In this episode of TFBTV, James reviews Ruger’s new Redhawk that accepts both .45 Long Colt and .45ACP with the use of moonclips. With an MSRP of over $1000, is Ruger’s new iteration of the venerable Redhawk worth buying? James finds out.

Thanks to our sponsors Ventura Munitions and Grizzly Targets.

The full transcript is below …

– Hey guys, James again for TFBTV.

Today I’ve got the new Ruger Redhawk.

Now the Redhawk’s been around for a while, but this one takes both.45 Long Colt and.45 ACP.

You heard me right, just like the Smith & Wesson 625, this Redhawk takes.45 ACP by using moon clips.

We all know the correct nomenclature is moon magazines.

It takes.45 moon clips.

They give you a few in the box.

I’m going to shoot it today with.45 ACP and.45 Long Colt sent to me by our sponsor, Ventura Munitions.

Thank you guys at Ventura Munitions for sponsoring.

And I’m going to be shooting this Redhawk at my brand-new Grizzly Targets AR500 target, also a sponsor of the program, thanks a lot guys.

But let’s go look at a few moon clips, see how this thing does.

Now as you guys can see, Ruger sends you a couple of.45 ACP moon clips.

Let’s take the.45 ACP.

Easy as that.

Pop them in, and look at that.

In fact, it’s kinda nice because they act like a speed loader.

You just line them up, drop them in, you’re good to go.

The cylinder release is a thumb button right here.

There’s the cylinder release right there, and then they all pop out whenever they’re spent.

Now of course they’re not going to come out that easily after I shoot them and the brass expands.

You can see, sights are pretty decent.

You got an orange front blade and the white rear half box.

Got some nice rosewood grips with the Ruger logo.

Sights are adjustable for windage and elevation.

Those of you familiar with Ruger, you know the packaging.

Just the standard Ruger box.

Sorry, it’s already dirty.

I waited to do this part ’til after I shot it, so a little bit of powder on this guy.

The Ruger Redhawk.45 ACP,.45 Long Colt comes with three moon clips in the box.

You’re probably going to want a few more.

One thing that is really nice about this.45 ACP version is that.45 ACP is cheaper than.45 Long Colt.

You can load these.45 ACP moon clips before you go to the range and you can quickly and easily unload and reload your Redhawk with.45 ACP, and hey, best part, it’s easy to save the brass.

Msrp on this is $1029.

It’s a good-looking gun, don’t get me wrong, but wooh, that is a lot of money.

It’s all stainless steel, it’s got a ramp front sight, 4.2-inch long barrel.

It weighs 44 ounces, that is a big boy.

But like I say, later in the video, that really does help sapping up the recoil.

It’s got a one in 16 right-hand twist.

It holds six rounds of.45 ACP or.45 Long Colt.

It’s got an adjustable rear sight and overall length of 9.5 inches, lasered hardwood grips and a suggested retail of $1029.

Wooh, that is not cheap.

But hey, it’s a good-looking gun, and it works really well.

I really enjoyed taking this thing to the range.

I’m not much of a revolver guy, but this was actually really nice.

I enjoyed it.

Here’s the firing review.

All right, let’s give this thing a spin.

First, I got to say though, this is a pretty good-looking gun.

The nice grips, the brushed stainless, it looks really good.

Let’s see if it shoots as good as it looks.

(gun fires) (gun fires) And look at that, they all drop out just like that.

(gun fires) There you go, another six.

(gun fires) God, I got to say, shooting.45 ACP out of this, I mean, it’s delightful.

The gun is heavy enough that there’s really no recoil.

I mean, you can just peel them off as fast as you want, and it looks like they’re going to be on target.

(gun fires) Now, I’m not expecting that exact same treatment when we shoot the.45 Long Colt, which is what I’m going to do right now.

Something tells me it’s going to be a little bit more fierce.

The big bad.45 Long Colt, let’s go.

(gun fires) Wow.

I expected a whole lot worse.

If there’s anybody on the fence about getting this gun based on the recoil, I mean, the.45 ACP is nothing.

And really, the.45 Long Colt is pleasant.

Now another thing I’ll say, without the moon clips in there, the cylinder, when you’re pulling the trigger, you feel the cylinder move a lot more freely.

And if the cylinder is moving more freely, then that translates into better trigger pull.

So you actually kinda get a better trigger pull with the.45 Long Colt than you do with the ACP.

And I gotta tell you, I mean, the trigger is excellent.

Of course, as with all revolvers, the single-action trigger just feels like…

(gun trigger clicks) I mean, a pound and a half, two pounds.

The double action is surprisingly easy.

I don’t know what Ruger did, but the trigger is not nearly as long nor does it require as much pressure as some of the other revolvers that I’ve shot in this class.

Pretty good.

All right, let’s give this.45 Long Colt one more spin.

(gun fires) A lot of smoke, smells a little bit like a backyard barbecue too, which is kind of funny.

But yeah, I mean, the recoil, not bad at all.

(gun fires) So in conclusion, can I recommend the Ruger Redhawk and.45 ACP/.45 Long Colt? Yeah, absolutely I can.

The trigger is great, the recoil is very light.

It looks awesome.

I mean, it is a gorgeous gun.

But downside, the price.

I think that the MSRP in this thing is nearing $1000.

Pretty sure, don’t quote me on this, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the street price around $800.

Now, are you getting your money’s worth? I would say absolutely.

But it’s still pretty steep for this revolver, so you really have to want to shoot .45 ACP or.45 Long Colt out of this gun if you want to buy it.

Again, gorgeous gun, one of the best-looking revolvers I’ve ever seen.

Fit and finish, phenomenal.

I mean, I can’t find anything about this gun that really bothers me.

I like it.

Good job, Ruger.

And this is going to work out really well for you .45 caliber reloaders because you don’t have to go hunting for your brass.

So you can take.45 ACP to the range, but you can keep the big stuff in here for whatever you need it for, backcountry hiking or hunting, whatever it is.

Thank you guys again for watching, and I’ll see you next week.