Wedge,
I picked my new Ruger 5.5" SS .45 Colt RH up on the way to the range 3/11. Once there, I made a cursory inspection of the bore, etc, noting some scratches on the cylinder face amidst the dirty exit bores (It had obviously been well-tested!) and dropped a few drops of FP-10 in the lockwork openings before dry-firing it 500+ times. I then loaded it with some commercial 'Cowboy loads' and fired it - a whole six shots. I really think that there was a significant improvement over the 'out-of-the-box' trigger.
That night, I put my reading glasses on to clean it. Those scratches were deep - and honed over at the exit bores. Then I found a grainey bubble/casting flaw on the cylinder face. I bought the RH due to it's strong reputation - were there more voids? I didn't want to find out experimentally, so back it went - for three deep scratches (toolmarks?) leading from the cylinder bore exits and a casting void... it shot well, however. I did take it back to the range Saturday to 'show' some folks to ask their opinion concerning it's return, hearing such re-assuring remarks as 'What d'ya expect... it's a Ruger!'. I shot another cylinder full of those loads as did my wife (She liked it!). It was POA at 15 yd - we never missed the smaller (4") metal plates at 15yd.
My friend's RH, ordered/bought with mine, is worse. His actually had ftf's, was inaccurate, and would lock-up! He had fired ~50 rounds before he gave up and returned his, thinking his frame was warped. I did find a message from Ruger's service manager's secretary Tuesday PM - she said my revolver was 'at the range' again, that cylinder having been replaced weeks ago. They hoped to ship it by this weekend... having had it in their shop for over three weeks now.
While I cannot reccomend a .45 Colt RH at this time, I still highly endorse that SRH in .454 - and it isn't that much more! Mine has been faultless over the years - and a joy to shoot.
Stainz