super redhawk headspace

[akkid]

have super redhawk with following "problems" as noted by a local 'smith:

"firing pin nose flat (not radiused from factory) with protrusion .044" with hammer forward fully at rest. Factory protrusion is .050" at rest with happer down.

Rear gauge (headspace) on left side of breech face .086" and the right .076" with no end play on cylinder. Factory specs .060"-.064".Breech face filing resulted in excessive of .024" and .006" off firing pin nose. Breech face was filed on a downward angle into the nore of the firing pin causing flat nose. "

the firing pin seems a fairly easy fix, provided i can find one or have one produced. but the headspace issues concern me. can anyone speak to whether or not the weapon is safe to fire?

 

[Pinecone]

akkid, Welcome to the forum. With an "offset" breachface it's possible to get cartridge head "blowout" and separation! I assume this was "used" when you aquired it. Obviously someone has "screwed up" a good quality gun. Also obvious that the local smith' didn't want any part of it either. The right thing to do is send it back to Ruger for a proper evaluation and go from there. I would assume they would be charging you "something" for the repair or replacement since it didn't leave the factory in that condition......................Dick :wink:

 

[akkid]

thanks for the response pinecone. since it's caliber has been altered (.429 gnr vs .44mag), will they even accept it for repair?

 

[contender]

Welcome to the Forum!
The 44 mag is a .429 diameter. A call to Ruger should be in order here.

 

[Flash]

My guess is that since the breach face was filed down, when you send it back to Ruger, they'll render it unsafe and destroy it. You'll most likely get it's value towards another gun but it's doubtful you'll get it back.

 

[akkid]

thanks, guys. but i may be missing something. why would ruger give me any credit at all towards a new weapon? since i sent it to reeder for the conversion to .429 GNR,wouldn't that void any liability or responsibility that ruger may have had? while ruger may, in fact, tell me the weapon is unsafe, wouldn't they in the same breath tell me that someone other than ruger made it that way ,and they have no responsiblity in the matter? i take full responsibility for having had the conversion done. and i cannot prove when the filing of the breechface was done. from my perspective, this is all on me. i just want to know if the weapon is safe. maybe ruger iss in the best position to tell me.

 

[Flash]

I have heard of cases when a customer sent their gun to Ruger for repair and they deemed it unrepairable and destroyed it. If they keep your property, they must somehow compensate you for it and after all the legal hardships they had, my guess would be that they'd keep it. Ruger doesn't advocate customizing their products as would be the case with any firearm manufacturer. Again, my guess is when they receive it, they may very well keep it. If they were to return to you, a customized gun with potential defects and you were injured by it's use, they could possibly be held liable since they could have stopped you from being injured by destroying one of their products with known defects.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Have you discussed this with Reeder?

 

[akkid]

yep...had that "conversation". swears no one there touched the breechface. i will not say otherwise because there's no proof. but when it was returned to me the trigger pull was terrible and it hadn't been previously. and it would not consistently fire when the hammer was dropped on a round. that's why i took it to my local 'smith...who, btw, is a member of the pistolsmith's guild and a previous pistolsmith of the year selected by that organization. so i trust him. he's the one who found the out of spec problems.

 

[contender]

You didn't mention in your first post about having sent this gun out for custom work.

 

[akkid]

sorry. mentioned it in the "revolver" forum. was only looking for potential fixes (if any exist) in this forum

 

[Pinecone]

akkid, Somehow I'm not at all "surprised" that Reeder expressed "no knowledge" of your problem breachface or that his shop didn't find anything "wrong" with your trigger pull, and that's all I'll say about "that". I know the work of this shop well!......................Dick :!:

 

[akkid]

i'm passed all that now. i just need to know if this weapon has any hope of ever being useful again. if not, so be it. i've learned LOTS of lessons in my 58years. in the big scheme of things, this one isn't all THAT expensive. if i have to retire this srh to the

 

[akkid]

sorry...hit a "wrong" key on this laptop...as i was saying, if i have to retire this srh to the wall, i already have my eye on another one to take its place. and this one i will most certainly leave in its original configuration.

 

[G2]

Your gun can be all fixed up. It's just going to take some more Money.

Give Bowen a call, He works on redhawks quite a bit.

Bowen Classic Arms Corp. / Hamilton Bowen
QUESTIONS and ASSISTANCE
email [email protected]

Phone (865) 984-3583

I can assure you, a fine southern gentleman.

 

[akkid]

thanks. i've seen his name on teh forum a lot. i'll give him a call.