Fun time, Ruger Redhawk .357

contender

contender

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A friend brought out a nice Ruger Redhawk in .357 Mag. It's an early gun,, and sported a 7-1/2" bbl. He wanted me to try it out to see what I thought of it. Well, I just grabbed a bit of ammo I had loaded,, with a 158 grn JHP bullet,, to see what it'd do.
At 50 yds,, standing, offhand, shooting at 8" steel plates,, the first cylinder full, I nailed 3 of the 6. I saw where the others had gone a bit high. So, I switched to a paper target,, and my suspicions were confirmed. It was shooting a little high. I took his ammo, & tried it again. It too was high. Well,, a little sight adjustment,, then settling down into a Keith style sitting position, I got serious. A little more adjusting was necessary,, then it was dialed right in. I put a solid 3"x4" group on paper,, then switched to my ammo,, and rung 6 for 6 on the steel.

His comments? He didn't think anybody would shoot at 50 yds,, and hadn't seen it done like that. But he was a happy camper to know his gun can shoot.

Those Rugers aren't often seen & used,, but they are a TANK of a .357. Very mild shooting due to the weight & size. Gotta love things like that.
 
Fun story about the early development of the Super Redhawk.

I had a Redhawk I bought back in the 1980's,, in 44 mag. Serial 501-0xxxx. So accurate it was scary. From the bench, with a scope, 50 yds,, a single hole that the OD measured less than 1". I still have a few of those targets in my junk.
Well, I went to shoot a soda can one day at about 40 yds,, and upon pulling the trigger,, I saw the bullet miss by a LOT,, AND saw "something" fly forward. My barrel had separated from the frame. No injuries etc,, but the gun was sent to Ruger, full detailed letter, etc. I asked for them to just let me know what had happened, as I was really curious.
I got a new gun,, but no explanation. Sadly,, that replacement didn't shoot nearly as good. Best 50 yd grouping was about 2-1/2".
Well, a few years later,, the Super Redhawk appeared.
Then, a few more years passed,, and I was on the phone with Ruger folks,, and asked about the reason my Redhawk had the barrel leave. I was given the name & number of another Ruger employee. I called & he & I discussed things.
Apparently,, it took Ruger over 4 years to discover WHY my barrel left the frame. The lube used to assemble the barrels to the frame,, when left on the threads & exposed to air for an extended period,, changed it's properties. And when assembled & torqued,, it stressed things. It was traced to how the barrels were on a rack, several lubed at the same time,,, and then assembled. Well, apparently a FEW had been left lubed, not assembled,, during a plant shut down timeframe.
My Redhawk was the first one to have this happen.
Over the years a couple more have had it happen.
The fine folks at Ruger thought there was a metal strength problem, and the Super Redhawk was designed,, BECAUSE of that thinking.
I like to tell folks; "Blame me for the Super Redhawk." Even a few folks at Ruger & I get a chuckle out of that one.

I was sorting paperwork & such the other day & ran across a copy of my letter to Ruger & the original manual from the one that had the barrel separate. Made me chuckle again. But dern,, I do miss how accurate that gun was.
 
Thanks. It happened long ago,, well before I got seriously afflicted with "Rugeritis." I was always enjoying Rugers,, but back then,, I couldn't afford much. So,, I'd sell or swap guns around. But that Redhawk,, it was so accurate,, I'd figured on keeping it forever. My tightest group at 50 yds,, the entire hole of 6 rounds, of 44 mag,, the measurement was .897. a tenth of one inch under a one inch hole. That made it a sub 1/2 MOA gun. And it was a repeatable shooter like that. I was heartbroken when it came apart.
 
contender said:
Thanks. It happened long ago,, well before I got seriously afflicted with "Rugeritis." I was always enjoying Rugers,, but back then,, I couldn't afford much. So,, I'd sell or swap guns around. But that Redhawk,, it was so accurate,, I'd figured on keeping it forever. My tightest group at 50 yds,, the entire hole of 6 rounds, of 44 mag,, the measurement was .897. a tenth of one inch under a one inch hole. That made it a sub 1/2 MOA gun. And it was a repeatable shooter like that. I was heartbroken when it came apart.
Click to expand...
I think I might be afflicted with Rugeritis myself.16CC934C-DADC-4D95-B281-E002038BFE91.jpeg4D7AD9B3-FA0B-409F-BF0A-603186175387.png
 
The one on the bottom is cool. The one on the top always looked like Ruger cut the barrel too short and said “Heck, well lets just glue this extension on, it’ll be ok”. 😳
 
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