My Bear Necessities

[.454]

Ruger SuperRedhawk Alaskan .454Casull
Handloads: 300 grain cast bullets on top of 29 grain Win 296



Tested yesterday on bowling pins in the desert, near Niland.

First impression: could easily qualify as a piece of hand held heavy artillery if there ever was one.

Results: painful but fun. Lots and lots of fun. Remarkably accurate for a 2 1/2" snubby. Loud as...well, let's just say I never heard or shot anything more louder in my life with the exception of the naval cannons on the ship I served. A Desert Eagle in .50AE sounds like a whiny baby by comparison.

Recommended? Hell yeah. Even if you don't plan to go zombies or bear hunting, you can show it to your liberal friends. Makes them empty their bowels instantly.

[OCArmory]

That is one awesome gun. I can't imaging that round in a snubbie. Have you seen how big a fireball it gives off at night.
Mike

[.454]

That is one awesome gun. I can't imaging that round in a snubbie. Have you seen how big a fireball it gives off at night.
Mike

Yup. It belches a gigantic fireball and the shock wave makes the target flutter like the wind blows inside the shooting range. Next time I will go to Insight in Artesia I plan to take a video camera with me and post a short clip on Youtube.

[RedDawn]

Have you seen how big a fireball it gives off at night.
Mike

That would be a sight to see.

[.454]

That would be a sight to see.

I will post the video next week. I promised my kid I'll let him shoot it and he is good with the camera.

[.454]

Oops. I believe I posted this in the wrong part of the forum. Mods please move to Handguns Gallery

[OCArmory]

It will definitely be a range clearer.

[Doheny]

What are the ballistics on those rounds? For bear, the handgun would be a last ditch effort, after a rifle, I assume?

[Tumerboy]

Beautiful!

[rayra]

neat, in an anime sorta way.
I'd prefer a similar bullet in a 4" .44mag Redhawk. Better for follow-up shots. And if you don't have a chance for those, and it's contact-range, don't know / think the energy difference would really matter. Not when you are screwing it in his ear / neck / belly before you fire it dry.

/but that's a fruitless argument to get into. Enjoy your hand-cannon.

[JTROKS]

Here are mine.


I am planning to turn the Redhawk 44 mag into a 3.5" packer, but after firing it with 300 grain hardcast at some fast stepping velocity, I may just chop it to 5" first. Although I'm in no hurry to chop it up.

[Sutcliffe]

I'd be interested in your velocites as well

My thoughts on bear defense are they biggest, heaviest hard cast bullet you can get to 1100 fps. Any more velocity won't penetrate all that much more and the additional recoil/blast is detrimental to controlling your gun and quick followup shots.
It takes a lot of skill/practice/concentration to shoot the handcannons. Something I don't have.

[.454]

What are the ballistics on those rounds?

Depends on the bullet weight and powder charge. The lead-free hunting rounds I made for my Puma 92 .454 carbine are 250 grain bullets leaving the 16" barrel at 2100 fps, that means a 2000+ ft/lb. muzzle energy. Fired from the Alaskan snubby, they should be about 15% less faster, which is still impressive.
For comparison: a hot loaded .45 ACP +P round. Bullet leaves the barrel at 930 fps and have a muzzle energy of 450 ft/lb.

The regular lead rounds I load for fun and home defense are 300 grain bullets going just as fast. There are loads I don't even want to try that use even heavier bullets, 325 grain and 395 grain respectively.

As for your second question, Ruger designed this gun specifically for defensive purposes when hunting or fishing in bear country.

[.454]

I am planning to turn the Redhawk 44 mag into a 3.5" packer, but after firing it with 300 grain hardcast at some fast stepping velocity, I may just chop it to 5" first. Although I'm in no hurry to chop it up.

Impressive, congratulations for your heavy artillery collection. Don't chop the SRH, just buy an Alaskan.

[rayra]

...As for your second question, Ruger designed this gun specifically for defensive purposes when hunting or fishing in bear country.

lol, that's the cover story, anyway. I think it was a game of oneupsmanship. .50AE, .454, 'how do we get in on this marketing action?'

.44mag (and lesser rounds) have been doing the job for a lot of years. Don't think I've ever read a bear attack story where .44mag wasn't enough.
But hey, 'more is better' seems to rule most folks' thought patterns.