A Tale of Two Redhawks

[azredhawk44]

It was the best of triggers, it was the worst of triggers...

I've got two Redhawks... the new 4" model and a 5.5" blued one. The DA trigger that shipped with the 4" gun is just fantastic. I can't crow about it enough. Smooth, even, light break.

I've learned that the stock mainspring on a Redhawk is supposed to be 17 pounds. I seriously doubt that my 4" gun has a stock spring. There's just no way. The feel and the trigger pull is drastically different between the two guns.

But, one of the things that is also different that irks me a bit is the way that you "trigger cock" or stage the trigger during DA shooting. Something I really like about the 4" revolver, and common with my 3" SP-101 (as well as friends' S&W and Dan Wesson revolvers as well), is that I can give the trigger a fast little tug, about 1/2 of the total pull, and the cylinder will rotate to the next position and lock fully into place.

With the 5.5" gun though, trigger-cocking just isn't as smooth. The cylinder lockup JUST BARELY occurs before the hammer drops. I can't stage the trigger the same way, and it really bugs me.

I took a stab in the dark and figured that maybe changing the mainspring for a lighter one would help. Last night, I tore down the 5.5" gun and installed the 12# offering from Wolff. After careful re-assembly, the DA pull is noticeably lighter but the cylinder lockup is still later in the stroke than I would like.

What can be done to make cylinder lockup occur earlier in the DA trigger pull on a Redhawk? Is this going to require a new indexing pawl, or modification to the cylinder? Am I capable of fixing this? Is a local gunsmith? Or does it have to go to Ruger?

[Unclenick]

I have put very nice triggers on a couple of Redhawks without messing with the springs. I used the Power Custom revolver jig with good success on that trigger mechanism. Years ago I did the spring thing on a Dan Wesson .357 of mine and found about 1 round in 10 failing to fire on the first hammer blow, so I am hesitant to change them. One modification I find very worthwhile is to drill and tap a small hole in the bottom of the mainspring tunnel in the trigger housing for a 4-48 or a 4-40 set screw. That screw makes an adjustable overtravel stop for the trigger. I put it in with a little blue Loctite and adjust it a quarter turn deeper than just allows the trigger to work. It makes the single-action feel much better.

Before you mess with the trigger, however, I would give Ruger a call. Tell them the timing on the cylinder seems to be late. Try the thumb drag test to be sure the cylinder bolt actually locks the chamber in alignment with the barrel before the hand slips of the spider's ratchet when you cock it. If not, let it be Ruger's problem. They will probably fix without any additional charge over the air shipping it takes to get it to them. You don't need and FFL to return a gun to the factory and can do it yourself. And yes, they'll probably have to change the pawl and refit its hand.

I say to talk to Ruger first because, if you send them a worked-over trigger you won't get it back. Their liability concerns will cause them to return the gun to "factory new" specifications.