8 shot .357 Redhawk

Any Redhawk revolver is a pretty big and heavy hunk of iron to hide and tote, no matter how short the barrel is. For those that keep a Redhawk under wrap as their EDC, more power to you. :cool:
 
Though it could be concealed, with it's width and weight I don't see trying to myself.

Could be a dandy back up side arm on a hog hunt or a home defense/garage gun or what have you.

For me it will likely be just something a little different fun-gun, we'll see.

I really wasn't happy with the fit of the grips to the frame and the fact that the medallions were orientated differently on each panel, so it went back to Ruger yesterday on their dime to address it.

The gentleman that I spoke to at Ruger told me that the frame is fit to the grip by hand, which struck me a little odd.
He said that if it were a matter of canted medallions only he would send me new grip panels, but he figured it would need more polishing in order to improve the fit.

I guess again, we'll see.

That is three new Ruger revolvers in one years time, with two being returned to Ruger for aesthetic issues.
At least not for functional issues.
Still, two out of three? Yikes! :(
 
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Think about the aesthetic of the butt ugly gun that has taken over the entire country. There is nothing at all surprising about a company sending a thousand dollar piece out, depending on the finely tuned production, and doing mostly a cursory exam on that piece. Very few people will note it. Few Will care if they do.

http://www.stoegerindustries.com/coach-gun-supreme-shotgun

Take a look at my coach gun here you will notice that the wood and some of the steel are deliberately made to not fit. There is a large "bump" on the wood contacts, this fit eliminates all questions about hairline fitting. While the block to breech fit on the side is easily fitted precise during machining, the bottom has a lip to avoid expectations. When the barrels are fitted to the block, rather than leave a bit of line that might not polish out or finish well, they laid a line of coin reeding. The recoil pad has an oversized and radiused base, so again, it looks like normal design, not a production flaw.

The genuine article of dodging hand fitting was using laser cut checkering. It's different, and extremely precise, and there isn't any chance of bad cuts on the machines. People look at the laser checkering, it's precise, and since it's flawless, they think "wow, look at that great checkering!"

Every step of the way the used different design specs to avoid having hairline fitting errors, and by throwing away the expectations of perfection, they make people happy and save money. They even engraved the steel with laser dot matrix so they didn't have to spend tens of thousands of dollars running a stamping or engraving unit. Get the machine and set up programming, add all necessary engraving scripts, and with a few clicks or touch pad entries, you can do an engraving, and in less time than it takes to fit the next unit to the cradle, a completely different set can be centered on that touch pad.
 
Well I got the beast back from Ruger a week ago last Thursday.
They did improve the fit of the grips to frame, but did so by altering both the wood grip panels and the frame.
The panels were refinished much darker and with a very high gloss.

There were new issues though.
Not sure how it could have happened, but there were dramatic ripples that could be seen and felt at the front of the trigger guard up under the crane.
There were also severe inconsistencies in the profile of the grip frame from the left to right side, that's a pretty narrow distance.
The revolver had visible abrasions and marks all over the surface in different spots that would not simply wipe away.
They were into the finish, some pretty well into it.

I honestly don't believe that the condition that it is in now can be corrected.
I sent it back again requesting that it be replaced.

Never had any issues with Ruger CS until now.
We'll see how this pans out.
 
The fit of the wood grips to the frame is indicative of the rush to get them out that Ruger seems to have suffered from lately. Not horrible, but could've been better, the same as all of the other manufacturers.
Great gun, but there is no excuse why it shouldn't be absolutely perfect at that price. It's not like people are rushing out to buy these. Good luck ever finding one in the average gun shop, it's a special order item for sure.

I would contact Ruger and request a set of replacement grips that fit right.
 
My 4.2 Sp101 came really rough new. Top strap, front sight area, front of the barrel were all scratched or had rough edges. I let my gunsmith hone and polish it for $75 instead of sending it back to ruger. It now looks like it should have in the first place. Quality control is slipping.
 
I've been lucky enough to acquire a 357 RH, vintage 1984, with a 7.5" tube. The revolver is just a pleasure to shoot. Not sure if Ruger has any plans to revisit this line.

Here's the RH next to its little brother, vintage 1979 Security Six:

 
I don't own either to compare, but I will gladly measure and weigh when it's in my hands again.

It is about the same weight of the Taurus 608SS4 that I purchased earlier this year.
With it's needless porting, the 'effective' barrel is about the same length.
 
I got my hands on one of these today at a store. While it's a heavy gun, it doesn't feel heavy in the hands, I'm sure the short barrel is the reason, but what I was really surprised by was the trigger. Double action was super smooth and the single action was very crisp with no creep.

The trigger on the .357 Redhawk in store felt way better than the trigger of my .45 Colt/ACP Redhawk.

Still, for the size of that Redhawk, I'd gladly lose a round in the cylinder and have a S&W 686 Plus.
 
Well it took a little time, but I've finally been told that Ruger will be replacing the revolver. *whew*

I was told that it was first returned to the original tech in an attempt to correct the issues from the first trip.
That would explain the amount of time it has taken.
Unfortunately the end result was rejected for returning to me.

They informed me that there was a run of these being built last night.
Therefore my new baby bruin was born last night! :p

Should finally have one back in my hands sometime next week with the assurance that it would be thoroughly inspected/scrutinized before being shipped out.

I'm good with that, it's just a pity that all of this has transpired to get here.
Fingers crossed!
 
Looks like a solid chunk of steel you got there, congratulations. I have one of the S&W 627 UDR's and the 8 rounds are real fun in a gun with such a short barrel ( I do carry it from time to time). On this gun I think I will wait for a nice 5 or 5 1/2" barrel model if I pull the trigger. Hope your replacement is in better shape than the last one.
 
Picked up the replacement yesterday after work and I'm satisfied with it.
Fit and finish is the level that I expect and have typically experienced from Ruger.
The DA trigger pull measures just a skosh over 11lbs, is smooth and breaks clean.
The SA has a barely detectable hitch in it at just over 7lbs with a tiny bit of creep, but that should be pretty easy to remedy as should reducing the pull weights a little for both.

It is a shame that it took two tries with one debacle in between to get here, but Ruger did come through once again as you would expect them to.

Alright, here is a partial answer...

The Ruger Redhawk 5033 cylinder measures 1.781" in diameter and is 1.754" in length.
It has a 2.75" barrel and weighs 2.75 lbs. unloaded.

The Taurus 608SS4 cylinder measures 1.751" in diameter and is 1.686" in length.
It claims a 4" ported barrel, but the porting reduces the actual rifled portion of the barrel in contact with the bullet, to approximately 2.75".
Likewise it weighs 2.75 lbs. unloaded.
(Did I mention that I think porting on a .357 this heavy is a complete waste of time unless you're fond of trying to remove carbon from the sides of your front sight?)

Looks like the S&W weighs in at .4 oz. less with a 5" barrel.
Can't tell you the dimensions of the cylinder but maybe someone who owns one could measure the cylinder and post if there is still any interest.

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