The Franken-Snubby project

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A short report on a revolver project that I did a while ago.

A guy on another forum requested help with his early model Ruger Redhawk 44 Mag revolver, that had the barrel break off right where the threaded barrel stub starts. 

Now this kind of failure is generally very uncommon, but the early Redhawks were known to do this.  The cause was traced back to the anti-seize compound Ruger used when screwing the barrels in to the frames.  Stainless on stainless can cause a friction weld if the fit is tight, as it is on these revolvers.  So they used some undisclosed compound to prevent that during assembly.  Turns out that after a few years, the somewhat aggressive  compound kept eating at the steel, causing stress cracking which with high round count occasionally led to a barrel breaking off completely close to the step where the threaded stub joins the barrel.  Naturally, Ruger replaced any broken barrels free of charge, but that is somewhat of an issue if it happens on this side of the pond.

So I advised the guy to contact Ruger and see what they can do, but also offered to buy the broken revolver if he could not get it sorted.  He chose the latter option and arrangements were made.  A few weeks later Ram delivered the broken revolver to my LGS and it was booked into his dealer stock.

Now the challenges started.  I first contacted Ruger Inc in the USA and they were most willing to ship a new barrel to my SA Ruger importer free of charge.  Our local importer was somewhat less accommodating, seeing no opportunity to make a few bucks off me, so I had to opt for plan B. 

I should mention that I already own a 7,5" Redhawk, so a second one of the same configuration was not really needed.

It so happens that I participate in Pin Shooting, and there is a category there for Snubby Revolvers.  The only limitation is a barrel length not exceeding 3 inches.  I also did not own a suitable snubby yet.

So I decided to Build my own version of the Ruger Redhawk Alaskan revolver, from the parts available. This involved having the 'smith cut the broken barrel off 3" from the muzzle and create a new barrel stub, then fit it to the frame.  This worked very well, and the original front sight and sight ramp was retained.

I am pretty pleased with the result and the revolver shoots quite well, as snubbies go, especially with reduced loads.  Full power 44 Mag loads are slightly less pleasant to shoot, but do not show any mechanical issues.

A friend who admired it on the range dubbed it the "Frankensnubby".  It wears it's name with pride.

Picture is of the 3" Frankensnubby next to a normal 7,5" version.

[oafpatroll]

Hats off to Ruger for absolutely top notch (long) after sales service and to you for such a creative repurposing. I am sure it quite literally a blast to shoot!

[Treeman]

Hats off to Ruger for absolutely top notch (long) after sales service and to you for such a creative repurposing. I am sure it quite literally a blast to shoot!

Yes with that short barrel- quiet so!

[Tripodmvr]

Send your post to Ruger and see what they have to say.