new ruger redhawk 45ACP/45Colt

[gunfighter48]

Got My New Ruger Redhawk 45ACP/45 Colt Revolver Today

I bought this Redhawk about 3 weeks ago on the Internet from Crossfire Arms in Vermont. This was my first Internet purchase, I've always bought locally. But NO ONE had the new Redhawk in stock locally. Dawn at Crossfire sent the gun to the mailing address on the FFL forms from a local gun shop about 3 minutes from where I live. Neither of us knew that the mailing address was no longer valid. The USPS said they would send it to the forwarding address, yea right!!!!!!!!!!! After over a week they sent it back to Crossfire Arms. Dawn let me know the gun was safe and she then sent it to the gun shop address. The customer service from Crossfire Arms has been fantastic and Dawn was just great to deal with. Lesson learned, MAKE SURE the FFL info is current and complete. I just got the gun this afternoon and it's a beauty!!! Fit and finish are excellent, built like a battleship, and the trigger pulls are on the heavy side but very smooth. It's a Davidson's gun so comes with their lifetime warranty. I have Thursday and Friday off. So I'll be taking it to the range on Friday. The ammo in the pictures is 325gr. 1155 ft per sec. I also have some cowboy Colt loads and some 45ACP loads to shoot thru it. It does require Ruger moon clips for this model 5032 and they are 3 for $14.95 and I bought 18 more from Ruger. I found some from TK Custom, they're more expensive but made of better metal so I bought 20 more. I expect that once it's been out for a while other manufactures will get on the wagon and put out moon clips for it. Should be set for moon clips for a while. This is my first double action revolver, I've always had single action guns. My New Blackhawk convertible that I bought a few months ago is a single action.

 

[gunfighter48]

Just got back from the range and the Redhawk shoots just fine. I shot 3 different Colt loads: Cowboy handload of 7.8grs Unique with 200grn Lasercast LRNFP bullet, Black Hills 250 gr Cowboy load, HSM 325gr Bear Loads 1155fps. I also shot 45ACP 230gr FMJ American Eagle load. This is my first Double action heavy duty pistol and I'm definitely going to need to do some practice to get good with this pistol. I kept the front sight level with the top of the rear sight when shooting and was holding at 6 o'clock and trying to hit the bullseye on a 6" Shoot N C target at about 30-35 ft. The 200gr handload cowboy loads shot about 6in high with a 6 o'clock hold. I was hitting above the 6" target. The Black Hills 250gr cowboy loads shot about 2 in high with a 6 o'clock hold so I was hitting about 2" above the bullseye. The 325 Bear Loads were hitting within 2-3 inches of the bullseye. These were VERY stout loads and even with a light weight shooters glove (the only time I used the glove was with the Bear Loads) I got bit by holding to far up on the grip. The very top of the grip nailed me as the pistol rolled back during recoil. I need to adjust my grip a little downward so it's not right at the top of the grip frame on those heavy loads. The 45ACP loads shot very well in the moon clips and they extracted just fine. I was hitting about 8in high with the 230gr FMJ loads. The pistol does roll back during recoil and is due to the design of the round butt grip. There's nothing wrong with that, I'm just not used to that style of grip. All shots were fired standing unsupported. I need to get myself a decent pistol rest to set the sights accurately as to POA/POI. The variances in the different shot heights was more due to my shooting than the pistol. All shots were done single action style. I'll have to decide what load I want so sight in with as my "Standard Load". Then set the sights for bullseye with that load.

My Blackhawk convertible 45ACP/45 Colt doesn't roll back in the hand like the Redhawk. It has more of a straight back push, much like my 1911s in 45ACP. Like I said I will need to do some practice with this revolver to get good with it. But all things considered I am extremely pleased with this revolver, well worth the money. It way very accurate once I figured out where to aim to get in the bullseye area of the target. I was getting 3-4 in groups which is average for me with a new gun. That will get down to 2 in groups as I get more practice in with the new gun!!

 

[Paddy]

Can someone tell me the bore size of this gun? Because a colt and acp have about 3mil difference in diameter. And the brass does too so doesnt this damage acp brass when fired?

 

[DPris]

Expands a bit larger in fire-forming, but doesn't damage it.
Denis

 

[gunfighter48]

Originally Posted by Flashcube
I bought one.... and then was immediately pissed off at Ruger over it. In typical Ruger fashion, it ONLY uses Ruger's moon clips. No-go on the piles of clips I use with my Colt's and Smiths even though the chamber spacing is the same... heck, the Ruger clips don't work in my other revolvers either...

I gave Ruger their scout rifle mag BS once they got a cheap version on the market, but seriously $14.95 + shipping for THREE clips!? Really!? You can get ten from Wilson Combat plus a de-mooning tool for that much...

The supplied clips from Ruger are not even very good... Knocked a loaded one off my desk and it bent badly enough to be ruined, steel was butter soft. Makes them easy to load and unload by hand, but bending from a drop of maybe three feet tops isn't acceptable.
About the steel in the moon clips being soft, if someone here could do a Rockwell hardness test on them compared to the S&W clips, I'm sure all of us here would be interested to hear which steel is harder.

I bought 20 moonclips from TK Custom and they are supposed to be much better metal. I'll report back once I get them and try them at the range. They're not cheap 10 for $74.50 but if they ARE better they will be worth it. Once the pistol has been out for a while I figure more manufactures will be making moonclips for the Redhawk 5032.

 

[gunfighter48]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flashcube
I bought one.... and then was immediately pissed off at Ruger over it. In typical Ruger fashion, it ONLY uses Ruger's moon clips. No-go on the piles of clips I use with my Colt's and Smiths even though the chamber spacing is the same... heck, the Ruger clips don't work in my other revolvers either...

I gave Ruger their scout rifle mag BS once they got a cheap version on the market, but seriously $14.95 + shipping for THREE clips!? Really!? You can get ten from Wilson Combat plus a de-mooning tool for that much...

The supplied clips from Ruger are not even very good... Knocked a loaded one off my desk and it bent badly enough to be ruined, steel was butter soft. Makes them easy to load and unload by hand, but bending from a drop of maybe three feet tops isn't acceptable.
About the steel in the moon clips being soft, if someone here could do a Rockwell hardness test on them compared to the S&W clips, I'm sure all of us here would be interested to hear which steel is harder.

I bought 20 moonclips from TK Custom and they are supposed to be much better metal. I'll report back once I get them and try them at the range. They're not cheap 10 for $74.50 but if they ARE better they will be worth it. Once the pistol has been out for a while I figure more manufactures will be making moonclips for the Redhawk 5032.

I got the TK Custom moon clips in the mail today. I measured 20 of the Ruger moon clips and they ran from .030" to .0335" thick. I don't guaranty the accuracy of my digital calipers but still quite a variation in thickness. I measured 20 of the TK moon clips and they all measured exactly .033", no variation.

Here's a picture of the moon clips. The Rugers are on the right and the TK on the left. I won't be able to get back to the range until next Wed. I'll try some other brands of 45ACP FMJ in the Ruger moon clips. I'll also try all the ammo brands in the TK moon clips and see if there is a stopping problem with the TK moon clips.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=217001&stc=1&d=1450398568

 

[gunfighter48]

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flashcube
I bought one.... and then was immediately pissed off at Ruger over it. In typical Ruger fashion, it ONLY uses Ruger's moon clips. No-go on the piles of clips I use with my Colt's and Smiths even though the chamber spacing is the same... heck, the Ruger clips don't work in my other revolvers either...

I gave Ruger their scout rifle mag BS once they got a cheap version on the market, but seriously $14.95 + shipping for THREE clips!? Really!? You can get ten from Wilson Combat plus a de-mooning tool for that much...

The supplied clips from Ruger are not even very good... Knocked a loaded one off my desk and it bent badly enough to be ruined, steel was butter soft. Makes them easy to load and unload by hand, but bending from a drop of maybe three feet tops isn't acceptable.
About the steel in the moon clips being soft, if someone here could do a Rockwell hardness test on them compared to the S&W clips, I'm sure all of us here would be interested to hear which steel is harder.

Quote:
I bought 20 moonclips from TK Custom and they are supposed to be much better metal. I'll report back once I get them and try them at the range. They're not cheap 10 for $74.50 but if they ARE better they will be worth it. Once the pistol has been out for a while I figure more manufactures will be making moonclips for the Redhawk 5032.
I got the TK Custom moon clips in the mail today. I measured 20 of the Ruger moon clips and they ran from .030" to .0335" thick. I don't guaranty the accuracy of my digital calipers but still quite a variation in thickness. I measured 20 of the TK moon clips and they all measured exactly .033", no variation.

Here's a picture of the moon clips. The Rugers are on the right and the TK on the left. I won't be able to get back to the range until next Wed. I'll try some other brands of 45ACP FMJ in the Ruger moon clips. I'll also try all the ammo brands in the TK moon clips and see if there is a stopping problem with the TK moon clips.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachmen...1&d=1450398568
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: Runger Redhawk Moon Clips.jpg Views: 7 Size: 47.1 KB ID: 217001

I got to the range this afternoon and tried the Ruger and TK Custom moon clips with 3 different brands of ammo. I used American Eagle, Winchester White Box, and bulk reloads from Surplus Arms and Ammo in Tacoma WA. All were factory loads of 230gr FMJ. I had miked the moon clips and found that the TK clips were .033" with no variations. The Ruger clips measured .030" to .0335". So I chose the Ruger clips that were .033" so they would match the TK clips of the same thickness. I used 4 of each brand of moon clips chosen at random. Stoppages were when I had to open the cylinder and push down on the moon clip and shut the cylinder to get the gun to fire again. There were a few times when I had to use extra force on the hammer to get the cylinder to turn but didn't have to open the cylinder and close it again to get the gun to fire. I only had that issue 4 times with the TK clips and well over a dozen times with the Ruger clips.

I shot each of the 4 moon clips with each of the three brands of ammo. So I did 24 shots of each ammo and for each set of four moon clips. Not a terrific amount but enough to get some idea for what was going on. You'll see in the attached photo of the chart that the Ruger clips did much worse than the TK clips with all 3 brand of ammo. So I can't say that the whole stoppage problem is with the moon clips. But as you can see in the table it has a large impact on the stoppage problem with 45ACPs. The TK clips took more pressure to load the round than the Ruger clips. I'd say the TK clips hold the ammo more tightly than the Ruger moon clips.

On a side note I got the POA/POI figured out today. I had to hold about 8" below the bullseye on a 6" Shoot N C target to hit the bullseye. The Redhawk is very accurate if I do my part! I also found that a high grip gave me the most control and better groups with the 45ACPs.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=217182&stc=1&d=1450933275