The Ruger Redhawk vs The Smith and Wesson 625
OP, you stated you just want a range toy and not something for serious work, with that in mind I'll tell you off the bat your better suited to the 625 smith, if you want more in depth info look below. I am a .44 mag "convert" to the .45 Colt, I have read all about Keith, Linebaugh, Brian Pearce, and men on THR such as Craigc, Bob Wright, and MaxP, far more revolver smart than I but I will try to relay my experience soundly. I first received my Ruger Redhawk in March of 2018, I took the gun to the range with a variety of .45 Colt and .45 ACP, the ACP moon clips would not extract fully, at first I thought It was just a carbon "gunk" issue, but when I transitioned to .45 Colt, one chamber would not accept the cartridge at all. I went ahead and call Ruger pretty upset (just bought an LCP that had to go back to the factory so you can imagine my frustration when I had to send another from the same maker back in the same year) sent it in on their dime, it came back bout a week later and I took it to the range that day, now no more issues. Moon clips eject cleanly and all charging holes accept .45 colt. Now that was just my particular gun but with QC lacking across the gun spectrum lately look it over very carefully, Id even advise bringing snap caps with you and ask the permission of said business to see if everything is to spec.
Things you WILL run into, unless you have small hands the standard magna grips that come on the gun as standard are not great, I cannot get a good hold on the gun, I transitioned to the hogue grip that ruger offers on the non interchangeable .44 mag and .45 Colt Redhawks. Comfort while shooting is definitely improved but now I cannot access the cylinder release for quick reloads if need be. The round butt that ruger introduced is not supported by the major grip makers for "combat" or "target" shooting, they only make different versions of the magna grips (Altamont Co.) or you have the hogue option. The best remedy to this I believe is to either A) get the grips custom made or B) use the stock magnas and buy a Tyler T grip to remedy the situation( B is cheaper but A may be smarter for "serious work"). Moon clips are not nearly as supported as the Smith counterpart, there are a couple of other makers but others and I have found that the proprietary moon clips work best, and they are not considered "cheap" I see them from 13-16 bucks for three (I have 12) so it is an investment to use it in competition. The trigger…. The trigger is HEAVY even for a DA revolver, I estimated it to be around 12 lbs, not much can be done to it that I know of (if anyone knows PLEASE chime in as I want that mod to) besides changing out springs but users have reported light primer strikes with that sort of change. The sights are of course adjustable and are actually quite well supported as many of the GP100 and super redhawk sights will work with this one, I am actually looking to have the rear side transitioned into a fixed one.
The loads used… Unless you're a handloader the .45 Colt is gonna rape your wallet and without lubricant. HOWEVER if you do reload or you can accept the cost, the .45 colt in this revolver is extremely versatile, the 625 cannot match the Redhawk for strength, I have seen and read of people loading up to .460 rowland and .45 Win Mag in their 625s, I cannot comment on the safety factor of that, but you can do that with the redhawk with a large margin of safety since the thing is built to withstand pressures over 50k PSI getting into middle of the road .454 casull territory, even some custom makers like Bowen will put a .454 Super Redhawk Cyliner into the regular Redhawk frame to allow it to be lighter than it's behemoth sister, the super. Holsters shouldn't be an issue, any smith maker is normally going to list Ruger revolvers as well and 4.2 inches is now a standard option from ruger. All in all this is a great gun if you can get around its short comings, I truly believe that this is the most (production gun) versatile handgun EVER offered from the factory, I wish the grip selection was better but that's me, If you want something that you know you wont have any issues getting stuff for or want a revolver for competition then the smith is for you. If you want a revolver that will take the hottest loads and ask for seconds while still being able to swap into a lesser cartridge than the Redhawk beats the 625 by miles.
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