Barrel blew off Ruger Redhawk.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jiminey Cricket! That is annoying.

Do you suppose they will get a refund from Ruger?

I guess this why the Super Redhawk came into being? For me, I am glad my Redhawk is plain old blue carbon steel.

After reading the article linked, I am dissappointed by the number of people advising this unfortunate gun owner to lie about the ammo he was using. Not ethical behavior. He was shooting handloads with 12 grains of Unique behind a 240 grain buller. The damage is probable not cartridge pressure related (nore likely the cylinder would rupture but certainly the hot ammo contibuted. He should have started this newly acquired second hadn gun with .44 Special factory loads and progessed up through the magnum loads. He should have examined the gun after each.

It is easy to be overconfident with Ruger's tendenacy to overbuild. Still they are a cast product not forged and machined.
 
Last edited:
He bought it used. He was shooting mild 44 reloads. So whether or not he gets anything is in question.

However, it was a recurring problem, so Ruger might fix it no questions asked.
 
That metal barrel looks like (what we used to call) cheap "white" metal. I wonder what kind of material that barrel actually is.

Looks like the new
Ruger Snubbie Redhawk conversion.
+1

I bet Ruger will take care of him, just to save face.:)
 
The article is about the problems with the Redhawk, if you read it carefully, it states (correctly) that the Redhawk had been on the market for years at the time that the GP100 was being scaled up to a .44Magnum.
Quote:
When Ruger started to scale up the GP-100 to build a .44 Magnum version, they began to have reports of failures in the Redhawk revolvers. Some Redhawks were reported to be separating at the junction between barrel and frame. It was not known at the time why this was happening; the Redhawk had been on the market for years with no reported problems,
The article isn't stating that the Redhawk was the scaled up GP100 or that the GP100 came out before the Redhawk, it clearly states that the revolver under development was the SUPER Redhawk.
Quote:
It was eventually determined that the barrel separations on the Redhawks were due to a change in the lubricant used when attaching the barrels to the frames, but by that time the new Super Redhawk design was already well underway and the extended frame was kept.
Yes, the author of this thread has a RedHawk, that's the model with the barrel separation issues in the article. There have never been any barrel separation issues with the Super Redhawk, it wasn't even in production during the timeframe that the Redhawk barrel separation issues were discovered.

What the article is saying is this.

When the Super Redhawk was being designed (scaled up from the GP100) Ruger got reports of barrel separations on the Redhawk which had been on the market for years at that time.
Ruger decided to beef up the frame on the Super Redhawk (which was being designed at the time) due to the problems with the Redhawk and made that design change (frame extension on Super Redhawk) before it was determined that the problem was actually improper lubricant in the Redhawk assembly process.
It may not be saying it in the most clear way, but it's not inaccurate.

It's also entirely possible that this is what occurred. Then again, it's just as possible that the barrel fracture was due to something physical, such as a force applied to the barrel.

The appearance of the metal is consistent with a fracture that has been in existence for some time. Not substandard metal, which CANNOT be determined visually, even by true experts.

There was a span of time, decades ago, where there were some reported barrel failures in the Redhawk. See the quote. IF the serial number is in that range, Ruger will more than likely replace the gun.

If anyone remembers, they'll realize the X-Frame S&W was afflicted with the same problem in early production.

The gun was bought USED. Even the buyer recognizes that he had no control over the past of the gun. Caveat Emptor is certainly in play here.
 
That gun is toast, write it off and forget it. If Ruger did anything at all it would be to replace it totally, and go down the road.

Investment casting is what they call it. Many things could have led up to why it did that. Least of all hot loads IMHO...

:uhoh:
 
I think I may have read that thread on TFL. Apparently, a certain run of Redhawks had a problem with corrosive barrel thread materials (grease or loc-tite or something). Thats the only thing that makes sense with how this happened.

AFAIK, the barrels and cylinders on Rugers revolvers are not cast, but forged.

From what I have read about Ruger's CS, they will probably send him a new gun and some free swag for his troubles.
 
There does look like some discoloration on the metal that might have been caused by a corrosive, now that you mention it. Sort of like it has taken some time to happen and not just a real clean break, Almost looks sort of rusty. Not sure if that metal rusts or not??? Might be powder burns:confused:
 
I wonder if its possable if the barrel had a slight fracture when the barrel was threaded on. With the chance of it being over tightened as to what caused it in the first place. Just a thought, LM.
 
As has been said, the barrel's not an investment casting.

But.....investment castings are used in many products, including jet engine parts......

And yes, I have no doubt Ruger will replace it......
 
I wonder if its possable if the barrel had a slight fracture when the barrel was threaded on. With the chance of it being over tightened as to what caused it in the first place. Just a thought, LM.

I tend to agree - this looks very much like the over torqued barrel blow offs on the S&W guns. Over torquing to get the barrel indexed, causing stress on the barrel between the rear shoulder of the barrel and the threads.
 
The problem was with the lubricant. Ruger had changed thread lubes before this started happening to something that was chlorinated in some way. They changed thread lubes after they finally figured this out and solved the problem. If you can, go over to The FiringLine forum ans sign up. I did and there is 5 or 6 pages on this one instance. Ruger is fixing the gun and the fellow should have it back in Dec. Like I posted over there, get a copy of John Taffin's book Big Bore Handguns, there is some good info in the chapter on Redhawks on this whole phenomenon.
 
The problem was with the lubricant.

Interesting, but rather than me chasing info somewhere else could you give me a quick reason why ? I find it a bit hard to swallow that some sort of chemistry in the lube would cause such a problem - reduced friction while indexing up a barrel may be a good thing, but still I would not blame a lube for a machine tolerance problem. ( unless I didn't want to admitt I could make such an error :scrutiny: )

Anyway - save me the search and tell me why the lube was the problem ! ;)

"before this started happening to something that was chlorinated in some way."

Did chlorination eat the metal ?
 
yep the wrong lube can & does cause this , the threads are indexed to be a crush fit & the correct lube helps obtain the correct "crush or barrel alignment"
if no lube or improper lube the stress is placed rite where that barrel seperated.
imagine lubin a bunch of barrels on friday eve , then monday morn screwing em on, properties of the lube evaporate, drip???????
don`t worry about Ruger ,they`ll make it right .
i hope the feller follows up on the resolution .


GP100man
 
It's easier to clean the barrel that way.

Don't you know, ruger's revolvers are designed with easy disassembly in mind? This might just be a feature.
 
I wouldn't buy that 'wrong lube' story, and I think that anyone who would believe it needs careful supervision if they hold a position that is responsible for anyone's money.

Overtorqueing in an attempt to line up the sight plane if the shoulder is not cut deep enough - maybe, to save having to setup and recut a run of bad parts. A production line CYA that failed.
 
Clear materials failure, looks like the barrel was twisted off from the profile of the fracture. I guess the force of the bullet pushing against the rifling could generate torque and twist the barrel off.

Is it possible this happened while someone was trying to remove the barrel and not while shooting?

In either event, bad materials. Glad they are replacing it - not surprised. Ruger, just like S&W is good about taking care of thngs.
 
It makes sense if the lubricant caused or allowed overtightening of the barrel, thus stressing it at exactly that point.

Ruger frames are cast but their cylinders and barrels are machined from bar stock.

jim
 
Someone in the other posting mentions that it looks like some JB Weld was used and the seller of the gun to the new owner did a number on him:eek:

It is quite a story, hope to read the end of it, sometime in December:)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top