grip, do-able, but it cancels out the compacticity of the round grip-frame.
Denis
 
trimmed hogue bantam

Ok, i did a quick & dirty trim of the hogue. I drew a line with a pen, then cut it while on the pistol with a sharp utility knife. it cut easily, until it hit the hard plastic near the frame. I continued to cut it until the pieces were off. I then took it off the pistol, & sanded it with some coarse sand paper, until it was shaped ok. I put it back on, & did some touch up sanding with it on the pistol, being careful not to sand the stainless frame. It fits the hand better, for me, & follows the contour of the round butt frame. I'm sure hogue will make one to fit this pistol, eventually, but this is a temporary fix.
 

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Perhaps I'm looking at this from the wrong angle, but...

Hear me out. I LOVE my 45 Colt Blackhawk and I LOVE my 44 mag Redhawk. But, I can't help but thinking that the Redhawk is not even breaking a sweat shooting a 45 Colt and a 45 acp is definitely over-built for the firearm. I mean, it's not as glaring as the .357 Magnum Redhawk, but unless you're looking for hopped-up loads, 45 Colt is a nice, mild round. And I'm not speaking of cowboy loads.

Couldn't there be a caliber that would fit the stout frame better than home-brewing one to make use of the additional metal? .460 or .480? Just asking...
 
Perhaps I'm looking at this from the wrong angle, but...

Hear me out. I LOVE my 45 Colt Blackhawk and I LOVE my 44 mag Redhawk. But, I can't help but thinking that the Redhawk is not even breaking a sweat shooting a 45 Colt and a 45 acp is definitely over-built for the firearm. I mean, it's not as glaring as the .357 Magnum Redhawk, but unless you're looking for hopped-up loads, 45 Colt is a nice, mild round. And I'm not speaking of cowboy loads.

Couldn't there be a caliber that would fit the stout frame better than home-brewing one to make use of the additional metal? .460 or .480? Just asking...
stout 45 colt 'ruger only' loads rival 44 magnum.. some get close to 454 casull. The ability to shoot mild colt loads, or 45 acp are just a bonus.
 
Ruger's put out several hard-hitting versions of the Red & Super Red, in longer barrels & with a lot more weight & bulk.

You begrudge people who may just want a rugged-as-hell DA revolver for standard Colt loads, getting one?

Sure- Ruger can go in a number of different ways.
And they very well may, given time.

Right now, let us have this one, OK?
When your pet version comes out, we'll try not to rain all over your parade. :)
Denis
 
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