Ruger Redhawk Locking UP

C

Col. Mosby

New member
I have a friend with a blued Ruger Redhawk in .44 mag. After firing a couple of cylinders of standard velocity .44 mag. loads he can not cock the hammer. If he opens the cylinder and closes it again the revolver functions perfectly until the next time it decides to lock up. He can dry fire the empty revolver "till the cows come home" and never has a problem.

Has anyone ever had this problem? What are your thoughts on what could cause this? :confused:

Thanks.
 
Yes, exactly the same "symptoms."

I just sent my Ruger SRH off to the factory in N.H. last week. I will call today to find out what they have found. Mine is brand new and I have shot it a total of three times and it keeps locking up after shooting about 4 rounds. Likewise, I was able to dry fire it with snap caps no problem at all. Never had a Ruger do that to me, so I am at a loss to what is going on.

I will let you know what they find and hopefully fix since my Ruger SRH in .44 magnum is supposed to be my go everywhere woods gun. Sometimes it just isn't convenient to put a rifle over my shoulder.
 
I just called Ruger and they have already "fixed" the gun and it is on its way back to me by UPS. Not sure the technical stuff that they fixed, something about something being too long in the inner workings. Sorry, I just shoot them, don't know much about what is inside these critters. Hopefully it will work as they say in the tech notes who took it out to the range and shot it before returning it to me. Hopefully no more problems. You may want to contact Ruger and see what they say.

I would ask them to do a UPS pick up. I had to send mine by FedEx which cost $135. The said I can have the receipt reviewed by the supervisor and since it is only 6 months since I bought it, they should reimburse.
 
Wow! This problem first reared its ugly head back in the early 80s when the Redhawk first came out, I thought they would have corrected it by now.
 
Thank You "Alaska" for the imput. :D I'll pass along what you said so my friend will not think he's by himself. I am hoping some of the gunsmiths on this site will know the technical terms for what ever was " too long" :confused:
 
It sounds like a very tight barrel-cylinder gap with the cylinder expanding from heat and locking up. But I have never seen a gun lock up after so few rounds, usually it takes at least a couple of cylinders. Doing anything that takes time (fiddling with it, cussing it) and allows the gun to cool will "fix" the problem temporarily.

Jim
 
GYVEL,
Do you happen to know what the problem was with the earlier revolvers?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Exactly what Jim K said and what I explained on another thread. I was working in Miami in the 80s and no less than four customers who had purchased the then new Redhawk came in with the same complaint. They were out shooting, the gun locked up tighter than a drum, but by the time they got the gun back to our store, the cylinder would move freely and you could dry fire it to your heart's content.

We sent them all back to Ruger, who sent them back with work orders stating that they had "cleaned and oiled." I had my suspicions and, when I looked at the cylinder faces, it was evident that some minor facing had been done on them.

I had formed a theory that, when the guns were being shot, especially in the hot south Florida climate, the cylinders were expanding at an uneven rate causing the face to contact the back of the barrel, thus locking up the gun.

While I was never able to prove that that was the case, it was the only theory that made sense given the symptoms and circumstances.

Here is the other thread, but it's basically what I said here: http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4741401#post4741401
 
That may have been an issue with some of the others, but it doesn't sound like what was going on with mine since I could clear the jam by twisting the cylinder and pulling back on the trigger at the same time. It didn't completely lock up. I actually looked to see if the cylinder was impacting and I didn't see that aspect.

In addition, felt like some sort of catch on the trigger ever 4th or 5th trigger pull with snap caps.

I will wait till I see the report from the tech in a couple of days and post it here.
 
Got my Ruger SRH back from the factory in N.H. and it is really a smoooooth trigger pull now. They didn't go into much detail on the report.

Repaired Barrel
Repaired Pawl
Repaired Crane.

Not sure what all that means.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/revolver2.htm

Can't wait to get out and shoot a few rounds through it but just the feel of it today is great.
 
Yup, we must have been crossing over each other when we posted about the same time. It looks like there were a few things that they had to repair. Right now it feels really smooooth especially compared to the way it was before I sent it off to them. In fact, from the day I sent it last Thursday, it was 8 days total to send, fix and return to me. I am hoping to be able to enjoy having a reliable side arm when out in the Idaho woods, heck just inside the campgrounds.

One of my friends really likes Huckleberry campground on the St. Joe's River. About a month ago, he almost ran into a black bear 20 feet from his camper. This time, he had a moose in the swamp just behind his campsite in the same area that the bear ran off. In some ways, the moose is more of a danger since they have such poor eyesight and often charge if people get too close.

So between the Ruger SRH .44 and my Marlin .444, I feel confident I have what I need to handle just about any situation, that is if you have time to use those weapons in the first place. Throw in some pepper spray and we should have a good package for woods protection. Throw in a bunch of my friends who are likewise prepared and you might actually start to feel sorry for any bear that wanted to mess with that combination, but I would get over that pretty quick.

Once I get it out on the range in the next few days, I will give another update.

God bless,
 
lock-up

Sir;
Yes, your barrel/cylinder gap was too tight. The cylinder can also not have had enough end play.
The 44 is a hot cartridge and generates heat and heat causes expansion and lengthening!
Harry B.
 
Thanks Harry, I looked up some of the basic innards of the revolver after it got back and it looks like you are right. All I know is it feels fine right now and I am looking forward to getting it out on the range. I don't know much more than I pull the trigger and load it when it is empty. LOL

Thank you much for the education.

God bless,

Alaska444
 
FWIW, I consider .007-.008" just about right for the b-c gap. Any more is not (IMHO) good (even though the makers say up to .012" is "within spec") and much less will risk binding. Some folks on the sites have said that there should be no gap at all or that .002" is too much; I suspect they read more than they shoot.

Jim
 
cylinder gap

Sirs;
For some unknown reason tests have shown that large cylinder gaps to not reduce velocity! I do not understand that.
I like my cylonder gap to be as close as possible without causing binding - in the range of .002 to .006!
A large gap DOES increase the noise factor though!
Harry B.
 
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