Redhawk in "high gloss" stainless?

JohnW · Apr 23, 2009

Stopped in at a local gun shop today to arrange an FFL-to-FFL transfer, and was looking at his used revolvers while waiting. He had 3 Redhawks, one 5.5" blued, and two 7.5" stainless, all .44's. The one stainless gun had a very high gloss finish. It may not have been as bright as a polished Vaquero, but it was very noticeably different from the other, which was the regular satin finish.

It looked really good, very evenly polished all over, and the rollmarks still looked sharp, but I did not have him take it out of the display case. Was this a factory offering, or did someone go to the trouble to polish this one?

Sonnytoo · Apr 23, 2009

I don't think Ruger had a high-gloss stainless in the RH.
Sonnytoo

Hugh · Apr 23, 2009

Is this what you're talking about?

JohnW · Apr 23, 2009

Hugh, that is the satin finish, I believe.

hittman, you have a PM.

airwin · Apr 24, 2009

Yes, Ruger has made some high gloss stainless Redhawks about 10 years back. I have one and it´s named GKRH-445. When I´m at home again, I can send you pics of it.

Quarterbore · Apr 24, 2009

The one you saw didn't happen to have the ring cuts did it? If it did I would like contact info for the dealer too.

I have seen a couple of these in the past year but none were the R model yet but I keep looking.

JohnW · Apr 24, 2009

Quarterbore, no ring cuts on this one, unfortunately.

Quarterbore · Apr 24, 2009

Well, had to ask. Rummor has it this is $650 and I was going to call but I don't want to start buying more guns outside my collection interests.

I really don't know what the proper value of one of these are.

chet15 · Apr 24, 2009

JohnW":3q2x2gku said:
Stopped in at a local gun shop today to arrange an FFL-to-FFL transfer, and was looking at his used revolvers while waiting. He had 3 Redhawks, one 5.5" blued, and two 7.5" stainless, all .44's. The one stainless gun had a very high gloss finish. It may not have been as bright as a polished Vaquero, but it was very noticeably different from the other, which was the regular satin finish.

It looked really good, very evenly polished all over, and the rollmarks still looked sharp, but I did not have him take it out of the display case. Was this a factory offering, or did someone go to the trouble to polish this one?

Here's what I have on the high polish Redhawk models that Ruger made, from the reference:

GKH-445, GKRH-44 and GKRH-44R. Known s/n range 503-10966 to 503-12800 (GKRH-445) and 503-10997 to 503-11035 (GKRH-44). Probably not more than 500 each of the models GKRH-445 and GKRH-44 were produced. The model GKRH-44R is unknown. No high polish Redhawks are known to have been shipped in black and yellow hinged boxes. All known so far were shipped in plastic boxes.
Chet15

Quarterbore · Apr 24, 2009

chet15":1flp4jtg said:
The model GKRH-44R is unknown.

Chet,

Can you confirm that this means that you do not know how many were made OR does this mean that you are not sure if there is such a gun?

Regardless, thanks for sharing the information. I saw one of these GKRH-44 models at a local shop for only $279 but the poor gun was neglected and was pretty badly rusted (even the bore of the gun). Later I wished I had bought it as a project but it was gone when I went back for it. Probably just as well as I don't have time for that kind of a project gun!

Beaver Creek · Apr 24, 2009

'm interested in the GKRH-44 if it will letter as such. A letter is a must for this gun since I've seen some pretty nice high poloshed Redhawks come out of somebody's home shop. How can I contact this shop that has it?

JohnW · Apr 24, 2009

Beaver Creek, you have a PM.

BDM · Apr 24, 2009

Hugh, regardless of finish, that is one fine looking revolver.

airwin · Apr 25, 2009

Here you can see pics of my high-gloss Redhawk.

Ken ONeill · Apr 28, 2009

Curiously, the only 2 high -polish ringed Redhawks I ever saw had rings that were NOT polished! They were in the dealer's stock, so they came that way from the factory. Seemed half- baked, and that's the reason I didn't buy one. I did acquire a high polish Single Six and Blackhawks in .45 Colt and .357 Mag.

flatgate · Apr 28, 2009

Ken ONeill":2dbux8ci said:
Curiously, the only 2 high -polish ringed Redhawks I ever saw had rings that were NOT polished!

I'm no Redhawk expert, but I have a Hunter model and the rings that came with the revolver are "sealed" in the Factory's Retail Store packaging.

What I'm getting at is that to polish the rings prior to packaging would put a "kink" in the production line. I don't know for sure, but, perhaps the rings are made by a "Vendor" for Ruger and getting them polished would increase the cost beyond "acceptable"......

???

flatgate

chet15 · Apr 28, 2009

Quarterbore":20fgrbv6 said:
Chet,
Can you confirm that this means that you do not know how many were made OR does this mean that you are not sure if there is such a gun?

I know Davidson's never got a high polish stainless 7-1/2" w/ rings (KRH-44R). Considering the fairly even distribution between distributors, to have a large distributor like Davidson's not get any of that model, it really wouldn't surprise me if that model wasn't made at all.
Somebody just needs to confirm one.
Chet15

chet15 · Apr 28, 2009

flatgate":11icv3kr said:
I don't know for sure, but, perhaps the rings are made by a "Vendor" for Ruger and getting them polished would increase the cost beyond "acceptable"......
flatgate

Ruger's rings are cast by pine tree.
And actually, the high polish process was done by throwing the parts and guns to be polished into three pretty large vats (as I remember at least 6 foot in diameter) with three different grades of medium. So really, no employee had to polish any of those parts out beyond the person getting the sprews cut off and acceptable before final polish.
Could have been done, but Ruger evidently didn't put the high polish to their rings.
Chet15

Ken ONeill · Apr 28, 2009

Chet 15,
They were definitely made. As stated, I've seen them, NIB unsold. I have no idea of the "high polished "quantity.

Beaver Creek · Apr 28, 2009

Thanks Quarterbore & JohnW for the shop info that has this Redhawk. According to Ruger records it will letter as a GKRH-44. Payment & FFL goes out tomorrow. By the way Chad, this one 503-12144 extends your S/N range a bit for the high polished Redhawks. I also have a higher number GKRH-445 503-12800.

Redhawk in "high gloss" stainless?

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