RedHawk woes.

[Scott Tschirhart]

I sent my Ruger Redhawk .45/.45ACP back to Ruger because the chamber mouths are not lined up with the bore. The crane sits a little proud and a straight rod will hit one side of the cylinder and not another.

They cleaned it up and sent it back and they say it’s within specs.

Ok, but it’s not right. So I get to adjust it myself.

Shooting it yesterday shows that it is accurate enough but I’m getting some misfires……but it’s in specs.

Trimming the hammer nose a bit seems to make misfires more rare, but I still have them.

So I ordered an extended firing pin. Hopefully it will resolve the issue.

[Sarge]

Hi Scott, hope you and your family are doing well.

I went through a similar, frustrating exchange with Ruger over a 45 Blackhawk with a cylinder that was bored off center and off axis. At least your Redhawk wants to shoot well and that is encouraging.

You are on the right track with the extended firing pin. Ruger got stingy with firing pin protrusion after the Security/Service/Speed Six series. I went hammer & tongs on a problematic GP100, finally getting the firing pin protrusion up to 0.050" Hard to imagine that was 23 years ago.

https://www.thesixgunjournal.net/dialin ... er-gp-100/

I believe I'd try Taylor Throating to mitigate the cylinder alignment issue.

Good luck getting your Redhawk squared away and please keep us posted.

[marlinman93]

The attitude of "it's within specs" vs. being perfect is disappointing. A gun should be 100% reliable out of the box, regardless of spec parameters.

[samsi]

Scott, I feel your pain.

I was lucky with both the .44 RH's that I've owned, in that that they were both exceptional shooters and reliable. My 5.5" .45 hasn't been so happy, pretty sure it was built on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon and has had a few issues I've worked out in addition to FTF's. I've stoned the hammer nose a few times and it's gotten much better (but not 100%) with regard to the light strikes. Measuring the hammer nose is tough so I take a couple swipes with the stone and make sure there's no transfer bar pinch, then check function on the next range trip. I'm hesitant to check the chamber/bore alignment but it is reasonably accurate. It's pretty inexcusable that Ruger would build and sell a heavy field revolver this unreliable. At the time I found this one I was tickled to find one, but it's never been afield. I tinker with it and then it gets backburnered for a while.

Did you get the long firing pin from Bowen? I'm hoping I don't eventually have to go that route.

[Sarge]

The attitude of "it's within specs" vs. being perfect is disappointing. A gun should be 100% reliable out of the box, regardless of spec parameters.

That's what I've come to refer to as an "80% kit with a serial number".

[AJMD429]

The attitude of "it's within specs" vs. being perfect is disappointing. A gun should be 100% reliable out of the box, regardless of spec parameters.

That's what I've come to refer to as an "80% kit with a serial number".

True. But at least with the real 80% kit you get the satisfaction of building it yourself and saving a bunch of money; when it's a manufacturer messup, you pay even MORE eventually, and the 'do it yourself' part is nowhere near as fun.

My Rugers have generallyl been 'perfect', but many are older ones. The 45 Colt/ACP convertible Redhawk I have would not always fire double-action - about every 20th shot the trigger would make it halfway back and then lock up. I sent it back, and so far it's been fine. Until it fires AT LEAST 500 rounds without the slightest hiccup, it isn't going to be my 'bear' gun... (I'll have to 'settle' for my 44 Mag Redhawk instead...)

[Scott Tschirhart]

To be fair, I have an older .45/.454 Redhawk that is perfectly lined up. I can fix this but I shouldn’t have to

[samsi]

The attitude of "it's within specs" vs. being perfect is disappointing. A gun should be 100% reliable out of the box, regardless of spec parameters.

That's what I've come to refer to as an "80% kit with a serial number".

True. But at least with the real 80% kit you get the satisfaction of building it yourself and saving a bunch of money; when it's a manufacturer messup, you pay even MORE eventually, and the 'do it yourself' part is nowhere near as fun.

My Rugers have generallyl been 'perfect', but many are older ones. The 45 Colt/ACP convertible Redhawk I have would not always fire double-action - about every 20th shot the trigger would make it halfway back and then lock up. I sent it back, and so far it's been fine. Until it fires AT LEAST 500 rounds without the slightest hiccup, it isn't going to be my 'bear' gun... (I'll have to 'settle' for my 44 Mag Redhawk instead...)

Mine had that DA jam too, it was a combination of the cylinder latch not going fully home and the upper rear corner of the hand colliding. Some polishing and a couple gazillion dry fires have solved that issue. My other issue was throats at .449-.450, made top end loads eventful.

[CowboyTutt]

Scott, it sounds like the dreaded "Ruger 45 Colt Curse" rears its ugly head again. I thought it was only in Blackhawks, dismayed it applies to Redhawks too. If for some reason you decide to Taylor throat it, you might as well send it to Gary Reeder and have it "Maxi Throated". It's an improved Taylor throat. -Tutt

[Walt]

A couple of years ago I bought a new Bisley Flattop in .44 special and the hole in the bottom of the cylinder frame through which the cylinder stop protrudes was oversized resulting in a lot of play. I don't mind working on Blackhawks since I'm quite familiar with them (and I have the Jerry Kuhnhausen shop manual) so I ordered an oversized cylinder stop from Power Custom. Admittedly I disassembled it a few times but now there's no radial play and my range rod shows that the chambers and bore are aligned. I also reamed the forcing cone to 5°, polished it and fire-lapped the barrel.

I have owned only one Redhawk (.45 ACP/.45 Colt) but I gave it to our son after a while. not because of issues but it just seemed like a nice gift. I do not have any further experience with Redhawks.

[Ysabel Kid]

Wow, this hurts to read. I thought Ruger stood behind their products better.

[AmBraCol]

Fermin Garza offers a cylinder honing service for improving cylinder mouths and alignment. It sounds like you've got other issues as well, though.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Wow, this hurts to read. I thought Ruger stood behind their products better.

This is unusual. Other people have sent in guns and Ruger customer service has been uniformly excellent. This time I may have to speak with someone at Ruger.

[44shooter]

Yeah I can't say I've never had any problems with Ruger's but they made it right. Even one that wasn't their fault..

[Scott Tschirhart]

A little file work and I was able to correct the timing on my RedHawk. Took me three or four minutes.

Seems like a total waste of time and money to send it to Ruger.

Solved the poor ignition problem with a Bowen firing pin replacement.

[Grizz]

Scott, my redhawk has the ftf feature, could you post a link to the firing pin source? I guess I will do the chambers myself, sizing them to my bullets. Then on to the forcing cone I suppose, and then to fire-lap. Seems like more than 20% to me.

Do you have any photos of adjusting the timing?

Thanks
Grizz

[Ray]

Back when the redhawk was new (blued .44) there were seldom any problems then came the stainless model in '82 and misfires were attributed to this part, https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1004344985
being assembled incorrectly (upside-down).

I was given a stainless .44 5 1/2" in 1984 while still in high school by a retired missionary and it came, in the ubiquitous grey plastic box, with a spare hammer link in a tiny manila pouch. The original did indeed break during dry-firing and a call to ruger advised to put the new one flip-side to the old and they sent me a spare for that spare. That yellow plastic disk was only meant to be an unloaded indicator and not a dry-firing buffer as was commonly thought back in the day.

[Bill in Oregon]

"Still in high school in 1984"???
Ray, I did not realize what a young man you are. I graduated in 1971, and I know we have a LOT of good friends here who are older than I am. That doesn't seem possible, but then I have been installing flooring for the past few days as a total "layman" and feel every day of my life, plus a few thousand extra ...
Scott, I am glad you got your Redhawk sorted. I agree that it's just not right for some of our most beloved armsmakers to tell us their product is just fine when it clearly is not.

[Ray]

"Still in high school in 1984"???
Ray, I did not realize what a young man you are. I graduated in 1971, and I know we have a LOT of good friends here who are older than I am. That doesn't seem possible, but then I have been installing flooring for the past few days as a total "layman" and feel every day of my life, plus a few thousand extra ...
Scott, I am glad you got your Redhawk sorted. I agree that it's just not right for some of our most beloved armsmakers to tell us their product is just fine when it clearly is not.

I was born the day the Foresttal shot itself !

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tIE2QfDzmGc

[Grizz]

thanks for the link Ray, have some parts coming. my hammer has a dimple where it contacts the firing pin. which suggests a little dab of JB might make the adjustment. the firing pin, just eyeballing it, doesn't seem to have much presence at full pressure. know anything more about the ftf feature?

[Scott Tschirhart]

Scott, my redhawk has the ftf feature, could you post a link to the firing pin source? I guess I will do the chambers myself, sizing them to my bullets. Then on to the forcing cone I suppose, and then to fire-lap. Seems like more than 20% to me.

Do you have any photos of adjusting the timing?

Thanks
Grizz

I’m glad you asked. You can’t get the extra length firing pin from Bowen. Out of stock. TK Custom has them but they are hard to find on their website. I ordered three and had them in three or four days.

[Scott Tschirhart]

No, I didn’t take photos while adjusting the timing. Sorry.

But it was really simple to do. In my case the cylinder needed to move to the right ( from the shooter’s perspective). So I could see where the crane was contacting the frame and I removed very little metal from the contact point. Easy does it because just a little change here leads to a bigger move at the chamber.

On a Smith you can actually bend the crane (and some people do this unintentionally by abusing their revolver) but the Redhawk won’t respond to that kind of treatment.

[Grizz]

No, I didn’t take photos while adjusting the timing. Sorry.

But it was really simple to do. In my case the cylinder needed to move to the right ( from the shooter’s perspective). So I could see where the crane was contacting the frame and I removed very little metal from the contact point. Easy does it because just a little change here leads to a bigger move at the chamber.

On a Smith you can actually bend the crane (and some people do this unintentionally by abusing their revolver) but the Redhawk won’t respond to that kind of treatment.

Thanks Scott ..