Ok, I'll start at the beginning. I ordered one last year, received it in June. It showed up with a broken rear sight blade. The broken part wasn't in the bag/box, and the shipping box was undamaged. It was clearly broken before it was boxed up.
I called and Ruger put a sight blade in the mail. In the meantime, I dry fired it a lot. It soon developed trigger problems. The trigger dragged on the return, then got to the point that I had to push it forward. It also "locked up", the trigger came part way back and stopped. Open the cylinder, it unlocked.
Sent it back; they refitted the trigger assembly to the frame. The trigger return/lock problems were gone, but now I had light primer strikes. Sent it back again, was told it was irreparable (excessive headspace and shallow firing pin channel) and they offered a replacement. I accepted.
When the new one arrived, I took it shooting. Worked fine. When I tried to take it apart, the trigger guard plunger wouldn't budge. I was unable to take it down. Called Ruger, they said ship it back, and that they would reimburse me (also said they'd reimburse me for the transfer fee for the replacement gun). I sent it back, and about two weeks later it showed up. Trigger plunger still wouldn't budge.
I looked online and found that others had seen the same problem; they grabbed the plunger with a pair of needle nose pliers and then hit the pliers with a hammer to get it out. I tried it, and it worked. I discovered that when I put the trigger guard back on the frame, the plunger went in and out pretty easily. I noticed that after some dry fire, it was tight again. I also noticed that the line where the trigger guard assembly meets the frame had widened slightly; so, I tapped the bottom of the trigger guard with a nylon mallet, and the pin again moved fairly freely. I can live with tapping the trigger guard back in each time I take the gun down, not that big of a deal.
Both guns shot well (when they shot); I really like the flexibility of being able to shoot different kinds of ammo from the same gun.
As to grips - the original grips just plain hurt when I fire it. The upper left corner of the grip drives right into the bone on the 2nd joint of my thumb. 2 or 3 cylinders and it was pretty uncomfortable. As mentioned above, there aren't any grips made for this round butt gun. So, I bought a pair of Pachmyer Presentation grips made for a "regular" Redhawk. They fit the gun fine, but were a bit large for my hands. I then got a pair of Pachmyer Grippers; they also fit the gun well, and fit my hands very well. I REALLY like shooting this gun with them on it. I can put a lot of rounds through it without any discomfort.
I think I've finally got this gun where I want it; it took a while and several trips to the factory, but I'm at a good place with it.
Still waiting for reimbursement for the shipping and transfer fee...
If you're looking for a pair of Pachmyer Presentation Grips at a good, shoot me a PM.
