Input on project revolver for trail

N

Nomadicone

New member
I’m planning a project gun to be completed about a year from now. My choices in caliber are 45 Colt or 44 Mag and I would likely use a Redhawk platform with a 4" barrel. This revolver would be used for hiking and the biggest critter I’d encounter is Black Bear on the outside chance one got aggressive. I do handload so from that standpoint the 44 Mag holds no special attraction as far as availability of ammo and stepping up the velocity of the 45 Colt to 1100-1200fps is not a problem. If I went with the 44 Mag I would want to have the barrel cut back to 4” as I have the 5.5”.

1. What would you have done to a revolver using the above criteria?
a. Forcing cone recut?
b. Recowned?
c. Throats opened?
d. Action job?
e. Type of sights?
f. Other ideas/thoughts?

2. Who would you have do the work?

Other thought or input are welcome. This is brain storming on the forum.:)
 
No rational reason here, as I would choose the .44 for me, but I'm going to say:

~.45 Colt

~Cut the bbl to 4" & re-crown it.

~Have the sights changed to:
Brass bead-topped, post front
Semi-buckhorn rear sight
(like a mid-80s Marlin)

~Cocabola grips with a hand carved "napped flint" texture.

~Make it a DEEP blue if it isn't stainless...

~1942 Tanker holster from El Paso Saddlery

The sights would be plenty visible for fast work, but if the need for finer aiming arose, you could take a finer bead and reach out a bit. Grips will look great, but will provide...well, a grip.
 
For a reloaded either is good so go with the one you like. The forcing cone, crown and cylinder throats should be checked and redone if necessary. Really the Redhawk should require little work I would maybe go with sights that are easy to see and some grips to fit my hand. :)
 
Nomadicone:

Have the work done at Magna Port and while they are working on it have it proted. I have two Magna Ported revolver with all of the work that you list and they shoot great. The best move that I've made.


Semper Fi.

Gunnery Sergeant
Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
Firstly, I would never have a sixgun ported. It creates far too much noise and directs the recoil more straight back into the palm. Which, on a Redhawk, will make it less comfortable to shoot.

Cartridge choice is purely personal preference. With top loads, the two cartridges are very similar in performance. The .44's tend to shoot better out of the box and are less prone to ambiguous chamber dimensions.

A, B, and C can be determined by the gunsmith. It might not need the work. Definitely go for an action job and personally, I would go for the Weigand interchangeable front sight system, especially if you have it cut, rather than buying a 4" model. I would also consider roundbutting the grip frame and installing a Bowen lanyard ring. There are probably more custom revolversmiths in the US now than at any other time in history. You have a lot to choose from. I personally have experience with and can recommend Jim Stroh and David Clements. Others that are highly reputable include:

Hamilton Bowen (the absolute best!)
Allan Harton
Andy Horvath
John Gallagher
Ben Forkin

The only popular gunsmith that I would not recommend is Gary Reeder.
 
I love the Redhawks but they are heavy, even in 4" trim. To my mind, a pre-lock 4" S&W Mountain Gun in .44 Mag would seem about ideal.
 
1. What would you have done to a revolver using the above criteria?
a. Forcing cone recut?
b. Recowned?
c. Throats opened?
d. Action job?
e. Type of sights?
f. Other ideas/thoughts?

2. Who would you have do the work?
Click to expand...

An easy choice (one that I made) is to go Ruger Alaskan either in 454 (45LC's work just fine in that gun) or as I did, 44 magnum. I had it Mag-Na-Ported and replaced hammer and trigger springs with lighter Wolfe springs. I used a Dremel Stylus with their fine emery disks to deburr and round rough edges internally. Put a set of Rough Country all steel rear sights on to go with a HiViz red front sight blade. And last but not least was the addition of Crimson Trace laser grips. The gun thus configured is real easy to pick up your target and to help or in place of if conditions require is the use of the laser sights. I'm doing basically the same thing to a Super Redhawk that I cut down to 5.5" using similar open sights, but instead of laser grips, I opted to top it out with a 2.5-8X Leupold variable. Even with the scope, the overall gun dimensions and weight allow easy carry in a Bianchi HUSH system holster worn on the belt. Of course I'm having to recrown the shortened barrel, but the other work you mention in a lot of cases is simply a means to line some smith's pockets with you the consumer not benefiting to much in the end.

Coming from skeet I can remember "lengthened forcing cones", "back bored barrels", "custom skeet tubes and chokes" and looking at the scores of the bunch that had those hundred's of dollars of improvements, you really couldn't tell one way or the other whether it helped or hurt overall performance. Smithy.
 
An easy choice (one that I made) is to go Ruger Alaskan...
Click to expand...
Depends on what you want. Big difference between a good 4" DA and a last-ditch bellygun like the Alaskan.


Coming from skeet...
Click to expand...
Not the same thing, not even close. Depending on how bad the factory forcing cone and crown are, recutting them can make a big difference in accuracy. Chamber throats alone can make a big difference as they are usually undersized. Nothing good about forcing a .452" cast bullet through a .448-.449" throat and into a .451" bore.
 
Figured I'd answer your ? In open as it would be pertinate to anyone concidering a project like this. Yes the caliber designation is at the end of the barrel now, but it doesn't bother me there's about the right spacing from it to the end of the barrel to look almost intentional. If you wanted to move it you could there's plenty of metal there. I wouldn't just remove it for liability reasons.
 
Flip a coin since you handload, if not I'd go 44 because of the better choices of factory ammo.

It is your gun, buy and use what makes you happy, but either is more gun than I'd want to carry with only black bear to worry about. Been doing the same thing with a medium frame 357 for years and currently prefer a Glock 10mm. If bigger threats than black bear are a concern my 4" 629 is a lot easier to tote around. I'd just as soon carry a carbine as a Redhawk.
 
Thanks Mavracer. I would probably have the stamping for caliber recentered and the safety warning removed. I do like what you did to the grips. Of course I would never tackle this project myself, thus the question of which gunsmith to use.
 
If you decide on .45 Long Colt, I'd recommend having it cut for moonclips. The reasoning for this is twofold: the .45 LC has a comparatively tiny rim which is actually more analagous to semi-rimmed semi-auto cartridges like .32 Auto and .38 Super than to other revolver rounds. While it's rim is sufficient for headspacing (it's only purpose in the guns it was originally designed for), it is somewhat more likely to "jump" the extractor and tie up the gun than a cartridge with a larger rim. Cutting the gun for moonclips, however, both eliminates this problem and allows you to use .45 ACP ammo as a subload.
 
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