New / Corrected Redhawk 44 Mag

[Bass Ackward]

For those that don't know or remember, I had purchased a 5 1/2" Redhawk in 44 Mag. This is what I actually wanted before I bought the 7 1/2" model that I was playing with all last year. But as my luck with Ruger's runs, this one had .... deficiencies. Glaring was the fact bullets slammed the top of the forcing cone and it had a ton of end play.

I am not set-up to handle this work myself, so I sent it off to be done. This gun also had .432 throats married to a .429 bore and it didn't like to be choked accuracy wise and it leaded with bore diameter bullets. It would shoot 2" at 25 yards on a good day IF .... I went hard as a rock. Obviously this was going to have to wear the gun considerably to accomplish break in. There is plenty of play for rotating the cylinder into line laterally, but nothing up or down. And .... I wanted to shoot soft and not have a sloppy piece, so off it went.

I had the end play removed and the cylinder faced so that the barrel could be set back to a minimum. The barrel was placed into the center of the frame at the correct angle so that bullets could .... try to go down the center of the bore instead of banking shots off the cone. Once, this was done satisfactorily, the forcing cone was recut, Taylor throated to smooth the transition from .432 down to .429 using a .431 freebore and a 1/2 degree taper, and the crown trued up so everything would be copacetic.

I shot a couple of boxes of high pressure jacketed through it and one of those Tubb's lapping kits. So far, this has been a case where everything worked out as I had hoped. The taylor throating sort of makes for a tapered bore situation that now transitions the bullet better. Loads developed for my other guns all are at or below the 2" level. And it don't care if diameter is .432 down to .430. It .... has a hankering for soft lead rivaling my 25-2. :grin:

Once it gets broken in and used to the new dimensions, I suspect things will improve and I am looking forward to develop loads strictly for it. While I don't advocate this for every gun, it does make life better when it solves a problem and this should extend the life of this gun. At least it has extended my ownership of it. :grin:

[Nueces]

Bass,

Glad to hear of your success. I know it felt risky to have all that work done and it's fine that it turned out so well.

I've found lots of revolvers with canted barrels (look down the muzzle, center the forcing cone with the crown, and check how centered the firing pin hole is, with a bore light behind it). How did your smith fix your Redhawk? And, if you feel OK with saying, who is this merciful angel?

Also, would you mind sharing the chamber leade diameters of your 25-2? Mine are 0.456, and I have other wheelguns with gaping charge holes. I'm real interested in how well the Taylor throat has helped you. I have the Brownell revolver barrel reamer set, but my life doesn't 'start' for another couple of months.

I thirst for knowledge. By the way, the Wealth of education and experience right here is going to simplify my life in another way. My Chief of Staff will appreciate this, too. I'm going to drop the large number of gunzines that I've subscribed to all these years, in favor of keeping up with this board. I learn more here in one session than I do from a whole month of scanning mags. They used to be where the cutting edge of experimentation was explored. No longer.

Mark

[Bass Ackward]

Bass,

Glad to hear of your success. I know it felt risky to have all that work done and it's fine that it turned out so well.

I've found lots of revolvers with canted barrels (look down the muzzle, center the forcing cone with the crown, and check how centered the firing pin hole is, with a bore light behind it). How did your smith fix your Redhawk? And, if you feel OK with saying, who is this merciful angel?

Also, would you mind sharing the chamber leade diameters of your 25-2? Mine are 0.456, and I have other wheelguns with gaping charge holes. I'm real interested in how well the Taylor throat has helped you. I have the Brownell revolver barrel reamer set, but my life doesn't 'start' for another couple of months.

I thirst for knowledge.

Mark

Mark,

I didn't feel it was necessarily that much risk. I have had Jim Stroh of Alpha Precision do work for me before. I have a Bisley that was lined bore by him and that thing is like a rifle. I just have never been 100 % satisfied with any double action except for the 25-2. It's the finest match for frame size and cartridge and fairly precision too. I have a 329pd that is very tight and accurate, but I worry about high pressure stuff through it loosening everything up. I really wanted the strength of a Redhawk, but after two failures, decided to make one right.

I couldn't tell you what the diameter is on the entrance. I will have to check. I never slugged it, just used hole gauges. The throats at exit are .452 with a .451 groove as close as I can measure. Most all guns these days have a taper at the start of the throat in case someone can fit a bullet properly and it allows the cylinder to index. Or if someone is shooting Specials that have to slide up the ramp and center first. I think it actually aids plain base bullets a little too.

Misalignment may be a minor thing. If you have misalignment from side to side, the cylinder is free to rotate some, but up and down, stress is put on the crane until the forcing cone wears away or it shoots lose. I think this adds to end play. I am guessing as to what was actually done. Looks like truing up the frame and barrel shoulder. When you shot it, you got that goop they use on the threads to come out the top of that junction so that was my hint. End play removal could have corrected alignment some too. At least it has on my other Redhawk that I did myself using those .002 shims.

Taylor throating comes up from time to time. I believe that it has to solve a problem before I would claim it improves. Like when you have throats way over your barrel groove diameter. But if you had a gun, with say .430 throats and a .429 groove, and you Taylored it to .431, it would be just like having undersized throats as far as I am concerned. I would never do it under those circumstances.

In my case, the transitioning has helped to date. But I am just getting started too. No leading either. But remember, it could be simply that the gun would have shot better just from correcting the problems. Who knows? But shipping is so much these days, that I just decided to add the $80 and get it done then because of my dimensions. All a taylor throat really is is a worn in throat, precision cut to be true with the bore. Think of it as fire lapping and barrel break-in without firing a shot. I hate that routine with handguns.

[Bass Ackward]

Also, would you mind sharing the chamber leade diameters of your 25-2? Mine are 0.456, and I have other wheelguns with gaping charge holes. Mark


Mark,

Near as I can tell the entrance to the throat at the top of the case ramp is .456. Hard to measure accurately because there is no flat just a steady taper down from the beginning.

My guess is so that people can chamber .454 stuff made for the Long Colt and not have problems indexing. Just a guess. I only slugged one too, just so you know.

[Nueces]

Thanks, Bass

I'll bet you're right, that barrel straightened out after 'squarifying' the mating surfaces. I wouldn't have worried about sending a piece to Jim Stroh, either. We are all fortunate to have the likes of him to turn to.

My 25-2 is an early 3-screw and the leades are 0.456 all the way from the end of the chamber to the end of the cylinder, measured with a Starrett dial bore gauge. At least they're all round. I have found some nice revolvers with an oval chamber leade or two. Back when this was my only 45 and I wanted to get better burning from slower powders, I thought about setting up a cylinder with tapered leades, to slow the bullet exit and give the powder more time to burn. Yours is the first such cylinder I've heard of.

I had thought that your leades were oversize also, therefore the Taylor throat. Sounds like my piece is a more likely candidate. I expect I'll just ream it at 11 degrees with the Brownells tools.

I may have confused this discussion some by possibly misusing the term 'leade' to refer to the nominally cylindrical part of the charge hole ahead of the chamber. If so, I'm sorry and promise to be goo....no, that never takes....I'll call it what y'all want, until I forget.

Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Mark