SECTION 2 8/15/07 9:42 PM Page 93 form of collet crimping saved the day. with the vintage nature of the gun, the by .577 chambers and bore, handling is All that remained to complete the top strap and barrel were modified to light and quick. Recoil is substantial, basic cartridge design was to procure a resemble a Smith & Wesson M&P much like a heavy .44 Magnum loading suitable parent case. Perusing spec sheets fixed-sight model. Building the gun but without the bite and piercing report. on virtually every known cartridge case was simple enough — ammunition Scientific penetration tests conducted turned up nothing useful. Alas, our baby proved to be much more troublesome. against a handy fence post demonstrated was a bastard. Nothing would do but to Initial test firing was conducted with very modest penetration but a great deal make cases. Obviously, drawn brass standard pistol primers, FFFg powder of whack. After two or three solid hits, would have been prohibitively expensive and a generic black powder lube. the post stayed right where it was, so we turned to the Ballard Rifle & Car- Muzzle velocity was about 725 fps but unable to escape. tridge Company who, at the time, pro- accuracy was disappointing. After 15- Sadly, the future for newly-made duced excellent turned brass (now pro- 20 rounds, powder and lead fouling .577 revolvers is pretty bleak. The duced by Rocky Mountain Cartridge were so bad bullets would not stay on National Firearms Act of 1934 classi- Company). With the flexibility of CNC the target paper at 20 yards. Consulting fies rifled, breech-loading guns with machinery, they could make cases of vir- with an expert may be unmanly but, in bores larger than .5" as “destructive tually any description. And thus was this case, it saved the day. devices” and levies on the transfer of born the .577 No. 2 revolver cartridge. Mike Venturino and his shooting such arms a $200 tax. Production for cohorts had begun to unravel the lost resale of destructive devices requires a Redhawk Rebore secrets of sustainable black powder license costing thousands of dollars a The smallest .577 revolver cartridge accuracy. Mike counseled there are year to maintain. still required a substantial gun. At the three basic elements: Use magnum Big-bore sporting long arms are time, the Ruger Redhawk was the primers, use a drop tube to charge the largely exempt but the BATF would obvious candidate since no other cases with powder and use SPG lube. not extend any such sympathy to a normal revolver had its cylinder and Armed with this intelligence, we tried .577 revolver and treats the gun exactly barrel shank diameters. Even then, the again. Muzzle velocities were still the same as a 155MM howitzer. Quite .577 No. 2 Revolver cartridge is a tight around 725 fps +/- 5 fps. Off-hand a distinction for a revolver that was fit. The chamber walls and webs of the groups shrunk to a couple inches and state of the art in 1885. Within a few 5-shot cylinder are quite thin, limiting fouling, even after 25-30 rounds, never years of their introduction, the .577 the gun to black powder pressures. Bar- impaired accuracy or function. Recov- revolvers disappeared, usurped by rels with .565" bore and .577" groove ered bullets showed the skirts had smaller guns made possible by smoke- diameters are not a size found in nature, expanded to engage the rifling as hoped. less power — yet another argument in so to speak, but we were able to gull With good ammo in hand, regulating favor of ammunition as our good friend Cliff LaBounty into the sights was a snap. The .577 Red- chicken and gun as egg. * making a rifling head to rebore the hawk has performed flawlessly to date. original Redhawk barrel. In keeping Thanks to the weight reduction afforded More info: www.bowenclassicarms.com. WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 93.