Redhawk with sleeve and shroud vs Reg barrel

Help Support Ruger Forum:

David Bradshaw

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
933
chet15 said:
David Bradshaw, I do not see Ruger ever using a barrel sleeve for any of their Blackhawks. The barrels start out as a tube, probably hammer forged, then cut to length turned to diameter and installed on the frame....then the front sight is attached. Using a sleeved barrel for their SA's would add unnecessary manufacturing steps and expense in my opinion.
Che15

*****

Far as I know, most Ruger round barrels are gun drilled round stock, hammer forged to produce rifling and internal dimensions. From day one, Redhawk barrels were drop forged, machined, drilled, reamed, and rifled with a broach pulled through. Super Redhawk barrels start as round stock and are hammer forged. I suspect Super Blackhawk Hunter barrels start as drop forgings, which receive the broach treatment.

Single actions were made in Southport CT until 1992, when production resumed in Newport NH. Barrels for Southport guns were supplied by George Wilson Company in Connecticut, with .22's through .357's button rifled, larger bore broach rifled.
David Bradshaw
 

s4s4u

Hunter
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Messages
2,086
Location
MN, USA
I suspect Super Blackhawk Hunter barrels start as drop forgings, which receive the broach treatment.

From Ruger website:

"Cold hammer-forged barrel results in ultra-precise rifling that provides exceptional accuracy, longevity and easy cleaning."
 

David Bradshaw

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 11, 2012
Messages
933
s4s4u said:
I suspect Super Blackhawk Hunter barrels start as drop forgings, which receive the broach treatment.

From Ruger website:

"Cold hammer-forged barrel results in ultra-precise rifling that provides exceptional accuracy, longevity and easy cleaning."

*****

Hammer forging offers a high production rate. The machinery is very expensive. Jim Stekl, of Remington R&D and the Bench Rest Hall of Fame, and developer of the BR Remington cartridges, told me hammer forging should be able to produce spectacular barrels. SAKO proved it with precise drilling, reaming, micro honing, and lapping----of the hole before hammering forging the rifling.

It sugars off to PREPARATION. Just as the barrel blank must be prepared to build accuracy from a bore which is cut by broach or hook, or swaged by button.

For all the force applied in hammer forging, it doesn't cure imperfections in the bore. And then there is the matter of pressure applied with a roll mark, and the compression ring which forms when a barrel is over-tightened. Hammer forging by itself doesn't guarantee accuracy, any more than a broach, a hook, or a carbide button. I have heard that rifling by EDM can be excellent; probably have shot some. Preparation of proper dimensions builds accuracy.

A note on sleeves: Eric Unger, a ceramics engineer who retired from Sturm, Ruger in 2007, ran the foundry in New Hampshire. Unger came up with the Super Redhawk Alaskan, a snub nose howitzer. The extended frame SRH was a natural for sleeving, as it would be very difficult to rifle the frame. Sleeving has caught on with Ruger and S&W for applications where traditional barrels have long held sway. It would seem that a narrow-wall sleeve would lend itself to rapid production on a hammer forge. Details of uniformity and straightness are problems which must be worked out in all barrel making. A great result may be available on the manufacturing floor. Proof is on the firing line. And proof is not found at 15 or 25 yards.
David Bradshaw
 

winchester348

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jun 14, 2009
Messages
488
Location
Georgia
SteelBlue said:
Who is off-loading them?
I don't know but I've seen probably 10 used ones in shops since Smith came out with them. Matter of fact the shop I work for had a used one in the counter sitting next to one of the first new ones we ever got. Sumptins up with em. If I didn't have an ever expending bucket list of guns, I may have grabbed one to try it out but as stated earlier they just don't do anything for me.
 

Squib308

Bearcat
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
10
i just ordered the redhawk model 5004. will be my first redhawk.

in terms of the S&W model 69 and 66 (sleeved barrel designs), I own both and have been very pleased with them. while i agree the nostalgia-build-factor is lost, it seems S&W is able to achieve better quality control with this build method. on both my revolvers the cylinder gap is perfect. the guns are incredibly accurate. overall i do not see the sleeved barrel as an inferior design. if anything the improvement in QC is worth it.
 

mohavesam

Hawkeye
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Messages
5,847
Location
Rugerville, AZ
"Sleeve barrels" are nothing new. Ruger used barrel sleeves as tensioned barrels on the 22/45 lite lines and they're purity darned popular, not to mention accurate. As discussed herein, a barrel within a barrel (rifled barrel within a supporting exterior, cosmetic shroud), is also an engineering, manufacturing, and performance IMPROVEMENT.

Nothing to fret about unless emotion n nostalgia rise above engineering n accuracy in a purchase decion.
 

Quarterbore

Blackhawk
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
904
Location
Valley Forge PA
I am glad I have a good assortment of RedHawks and their value just jumped as I wouldn't be interested in a sleeved barrel unless it was half the price or close to it. I wonder if RedHawks were not selling well to justify price increases so to keep prices the same they are making them using a cheaper way?

Edit. Holly jet lag. I followed a link and didn't realize this is a 2-year old thread.
 

Latest posts

Top