Ruger Redhawk 5032 (.45 ACP/ .45 Colt) update

[BehindBlueI's]

I've had some issues with my Redhawk 5032 that resulted in Ruger swapping my original out of spec revolver for a new one. The new one was significantly better, but was not quite 100% reliable in double action. I think I've got it resolved.

The first thing I did was tear the revolver down and inspect the innards. There were no obvious burrs or major issues, but I did notice it was completely dry. I lubed all contact points and reassembled. The second thing I did was stone the hammer a bit where the hammer hits the frame. There were machine marks on it, almost like a finger print but more regular, and it did not appear to be hitting exactly flush. I stoned it down smooth, taking maybe a few hundredths of an inch of metal.

The result was a significant improvement in reliability. Using Starline brass, CCI primers, and 6.6 grains of Titegroup under a 230 gr plated bullet, I loaded up 40 test cartridges of .45 Colt. I also took a box of factory HST .45 ACP hollowpoints. All cartridges fired. All HSTs were shot double action, 34/40 of the handloads were shot double action. The HST did occasionally result in my face being pelted with debris. I'm not sure if it's shaving the bullet a bit or I'm just getting blow back. I was on an indoor range and unable to recover bullets. None of the handloads caused the issue. Accuracy was within acceptable limits given my skill level.

Handloads at 7y, 1 called flier, double action.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/Docwagon1776/Ruger/20160411_104145_zpsd5bpxev1.jpg

Speeding up a bit, 34 shots into upper box. 6 shots of slow fire in the circle (the first two were center and slightly to my right, as I went along I pushed a bit high) and the final 4 cartridges in the 1" square were shot single action. I heeled the first shot bad and it's the highest one. Took my time and got it down into the box. The load shoots POA when I do my part. I find the round butt a bit more difficult than a square butt and suspect I'm heeling the gun a little bit.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/Docwagon1776/Ruger/20160411_105135_zpswqvqeqty.jpg



This is 18 shots of HST, all double action, in strings of 6. Shoot 6, drop the moon clip, reload and get right into the next 6.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/Docwagon1776/Ruger/20160411_105537_zpsh0pytkuu.jpg

I don't have any S&B primed cartridges at the moment to see if it will now pop harder primers, but initial results look good for CCI primers and domestic ammunition. This isn't a high volume revolver for me, but I still intend to load up some of the cheaper primers and see how they do.

[coldcase1984]

Thank you for the report BBI. Interested still in these models but saving shekels for a LW elk rifle.

[BehindBlueI's]

Thank you for the report BBI. Interested still in these models but saving shekels for a LW elk rifle.

I really want to get it working right. I intend to get a front night sight for it as well.

I loaded up 40 more of the load above, 30 with S&B primers and 10 with Winchester primers, and if it's not too wet to get back to my range on my rural property intend to chrono and test reliability with these primers. Prior to breaking it down, etc. it would set off the Winchesters reliable in single action but sporadically in double action. If it pops them and the harder S&B I'll be satisfied it's reliable with .45 Colt and will move on to testing harder primers with the .45 ACP and moon clips. I already know it's reliable with American Eagle factory .45 with the moon clips.

[BehindBlueI's]

7252

10/10 with Winchester
40/40 with CCI
29/30 with S&B

The S&B that did not fire the first time did fire the 2nd time.

[BehindBlueI's]

7253

I was still clustering the shots high. This is at 15y. I adjusted the rear a bit and got the POI down a bit more, as you can see the shots coming down. I plan to load up a bit heavier so I didn't worry about getting it exactly on, but it's close.

Chrono results:
1.58 OAL
6.6 gr Titegroup
230 RMR plated bullet

CCI primer:
High: 810.1 fps
Low: 733.4 fps
Average: 781.4

Winchester Primer
High: 838.3
Low: 715.9
Average: 790.1

S&B Primer
High: 801.7
Low: 723.5
Average: 762.2

Using only one chamber repeatedly with the CCI primer
High: 764.5
Low: 717.4
Average: 738.62

[Luke]

What does it mean that the one chamber repeated firings were lower than the others?

[BehindBlueI's]

What does it mean that the one chamber repeated firings were lower than the others?

CCI load had a variation of 76.7 when firing all 6 chambers, but that dropped to 47.1 when firing from the same chamber. It's just a way to take the variation of the gun out as much as possible and to see the variation in the load itself. Revolvers have some variation from chamber to chamber.

For example, the lowest with the CCI was 733.4, but the next lowest was 769.9. Lowest with Winchester was 715.9 but the next lowest was 781.0. I didn't mark which cylinder had the lowest velocity each time, but it's quite possible it's the same one. I may have just randomly chosen that one when I went to repeatedly loading the same chamber vs all 6.

[jh9]

CCI load had a variation of 76.7 when firing all 6 chambers, but that dropped to 47.1 when firing from the same chamber. It's just a way to take the variation of the gun out as much as possible and to see the variation in the load itself. Revolvers have some variation from chamber to chamber.

For example, the lowest with the CCI was 733.4, but the next lowest was 769.9. Lowest with Winchester was 715.9 but the next lowest was 781.0. I didn't mark which cylinder had the lowest velocity each time, but it's quite possible it's the same one. I may have just randomly chosen that one when I went to repeatedly loading the same chamber vs all 6.

When you get that one squared away you should store it on a pike in the gunsafe so all your other guns know you're not f***ing around.

[Luke]

CCI load had a variation of 76.7 when firing all 6 chambers, but that dropped to 47.1 when firing from the same chamber. It's just a way to take the variation of the gun out as much as possible and to see the variation in the load itself. Revolvers have some variation from chamber to chamber.

For example, the lowest with the CCI was 733.4, but the next lowest was 769.9. Lowest with Winchester was 715.9 but the next lowest was 781.0. I didn't mark which cylinder had the lowest velocity each time, but it's quite possible it's the same one. I may have just randomly chosen that one when I went to repeatedly loading the same chamber vs all 6.


I got that part. I was interested in what might be different about that one cylinder that is making such a difference.

[HCM]

I'm not BBI, but last year I picked up a S&W 686 plus (7 shot) which had a distinct pattern, consistently grouping 5 /2. Turned out two of the chamber throats were slightly undersized.

[BehindBlueI's]

I got that part. I was interested in what might be different about that one cylinder that is making such a difference.

Oh. Not really my area of expertise, as I'm definitely more driver than mechanic, but I *suspect* one chamber may be slightly out of time. This would account for why I also get blow back with the .45 ACP occasionally. HCM's option is also a possibility, with throat size being a bit different.

Also just spitballing, but I'm using .451 plated bullets in a gun cut for both ACP and LC...and LC is slightly larger per my reloading manual. I may try some .452 and see if there's any difference.

Again, I'm not a gunsmith, don't play one on tv, and am just parroting things I've heard that cause the issue. I usually just have my range armorer do his magic if things aren't right, he's a S&W guy but does alright with Rugers as well.

[john c]

BBI;

Do you have access to a set of pin gauges? I found my .45LC Redhawk to have .450 throats, but .451 gooves. Also, have you considered trying .45 Auto Rim brass? I wonder if the headspace on .45 Colt is causing inconsistent strikes?

Thanks for the report.

[BehindBlueI's]

BBI;

Do you have access to a set of pin gauges? I found my .45LC Redhawk to have .450 throats, but .451 gooves. Also, have you considered trying .45 Auto Rim brass? I wonder if the headspace on .45 Colt is causing inconsistent strikes?

Thanks for the report.

I don't have gauges, but I know someone who might.

I haven't tried auto rim brass. What would be different over the rimmed Colt brass or moon clipped ACP?

[11B10]

I'm not BBI, but last year I picked up a S&W 686 plus (7 shot) which had a distinct pattern, consistently grouping 5 /2. Turned out two of the chamber throats were slightly undersized.

The 686 plus is a gun I desire. Did you take any steps to remedy this? Also, I'd really appreciate any further information about it .

[john c]

I don't have gauges, but I know someone who might.

I haven't tried auto rim brass. What would be different over the rimmed Colt brass or moon clipped ACP?

AR brass is the thickness of ACP brass and the moon clip. It looks ridiculously thick, but reduces the tolerance stack between the brass, rim, and cylinder.

It loads like ACP, but can use speed loaders. I use it to load revolver only loads, ones that otherwise would not function in an auto.

[BehindBlueI's]

AR brass is the thickness of ACP brass and the moon clip. It looks ridiculously thick, but reduces the tolerance stack between the brass, rim, and cylinder.

It loads like ACP, but can use speed loaders. I use it to load revolver only loads, ones that otherwise would not function in an auto.

I suspect it won't work in the 5032. The moon clips are thinner than S&W moon clips since you need to be at the same rim thickness as .45 Colt. Using a S&W clip, the cylinder won't close.

[john c]

That's good to know. Thanks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HCM]

The 686 plus is a gun I desire. Did you take any steps to remedy this? Also, I'd really appreciate any further information about it .

It was a 686 plus Pro series 5". Since I bought it used, S&W wanted to charge me for repair so I brought it to Alex Hamilton at Ten Ring precision. He advised two of the chamber throats measured .356 and the other five measured .357. Per Alex, the throats are supposed to measure .358 so he reamed them all out to that spec.

The gun also had accuracy issues. The crown was messed up so I had Alex re-cut the crown.

Accuracy is improved and consistent but groups off a rest with lead bullets are still twice the size of groups with jacked bullets ( 4" at 25 yards vs 2") which is annoying for a Pro series / custom shop premium gun. I had a thread here on PF regarding the gun and addressing it's issues https://pistol-forum.com/showthread.php?16854-686-Plus-PRO-(problem-child)

[Lester Polfus]

I was considering buying one of these for a while. I'm pretty sure I read it won't work with autorim brass, but can't remember where.

[1slow]

Auto rim rims are quite thick.

[BehindBlueI's]

I loaded up 24 cartridges of:
6.8 gr CFE-Pistol
CCI Large Pistol Primer
Mixed brass

Predominately to dial in the sights but also to check function with the moon clips now that it's working pretty well with the .45 Colt.

Indoor range, so I just shot at 7y.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/Docwagon1776/Ruger/20160421_135407_zpsqsjmocax.jpg

Frowny face is a called flier on the 4th shot, I knew I shoved it a little. It's dialed in with this load, if I can get to the outdoor range tomorrow I'll chrono and see where we are. Can't bitch about the accuracy of the ACP load, and even with a max charge per Hogdon's website, it was a pussy cat recoil-wise. Hogdon claims 934 out of a 5" barrel, we'll see. I may kick this up a bit just for funsies.

I had 3 cartridges not fire. One was definitely the brass's fault. The primer went off, but the powder did not burn. I put a thread up on the A-merc brass with a picture and won't rehash it here. The other two were both Geco brass, and honestly I have trouble blaming the gun on these. It looks like good primer strikes to me..

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/Docwagon1776/Ruger/20160421_134340_zpsggddlocs.jpg

Small sample size makes it tough to say, but I'm going to load up enough to see if it varies by brass and also to do some rapid fire. Pulling the DA trigger slowly resulted in more cartridges being touched off then pulling it quickly with the first one that was about 50%, so I want to see if this one makes a difference.

The trigger is smoothed out a bit and doesn't have such a noticeable hump just before breaking now as it's worn in a little. It's gone from "horrendous" to "mediocre" so there's improvement. :D

[Nephrology]

I loaded up 24 cartridges of:
6.8 gr CFE-Pistol
CCI Large Pistol Primer
Mixed brass

Predominately to dial in the sights but also to check function with the moon clips now that it's working pretty well with the .45 Colt.

Indoor range, so I just shot at 7y.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/Docwagon1776/Ruger/20160421_135407_zpsqsjmocax.jpg

Frowny face is a called flier on the 4th shot, I knew I shoved it a little. It's dialed in with this load, if I can get to the outdoor range tomorrow I'll chrono and see where we are. Can't bitch about the accuracy of the ACP load, and even with a max charge per Hogdon's website, it was a pussy cat recoil-wise. Hogdon claims 934 out of a 5" barrel, we'll see. I may kick this up a bit just for funsies.

I had 3 cartridges not fire. One was definitely the brass's fault. The primer went off, but the powder did not burn. I put a thread up on the A-merc brass with a picture and won't rehash it here. The other two were both Geco brass, and honestly I have trouble blaming the gun on these. It looks like good primer strikes to me..

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb183/Docwagon1776/Ruger/20160421_134340_zpsggddlocs.jpg

Small sample size makes it tough to say, but I'm going to load up enough to see if it varies by brass and also to do some rapid fire. Pulling the DA trigger slowly resulted in more cartridges being touched off then pulling it quickly with the first one that was about 50%, so I want to see if this one makes a difference.

The trigger is smoothed out a bit and doesn't have such a noticeable hump just before breaking now as it's worn in a little. It's gone from "horrendous" to "mediocre" so there's improvement. :D

I feel like I just got very intimate with your nail beds in reading this post.

[Luke]

I feel like I just got very intimate with your nail beds in reading this post.

I'm with this guy. I've already pictures exactly how you look and talk based on your thumb.

[BehindBlueI's]

I feel like I just got very intimate with your nail beds in reading this post.


I'm with this guy. I've already pictures exactly how you look and talk based on your thumb.

Some guy on another forum told me my cuticles looked rough. I don't know what a cuticle is. Ya'll play nice, though, or I'll post a picture of my toes. There ain't enough eye bleach on the web to get that out of your head.

[jh9]

Some guy on another forum told me my cuticles looked rough. I don't know what a cuticle is. Ya'll play nice, though, or I'll post a picture of my toes. There ain't enough eye bleach on the web to get that out of your head.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m2y1yfKBMg1r0eo86o2_250.gif

[BehindBlueI's]

Necro-bump update:

I got the longer firing pin from Hamilton Bowen. My range staff couldn't install it as they didn't have the tool to remove the bushing or the means to fabricate one (HB sells a tool now, as well, if you need one).

I gave it to a buddy of mine who's a gunsmith and he figured out pretty quickly the bushing wasn't fully screwed in from the factory. That likely contributed to my light strikes. With the bushing properly installed and the longer firing pin, there was a LOT of protrusion. He's shaved the new firing pin so it's at the max end of "in spec" and the gun is working 100% with hard-primered ammo like S&B. Seems to have resolved the issue, although I don't have it back yet and am going by his update.

[JonInWA]

7252

10/10 with Winchester
40/40 with CCI
29/30 with S&B

The S&B that did not fire the first time did fire the 2nd time.

Interesting with S&B; in my .347 tuned GP100, I also had 1 light strike in a recent IDPA match (towards the end of the match, at around the 110-round point) with an S&B 158 gr .357 semi-jacketed soft point; it fired the second time, and I had no issues whatsoever with 100 rounds of S&B 158gr fully jacketed ball (same load).

Best, Jon

[BehindBlueI's]

Final word:
Bushing not fully screwed in.
Burr in frame catching and slowing hammer fall.

Great job, Ruger.

With burr gone, bushing in, and firing pin contoured round instead in conical and set to maximum protusion... it's actually working.

[SwampDweller]

Sorry to revive a dead thread, if I should make a new one I will. I see Ruger at some point recently started putting out Ruger Redhawks again in .45 Colt/Auto. However, the model is now designated as 5050 (the OP’s is listed as 5032). As documented by BBI as well as others, there seemed to be reliability problems, particularly with ignition. If I remember correctly, this issue was primarily with .45 ACP.

I have always been interested in getting a Redhawk in .45 Colt. I would have no plans to shoot .45 ACP through it. I wonder if it would be reliable, or if it may still have issues? Anyone get a recent production Redhawk .45? I wish they still did the Redhawk in just .45 Colt as they did for years, I don’t think those had issues.

https://ruger.com/products/redhawk/specSheets/5050.html

It also mentions having a barrel sleeve. I don’t recall that being in the description for Redhawks in the past. Has that always been a thing?

[Lester Polfus]

It also mentions having a barrel sleeve. I don’t recall that being in the description for Redhawks in the past. Has that always been a thing?

No. And I’m pretty sure that’s the reason for the model # change. When they started sleeving the barrels of the Redhawk, they changed the model number as well. For a while on GrabAGun you could order both the new sleeved model, and the old NOS non-sleeved one.

Other than that, I’ve no input other than they are on the short list of guns it wouldn’t be stupid for me to buy.

[OlongJohnson]

Final word:
Bushing not fully screwed in.
Burr in frame catching and slowing hammer fall.

Great job, Ruger.

With burr gone, bushing in, and firing pin contoured round instead in conical and set to maximum protusion... it's actually working.

That's why I prefer stainless Rugers. They pretty much all need to be detail stripped and fully deburred out of the box. Stainless doesn't require rebluing after this is done.