subject: Ruger Redhawk - Sodium Tripolyphosphate Manufacturer - Sodium Tripolyphosphate Industrial Grade [print this page] www.garrettcartridges.com/products.asp)www.garrettcartridges.com/products.asp). This makes the Redhawk very pupular as a bear defense gun among hunters and trappers.
The revolver has forward ramp sights with four different interchangeable sight inserts. The rear sights are fully adjustable featuring a white outline. The Redhawk is also available with scope mounts and rings.
The Redhawk holds six rounds of ammunition in its cylinder and until recently was available with a 4 inch, 5.5 inch, or 7.5 inch barrel. A 4.2 inch barrel was also recently added to accommodate the Canadian rules for minimum barrel length (the same was also done for the GP 100 revolver) When introduced it was offered in .357 Magnum/.38 Special, .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum/.44 Special, and .45 Colt. Gradually options in chambering were pared down, and by 2007 the Redhawk was only offered in .44 Magnum. However, in 2008 Sturm, Ruger & Co. once again began marketing the Redhawk in .45 Colt chambering.
Contents
1 First generation double action revolvers
2 Second generation double action revolvers
3 Problems with the Redhawk
4 References
5 External links
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First generation double action revolvers
The first large-bore double action Ruger revolver was the Redhawk, which was based on the "Six" line of Ruger .357 double action revolvers, which included the Speed Six, Security Six, and Service Six. These revolvers were produced from 1970 to 1988, and were unlike other double action revolvers in that they used a one piece frame, rather than a removable sideplate, which lent them superior strength. The Redhawk, introduced in 1980, was a scaled up and improved version of the Security Six, the target model, with a square butt grip, adjustable sights, and 5.5 and 7.5 inch barrel lengths. The Redhawk was available in blued or stainless steel, and was primarily used by handgun hunters. The Redhawk, designed for long term use with the heaviest .44 Magnum loads, included a new latch at the crane, to firmly lock the cylinder at front and rear, a feature last seen in the Smith & Wesson triple lock design, discontinued in 1915.
The Ruger designs also used a modern coil spring design, which had largely replaced old fashioned leaf springs in most modern revolvers. Unfortunately, the revolvers also used a single spring for both the hammer and the trigger, and this meant that the force required to pull the trigger was higher than similar offerings from other manufacturers, and there was no way to correct this as it was inherent in the single-spring design.
Second generation double action revolvers
The second generation Ruger double actions, beginning with the .357 Magnum GP-100, was introduced in 1986. The GP-100 used a different trigger mechanism, with separate trigger and hammer springs. This significantly improved the trigger pull. Another change was the shape of the frame. Traditional revolver frames have exposed metal at the front and rear of the grips, with the frame determining the shape of the grips. This meant that to have a round butt concealed carry version and a square butt holster or target version of the same gun usually meant having two different frame shapes. The GP-100 series instead used a small, rectangular "peg" grip, which was just large enough to enclose the hammer spring and strut. The grips could then be any shape desired, as long as they were large enough to enclose the peg. The stock grips are made of Santoprene, a soft, chemical resistant elastomer that helped absorb the recoil of firing. Panels on the side, made of black plastic, goncalo alves wood or rosewood, provide contrast to the flat black of the Santoprene.
The GP-100 kept the crane lock that was introduced in the Redhawk, and even the small frame SP-101 family of revolvers uses the same thickness solid frame and double latching system used on the heavy .44 Magnum. Because of these features, the GP-100 series is widely described as one of the strongest medium frame revolvers ever made.
Problems with the Redhawk
When Ruger started to scale up the GP-100 to build a .44 Magnum version, they began to have reports of failures in the Redhawk revolvers. Some Redhawks were reported to be separating at the junction between barrel and frame. It was not known at the time why this was happening; the Redhawk had been on the market for years with no reported problems, but Ruger decided to address the issue by extending the frame 2.5 inches past the cylinder face, all the way to the end of the ejector rod, to provide a massive surface into which to thread the barrel. The extended frame also provided enough length to allow scope bases to be mounted on the frame, rather than on the barrel as was done on the scoped versions of the Redhawk. It was determined that the barrel separations on the Redhawks were due to a change in the lubricant used when attaching the barrels to the frames, but by that time the new Super Redhawk design was already well underway and the extended frame was kept.
Despite plans to drop the Redhawk revolver with the introduction of the Super Redhawk, the Redhawk (with the barrel thread lubricant issue corrected) remains in production today. Many shooters prefer the more classic lines of the Redhawk, especially those who do not plan to use a scope.
References
^ "Ruger Redhawk KRH-45-4 Revolver Chambered in .45 Colt". http://www.gunsholstersandgear.com/2008/03/16/ruger-redhawk-krh-45-4-revolver-chambered-in-45-colt/.
^ a b c d e f Taffin, John (2002)The Legend of Big RedAmerican Handgunner May/June 2002
External links
History and Disassembly instructions of the Ruger Redhawk
Video of operation at YouTube (Japanese)
http://www.gunblast.com/Ruger-Redhawk4.htm
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