)Ruger redhawk 45 colt/45acp

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glockman55

New member
Ruger redhawk 45 colt/45acp, any good/bad reviews on this Pistol yet? I like the idea of both 45's.. I might have a chance to trade for one ..any input would be great.
 
Lots of reports of poor accuracy when shooting .45 ACP. Also people have had failures to fire due to different tolerances with ammo/moon clips.

This model was on my short list but after reading all the negativity, I passed on it. I think you probably should, too.
 
I've had splendid success with mine. Less than ideal accuracy is to be expected shooting ACPs out of a barrel primarily designed for Colt, but using home loads at various distances, I am more than satisfied. As with all new pistols from Ruger, it takes some tweaking. Not to discount the reviews our senior member Model12Win has read, I can only say my personal and extensive use of the pistol has been beyond initial expectations.
 
TheLastGoodFight said:
I've had splendid success with mine. Less than ideal accuracy is to be expected shooting ACPs out of a barrel primarily designed for Colt, but using home loads at various distances, I am more than satisfied. As with all new pistols from Ruger, it takes some tweaking. Not to discount the reviews our senior member Model12Win has read, I can only say my personal and extensive use of the pistol has been beyond initial expectations.
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Good, I'm glad to hear that. I do recall several members here and elsewhere giving some rather bad numbers for .45 ACP group size. It has to do with the long jump of the bullet to the throats and forcing cone, not an issue with .45 Colt. It does look like a swell revolver and I picked one up at a gun show and just loved the wood grips. I wish Ruger would release a dedicated .45 ACP version but doubt it would prove as popular.
 
Less than ideal accuracy is to be expected shooting ACPs out of a barrel primarily designed for Colt,
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Generally this is true, particularly when shooting jacketed bullets. But is the Redhawk barrel "designed" for .45 Colt?? I don't think so. About nobody makes .45 Colt barrels in the original .454" diameter these days.

Before WWII, the standard .45 Colt groove diameter was .454" After WWII, Colt, over time, reduced the barrel diameter to .451-2", to better use the much more common .45acp bullet size. Made no difference to the led slug .45 Colt ammo. Other makers, also went to the slightly smaller bore size, for the same reason. Today, its rare to find a .45 Colt barrel that goes .454", nearly all will be .451" or close to it.

I don't have a Redhawk, but I do have extensive experience with the dual cylinder .45 Blackhawk. Blackhawks are seldom noted for stellar accuracy with the ACP round, but neither are they noted for being especially poor.

I think if you get poor accuracy from the ACP in the Redhawk the problem is not the barrel, its the cylinder. Firing the ACP through a .45 Colt chamber that is, essentially oversize for the ACP round.

It's not just the length of the jump the bullet has to make to get to the rifling, the jump is the same distance as it is in a cylinder chambered for the ACP (like the Blackhawk) which does not have such a reputation of poor accuracy.

The .45 Colt chamber is (IMHO) too large for best accuracy with the ACP round. The .45 Colt case specs .480" at the case mouth. .45ACP is .473" at the case mouth, .476" at the case head and .480" at the case rim. (max dimensions). The actual ammo is slightly smaller.

People tend to look at the dual caliber Redhawk in the wrong way. Probably a result of the marketing, but that doesn't really matter. Many look at it like "a .45ACP that I can shoot .45 Colt out of, when I want more power", and that is bassackwards. It's not. It's a .45 Colt that you can shoot ACP out of, for plinking, or in an emergency, such as ACP being the only ammo you have, or can get. (assuming you also have the needed clips).

The ACP round is a very "sloppy fit" in the Colt chamber, and I think that is where you accuracy issues happen, in that gun. If you aren't getting ACP accuracy issues in your Redhawk, wonderful! Keep that gun!!!

Not meaning to be snarky, but if you want the best accuracy firing .45ACP from a revolver, get a revolver made for .45ACP, not one made for the .45 Colt that can shoot ACP.
 
"...reports of poor accuracy when shooting .45 ACP..." Different bullet diameters. The ACP uses .452". The Colt uses .454". And the huge difference in OAL. Ruger doesn't mention what the barrel diameter is though.
If you opt for the thing use .45 Colt and forget the ACP. The ACP requires using moon clips that came with the revolver out of the factory. Midway wants $12.99 for 8 of 'em.
 
Out to 25 yards or so, I'd say .45 ACP accuracy is acceptable, but there is key holing occurring with some ammunition. From a rested position, I got 4 inch groups with certain ammo. Out past 25 yards offhand... I really haven't tried on any torso targets. I have tried at 50 yards with an evil roy steel plate and off a rest, it's a tough shot. Can be done though.

.45 Colt accuracy is good. The gun is built strong, it will last forever with standard pressure loads.

Moon clips are expensive if you buy from Ruger. They want $15 for a 3 pack and I think $5 for a piece of stamped spring steel is ridiculous. Ranch Moon clips from Midway are cheaper and you get more clips, but they are much tougher to put ammo in and remove from the clip than the Rugers. I'm planning on modifying some of my RM clips to see if I can make them easier to work with.

I think if you really want a .45 Colt/ACP revolver and you don't want it to be a single action, it's a good choice. For the distances you'd be shooting .45 ACP with in a defensive situation, the accuracy is plenty fine. You'd be better using .45 Colt though.
 
Looks like the Deal fell through..No big deal..I have read where the 45 colt casings get a little deformed after firing in the cut out cylinder for the moon clip, not enogh support around to top of the casing..I was more interested in just the 45 long colt, so I have many other options, Thanks for the replies...
 
Model12Win said:
Good, I'm glad to hear that. I do recall several members here and elsewhere giving some rather bad numbers for .45 ACP group size. It has to do with the long jump of the bullet to the throats and forcing cone, not an issue with .45 Colt. It does look like a swell revolver and I picked one up at a gun show and just loved the wood grips. I wish Ruger would release a dedicated .45 ACP version but doubt it would prove as popular.
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Any revolver that's chambered solely for any cartridge with the letters ACP in its name have proven to be unpopular. The .45's are the only ones that you could call successful, but I don't think I've ever seen a .45 ACP only revolver in any gun store. Smith makes a few, but they're big guns and honestly, I'd rather have a 7 shot .357 instead. Even compared to the .45 Colt, the .45 ACP's can't shoot bullets as heavy as the .45 Colt's can.

.32 ACP revolvers would be very small and make the most sense, but one could just as easily make a revolver for the .32 S&W short and it's larger rim would be more reliable to extract.

A .25 ACP revolver is too weak to be chosen over a .22 Magnum, even though it would be more reliable than a rimfire.
 
glockman55 said:
Looks like the Deal fell through..No big deal..I have read where the 45 colt casings get a little deformed after firing in the cut out cylinder for the moon clip, not enogh support around to top of the casing..I was more interested in just the 45 long colt, so I have many other options, Thanks for the replies...
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.45 Colt does not get "deformed" due to the cut for the moon clip, not in mine at least. If they are, I'm not noticing it.
 
Wrote up two samples for a Kindle ebook.
Experiences with a Blackhawk & its two cylinders do not apply with the Redhawk.

With the Red, it's entirely the cylinder, not the barrel.

You CAN get decent ACP accuracy through the Red, but it may take some experimentation.

In firing several commercial ACP loads through those two guns, I was getting 5-shot groups up to 11 & 13 inches at 25 yards off a rest.
Average was probably 5-8 inches.

I did get down around 2 inches with one load.

I got no misfires in either gun with the ACP clips, others have reported them.
I noticed no .45 Colt brass deformation.
Denis
 
My experience has been exclusively with handloads, so I cannot weigh in with any factory ammo comments. However, I will remind readers that I mentioned ACP accuracy was "less than ideal," not poor. I am satisfied with this pistol's performance using ACP rounds, given it is primarily a .45 Colt pistol with an ACP feature. The moon clips hold together well, I've yet to experience any unusual Colt casing deformation, and DPris is right; acceptable performance only came after I was willing to experiment a bit. None of this experimentation was done using factory ammunition.
 
I have a Ruger 45 Colt but it is not a convertible. It shoots quite well. I also have a Smith 625 in 45 ACP. It is all stock except for a spring kit and I shot it back in the day in PPC matches. It easily groups under 2" at 25 yards. I would have to think that you could find a good load for the 45 ACP in the Ruger. YMMV

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I must be lucky. I have a redhawk and while I’m not much of a revolver shooter I find the accuracy more than acceptable and not much of a material difference between 45 colt and 45 acp. Off hand at 25 yards 45 colt groups range from 2-3” and 45 acp is marginally bigger at 2.5-3.5”. This is with my reloads and no experimenting in load development. 4.2 gr of clays under a 200gr swc and 8gr of 231 under a 225gr fp for 45 colt. The trigger is pretty decent, sa a bit of creep and about 5lbs da has some stacking and probably about 11lbs. I love mine and would absolutely buy again.
 
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