Redhawk chronology question

[Odin]

When the Redhawk was first introduced, was it in 44 Mag only?

Which came next, stainless 44 or 45 Colt?

[Ken O'Neill]

Ken ´s remembered chronology:

1. 7-1/2“ stainless .44 Mag
2. 5-1/2“ stainless .44 mag.
3. Blued versions
4. .357 and .41 Mag. versions, 7-1/2 and 5-1/2“ stainless
5. .45 Colt stainless, both barrel lengths.
Then came the Alaskan and 4“ iterations.

[bradshaw]

Mar 15, 2021 0:53:30 GMT -5 Odin said:

When the Redhawk was first introduced, was it in 44 Mag only?

Which came next, stainless 44 or 45 Colt?

*****

Both Ruger Redhawk and S&W M-629 reached distribution in 1981. As an entirely new development, gestation of the Redhawk spanned, to the best of my knowledge, two to three years. As Bill Ruger told me, “There is a huge difference between toolroom and production.” I watched hardware for the Redhawk accumulate on the shop floor in Newport as the production aspect was sugared off. Gun writers handled toolroom guns in 1979 which looked for all the world like production. When S&W presented me an M-629 at the IHMSA Interbnationals in 1980, there were very few, and none released. My impression, the Ruger and S&W hit the pipeline simultaneous, with the Smith possibly ahead. Redhawks were going for two to three times retail. The 629 wasn’t cheap, either. My 629 had a finely serrated Combat trigger, which I was told was discontinued after 100 to 200 were made, replaced by smooth Combat trigger. Width of Combat trigger is between Standard and Target. The M-629 was introduced with 6” barrel, sans pin in top strap. Trigger & hammer were drop forged carbon steel, case hardened, then flash-chromed to resemble stainless.

The Redhawk had a stainless barrel which arrived at the Newport plant as a raw drop forging. Ruger machined the forging, then gun drilled the 7-1/2” barrel and pulled a broach through it with 1:20” RH twist. A few silhouettes run the Redhawk hard against steel. You couldn’t do anything to the gun. Nor could you reduce LETOFF below 3.25-pounds without the trigger rebounding to catch the falling hammer. Bill Ruger had explained exactly that minimum setoff setup with the mainspring doubling as trigger rebound spring. Some of the Redhawks were superb accurate, some not quite. The single action letoff quickly limited the gun’s potential for silhouette. As for digesting Rocks & Dynamite, the Redhawk blew away the Smith & Wesson, totally.

Not until 1982 did Ruger see fit to produce the Redhawk with 5-1/2” barrel, still very much a .44 Magnum. Redhawks in .357 & .41 Mag, and .45 Colt, had to wait in line, with far fewer produced. When I showed up with a Pachmayr Presentation grip on a Redhawk, Bill Ruger said, “What’s that?” Obviously, he wasn’t pleased. I shoot the 7-1/2” fine with stiff loads and factory grips. The 5-1/2” Redhawk, on the other hand, demands a Pachmayr grip, either Presentation or Gripper. Ruger knew he had carried his “one part does two jobs” concept too far with a single coil spring to drive hammer & rebound trigger. The coil doesn’t mimic the ability of the Colt V-leaf to actuate hammer and trigger in relative independence.

From my perspective, the Super Redhawk costs less than the Redhawk, as the barrel begins as round bar stock, which is drilled and hammer forged over a carbide mandrel to form rifling. The frame incorporates ejector shroud in the lost wax casting to minimize machining. The grip-spike concept promotes flexible grip design, while eliminating the machine & polish process on front & back straps. Further, the Super Redhawk topstrap incorporates cuts for Ruger rings, the least problematic scope location.
David Bradshaw

[rjm52]

My best friend bought one of the first 6" 629s..it is P&R...only the first year guns were so. He had the barrel shortened to 5" but never liked the way it came out. About 2004 I suggested to him that he call S&W and see if they would put an original 6" barrel on it. When he called he joking asked if they had any 5" barrels...and was told they had one 5" Classic full underlug left from a special run of guns that had been Mag-Na-Ported... He brought the gun over and they screwed the barrel on for him for very little money.

He ended up not liking the full underlug of the Classic but I loved the way it shot and traded him a 629-3 Mountain Gun for it.. My friend died in 2010 but I still hunted with his nephew. The nephew asked if I would find him a .44 just like his uncle's gun...so the gun went back to my friend's family...he wears it hunting every year when we go...

So my friend's 629 is the only P&R Classic S&W never made...

[contender]

I'll scan my Ruger catalogs tomorrow to get a published timeline.

[contender]

Ok, here's the chronology of the Redhawks.
1980 first introduced; .44 mag, stainless, 7-1/2" bbl.
1983, .44 mag with rings, stainless
1984; .357 & .41 mag, stainless, in both 5-1/2" & 7-1/2"
1986; .41 mag & .44 mag in blue, both 5-1/2" & 7-1/2". Also, .44 mag 7-1/2" in blue with rings.
1998; .45 Colt, stainless, 5-1/2" & 7-1/2"

So, to answer the Op, it was first introduced in 1980, in .44 mag, stainless only. The .45 Colt came MUCH later. And blued guns came after the stainless guns.

[bradshaw]

Mar 17, 2021 11:46:08 GMT -5 contender said:

Ok, here's the chronology of the Redhawks.
1980 first introduced; .44 mag, stainless, 7-1/2" bbl.
1983, .44 mag with rings, stainless
1984; .357 & .41 mag, stainless, in both 5-1/2" & 7-1/2"
1986; .41 mag & .44 mag in blue, both 5-1/2" & 7-1/2". Also, .44 mag 7-1/2" in blue with rings.
1998; .45 Colt, stainless, 5-1/2" & 7-1/2"

So, to answer the Op, it was first introduced in 1980, in .44 mag, stainless only. The .45 Colt came MUCH later. And blued guns came after the stainless guns.

*****

Tyrone.... I should have taken notes when the Redhawk as the Redhawk belly-crawled to production. Four big things were happening at Ruger while the Maximum was in development in the winter of 1980-81:
1) Redhawk .44 Magnum.
2) Red Label over/under 20 gauge.
3) Auto pistol in 9mm Luger.
4) Blackhawk .357 Maximum.

Oh, there were other developments. The 100 yard indoor range in Newport was torn up to make way for barrel forging machines. Whatever Redhawk production took place in 1980, it was small. It seems Ruger shipped me a Redhawk with 5-1/2” barrel in 1982. I may be wrong, but I took deer and othe game with with it, wore out an Uncle Mike’s Holster, then water-molded a leather scabbard for the 5-1/2” in that time frame.
David Bradshaw

[bigmuddy]

I traded my 7 1/2” Redhawk, purchased in 1982, for the first 5 1/2” I ever saw. The year was 1983. Couldn’t believe it when I saw that gun in the case at a very small country gunshop. In those days I read every publication I could get my hands on and had seen nothing about a shorter barrel option. Used the 5 1/2” to take my first handgun deer and still own it.

Dan

[x101airborne]

When was the Redhawk 45 Colt 4 inch introduced? It came factory with rubber grips instead of the nicer wood ones.

[contender]

David,, you may have gotten one of the pre-production 5-1/2" guns. Also, while I was digging in the catalogs for this info,, I know the Redhawk was actually being built in 1979,, but not cataloged until 1980. And it's formal introduction was 1980. And according the the RENE records,, only about 3610 of them were shipped in 1980. And it's HIGHLY possible your gun was made in 1982,, but didn't get into the catalog until 1984.
Understand,, that the printing of the catalogs & the actual release of some of these guns, once introduced,, can vary.
Heck,, the .357 Mag in the Redhawk isn't in the dealer price sheets,, but it is in the catalog.


I'd have to go & dig again,, but I think the 4" in 45 Colt,, was first introduced in 2007 or 2008. Don't quote me on that. That's from loose notes in the RENE.

[bradshaw]

Thanks , Tyrone.... you’re dates put actual release of the Redhawk sooner than the S&W M-629. Somewhere I have photo of Bill, Jr., shooting the Redhawk 7-1/2” in Croydon, New Hampshire. Although a modest consumer of ammunition, he, like his father, did not flinch. Both possessed an even squeeze and follow through. I don’t think the photo was ever published.

As for the Redhawk .357, considering the beating some competitors put on the M-27 with heavy bullets in its short cylinder, it should have been a candidate for the silhouette game.
David Bradshaw

[contender]

I was studying the history of Ruger long ago, and found that by getting the catalogs, the dealer price sheets, the distributor lists, the export catalogs, the export price sheets, the factory newsletters, (Insights,) Stockholder reports, as well as all the published books I could find, has allowed me to properly document stuff.

I have volumes of notebooks with all kinds of Ruger paperwork. As such,, I have a lot of stuff that even the factory doesn't have anymore. I even had a factory employee ask me for some stuff a while back. Seems they needed the info.
To me,, the printed materials,, even when not always correct,, (such as the offering of the XGI rifle, yet never produced for distribution,) helps prove what was going on at the factory during that timeframe.
Can you imagine having printed materials from Colt, S&W, Remington form the early years? Details & records are, to me, invaluable.

I just wish I'd started gathering that stuff 10-15 years earlier than I did.

And there are small holes in my paperwork collection. I'm always looking.

And you are correct about the .357 Redhawk & silhouette shooting. It could easily have been a serious competitor.

[salvo]

That’s one I need to pull out of the safe sometime soon, it hasn’t seen the light of day for decades. I bought it in the mid 80’s Stainless 7.5” with rings, I got a 2x silver Leopold for it and boy is it accurate! I remember 1.5 to 2” rested 100 yd groups. I took the scope off still have it with the rings installed. Tried Rugers express sights, didn’t like them so back to the stock sights, same with the grips, tried a couple aftermarket but went back and prefer the stock wood grips.
I’ll get it out this spring, God willing!

[parallaxbill]

I have this 1984 357 Redhawk. It's a tack driver. Beefy cylinder compared to a beefy 45 Colt Redhawk cylinder.

[contender]

Yep, them Redhawk 6-shot .357's are SERIOUS handguns!