Meet Ruger’s Super Redhawk Hornet
The Super Redhawk .22 Hornet, like the company’s other Super Redhawk revolvers, is a double action/single action piece built of stainless steel. There’s a 9.5-inch cold hammer forged barrel with a 1:9 twist. The adjustable rear sight mates nicely with the HiViz green front. As with other Ruger firearms, the Super Redhawk uses the company’s patented integral optic mounts machined directly into the solid barrel rib, and the matching stainless rings are included.
Redhawks use the company’s triple-locking cylinder with lockup at the front, rear, and bottom of the frame for the safest, most certain alignment and operation. Taking that one step further, Ruger notes there’s extra metal in the top strap, sidewalls, and barrel mounting areas. That eight-round cylinder is unfluted and with plenty of beef.
The Super Redhawk Hornet’s overall length is 15 inches, with an unloaded and unscoped weight of 66 ounces (4.125 pounds). It’s fitted with the Hogue Tamer Monogrip, which includes an internal recoil cushion. The safety is a standard transfer bar. Suggested retail is $1,499 on this young wheel gun made in Newport, New Hampshire.
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Quick Hornet Crash Course
We go into greater depth on the .22 Hornet cartridge in a companion piece, but suffice it to say, the little round is a mover and shaker. Though more often chambered in rifles, the round still has been clocked out of the handgun barrel at the 1,900 FPS mark with a 40-grain load.
Some sources will tell you a .22 Hornet has an effective range to 100 yards, many list 150, while a few tout 200-yard capability. Depending on the type of game, or target, and shooter proficiency, the .22 Hornet has been known to pleasantly surprise a good number of shooters and varmint hunters.
Ammunition is fairly accessible, with choices available from Hornady, Browning, Winchester, Remington, and more; though like many elder cartridges, factory ammunition is not the cheapest buy in the world.
On the Range
Speaking of ammunition, we headed to the range with a pretty nice mix of .22 Hornet rounds, including Browning, Winchester, and Remington in bullet weights of 35 and 40 grains.
Though we added a Burris straight two-power optic, the factory iron sights on this piece are quite handy, with the green fiber-optic front acquiring quickly on both paper and vermin.
We set up for a 50-yard zero and accuracy testing, which is a nice starting point for many hunting handguns, though it’s clear both the gun and the round are capable of much more. The gun ran well through multiple ammunition types, and we found quite decent accuracy during filming, and continually improving groups with different rests and more practice.
Like any of Ruger’s Super Redhawk lineup, the Hornet is no exception in terms of quality, fit and finish, and reliability.
Field Notes
Though we did most shooting with the Burris optic in place, the Hornet is plenty accurate with the included iron sights. For those who may not be crazy about the green HiViz, that is easily replaceable. Adding a scope is a snap with the factory rings; however, it must be noted that the rings Ruger includes are 1-inchers (numbered 3 and 4, to be exact), but they suited the Burris 2x20 handgun scope nicely.
The .22 Hornet, though a zippy round, is not high recoiling to begin with. Factor in the weight of the stainless wheel gun along with the Hogue finger groove grips, and the gun is easily controllable. Ruger has also considered that many shooters prefer to customize, and to that end, the peg-style grip frame accommodates any number of aftermarket customs.
The trigger is quite remarkable, breaking with regularity just under 5 pounds in single action. There’s the tiniest amount of creep, but that single-action break hits between 4 pounds, 11 ounces and 4 pounds, 14 ounces. While our Lyman digital pull gauge cannot measure double action, it’s the expected heavy, albeit smooth enough affair.
Conclusion
This is the gun that people who know the .22 Hornet want. The unfortunate thing is that too many hunters and shooters may not be familiar with the cartridge, yet Ruger’s Super Redhawk track record speaks for itself.
While there likely won’t be long lines of buyers for the more niche Hornet variant, after spending time on the range and looking forward to small game and varmint hunting, it’s safe to say this baby will always have a following. Ruger’s Super Redhawk Hornet is flashy enough for those who love stainless, but practical for toting afield. As far as .22 calibers go, you can call this one gentle on the hand, mean on the target, and a modern-day throwback home run.
