A repost of my review when I got it back in Feb
My First Impressions with a Ruger Firearm
This 44magnum is surely built like a tank, but the 4inch ruger balances well and points very easy and natural, to me it does not feel as heavy as it looks. It is very easy to get your sight alignment and sight picture with this weapon even though the barrel length is only 4inches. The trigger pull is just right for my big hands but seems to be a bit long in DA, even in SA there is a bit of take up that is longer than any other revolver I have shot. For reference I have been shooting for about 15 years and during this time I have owned and shot these big bore revolvers of 44magnum and greater, Colt Anaconda44, Raging Bull44, S&W629, S&W29, S&W460, S&W500. The recoil of the Ruger seems to be more of a flip than a straight push back to the palm of your hand like the S&W629 exhibits. The Ruger seems to flip back and torques left but with that being said it is not uncomfortable to shoot. For a 44 exiting a 4 inch barrel I was able to aquire sight alignment and sight picture very quickly to return the weapon back on target. Tonight I only put 60 rounds through it as there were a bunch of women on the range and every time I pulled the trigger or went in my lane with this weapon they would stop shooting and watch me. Though I love my big bore revolvers I hate spoiling others time on the range so I shot in between them taking breaks or reloading.
Ammo Used
The local shop where I purchased the firearm threw in two boxes of Magtech JSP 240 grain projectiles. The photo attached to this thread shows the first 5 shots I took. The Ruger seems to shoot high out of the box. Now before you all question the ammo, I reload 44 as well and tonight I used 200grain HornadyXTP on top of 16.3gr of BlueDot with large pistol primer and those shot high as well. I had a friend tag along as he had a brand new Kimber 9mm to to break in as well, he tried it and thought it shot left and high for him, once again for me it was just a tad bit high. The distance we were using was 15 yards. And of course there were no malfuctions.
Overall Thoughts
I love this firearm but is it perfect NO! When pulling the trigger as the cylinder spins you can feel a slight clunk in the palm of your hand as it locks up, but it does lock up very tight. I noticed with me it caused a slight jerk of the trigger a few times, this will take some getting used to for me. Though my friend that tagged along said he could feel it and knew what I was talking about it did not bother him one bit. Is this weapon a keeper it sure is and I suspect I will have it a very long time as I do not purchase weapons to resale, I want to keep them for life unless I buy a lemon and knock on wood that has not happened yet. After all these years for my very first ruger I think I made a good purchase. And note to Ruger you should have had this out years ago!
A Few Months Later
With full house loads the recoil is snappy as described above but very controllable and I have got used to the ruger lockup and have growned to love it, so much that I have purchased 3 other Rugers since the purchase of the 44 4inch redhawk.
I'd get one. They are great little guns.
