Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan 454 Casull Revolver Review

The Ruger Alaskan in .454 Casull. Let’s check it out. (Available Here)

 

Guys, when it comes to big bore, the .454 Casull is one of the most powerful handguns in the world.

There have been a couple that have now surpassed it, but for many years this was something that actually took all big game all around the world. Didn’t matter what it was, this thing is a beast. This is actually based on the Super Redhawk frame and it is solid, but you want it solid for that kind of pressure.

Builds up to over 60,000 PSI, but it’s also chambered for .45 Colt. So you can shoot the lighter loads, but then when you really want that power, you can move it up to .454 Casull. It has a two and a half inch barrel, but it’s thick, it’s solid, it’s weighty and you’re going to want every ounce when you fire that .454. But a little backstory was a buddy of mine had bought this.

He came up to me before he’d ever shot it and he said, do you want to shoot this? I said, no, I don’t. He went to the next bay, he shot it, he came back and he goes, I think I understand. He did end up shooting it quite a bit with .44 Colt and then moved up to the .454, but then I ended up trading him something that he wanted for this.

And to be honest, I questioned by sanity, but taking it out to the range while it does pack a big wallop, it is very shootable. And there’s something about the power that this thing puts out. This thing’s a monster.

The Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan. What a beast. I mean, this thing is massive.

One of the things about Ruger is they do a little bit overbuild their firearms, which is good. And there are a lot of different reloading manuals that actually specifically mention the Ruger, whether it’s the Redhawk, Super Redhawk, Super Blackhawk, because they can handle pressures that are well above what most other firearms handle. And so for the .454 Casull, I think this is a suitable candidate.

Now this isn’t the most powerful. There is the .475 Lineball, which is actually used from the parent case of the .454 Casull. But there’s also the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum.

And guys, there are a lot of others that are just single action revolvers that go all the way up to .600 Nitro Express. And that’s ridiculous. That’s a very powerful round, even in a rifle.

But for most of the guns that we’re seeing, typically .500 Smith & Wesson is one of the most powerful. And it creates 2,800 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. Now the .454 comes out at around 2,000 foot pounds of pressure at the muzzle, so it’s no slouch.

And here we have six rounds of Buffalo Bore. And this is a 300 grain bullet. It’s monometal.

It’s 1,850 feet per second. And it creates 1,813 foot pounds of pressure. I mean, these things are humming.

And there are some rounds out there, because a lot of guys just like to, you know, go to the extreme. And I understand that. And this really is excellent for bear protection.

But again, it will handle anything, pretty much, in the world. Now in 1958, Dick Casull is the one, along with a couple other guys, and they developed the .454 Casull. It wasn’t until 1983 that Freedom Arms introduced their five-shot revolver.

It was single action, and I remember that revolver. And it was, at that time, the most powerful handgun caliber in the world. But then it was commercialized in 1997, because it had Sammy specs.

And that has been produced until present. Ruger does offer three different models of the Super Red Hawk Alaskan. The .454, the .44 Magnum, and the Ruger .480, which is not to be confused with the .380. This is a massive difference.

Now, one of the beautiful things about this handgun is the overbuilt nature. And you can see the top strap is incredibly thick, no fluting on the cylinders. Everything is really beefed up, and it is a massive handgun.

It does have a six-round capacity. Of course, the gun is empty, and it is full on. I mean, when you start to fire, when you hit that last round, you’re happy.

Take a break, and then go at it again. It’s one of those guns that really rocks your hand. The Hogue Tamer Grip.

Hogue makes really great products. They’ve been making grips for a number of years. One of the things about this grip is how it comes around the back strap.

You have some cushioning right here, and this is where the web of your hand is going to come. And as you’re firing it, you want to let it ride just a little bit, but you definitely need to hang on to it. And that’s where the finger grooves come in.

The grip itself with this pebble pattern makes it a very comfortable feel in your hand. Once you fire the gun, you’re going to hold onto this grip. It’s going to help mitigate some of the recoil out of your hand.

Honestly, again, I shot about 60 rounds of full house loads, not including the .45 Colt. Really, my hand, it was a touch sore, but it didn’t hurt. And that’s one thing I thought would happen shooting so many rounds through this.

And I think the grip had a lot to do with it. Of course, it is stainless steel, and Ruger really has done an excellent job with the finishing. I mean, it makes it a very beautiful revolver.

And of course, with the Ruger logo right there. And it is, again, in .45 Colt, which gives it a very soft shooting handgun. Very similar to a .44 Magnum, and then you have your .44 Specials or .357 Magnum, and you have .38. It just gives it more of a lighter recoiling round to really enjoy.

Shooting this in .45 Colt, though, is very easy. But the .454 Casull is actually five times the recoil of .45 Colt. So it is pretty intense.

Also, it’s 75% more recoil than your .44 Magnum. But that does give this a little bit of heft to be able to control the recoil. I mean, these were designed for medium or large gain, but mainly for bear protection.

This would be great on your hip. In fact, I think this is the only model, as far as the two and a half inch barrel, that Ruger offers. Now, this is a double single action revolver.

So with the hammer in the down position, you can grip it. Very smooth, but fairly heavy trigger pull. And you can feel the lock.

I mean, just kind of the cylinder rotating around, you can feel the movement. And then, as you bring it out, it comes all the way out. So it’s a very smooth trigger pull.

Now, one thing that a lot of people do with revolvers is they do single action. It has nice spurs on the hammer. In fact, it was really grippy.

So when you pull that back, it brings the trigger back, and it’s a very light trigger pull. And that’s one of the ways to really get better accuracy. Really, you should train shooting double action, because in a self-defense situation, that’s what you’re going to do.

But bringing that hammer back and getting that light trigger pull just makes this a really nice gun to get on target. The cylinder rod is protected and actually nestled. And the cylinder latch, you just push down and bring it out.

And I’m telling you, this thing is heavy, but it is very smooth. And the cylinder rod is stationary as far as it doesn’t turn this way. But of course, just eject your rounds out.

Now, one of the things about this when you’re shooting the .454 is that because of the pressure, the rounds get stuck in that chamber, and you really have to take something and kind of bump it to get those cases out. And I had to do that every time I shot .454. Now, when I was shooting the .45 Colt, I didn’t have any issues. And there are some guns that were made for .45 Colt, .45 ACP with moon clips, and with .454 Casull, because it is a .45 caliber.

You can see as the barrel comes out, and it is crowned. In fact, it has a pretty deep dish crown. So this gun is really going to be accurate.

We decided to do accuracy with .45 Colt instead of the .454, just to get true accuracy. We have a nice blade at the front. And of course, it looks like somebody has painted that front sight.

And then we have an adjustable sight at the rear, and it makes a really nice sight picture, and you can adjust that. But even at two and a half inches, this really delivers pretty good accuracy. And for a little bit of a comparison, I have my GP100, and this is in .357 Magnum.

And I just wanted to kind of get a feel for the size. The GP100 is a pretty hefty firearm already, and it is in .357 Magnum, or you can shoot .38s. This has the original grip on it with the wood inserts, but now they have just a black rubberized grip. But you can see the Super Red Hawk is considerably thicker.

The barrel itself is massively thicker. And so this gives you a lot more heft to it than even the GP100, which, again, is a fairly hefty firearm. I mean, to me, Ruger, especially in their stainless steel models, they make absolutely beautiful handguns.

A lot of times, beefed up, more than the Smith & Wesson. To me, the Smith & Wesson is more of an elegant firearm, a little bit more finely tuned. But yet, the Ruger, when you’re firing these Magnum rounds, it really is comforting to know that these are beefed up and built very strong.

And the GP100 is probably one of my favorite .357 Magnums. Now, here are the calibers that are chambered for this revolver, the .454 Casull and the .45 Colt, or .45 Long Colt. The .45 Long Colt’s very mild shooting, really more like a .45 ACP.

And with the frame that you have, it’s really easy to shoot. When you get the .454, it’s a considerable more amount of recoil, up to five times more recoil with the .454 than the .45 Colt. Now, while the case isn’t that much longer with the .454, it does use a small rifle primer.

That just ignites the powder to a stronger level, and it just makes the velocity increase, which makes recoil increase considerably. Now, here we have the .44 Magnum and we have .357 Magnum, just for comparison. The .454 Casull has 75% more recoil than your .44 Magnum.

Now, personally, a good hot load of .44 Magnum, I like. I’ve enjoyed shooting .44 Magnum for a number of years, but compared to the .454, there is no comparison. Let’s check out the trigger pull weight with our Lyman trigger gauge from Brownells.

We’re going to do double action first, 10 pounds, 14.4 ounces. That’s about what we were getting. Single action, three pounds, 5.4 ounces.

It is a really nice single action trigger pull. And really, the double action trigger pull is part of your safety. You’ve got to really mean to pull that trigger back.

But one thing you’ll notice is we have a transfer bar, which is typical for your Rugers, and you can see the bar in there. It blocks the firing pin. It actually keeps the hammer from going forward.

And so once the trigger’s pulled, it drops out of the way and it lets that hammer fall. And so that way, if you inadvertently drop this on a hard surface, it’s not going to go off. So this is completely drop safe.

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Another thing that we do is a lot of the videos that were taken down by YouTube, which we call our contraband or band videos and all that’s over on suitsgear.com. So check it out. Well guys, we have quite an array of different type ammo. Of course, we’ve got the 45 long Colt, which this is made also to shoot that.

But then the 454 Casull have a number of different rounds, including the Hornady Handgun Hunter. We have some XTP mag crowns, mag tech, federal premium, and then we have this HSM bare load. So we’re going to find out.

But of course, we’re going to start out with the 45 Colt and then just work our way up. And this is actually from Freedom Munitions. That is one big chunky revolver.

Holy crap. Guys, the Ruger Alaskan. This is one of the super Red Hawks, has a very short barrel, made for 45 Colt, but also 454 Casull.

This also comes in 44 Magnum, but this is a beast. When you’re shooting with 45 Colt, it’s mild and it’s a heavy gun. Six rounds, really nice big fat grip, able to get your hands around it.

I mean, mild to shoot, easy. Now you can load up 45 Colt to pretty hot loads, but nothing compared to the 454 Casull. Now we have the Hornady Handgun Hunter.

So we got it loaded up. Let’s see what she does. It’s got recoil.

I mean, it’s got serious recoil. In fact, I’m having trouble getting these out because of the pressures. I mean, a lot of trouble.

Now we have some Vital Shock. This is from Federal. It’s 250 grains Expander Bullets, Barnes Expanders.

Let’s check it out. Now you can also shoot this single action by bringing the hammer back and we’re just going to do that just for kicks. I’ll be honest with you guys.

After six rounds, I’m ready to take a break and I’ve just put 18 rounds through this thing, plus shooting it quite a bit. But this is an excellent sidearm, especially if you’re in bear country and bear country is extending. So this really gives you a lot of power and then you can go back to the 45 Colt if you just want to have something just to take to the range.

But the recoil on this, if you’re wondering, I mean, it’s sizable. It’s pretty crazy. In fact, .454 Casull was the most powerful round ever for a number of years.

So it’s a beast. It’s up to whatever you’re going to face and having this on your side, whether you’re hunting or, you know, again, hiking in bear country. This would be a great option.

Hopefully you don’t have to spend more than six rounds through this thing. Take a wooden block and you can pop these out. Otherwise they expand in the chamber, but I’ll tell you, it’s a beautiful handgun.

Are you done? Yes, Lord. I am so done. Now, while there’s no disassembly for basic maintenance on a revolver, you do want to keep your cylinder faces clean, both sides.

You want to really pay attention to this forcing cone up here and right at the top strap, making sure there’s no issues or any kind of damage. Also back here against the plate where your firing pin comes out in the locking system. Just to make sure this is good and clean.

You don’t want to get lubricant down into your firing pin. That can cause some issues. And of course, keep your barrel swabbed out and the cylinders, but mainly just keeping it clean and keeping it somewhat lubricated, not a lot of lube on your ejector rod because that just gums up things, but you just want it nice and clean.

And really your revolver would just work. And that’s one of the great things about a revolver is it’s fairly low maintenance, but with this and these powerful rounds, it definitely needs to be cleaned on a regular basis. Keeping your firearms maintained and cleaned is vital, especially on a self-defense handgun.

Otis makes some of the best cleaning equipment out there. They make a number of different kits that are dedicated for different rifles, pistols. They also have Shooter’s Choice, which makes excellent CLP and bore solvent and different cleaning materials.

The Ripcord is one of their signatures and there’s a whole system based around it. They are suppliers to the US military. And so here we have our tactical kit.

It’s a very compact little pouch and you have everything you need to keep your firearm cleaned in the field. But then also they have larger kits with the steel rods and with Ripcords, and they make a number. In fact, probably the most I’ve ever seen.

And then of course, they have tools as well. So check out Otis Technologies, highly recommended. And we want to thank Otis for being a sponsor of the channel.

Retail price, $1,499. But typically market price, I’m seeing it around the $1,150 range, give or take. Sometimes you can find used Alaskans that are less expensive, especially it seems like in the .44 Magnum.

But from what I understand, the .454 Casull is a little more difficult to come by. And so what are some pros and cons? Well, first off, the price is a little bit high, but that’s typical for a lot of your revolvers, especially your Redhawk. And with the Alaskan, it’s no different.

The all stainless construction and very beefed up. I mean, this thing is built solid and it can withstand the pressures. When you’re talking about 65,000 PSI, you really want a strong frame.

You want a strong barrel, back strap. You’re going to get it with the Super Redhawk. And just the fit and finish, the revolver is absolutely beautiful.

It does have a little funny look to it because of the shorter barrel. And because it’s so thick, it’s like a little bulldog or a big bulldog. It’s very weighty.

And that is one thing that’s great for recoil management. But when you’re carrying this all day, you’re on a hunt, you had this on your side, 44 or 43 ounces, it’s heavy, but it’s a very capable firearm. Again, you can take any game in the world.

It doesn’t really make a great self-defense option in .454 Casull, but with .45 Colt, it does. And so you have that option, but yet you’ve got a very heavy handgun. And taking it out with .45 Colt, it’s a very mild shooting handgun and it makes it really a pleasure.

Then bring out your .454 and impress all your friends. Again, unless you’re a hunter. And that’s one of the things about price is if you’re really going to use this as a tool, it’s going to be priceless if you ever have to use it in a self-defense situation.

I love the grip, love the sights. They really show up well and being adjustable and it’s accurate. Trigger pull on double action’s heavy, but single action, it is sweet and it’s smooth all the way around.

Beside the fact that this may be something that’s big, heavy, and with a lot of recoil. And if you’re recoil sensitive, this is not something that you’re going to want. But if you really like the big bore and especially if you’re out in the woods and you might have to face some large dangerous game, this is going to be very comforting on your hip.

Guys, if you want something that can take out anything in the world, the .454 Casull is a powerhouse. Excellent to be on your hip, especially if you live near dangerous game. This just gives you a lot of advantages.

Yes, the recoil is excessive, but honestly, it is controllable. And then with the .45 Colt, it makes it a very enjoyable handgun to shoot and you can build it up. And really with it being a Ruger Super Red Hawk, you has confidence that the gun is going to hold together.

And I want to thank my buddy for buying this, not liking it, trading it to me and giving me the experience. And to be honest with you, I’m going to take it out and shoot it again. I love it.

And I’ll definitely be wearing it on my hip when I go hunting.

 

Be strong, be of good courage. God bless America. Long live the Republic.

 

-Don