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Ruger Super Redhawks in standard version are available in .44 mag, .454Cassull, 10 mm semiauto, and .480 Ruger. The .44mags of course also shoot .44 sp. And the .454 Cassull also shoots .45 Colt and .45 Colt +P. The latter is equivalent to the .44mag, giving a cartridge much easier to control than the .454 Cassull but with a fatter bullet than the .44mag.

A great virtue of these guns is the system for mounting a scope. The guns come with Ruger rings that allow mounting scope using the grooves in the receiver. This means you can mount the scope on the receiver or remove the scope without altering the back sights.

The Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan, which is the same gun but in a snubby version, comes in .44mag, .454 Cassull, and .480 Ruger:
I had a 9 1/2" Ruger Super Redhawk many years ago in .44 Mag when shooting silhouette, I was unaware of other calibers.
I had great success using cast 289 gr GC bullets.
 
475 Linebagh is the best "Big Bore" for a revolver, in my opinion.

I used to be in love with the 500 S&W when it came out, until I found out that they can't be shot a lot. A friend of mine went through two. S&W stood behind them until they sent him a third, and they sent a letter with that one, that they would not warranty another one. They will flame-cut the top strap if shot a lot. He sold his third one.

I still shoot my old Super Redhawk 44 most. Never had much use for anything else.
I'm curious as to what a lot means. I have an early model and think I've shot it "a lot" and it shows no signs of wear. Mainly full power loads too.
 
I had a 9 1/2" Ruger Super Redhawk many years ago in .44 Mag when shooting silhouette, I was unaware of other calibers.
I had great success using cast 289 gr GC bullets.
The Ruger Super Redhawk was first available only in .44 mag, as I recall. And it is the only caliber available in the the 9.5" as well as the 7.5" barrel lengths. I have a 9.5" named "Thumper". I was in a gun show looking for something else, but when I saw the Ruger it seemed to be whispering my name. And when I demanded it be liberated from its nasty plastic constraints and turned over to me for my appraisal it snuggled into my hands like it was born there, and lifted as easily in my outstretched arms as Arthur lifted Excalibur from the stone. And the gun crooned that he and I were meant for each other, and he said he could do more for me than any other man, er, gun. And he promised to protect me from any harm, which he claimed to be able to do with or without ammo. And I believed him, as it was obvious if I ever backhanded a bad guy with the front sight I could put a hole in his skull. So I named him "Thumper" on the spot and took him home with me.

As I recall, the .480 Ruger and .454 Cassull came later. Ruger needed to invent the .480 Ruger caliber. And for .454 Cassull Ruger needed to invent some new metallurgy. This is why the Cassull cylinder steel is a different shade from the other cylinders, and is still able to hold 6 rounds. The 10mm came later yet, and seems to be available only as a distributor special rather than a standard model. Likewise for a 5" Cassull.

The 7.5" .44mag Super Redhawk is much handier to carry than the 9.5" if the gun is unscoped. But if the gun wears a scope the 9.5" is barely more bulky than the 7.5". And its more nicely balanced. In addition, if you are scoping the gun so you can extend the range out beyond 100 yards, you might want to shoot .44mag +P ammo, and for that the extra two inches of barrel can get a little more power from the gun as well as help with recoil.
 
The Ruger Super Redhawk was first available only in .44 mag, as I recall. And it is the only caliber available in the the 9.5" as well as the 7.5" barrel lengths. I have a 9.5" named "Thumper". I was in a gun show looking for something else, but when I saw the Ruger it seemed to be whispering my name. And when I demanded it be liberated from its nasty plastic constraints and turned over to me for my appraisal it snuggled into my hands like it was born there, and lifted as easily in my outstretched arms as Arthur lifted Excalibur from the stone. And the gun crooned that he and I were meant for each other, and he said he could do more for me than any other man, er, gun. And he promised to protect me from any harm, which he claimed to be able to do with or without ammo. And I believed him, as it was obvious if I ever backhanded a bad guy with the front sight I could put a hole in his skull. So I named him "Thumper" on the spot and took him home with me.

As I recall, the .480 Ruger and .454 Cassull came later. Ruger needed to invent the .480 Ruger caliber. And for .454 Cassull Ruger needed to invent some new metallurgy. This is why the Cassull cylinder steel is a different shade from the other cylinders, and is still able to hold 6 rounds. The 10mm came later yet, and seems to be available only as a distributor special rather than a standard model. Likewise for a 5" Cassull.

The 7.5" .44mag Super Redhawk is much handier to carry than the 9.5" if the gun is unscoped. But if the gun wears a scope the 9.5" is barely more bulky than the 7.5". And its more nicely balanced. In addition, if you are scoping the gun so you can extend the range out beyond 100 yards, you might want to shoot .44mag +P ammo, and for that the extra two inches of barrel can get a little more power from the gun as well as help with recoil.
My one, and only one, gripe with my Super Redhawk was the factory rear sights (clicks were indistinct and not that precise for what I needed) which for Silhouette Production Revolver class meant they could only be changed for an OEM factory rear sight, which alas Ruger only made the one standard sight and no upgraded sights.
If I upgraded them with a sight from a different manufacturer it would have put the gun into unlimited class and there was no way a revolver was going to compete with some of the unlimited class guns.

I now have a FA .44 Mag with outstanding sights but I think I can manufacture an excuse to get another Super Redhawk. :)
 
By the way, when going to more powerful revolvers its tempting to try magnaporting. The gun descriptions and articles are all about the upside and never mention the downside. When I had to send my Colt Anaconda 6" .44mag back to the factory to replace a broken firing pin under warranty, I also asked them to Magnaport the gun. Big mistake. The sideways/upward facing slots direct a lot more of the noise back toward the shooter. So much that I found the noise very unpleasant even with serious earmuff hearing protection. The extra noise mattered more to me than the reduction of recoil, if any. That was with full power .44 mag loads. In addition, burnt powder built up in the slots and had to be cleaned out regularly, complicating cleaning the gun. Magnaporting changed the gun from my favorite revolver that I shot more than any other to a gun that I didnt enjoy shooting and sold. :(
 
@OldBroad44 , For me, that comes under the heading of "Be careful what you wish for". More than one time I was certain what I wanted/needed for a gun, car or motorcycle would be the key to happiness, but it turned out to be the worst thing I could have done.
Fortunately most of those mistakes were reversible, unlike the Magna-porting.
 
More than one time I was certain what I wanted/needed for a gun, car or motorcycle would be the key to happiness, but it turned out to be the worst thing I could have done.
Oh how I wish I read these words when I decided to fit a Chev 6.5 Diesel into a Toyota Landcruiser.
It just would have been so much easier to just fire up the grill and throw the money in! :(
 
44 mag is practical, and even more so when paired with a rifle (e.g., Henry). But if you really want hand bruises, I hear 454 Casull is most unpleasant and sharp, though can't say from personal experience. Larger calibers, all of which are boutique, like 480 Ruger and 475 Linebaugh are certainly stout, but more push than bite. You can also get lever rifles for those larger calibers if you have several thousands of dollars to burn..
 
By the way, when going to more powerful revolvers its tempting to try magnaporting. The gun descriptions and articles are all about the upside and never mention the downside. When I had to send my Colt Anaconda 6" .44mag back to the factory to replace a broken firing pin under warranty, I also asked them to Magnaport the gun. Big mistake. The sideways/upward facing slots direct a lot more of the noise back toward the shooter. So much that I found the noise very unpleasant even with serious earmuff hearing protection. The extra noise mattered more to me than the reduction of recoil, if any. That was with full power .44 mag loads. In addition, burnt powder built up in the slots and had to be cleaned out regularly, complicating cleaning the gun. Magnaporting changed the gun from my favorite revolver that I shot more than any other to a gun that I didnt enjoy shooting and sold. :(
My wife carries a 6" Taurus Tracker in 357, believe it or not it's actually an excellent shooter and never had an issue with it - but I learned to NOT stand next to her with a short sleeve shirt on when she is shooting jacketed bullets, the porting must pick up tiny shavings of copper and blasts them sideways. I didn't realize it until I noticed my arm started leaking. It's not shaving enough off that it's affecting the accuracy but definitely not safe standing directly to the side of her.
 
I remember reading an article somewhere a long time ago about how some cartridges are just "right", successful and long-lived because they are perfectly balanced for their intended purpose.

.38 Special for example. It's a good balance between power and recoil, for the average person, in a revolver. 9x19 in a pistol, same thing, it's has enough power, yet not too much recoil or muzzle blast for the average person.

I like lots of different calibers and cartridges, but I think the .44 Magnum is right there for the average magnum-revolver shooter. There are bigger and flashier rounds readily available now, but for most people the old .44 mag is a very good balance.
 
44 mag is practical, and even more so when paired with a rifle (e.g., Henry). But if you really want hand bruises, I hear 454 Casull is most unpleasant and sharp, though can't say from personal experience. Larger calibers, all of which are boutique, like 480 Ruger and 475 Linebaugh are certainly stout, but more push than bite. You can also get lever rifles for those larger calibers if you have several thousands of dollars to burn..
I've got a couple boutique handguns that you refer to more of a push. Many might describe certain loads out of the 500 as more of a hammer. Most people will only shoot one round and be done……..I'll show you push, LOL
 
My wife carries a 6" Taurus Tracker in 357, believe it or not it's actually an excellent shooter and never had an issue with it - but I learned to NOT stand next to her with a short sleeve shirt on when she is shooting jacketed bullets, the porting must pick up tiny shavings of copper and blasts them sideways. I didn't realize it until I noticed my arm started leaking. It's not shaving enough off that it's affecting the accuracy but definitely not safe standing directly to the side of her.
Its a bad idea to stand next to anyone shooting a revolver, magported or not, whatever the bullet type. When a revolver is fired a tremendous release of hot high pressure gas and burning or burnt powder blows out of the gap between the cylinder and forcing cone. If the timing is off that release from the cylinder gap may also include bits of lead or copper. What's really bad news is when someone inexperienced with revolvers tries to extend a finger across the cylinder gap to the front of the trigger guard as some people do with some semi autos. They can do their finger a good bit of damage that way.

Here's a Paul Harrell video showing the sort of damage that can happen to a raw chicken drumstick tied across the cylinder gap of a .38 sp, a .357 mag, and a .44 mag revolver.
By the time you get to the .44 mag, the skin is torn, flesh is chewed up, and bone is broken. Damage is less with lesser calibers, but Paul Harrell's revolvers are undoubtedly properly timed. I don't know how much burning gas and debris you get from the Magnaport slits. Undoubtedly some since the recoil lowering effect depends on the sideways and upward release of gas. However there is plenty of reason to always stand behind, not next to anyone firing a revolver whether it is magnaported or not.

 
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Many of us settle on .44mag as the upper end of our revolver repertoire because it does everything we want or need to do with a handgun. And a .357mag (or the ballistically similar 10mm) doesn't quite.

For example, for woods carry for SD you want to be able to handle human predators, for which a JHP is ideal. But a .357 jhp might not penetrate the skull of an attacking black bear. For the bear, a .357 180 grain round flat nose hard cast is what most manufacturers present as bear loads. Its great for penetrating a bears skull. But if I shoot a human attacker in the chest, the skinny unexpanded .357 bullet may go straight through doing too little damage for instant incapacitation, and maybe the bad guy kills me first and then dies. But if I'm carrying a .44mag revolver loaded with Grizzly .44sp 260 grain round nose hard cast ammo, that's an excellent round for penetrating a bear skull. But its also likely to do at least as well on the chest of a human attacker as a 357 JHP because it need not expand to be fat. And the broad flat nose does a lot of damage as it penetrates flesh.

Second example. Deer hunting. With a good .357 JHP and a broadside shot at 75 yards or less, all is well. The bullet penetrates enough and expands enough. But with a deer quartering toward me, where the best shot is through the shoulder into the lungs, unless the deer is very near I have to pass up that shot because the 357 JHP can't be relied upon to penetrate the shoulder, possibly leaving a wounded animal that runs off and dies days later. However, if I instead carry the .357 180 grain bear load, the quartering shot is fine. But not the broadside shot. On the broadside shot the hard cast bullet may pass through the animal doing so little damage that it runs farther than I can track it before dying. At distances of up to 75 yards I can use a flat nose hard cast bullet in .44mag and be able to handle the deer in a bigger range of presentations.

In addition, the deer might be farther away. 75 yards is pretty much my limit with an unscoped gun. I consider it the upper range for hunting deer with a 357 anyway. YMMV. The .357 has lost a lot of power by then. But what if you scope the gun? With the right .44 mag ammo you might be able to extend your range to up to about 150 yards. (Whether I can we dont know yet. I've got a scope for my 9.5" Super Redhawk, but have not yet tried it out.) And you might be able to extend the size of the critter up to elk.
 
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I've got a couple boutique handguns that you refer to more of a push. Many might describe certain loads out of the 500 as more of a hammer. Most people will only shoot one round and be done……..I'll show you push, LOL
To each their own. Large magnum recoil will always be more sensitive for some than others. I don't get the impression the OP is too sensitive.
 

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