I’m not Zeek and didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn last night, but... When I had my .45 Colt Redhawk I read the article on juicing up the .45 Colt ( https://www.johnlinebaughcustomsixguns.com/writings )and being the curious type I called and asked him about the Redhawk. Mr Linebaugh’s reply was that the Redhawk was something like 14% stronger than the Blackhawk and there was plenty of safety factor to shoot heavy loads in one. I in fact sized some 350gr .45-70 bullets down to .454” and shot them @ 1,200fps from my 4” Redhawk. No pressure signs and good accuracy. I kinda wish I had kept that revolver. One of the tricks I’ve seen is that a .45 Colt owner finds a surplus .454 Casull cylinder from someone converting a Super Redhawk to one of the five shot monster stomper rounds. The .454 cylinder should pretty much drop in the Redhawk and now you have a .454 in a packing size revolver.
Yes... I'm loading my own using hard cast bullets. I'll look up the details when I get home later. I did have to ream the cylinders out though in order to get the heavier bullets to chamber. I think I posted about it here in the reloading thread.
I'm loading 328gr hard cast bullets from Hunters Supply over 22gr of H110. I think I'm around 1050fps and 800 ft-lbs with this load. The Hodgdon load data suggests I could load higher... up to 24gr and 1200fps (1050ft-lbs). That is close to the Buffalo Bore loading you referenced. But I'm happy where I'm at and not sure I would get that much more velocity out of this 4.2" barrel.
I'm in the market for a revolver and all of this chatter about the redhawk in 45acp/45 colt really interests me, I have always liked that gun but never gotten to handle one. One of the purposes of this revolver would be a home defense handgun/car hand gun for my girlfriend and I am wondering about the recoil of standard .45 acp jhps in the redhawk. Seems like it might be quite tame due to the weight of the gun, the other thought is a gp100 with a 4 inch barrel in .327 mag, any experience with that gun here?
What does your girlfriend currently shoot? How comfortable is she with revolvers and larger calibers in general? Unless she is at least moderately skilled and likes revolvers and bigger bullets then I'd say that's it's not a good idea. If you want one, great, get one. Just don't try to force a "fun gun" into being a reasonable choice for a defensive pistol for your girlfriend.
The Redhawk is a pussycat with cowboy or acp level loads but it is a big hunk of steel. It really depends on how strong your gf is and how much she likes to shoot. A GP100 is probably going to be a better fit.
Anyone out there own a Ruger SP101 2.25"? I've wanted one for some time. Chambered for .357 even though I'll likely be shooting 38+P out of it a lot of the time. This would be my CCW for times when I don't really feel like I need to carry a full-on compact pistol, so it would mostly be carried IWB. Found a reasonable deal on a Wiley Clapp version with Novak sights that I'm thinking about. It's a little more than the standard versions, but I've had Rugers with the standard black ramp sights and always ended up swapping them out for something with more visibility and contrast. I like the grips on the WC better as well. If anyone has one, I'd love to hear your thoughts. TIA.