My "special" .45 Colt is a six shot Redhawk which started out as a .44 Magnum. I think it was Combat Handguns that once had an article on Bowen's Redhawk Alpine Conversion. I called and asked him if he could make me one in six shot .45 Colt (a simple conversion, as he told me) and promptly sent him a new Redhawk which never saw even a single round as a .44 Magnum. The rebore was done by Cliff Labounty and naturally everything was dimensionally perfect. That revolver saw some very heavy loads and I got 1263 FPS with the 335 gr. LBT bullet, from the 4" barrel. After about 10 years of hard use, the gun developed some serious ignition problems and was returned back to Bowen. He told me that mine was the first Redhawk he had seen that was done in by hard DA use and not abuse. Getting the gun to time properly double action was extraordinarily difficult for him, mostly due to Ruger's refusal to supply critical parts. I'm a huge fan of DA revolvers, but this experience has turned me off to the Redhawk and I feel that these Blackhawk conversions are definitely the way to go. There are so many aftermarket parts that are readily available that you need not depend on Ruger's service department. That makes all the difference in the world when the time comes to repair that custom revolver.
Dave Sinko