Not to be crassly commercial, since it's not paying for either the new Maserati or the condo in Cancun, but there's a full write-up on the convertible Red in a Kindle ebook on Amazon.
I mention it occasionally when the subject comes up because there isn't room here for much detail.
Essentially, anytime you create as much "freebore" or un-controlled (fill in your own term) bullet jump with a short cartridge (ACP) in a long chamber (.45 Colt), you can expect SOME degree of affect on short (ACP) accuracy.
I had run into that before on another company's custom convertible Super Red in .45 ACP, .45 Colt, and .454 Casull.
ACP accuracy was dismal in that OTHER gun, and ACP velocities were way down.
I had expected something similar with Ruger's approach.
Which is not a criticism of Ruger, just an acknowledgement of the two-caliber/one cylinder situation.
In the two convertible samples from Ruger, ACP accuracy was markedly affected & ran from good to lousy.
I had NO misfires with either sample in any load in either caliber.
No problems with clip function binding cylinder rotation in either gun.
No problems with hot BBs in extraction or function, and .45 Colt accuracy was just fine.
No support issues.
The small grip I like, but NOT with heavy loads.
Oucharooney, and had to put a full-sized Hogue grip on to finish the hot sauce.
Reds are known for an intermittent light-strike ignition issue.
I did not encounter it.
My two older Bowenized Reds have his longer firing pins, just to eliminate the possibility.
Bowen as of last month does not have his new extended firing pin ready to sell for the current revised Red & Super Red firing pin set-up.
Don't order his existing pin made for the older design & expect it to fit in the new guns.
Of the two convertible test samples I had here, the first (with the worst ACP accuracy) was returned to Ruger.
The second is now at Cylinder & Slide for a custom makeover.
That means I'm keeping it, and the fact that I sent it off for custom work should tell you something about my opinion of the gun.
That said- I will not be using it as an ACP-only gun. The Smith in dedicated .45 ACP caliber is a better candidate for such use.
The Ruger will be primarily used with .45 Colt & sighted in accordingly. The ACP capability will be secondary & rarely, if at all, used. Backup caliber, sorta.
C&S should be getting around to the Red shortly, and one of the work items will be pre-emptive discussion of the potential light strike issue.
Since Bowen doesn't have his firing pin ready to go, we'll have to settle for PROBABLY just shaving the hammer face slightly while it's at C&S.
As soon as Bowen's pin IS ready, that'll be added later on down the road by my local guy.
Besides the two older Reds, I've also had his pins installed in Blackhawks, just to be sure.
If you plan to shoot a lot of ACP, expect to have to take the time to find a load that gives you accuracy you can live with.
If you plan to switch back & forth, using similar bullet weights & velocities in both calibers should give you the closest correlation in using the same sight setting for both calibers.
Denis
