Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .44 Remington Magnum revolver

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I don’t particularly remember the Redhawks shooting loose as evidenced by more end shake or side-to-side play with the hammer back. It’s that the lock would come out of the bolt notch on the cylinder upon firing and the cylinder would rotate free on high-round count guns.

I don’t know the physics of what’s happening, but suspect the basepin arrangement of the Blackhawk stands up to heavy usage better with less deflection (bolt notch moving away from lock in recoil) on high round count guns than the mechanism on a Redhawk (or S&W), but that is a guess. I also suspect the heavier frame and larger cylinder of a Redhawk would stand more pressure than a Blackhawk but that is another guess.

People make a lot of noise about the Redhawk triggers, as if they are something positively wretched. I have seen some very good groups fired from Redhawks used in the double action mode. Of course I have heard more than a few people complain that they could not fire a group while using a Glock or a Sig-Sauer, stating that they had to have God's Gun, the 1911 in .45 ACP.

I think most of the noise comes from folks who make a lot of excuses why they can't shoot groups with anything other than their gun, and even then it is often a case of " well I am not at my best, but you should have been here Tuesday".

If you are a proficient shooter, you can shoot a Redhawk well double action. If you are not, having pretty much any gun, custom tuned or not is not going to help you much.

Im excited. Its not here yet but I have a pre lock 629 DX 8 3/8 on the way, Im hoping for good things. Most of my 1 shot groups are running about .430 or .431 but I'll keep working on it...

Damn! I went to retrieve my old Chrono (Krono?? Crono?? Can't remember how they spelled their brand) unit, intending to bring it to the range with the .44 Mag load in question, and it's not where I thought it was. Haven't seen it in many years, but I thought I knew where to find it. Oh well. Are they still in business?? How much is a new one?

Still liking my 83/8” model 29-3 . Shot it the other day at 100 yds. Got a one shot group that measured .429 .

Snipped your post to address the Redhawk.

I have one I bought in 1987 and it's been shot quite a lot with max+ loads. Most a LBT WLN .500 nose 320gr1400 fps.

I just dug it out to see if I could see any wear that might explain your experiences.

The action was pretty dirty and rotation of the cylinder was stiff and gummy.

I could get the hammer to full cock before the bolt entered the bolt latch. Some wear on the pawl/ratchet had slowed the timing. Little bit of lube on ratchet/pawl and cyclinder pin have the bolt locking right at full cock.

I have shot that revolver enough to have broken not 1 but 2 of the sturrips that connect spring to hammer. If I was to start shooing it again I would replace the pawl and maybe the ratchet.

My .45 Colt Redhawk bolt engages the notch long before the hammer reaches full cock.

My guess is the Redhawks you have seen not locked after firing had fired unlocked due to wear induced timing issues.

Something to check on any revolver under hard use and keeping the pawl/ratchet lubed will reduce wear.

I am a huge fan of the Redhawk but any machine is going to wear and all revolvers will lose timing on a long enough time scale.

When I was in the business I never once saw a twisted frame but then this could be a simple matter of terminology used by some here. I worked on lots of 44 mag S&W’s, trigger work on Blackhawks and Super Blackhawks on one or two RedHawks. One common feature of most 44 mag revolvers is low round count. People buy them cause it’s a 44 Mag but most don’t shoot them enough to wear them. I worked at one gun shop that I swear always had eight or more under the counter and we finally just stopped taking them in. None had been shot enough to worry about. So in the 80’s and 90’s you could pick up like new 29’s and Blackhawks for around .50-60 cents on the dollar.

Never ever seen a 44 mag Redhawk with health problems or a Super Blackhawk. Never worked on a Colt Anaconda but have repaired and serviced a number of 29’s and 629’s. The Smith & Wesson design where hot loads are concerned and lots of them ( 20K +-) will develop end shake. If the gun has been shot a lot with full power loads it can get to the point where it doesn’t pay to fix. The end shake and other typical issues is the result of frame stretch, not twisting. Though I like Smiths because they balance well, fastest lock time and ability to really slick up, the design has some inherent weaknesses. The removable side plate reduces a lot of frame metal and rigidity, there is no way around it. But it really only comes into play with hot ammo like the 44 mag or 357’s in K-frames. The 686 ‘L’ frames solved this. They also suffer a bit from a weak cylinder ratchet design. No side plates on the Rugers or Colts.

If I were in the market for a DA 44 mag revolver I’d spend a lot of time seeing if it fits your hand then grips. I for one can’t get used to a Redhawk as the frame and grip design are too big for my hands. The SA Blackhawks will work for just about anybody.

Good Luck
Rick