I recently purchased a Ruger Redhawk 7,5inch IN 44 MAG.
Being mostly a S&W Shooter, the preference going to the 629 in all his variations, i was told that the Redhawk being not so much larger would be a better 44MAG handler than the S&W.
As i always download the .44 MAG and have experienced many loads before having the good ones for the 629, i'm curious to know if someone has an accurate load for the Redhawk rightaway with which i could start.
Thanks,
Steve

I shoot factory Hornady 240 gr. XTP's in my Ruger Super Redhawk. I tried everything and this is what shot the best in mine.

Ditto on the 240 XTP's. I run mine pretty hot with either 296 or H110. As I recall they run in the neighborhood 1600 fps. For a milder load you might try some of Mr. Stanton's 429421's (I cast my own)with 16.5 grains of Aliant 2400. They run right around 1100 fps. For a plinker load I run 429421's with 5.5 grains of Bullseye at about 850-900 fps.

Good luck.

RJ

Thanks Folks,

As i got some stock left of 240 and 300 grainer from Hornady, i will give them a try with 2400 or N110.
Can't g wrong, i think.
Keep up loving those good ol' revolvers...
Steve

Every Ruger handgun I've loaded for (4) has seemed to prefer the heavier bullets in moderately warm to hot loads. All had rough-looking barrels, but all shot well regardless and all polished up in time. Both my Redhawks (41 & 44) would shoot into an inch with loads they liked right from the start. My GP-100 took a while to shoot in, but it was also a tackdriver once I got away from the lighter bullets. Other shooters' experiences seem to show this as a trend.

My current Redhawk 44 has a serious affinity for Gold Dot 240's, and every gun seems to shoot the 240 XTP's well. What kind of results are you getting so far?

PJ

The Redhawk will allow you to seat the bullets out further and in My experience can be loaded hotter than the fine Smith 29 without any damage to the gun.

I'm not sure you really need to though. I spent a lot of years hunting with a 44 and after 19 black bear and a pile of deer I found that using a hardcast lead bullet at 1350 to 1450 worked as well as any super hot load I tried and was both accurate and pleasent to shoot.

I cast a Kieth style gascheck bullet that comes in at 255 grains out of a Lee Mold. I've killed several bear out to almost 200 yards with one shot kills with this load. It is also very accurate.

There are several things you might want to do to your Redhawk to help in the accuracy department such as.

Be sure and check that the throats are large enough to not be sizing down your bullets before they hit the rifling.

I always had an accuracy increase by firelapping the bore with Marshal Stantons fire lapping kits.

Have a good pistol smith do a trigger job and install a set of Wolf springs.

Here is the Redhawks I used to hunt with. Sadly my eyes are going to the point that I now have gone back to rifle hunting with a scope. I still carry a 41 mag in the woods and would not hesitate to take a deer out to 35 or 40 yards if I had the chance.

Hi papajohn,

Thanks for the reply.
Indeed, for instance, mine loves the heavier bullets too, so it seems because so far i shot only the following loads.

Before i go into loading, i just wanted to say that the Ruger is indeed beefier than any Smith 29, not to bad in quality, but the trigger pull is somewhat heavy. Overall it is a very beautiful strong gun.

So far i used and had good results with my standard 18grains of 2400 or N110 behind any 240 or 250 grainer, be that Sierra, Hornady or our European products (www.wm-bullets.de OR www.hn-sport.de). This combos always seems to work fine in my 44s.

Our BigBore specialist at the range handed my over this loads (with the respective data) and they really are (1.) hot and (2.) very accurate.:

1. 300gr Sierra JSP TC .4295 + 20,8 Hodgdon H4227 + CCI 350.
2. 315gr RCBS #82079 CL GC SWC .429 + 21,4 Hodgdon H110 + CCI 350.

Enjoy your shooting,
Steve

This load has been my "standard" 44 mag. load for many years now:

CASE: W-W 44 mag.

PRIMER: CCI-350 Mag. Pistol

POWDER: W-296 / 24.0gr.

BULLET: Remington 240 gr. JHP.

VELOCITY: 1,600 to 1,700 fps. depending on gun

COMMENTS: The above load has accounted for many deer, coyotes, armadillos and crow....

DAW

I'm shooting the 240 grain XTP with a near max load of 2400 from my 18.5" Deerfield Carbine...The velocity is up there and its pretty accurate but the XTP is made for pistol velocities, I think it will probably come apart at rifle velocities... I'll have to try to recover a bullet and see what is happening...

I recently purchased a Ruger Redhawk 7,5inch IN 44 MAG.
Being mostly a S&W Shooter, the preference going to the 629 in all his variations, i was told that the Redhawk being not so much larger would be a better 44MAG handler than the S&W.
As i always download the .44 MAG and have experienced many loads before having the good ones for the 629, i'm curious to know if someone has an accurate load for the Redhawk rightaway with which i could start.
Thanks,
Steve

Glock 31....I use a 240 grain Sierra hollow cavity bullet going 1200fps! The load is 19.5 grains of 2400 powder. This load is for punching paper targets and for whitetail deer hunting. NOT for black bear hunts OK.