Ruger's winning pair of .44s: if a job needs a .44 Magnum, these sixguns do it best

Guns Magazine, Nov, 2007 by John Taffin

The reason for wanting a powerful sixgun when wandering off the beaten path is sound, especially in bear country. Bears can be a problem in Alaska and to a lesser extent in the lower 48. Black bears will normally shy away from humans, however, all of them don't know this, and it's always possible to unknowingly get between a mother bear and her cubs, which can be a real problem.

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There are other large, possibly dangerous critters out there such as elk, moose, cougar, wolves, even feral boars and feral cattle. I was once challenged by a wild horse and felt very good having a short-barreled .44 Magnum sixgun with me. The chance of ever being placed in a situation of real danger with these 4-legged creatures is probably somewhat less than winning the lottery, however, eventually someone always wins the lottery. While I have no expectation of always really needing the pistol I'm packin', it will always be at my side and I would not be out without one.

My first ever Perfect Packin' Pistol was a Ruger .44 Blackhawk Flattop cut from 6 1/2" to a more easy carrying 4 5/8" in the late 1950s. My hunting friends in the 1960s dubbed it the Bear Buster and always felt more secure when I had it belted on. The three of us slept in a very small camper shell on the back of the pickup with the rifles stored upfront in the cab. The Bear Buster was always with us allowing us to sleep soundly and securely. Imagination? Maybe, but we certainly felt better having it.

Since the 1950s the .44 Magnum has been the packin' pistol of choice for many who wander the desert, foothills, forests, and mountains. We can argue the merits of the original Magnums, .357, .41, and .44 for hunting, however, when the tables are turned and the hunter becomes the hunted, portable power begins with the .44 Magnum. With today's heavy bulleted loads it is capable of the deepest penetration on large heavily muscled and boned critters.

History Lesson

Ruger did not make a double action .44 Magnum until nearly 25 years after the first double action Smith & Wesson arrived. With this length of learning curve they decided to build their first double action sixgun around the cartridge making it large and heavy. Ruger's Redhawk arrived in 1979 and has proven to be an exceptionally strong revolver able to handle the heaviest of .44 Magnum loadings. When we talk Heavy .44 Magnum we mean 300-to 340-grain bullets at 1,200 to 1,400 fps. These are too heavy for the original .44 Magnums from S&W and Ruger. I save the heavy loads for the sixguns of the last quarter of the 20th century, two of which are Ruger's big-bore double actions, the Redhawk (Big Red) and Super Redhawk (Bigger Red).

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The .44 Redhawk represented the new wave of .44 Magnums of the 1980s, big, tough, able to withstand the recoil of not only standard .44 Magnums, but the new heavyweight bullet loads soon demanded by handgun hunters as well. Until the arrival of the Redhawk, it was generally conceded single actions were stronger than double actions, however this .44 Magnum is actually larger and probably stronger than the Super Blackhawk and soon became a real favorite of handgun hunters who used 300-grain hardcast bullets over heavy doses of WW296 or H110 delivering 1,500 fps from its 7 1/2" barrel.

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The only fault most of us found with the Redhawk is it is difficult to get a really good trigger on Big Red. It was strange to read the account of the engineers and designers of the Redhawk as they talked about the smooth double action trigger pull and good single action pull. Not quite. My two first two Redhawks came with single action trigger pulls that measured 6 3/4 and 6 1/4 pounds. This hasn't changed over the past 25 years.

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The Redhawk gains its strength in many ways. The threaded area of the frame is very thick, double what one finds in many other sixguns, and the massive cylinder is locked at the rear and front of the cylinder itself rather than at the end of the ejector rod. The barrel carries a heavy rib and the top-strap is big and brawny.

The grip frame of the Redhawk was designed by Harry Sefried who also designed one of the most comfortable grips ever designed on one of the most easy pointing .22 double action revolvers, that being the High-Standard Sentinel. The grip frame and grips of the Redhawk were designed for shooting comfort, however things change dramatically with 300 grain bullet loads and I get nailed on the knuckle of my middle finger when shooting heavy loads with bullets in this weight class.

Cut The Barrel

A 10" barrel on the Redhawk was promised early but never materialized, nor has any barrel shorter than 5 1/2'' been offered, at least until now. A very simple custom job performed on the Redhawk has been cutting the barrel to 4", mounting a Patridge front sight, and rounding the front and back corners of the bottom of the grip frame as well as the factory grips. I find one so altered will fit the Idaho Leather pancake-style holster made for a 4" Model 29 and the construction of this type of holster provides a natural channel for the front sight.