raven5
.240 Incinerator
Posts: 73
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Post by raven5 on Aug 22, 2020 17:31:08 GMT -5
I made the cylinder swap as well on my 5.5". I like the non-fluted cylinder look a little better.
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cdf41
.30 Stingray
Posts: 397
Member is Online
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Post by cdf41 on Aug 28, 2020 11:22:18 GMT -5
Anybody sees a 454 crane assy shoot me a message.
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Snyd
.375 Atomic
The Last Frontier
Posts: 2,387
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Post by Snyd on Sept 14, 2020 19:36:48 GMT -5
Anybody sees a 454 crane assy shoot me a message. I doubt you'll have much luck finding a crane assembly. Now and then a cylinder pops up for sale. Which is all you need anyway for the swap. I think the cranes are fit to the frames. One option is to buy a SRH 454, pull the cylinder, send the gun back to Ruger for a new cylinder install. Then sell the SRH or keep em both!
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Sarge
.30 Stingray
Posts: 344
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Post by Sarge on Sept 21, 2020 23:11:23 GMT -5
Just FWIW I ran a blue 5 1/2" 44 Redhawk pretty hard 2000-2005, primarily using data from a Layne Simpson article ".44 Magnum Heavyweights" in the March 1992 edition of Shooting Times. I ran the Hunter's Supply 300 grain cast bullet and the 300 grain XTP (seated in the lower cannelure) over healthy doses of H110 to 1350 fps. Mine was a really tight old revolver and it was good for 3.5-4 MOA with both bullets. I killed a couple of whitetail deer with those loads and on broadside shots, and didn't see a marked improvement over regular 240 grain JHPs or SWCs at similar speeds.
I got along fine with the factory stocks for 240/1400 loads. For heavier and/or faster I really liked the Butler Creek grips pictured a few posts up.
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Post by 45MAN on Sept 26, 2020 14:33:20 GMT -5
BACK BEFORE RUGER CHAMBERED THE REDHAWK IN 45 COLT I HAD LINEBAUGH CONVERT A 5.5 INCH SS 44 MAG REDHAWK TO 45 COLT. TRAPR IS THINKING ABOUT CONVERTING A 44 MAG REDHAWK TO TIGHT 45 COLT SPECS SO TRAPR SHOT MY LINEBAUGH REDHAWK TODAY (9/26/20) WITH MY CURRENT LOAD: TOP BRASS BRASS, FED 155M PRIMERS, 21.5grs OF N-110, AND A 300gr CAST WFN, IT CHRONO'ed 1,200fps. HE ALSO SHOT IT WITH SOME 1995 LOADS OF STARLINE BRASS, CCI 350 PRIMERS, 28.3grs OF 296 POWDER AND THE 250gr XTP BULLET, IT CHRONO'ed 1,550fps, WHICH IS WHAT I REMEMBER THAT LOAD DOING BACK IN 1995. THE 300gr LOAD SHUD BE OK IN BLACKHAWKS ALSO BUT THE LATTER LOAD WITH THE XTP's IS PROBABLY BEST RESERVED FOR REDHAWKS.
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Post by bigbrowndog on Sept 26, 2020 14:50:05 GMT -5
They shot pretty good too,.....2-2.5” at 45 yards.
Trapr
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akray
.30 Stingray
"Alaska is what the Wild West was"
Posts: 388
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Post by akray on Sept 30, 2020 15:06:16 GMT -5
I bought a 4" 45 Colt Redhawk years ago and it was fine just the way it was, but then I read about Snyd's and others experiences with the 454 Casull cylinder and socked that info away in the memory bank. When a cylinder turned up about 5 years ago for eighty bucks I called the guy and was able to buy it. He was doing the same thing, switching the 45 Colt cylinder in his gun and somehow ended up with two 454 cylinders. He used the one he liked better and sold the extra to me. I took it to my gunsmith who installed it and made sure it fit properly. I've gone with standard Redhawk grips on mine and they work well enough. Between 454 ammo being expensive and the fact that I've learned from those who have fired many rounds through hard kickers and that many of those have problems with their wrist and hands now, it doesn't get shot a lot. I have carried it regularly this fall and have been happy with it.
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Post by bradshaw on Sept 30, 2020 20:57:36 GMT -5
BACK BEFORE RUGER CHAMBERED THE REDHAWK IN 45 COLT I HAD LINEBAUGH CONVERT A 5.5 INCH SS 44 MAG REDHAWK TO 45 COLT. TRAPR IS THINKING ABOUT CONVERTING A 44 MAG REDHAWK TO TIGHT 45 COLT SPECS SO TRAPR SHOT MY LINEBAUGH REDHAWK TODAY (9/26/20) WITH MY CURRENT LOAD: TOP BRASS BRASS, FED 155M PRIMERS, 21.5grs OF N-110, AND A 300gr CAST WFN, IT CHRONO'ed 1,200fps. HE ALSO SHOT IT WITH SOME 1995 LOADS OF STARLINE BRASS, CCI 350 PRIMERS, 28.3grs OF 296 POWDER AND THE 250gr XTP BULLET, IT CHRONO'ed 1,550fps, WHICH IS WHAT I REMEMBER THAT LOAD DOING BACK IN 1995. THE 300gr LOAD SHUD BE OK IN BLACKHAWKS ALSO BUT THE LATTER LOAD WITH THE XTP's IS PROBABLY BEST RESERVED FOR REDHAWKS. ***** Quite agree. David Bradshaw
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Post by silcott on Oct 3, 2020 20:11:21 GMT -5
Waiting on Bowen to get back with me on fitting a tight tolerance cylinder to my 5.5" Redhawk 45. The chambers on mine are huge. I sent the gun to Ruger about it, they actually ran a hone in the chambers (made them even worse) and sent the gun back to me. Told me that it was within spec. It will pretty much junk the brass. Half the time you have to hammer the brass out with a wooden dowel. And that's with a medium Ruger Blackhawk only load.
Any other smith's you would recommend for the job?
Thanks Justin
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Post by bigbrowndog on Oct 3, 2020 21:06:38 GMT -5
JRH Advanced Gunsmithing
Trapr
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Post by bcelliott on Oct 3, 2020 23:41:02 GMT -5
Waiting on Bowen to get back with me on fitting a tight tolerance cylinder to my 5.5" Redhawk 45. The chambers on mine are huge. I sent the gun to Ruger about it, they actually ran a hone in the chambers (made them even worse) and sent the gun back to me. Told me that it was within spec. It will pretty much junk the brass. Half the time you have to hammer the brass out with a wooden dowel. And that's with a medium Ruger Blackhawk only load. Any other smith's you would recommend for the job? Thanks Justin I second the recommendation for JRH. I sent him the same revolver as yours after I found a .44 mag cylinder for him to rechamber to a tight .45. Once Jack measured my cylinder, he called me to say that it was one of the tightest chambered factory .45 Colt Ruger cylinders he had seen and recommended that I leave it alone. He then did an action/trigger job and his custom Redhawk grip frame modification that really takes a bite out of the recoil for me. It's possible Jack has a .44 mag cylinder sitting around, or it's probable you could find one out there.
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Post by RDW on Oct 5, 2020 14:53:38 GMT -5
Gentlemen. I have thoroughly enjoyed this thread, and have let it ride without piping in. So many of you have been spot on. I have enjoyed The Redhawks Super Ninja extraordinaire capability of handling the unbelievable. I dont pipe in much on what i have tried with them because of the (your full of s... scenario) materializing with shooting range experts that i have encountered at various shooting facilities here in houston. But when i saw the first one available to me in 1980 or 81 at the local Walmart, i just had to have one. My love affair began!!!!! I have made them into all kinds of crazy stuff and i have tortured them beyond common sense. I would liken the Ruger Redhawk to a rock mountain 3 miles high and with a base 20 miles in diameter that will allow a gunmaker to carve it into something as elegant, awesome, and noteworthy as Mount Rushmore. I have one that i turned into a 454 casull in the late eighties based on i believe Andy cannons trials. Correct me if im wrong. But it is a rebored 44 mag cylinder with a chunk of Kreiger 416 in 1 in 20. every round cram packed with H110, W296 or 2400 behind every kind of jacketed .451 i could find. Nary a problem. never!!! Still shoots like the beast she always was. And will pummel your hand with the best of them. I have changed the shape of the grip a smidge to ease the pain. I have a 500 Line Baugh. A 475, several 41s a couple of crazy knecked down cartridge's that mimic some of reeders stuff and two favorites that are 41 and 44 Ronnie stupids. 414sm shortened to 1.5" and 445 Sm shortened to 1.450". Welded up mimics of the smith and wesson 1st Gen Triple lock with a gen 2 under lug. Hell i even put the pins in em to make them look right. And it really is a triple Lock. Hahaha. I love Redhawks. Fantastic platform for artistic expression. So put that cylinder in there and Let her Eat. PS Notice where the Cylinder Latch Notch is. Way out of the way!
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rhino
.30 Stingray
Posts: 188
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Post by rhino on Oct 5, 2020 17:15:22 GMT -5
The Ruger Redhawk is a tough SOB. If Ronnie hasn't detonated one, I ain't worried.
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Post by bradshaw on Oct 5, 2020 18:51:42 GMT -5
***** Ronnie Wells on fire. Brings up memory as a kid in the NRA junior marksmanship program. Between relays I dove into issues of the American Rifleman, an era when the rag published firearms criticism. However, my memory is drawn to a humorous scene which might best be described as Marksmanship Criticism. A flatfoot on the beat sees a robber run out of a bank. Don’t recall whether the bandit wore a Lone Ranger mask, brandished a firearm, or even threw some lead. The cop draws his .38, empties it at the cook. Missing every shot. Probably clicked a few extra.... high on adrenaline, the cop Hail Mary's his .38... Knocks out robber. Now, had that been a Redhawk.... David Bradshaw
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Post by Alaskan454 on Oct 5, 2020 19:49:32 GMT -5
This one made me chuckle a bit.
Redhawks will handle more power than I'm interested in shooting out of them. I decided to cap my Redhawk loads at 350gr and 1,200 fps to keep them enjoyable. Out of a 4" barrel you've got a lot more headroom before the pressure ceiling is reached.
It is the only big bore that's ever literally ripped the skin off of my hand. Here's some video from that range trip below. I will say that I foolishly assumed my hand was hitting the hammer spur at the time. Mr. Bradshaw wisely pointed out that it was the backstrap giving me trouble. Reshaping that is on my lengthy to do list for winter.
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