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Ruger Super Redhawk Review: Shaking the .22 Hornet's Nest

Ruger's Super Redhawk .22 Hornet will appeal to varmint hunters and those who just love unique wheelguns.

Ruger Super Redhawk Review: Shaking the .22 Hornet's Nest
(Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

There are guns you know you want, and then there are guns you don’t know you want—until someone builds them. Bill Ruger had a knack for dreaming up guns that captured Americans’ imaginations and producing designs that shooters just had to have. So he would have been proud of the new Super Redhawk .22 Hornet.

Bill had a hand in the design of the Redhawk and Super Redhawk, the hefty double actions chambered for the big boomers like the .44 Magnum—and in the case of the Super Redhawk the .454 Casull and .480 Ruger as well. And while the .22 Hornet seems an odd choice for this beefy revolver, according to Ruger product manager Graham Rockwell, Bill actually had an interest in chambering this particular revolver for the Hornet as far back as 1996.

Now, nearly three decades later, we have one. This particular Super Redhawk is a large eight-shot double action/single action, sporting a 9.5-inch target-crowned barrel with five-groove rifling and a 1:9 twist. Overall length is 15.9 inches, and weight is 66 ounces—just a tad over four pounds.

Sights include a HiViz green fiber-optic front that’s integral to a removable black base secured to the muzzle with three screws. If you don’t care for the fiber optic, ShopRuger.com sells brass-bead and red-ramp options for the Super Redhawk. The rear sight is a fully adjustable square notch with a white outline.

Added Strength

sideprofileandengravingsstamp
One of the improvements from the Redhawk to the Super Redhawk was the extension of the frame, which made it stronger and also possible to machine scope-mount cuts. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

One of the changes made from the Redhawk to the Super Redhawk was the extension of the frame forward onto the barrel. This was done to add strength, but it also permitted the Super Redhawk’s topstrap to be machined for scope mounts. The gun has twin cuts designed for Ruger scope rings/bases, and a pair of these comes with the gun, in stainless to match the finish.

Because it’s most likely shooters will install some glass on this revolver, the hammer is low profile so you won’t have issues accessing it underneath the objective of a scope. The hammer is also nicely serrated to reduce any chance your thumb could slip while cocking it for single action.

The Super Redhawk features one of Ruger’s innovations: a coil spring instead of a leaf spring to power the hammer. The design permits a better trigger pull, and my sample’s double-action pull averaged nine pounds, 10 ounces while the single-action pull was one pound, 15 ounces.

The cylinder release is a push-button that’s grooved for sure operation. The cylinder notches are offset from the chambers, which provides added strength because there’s more steel surrounding those chambers.

Triple-Locking System

revolver with cylinder open
The revolver holds eight rounds of .22 Hornet. The Hornet was originally a rifle cartridge, but it proved to be accurate and soft-recoiling in the Super Redhawk and should especially appeal to varminters. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

Another strengthening feature is Ruger’s triple-locking system. The cylinder locks at the rear via the crane latch plunger; at the bottom courtesy of the cylinder stops; and through a spring-loaded front latch in the crane that snaps into a recess in the frame.

The frame is Ruger’s peg style, which permits a full-wraparound grip. The advantage here is that you get the benefit of grip cushioning instead of bare metal right where most of the recoil force is transmitted into your hand—although with the Hornet it’s not much of an issue. The Super Redhawk comes with a black Hogue Tamer grip that’s pebbled and sports finger grooves.

Now, about that Hornet. First off, it’s not your everyday .22. A centerfire rifle cartridge introduced in 1930 by Winchester, it arose from early experiments on a .22 WCF cartridge conducted by Capt. Grosvenor Watkyns and Col. Townsend Whelen. Winchester jumped on board the Hornet train even before any rifles were available for it, although long guns in the Hornet followed within three years of the cartridge’s debut.

It’s got a rim, which makes it a good revolver cartridge candidate, but unusual for a revolver round it is a bottleneck case with a five-degree shoulder—almost a taper, really, that runs from .278 inch to .244 inch and terminates in a neck diameter of .242 inch. The Hornet fires a .224-inch-diameter bullet, and overall length is 1.723 inches. It can handle bullets from 35 to 50 or so grains, and nominal velocity for the 35-grainer is just over 3,000 fps.

Recommended


Under Pressure?

3 cartridges side by side
The .22 Hornet (r.) is a centerfire round, unlike the .22 Magnum (c.) or .22 Long Rifle (l.), and it’s significantly more powerful than either one. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

Okay, so far nothing screams “Yes, you must chamber me in one of the strongest revolvers on the market!” Ah, but pressure specs tell a little bit of a different story. The SAAMI maximum average pressure spec for the .44 Magnum—one of the Super Redhawk’s mainstay chamberings—is 36,000 psi. The powerful .480 Ruger? 48,000 psi. The “little” .22 Hornet’s MAP is 49,000 psi. Of the standard-production Super Redhawk offerings, only the .454 Casull’s pressure standard is higher at 65,000 psi.

I had assumed this high pressure was tied directly to Ruger’s choice of the Super Redhawk as the platform for the Hornet, but Rockwell set me straight. He said the Super Redhawk was chosen as the platform simply because there are a wider array of barrel blanks available for it.

He said strength had nothing to do with it, and I think another benefit here is that the Super Redhawk is so easy to scope. Plus, again, Bill Ruger was already looking at this particular gun/cartridge combination nearly 30 years ago.

The .22 Hornet is primarily a varmint/small game cartridge, although some World War II military survival rifles were chambered in it. Like I mentioned, in a rifle it’ll do 3,000 fps. Take for instance Hornady’s 35-grain V-Max, which produces 3,070 fps out of a 24-inch rifle test barrel. It generates 732 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle. When zeroed at 200 yards it will drop 17.5 inches at 300 yards.

Sizzlin' Speeds

frame and in handle spring
The Super Redhawk operates via a coil spring instead of a leaf spring, and the frame’s peg design allows the use of wraparound grips. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

But those are rifle ballistics, and we’re talking a 9.5-inch revolver here. The same load fired out of the Super Redhawk leaves the muzzle at 2,153 fps, bringing 360 ft.-lbs. of energy. It would take a much better shot than I am to consider zeroing this handgun at 200 yards, much less shooting it at 300, so I ran the numbers on what is perhaps a more realistic scenario.

Zero the Super Redhawk at 50 yards, and the V-Max bullet will drop 1.2 inches at 100, 6.3 inches at 150 yards and 17 at 200. That’s plenty flat for varmints, although you would be running low on energy when you hit 200 yards—91 ft.-lbs. with this load. By comparison, out of a rifle you’d have 192 ft.-lbs. at the same distance. That’s a consideration for bigger critters like coyotes but moot for prairie dogs and similar-size varmints.

Rockwell said getting this cartridge to play well with a wheelgun required a bit of work. “We did have to overcome a few design challenges in making the .22 Hornet Super Redhawk,” he said. “Specifically we worked through the unique rotation and extraction of eight bottleneck cartridges, properly directing barrel gap gases, and the function of the ejector with .22 Hornet rounds.”

It also required a different twist rate. Rifle barrels for the Hornet typically have a 1:14 twist, but the Super Redhawk’s twist is 1:9, which is much faster. I asked Rockwell how they arrived at this rate, and he said the company’s original work with the Hornet in a revolver used this 1:9 twist, and they simply continued to run with that.

Accuracy

accuracy results
(Accuracy Results provided by author)

It certainly seems to have worked out because in my testing the Super Redhawk proved to be quite accurate. With a Burris 1.5-4X long-eye-relief handgun scope mounted in the supplied rings, the revolver delivered sub-inch accuracy at 25 yards, as you can see in the accompanying chart.

And if you’ve been paying close attention all these years, you’ll note that I departed from our practice of listing loads in ascending order by bullet weight and then by accuracy. Here I went straight accuracy because as a gun that will appeal to those wishing to hit small or distant targets, for the Super Redhawk accuracy is everything.

Anyway, only the heavier Remington load was over an inch at our standard 25-yard testing distance. Rockwell said designers did see that certain bullet weights and styles outperformed others due to the faster 1:9 twist. In other words, you’ll want to experiment to find the best-shooting loads. That’s something you typically have to do for a handgun regardless, but for a gun you want or need to be a tackdriver it’s even more important.

After the 25-yard testing was complete, I moved the target back to 50 yards and fired three five-shot groups with all but the 45-grain Remington load. These results were basically in line with the 25-yard groups, the 50-yard figures being roughly twice the 25-yard ones, so the Super Redhawk is holding its accuracy downrange.

Unique and Fun

closeupofcylinder
One of the hallmarks of Ruger’s double actions is a spring-loaded front latch in the crane that snaps into a recess in the frame. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

I also fired the gun offhand, double action, with the iron sights from 15 to about 25 yards. The results were about what I expected. This is a heavy gun and not particularly suited to shooting offhand, although I certainly could perforate a soda can or similar target at reasonable ranges.

While Super Redhawk’s muzzle blast is commensurate with the high pressures, there’s very little recoil—especially with a handgun scope up top. Set up thusly, it would be super fun on a prairie dog town, spot-and-stalk groundhogs and perhaps a good tool on coyotes and foxes. A set of shooting sticks would definitely be a good addition for the hiking hunter, and the Super Redhawk rested nicely in sticks.

“We absolutely had varmint shooters in mind when we introduced the .22 Hornet Super Redhawk, but we are confident others will enjoy it for revolver target shooting based on the high velocities, downrange energy and minimal recoil,” Rockwell said.

It’s also going to appeal to Ruger superfans and collectors—as well as anyone who loves revolvers and wants to own and shoot something that’s as unique as this gun is. You know you want one.

Ruger Super RedHawk .22 Hornet Specs

  • Type: double-action/single-action centerfire revolver
  • Caliber: .22-Hornet
  • Capacity: 8
  • Barrel: 9.5 in., 1:9 twist, target crown
  • Overall Length: 15.9 in.
  • Weight: 66 oz.
  • Construction: brushed stainless steel barrel, frame, cylinder
  • Grips: black Hogue Tamer
  • Trigger: 9 lb., 10 oz. double action; 1 lb., 15 oz. single action
  • Sights: fully adjustable white outline rear, green fiber-optic front; topstrap cut for supplied rings/bases
  • Safety: transfer bar
  • MSRP: $1,499
  • Manufacturer: Ruger, ruger.com



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