New 45 Colt Ruger 4"

[Forester]

Has anyone shot or handled one of the new Ruger 4" Redhawks in 45Colt? I am itching for big bore revolver and this seems like a fun gun to play with.

The gun will be sort of an all purpose piece, sometimes woods carry, sometime town, sometimes range gun and may take a deer or two.

[XBT]

I found one of the older ones with the 5 ½ inch barrel in a gun shop a few months ago. I added a set of Pachmayer presentation grips and replaced the front sight with a fiber optic sight from Midway. The fiber optic sights are a great aid for old eyes, and I have found that I only need one on the front to shoot reasonably well.

I am using the 255 grn. SWC mould from RCBS and it shoots well in all the .45’s I’ve tried it in. For the Redhawk and my old Blackhawk I’m using a mix of about 2/3 wheelweights and 1/3 pure lead. In the .454 I use wheelweights and linotype for a much harder boolit.

The Redhawk is a large revolver and somewhat heavy to carry but for me the big gun is easy to shoot well. It has quickly become one of my favorites. Ten grns. of unique chronographs at 1050 FPS and is my standard load for both .45’s. If you were inclined to hotrod a .45 the Redhawk is a good choice as I’m sure it would handle about any reasonable load.

I don’t think you will be disappointed in a .45 Redhawk, I just wish that I had bought one sooner.

[Lloyd Smale]

I had one ordered and ended up canceling it. I wanted a 44 mag though instead of a 45 colt. I went a differnt route and had dustin linebaugh take a 7.5 inch gun and cut it to 3.5 and round but it. He fittled it with black micartas and a post front sight. Its a great little gun and one ive been carrying alot. I havent shot anything with it but kelly Shlepp sent me a pile of his new 300 grain brass punch bullets to test in it and he wants me to kill something with them to see how well they work. I think this fall i will shoot a buffalo with them out of it. I should be able to get 1400-1500 fps out of the redhawk with those bullets and it should be a killing sob. My buddy and i have done alot of testing with those punch bullets and there just amazing as to how much pentration you can get out of them. I dont think you can go wrong with one in 45 or 44. Personaly i cant stand the grips that come on them but a pair of standard redhawk grips can easily replace those ugly rubbers.

[exile]

Buffalo with a 3 1/2 inch barrel. Please let us know what the results are like, complete with pictures if you have them. That would give me new ideas for hunting with my Mountain Gun. Thanks.

[Lloyd Smale]

Ive shot one buffalo allready with my 4 5/8s super 44 mag with a load that was no where near as powerful as the one i plan to use in the redhawk.

[Tom Herman]

Has anyone shot or handled one of the new Ruger 4" Redhawks in 45Colt? I am itching for big bore revolver and this seems like a fun gun to play with.

The gun will be sort of an all purpose piece, sometimes woods carry, sometime town, sometimes range gun and may take a deer or two.

You'll love the Redhawk! I have two: They are both .45 LC and Stainless... My favorite is the 7-1/2" bbl, my "snubbie" is the 5-1/2"... I've read that Ruger now has the 4" bbl length available. I've been twitching and drooling over it.
As you said, the 4" should be the best all around gun. Although I can conceal the 5-1/2", the 4" would be perfect.
My alloy is essentially 50/50 lead to wheel weights, with 2% Tin thrown in... I use a Lyman mould that throws a 255 grain .452 slug. Lube is SPG.
This loading gives me great accuracy, and minimal leading. Speed is somewhere around 800 FPS.
One very irritating thing that happened to me was that both guns needed work: The 7-1/2" was bought new, and the fired rounds wouldn't extract properly!
The star plate holds the shell for more than 180 degrees, so a fired shell is captured (unlike my Smiths, where the shells are only held for about a third of the circumference, so the shells drop free easily).
Some of the shells would stick in the chamber as well.
This essentially negated the use of the gun for self defense purposes.
The 7-1/2" gun then exited stage left for a vacation to the Ruger factory in NH.
It came back about 2-3 months later. Apparently, they must have reamed the chambers slightly, and done the same to the star plate.
Now the rounds extract fine, as it should be.
I bought the 5-1/2" about three quarters of a year later. It was a gently used gun that must have come through someone that thought of himself as a gunsmith: It had the same problems as the first, plus a couple rounds every cylinder failed to fire.
The dealer refused to give me a refund, so it, too, went back for repair.
Almost a maddening year later, it finally found its way back and works just as good as the first one.
The 7-1/2" goes out into the woods with me, and the 5-1/2" usually rides around with me. Stainless is not an option here on the wet side of Washington!
I sure hope the 4" works well right out of the box! I've not had any problems with the Colt or Smith .45 LC's...

Happy Shootin'! -Tom