New SRH owner- a few questions

[Anonymous]

Hello Everyone!

Thank you in advance for you time and patience.
I recently purchased a six years old Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 mag with a 9 in. barrel. The Gun is in very good general conditions and came with both the old style grip with the inserts and a newer hogue mono grip. Trigger and hammer have been jeweled. I cannot describe how much i like this gun. The gun is also very accurate and pleasant to shoot.
I know a bit about S&W revolvers and Colts, having owned both, but i am new to Rugers and i have a few doubts that i hope to clarify with your help.

My gun has a small amount of cylinder endshake. I read several post lurking on this forum that helped me to understand how to measure the exact amount of play.
Using feelers gauges, with the gun at rest, i calculated the endshake to be around .002 (00.6 with the cylinder pulled back, .004 with cylinder held forward)

I realize that a .002 amount of endshake is really tollerable on a ruger, and i understand that rugers are different in design compared to colts and S&W, but i still have a couple of unanswered questions:

-My colts used to have a small amount of side to side and endshake play at rest, but pulling the trigger the cylinder would firmly lock up. Is it normal that the amount of endshake in my ruger is the same wether the gun is at rest or not? repeating in fact the test with the feelers gauges, holding the trigger back i obtain identical numbers.

-Is .002 of endshake tollerable or Necessary? By trying to remove the endshake do i risk to make the cylinder drag or the double action worse?

-Is it a good idea for me to install an endshake bearing to try eliminating the unwanted movement completely? I would instinctively think that any amount of enshake during lock up will end up ruining ejector star and gradually stretching the frame.

-Will these bearing work for me?

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=2568 ... GP__R_hawk



Thank you very much for helping!

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Welcome to the RugerForum Fred. This is the place for all things Ruger, especially single-actions, and a lot of other stuff. I'm no expert but your gun sounds normal to me. Most Ruger revolvers don't lock-up tight and that is a desirable feature as it lets the bullet transition smoothly into the forcing cone without shaving the side of the bullet. I always check the cylinder / barrel gap but don't worry too much about a little looseness.

...Jimbo

 

[contender]

Welcome to the Forum!
I guess my first question is. "How does it shoot?" Yes, as mentioned and by your own studies, there are differences in Rugers, Colts & S&W's. Quite often I've seen very "loose" guns shoot very well and very tight guns shoot like crap. (I know first hand as I had a NIB Kimber that right out of the box shot 10" low, & 4" left,,, with fixed sights. Tightest non-custom fitted gun I'd ever seen, & that's why I bought it.)
Go shooting your gun & see what it does. You may be surprised. I have a Redhawk in 44 mag, & a Super Redhawk in 480 that both shoot quite well. I will say that my Redhawk 44 isn't like my first VERY accurate Redhawk I owned was,,,, but still very nice. Now my 480 is a scary gun, 100 yds and accurate as the dickenns!

 

[Stan in SC]

Fred,you did better than you will ever imagine in buying a Super Redhawk.By the way,yours has a 9-1/2" barrel not a 9".
Two years ago I bought a 7-1/2" barrel one and I absolutely love this revolver.It is the best made,best shooting and most accurate revolver I have ever owned.
The endplay you mention is not a concern.
Enjoy your SRH.

Stan in SC

 

[GP100man]

NOT TO MENTION IT TAKES 3 HANDS TO DISASSEMBLE A RUGER CRANE ASM.&5 TO REASSEMBLE!


GP100man

 

[flatgate]

I'll have to relate a story. Most here know me as a single action guy. Period.

OK, several years ago a coworker purchased a 9-1/2" SRH in .44. He is a guy with rather large hands and the gun looks like a Single-Six in his mitts. Anyway he called me one weekend and said "this thing just won't shoot". OK, I drove over the hill to Victor, ID where he lived and brought one of my favorite .44 shooters and some of my rather "warm" 300 grain bullet handloads.

I warmed up by shooting my .44 with my ammo and his ammo. My .44 did it's usual thing and shot a "respectable" group. "OK, now let's try your SRH." (There was a picnic table/shooting bench there so I was using my shooting bag as a rest.) I shot a 5 shot group then squinted down range at the target. Damn, it isn't looking too good........so we walked down there for a closer look. Hah! One ragged hole! I have problems getting my Freedom Arms revolvers to shoot THAT good!

My Friend looked at the target, looked at the gun, looked at the target, looked at the gun then looked at me and said "Oh-oh, now I know what's wrong!"



flatgate

 

[Jimbo357mag]

My Friend looked at the target, looked at the gun, looked at the target, looked at the gun then looked at me and said "Oh-oh, now I know what's wrong!"



flatgate

Good Story.

 

[tiger955]

I take the "trigger puller" was malfunctioning?

 

[Rover 'n Rugers]

deleted.

 

[flatgate]

In a Colt, the hand has 2 engagement surfaces. The first turns the cylinder which then hands off to the 2nd surface to hold tight against the ratchet to locup the cylinder for firing.

Hmm, well, here's a pic of the New Bearcat's lockwork.

The "hand", which is a pawl in Ruger parlance, has two "teeth". This design is common across the board on ALL Ruger Single Actions produced since December of 1953 except the Old Army.

flatgate