I have a Ruger Super Red Hawk that I just can't seem to get to shoot well. The best group is 3 Inches at 25 yds. I've tried hundreds of different handload different powders and different bullets, everything from 250 gr bullets to 300 gr bullets both lead and jacketed. checked cylinders for out of round or varying size, I guess the only thing left to do is either recrown the barrel of recut the forcing cone.
What angle should the forcing cone be recut to? 11 degree, 18 degree, or something else?
Mike

Are you sure you're not the problem. Not trying to be a smart ass but the 44 is not the easiest gun to shoot if you don't shoot a lot.

Give a try with a 240 gr cast lead semi wadcutter over 8gr of unique. This is a very light load and recoil will be very manageable plus it's a very accurate load for plinking.

Also let a buddy shoot it and see how he/she does.

If that all checks out.

Do you have it scoped? if so try another scope. Check the screws.

Give the cylinder lock up position a look. When the hammer is back (unload the gun first) does the cylinder line up with the forcing cone. There will be a bit of slop but it shouldn't be excessive. This is a timming issue and will need to go to a good smith to fix.

Unless the gun has been fired a bunch a doubt the forcing cone is pitted but it could be out of round or off center. 11 degress is what I use if you need to recut. No way I know of to check this but it is an easy thing to fix. Again, you will need a smith.

Check the front of the cylinder holes. Look for varing sizes. These should be the same within .0005. .001 at most.

Try bullets that are sized a bit smaller or a slight bit over the .429 std dia. try a .428 or .4285 then go to .4295. See if either help.

Look over the crown. Has it been hit or do you see rough spots. Use a magnifier.

Since I don't know your shooting ability (not being judgemental it took me time to get used to the blast of the 44) it's had to say it's not you.

Hope this helps a bit and good luck

John

Mike,

First question I would always ask is: Is this something new or has the gun always done this?

Second question (and don’t get mad since I don’t know you): Do you have past experience shooting .44 magnum handguns and getting better accuracy than this? I’ve shot allot of them and know how hard they can be to shoot well until you get used to them...it ain’t nothing to be ashamed of, the suckers do kick!

Have you checked the barrel/cylinder gap? Does the gun spit lead excessively?

If you do determine that the forcing cone needs a touch up, Dave Manson makes a really nice tooling kit for this and the price is very reasonable.

http://www.mansonreamers.com

I have it scoped, 2nd scop that I tried. been shooting from a sandbag rest, and I do (in my estimation) shoot a lot (over 1000 primers through this gun alone last year), checked the cylinder holes all within .001 of each other. I will check the crown closer. And yes it kicks with full power loads.
Thank you very much for your input, I'll check the recomendations, and also check with Dave Manson.
Mike

Take a look at the throat .
I saw one (a new 454 ) that the throat looked like sand paper.
He sent it back and a new barrel was installed .
It now shoots 3-4" groups at 100 yds.

Johnch

Hate to say it, but Ruger sometimes puts out guns that won't shoot no matter what you do to them.

Its a shame that a company capable of great things is also capable of turning out guns that are greater than minute of barn door.

-Spencer

Mike, did the gun ever shoot well? Or was it always printing shotgun patterns?

If it was shooting well at some time did the change in accuracy come all at once or gradually?

The darn thing never did shoot, in my estimation well! I'll try recrowning the barrel next; if that dosen't do it, I'llsend it back to Ruger.
Mike

I'd have a friend shoot it to make sure it isn't you. I had a Super blackhawk that I thought wouldn't shoot, but it turned out it was me, not the gun

I would recomend sending the gun back to Ruger before re-crowning it. Once it's modified, they aren't going to do warantee work on it.

Most SRH's are very accurate guns, my 480 groups 1" at 50 yds.

Mike, I agree with PaulH don't touch it before sending it to Ruger.

The one thing I would do before that is give the load I gave you. 8.0 gr Unique under a 240 gr cast bullet. I use CCI mag pistol primers but I doubt that will have any impact. This load has always been an accurate one in every 44mag I've ever shot. Recoil is very light and that helps take the shooter out of the picture. After that either a good smith or off to Ruger.

John

quote:

Originally posted by MikeN:
I have a Ruger Super Red Hawk that I just can't seem to get to shoot well. The best group is 3 Inches at 25 yds. I've tried hundreds of different handload different powders and different bullets, everything from 250 gr bullets to 300 gr bullets both lead and jacketed. checked cylinders for out of round or varying size, I guess the only thing left to do is either recrown the barrel of recut the forcing cone. What angle should the forcing cone be recut to? 11 degree, 18 degree, or something else? Mike

Hey Mike, I've got one more "Test" for you, if you have not already tried this.

First off, load up 50 of whatever shot the "very best" for you previously.

If you do not have a Pistol Rest, either get one or make one. Doesn't have to be fancy. Even a piece of 4x4 with a folded up towel is better than nothing at all.

Hang 6 Targets at 25yds.

Load up and "Index" the cylinder so you start with the same exact "Chamber" in the same place each time you refill it and close it.

Set the barrel on the Rest so the bottom of the barrel is on it and the front of the Trigger Guard touches it. This is so you will have the exact same placement from shot to shot. Or however your Pistol Rest works. Just be consistent.

Shoot the first Target with the First cartridge in the first Chamber. Then move to Target 2 for the next Chamber, etc. When you finish, refill the cylinder and repeat for 5-6 shots on each Target.

Now you can see if your Groups are opened by a specific Chamber (or more) in your Cylinder. If so, then you can avoid using them on your Initial Shot until you can get the Cylinder replaced. Or maybe you don't need to worry about it at all, because I really doubt you will get six shots off at a Deer. If it is for Dangerous Game, then the Priority might be a bit different.

By the way, I normally dislike this "Round Robin" form of shooting, but in this situation, it might tell you something interesting.

Best of luck to you.

Great idea Hot core. I'll be using that method next time I've got a poor shooting wheel gun.

This is exactly why some have they're cylinders numbered. Any good gunsmith can do this for you and since it is a Ruger, you can easily remove the cylinder and take it to a high quality machine shop as well and they can stamp the numbers for you. Or if you have access to number or letter punches...

One thing I would add would be to have the trigger drilled and tapped for a setscrew/triggerstop. Another easy modification on Ruger revolvers and if you'd rather you can drill and tap the trigger guard instead to accomplish the same thing. Some Rugers have fairly serious overtravel in the triggers, so if you install a triggerstop and then shoot from a rest and still get poor accuracy, might be time to think about that forcing cone. I would go 11 degrees first, you can always go to 18 later, but not vice versa.

I have only encountered this kind of thing once and it was with one of the few Redhawks chambered in .357 Magnum. I was checking it out for a guy and thinking of buying or trading for it. I couldn't get it to shoot handloads that were very accurate in other revolvers. Typically 1" at 25 yard type handloads. I know all the cliches about what works in one doesn't work in others, but these were loads that worked exceptionally in a number of revolvers. It was very dissappointing because reloading potential would have been enormous with a .357 Magnum Redhawk. Didn't buy it and I believe the guy still owns it and never had anything done to it.

I polished the barrel crown, took a fine round (ball type) die grinder stone, chucked it into a veriable speed drill, and lightly, and slowly polished the crown. I was able to shoot a ragged hole with 5 shots just to the left of the X ring. I was using 50 foot slow fire pistol targets at 40 yards.
upon examaning the barrel crown with a magnifing glass it looked rough, so I polished it.
the guns shoots great now.
Mike

Congratulations Mike! Always good to hear about a problem being whipped. And you did it yourself, which should make it all that much sweeter.

Good hunting and clean 1-shot kills.