Sadly, Pisgah is a bit off plumb here. The question was about the 'Alaskan', which is a nearly barrel-less Super Redhawk - not a Redhawk. Actually, the Super Redhawk came about as an attempt to convince shooters that Ruger had a viable .44 Magnum revolver, early .44 Magnum Redhawks having suffered from a frame/barrel threading problem which would occasionally 'launch' a barrel downrange. The single spring lockwork of the Redhawk had it's problems, too, and the separate hammer & trigger return of the Super Redhawk is a great step forward there. If you want Ruger's best .44 Magnum, choose the SRH - not the RH. It also has a grip stud in place of the RH's large grip frame, meaning the SRH can sport different grips.

The SRH also benefited by a higher technology SS, as used in the .454 Casull and .480 Ruger SRH's. My .454 SRH was my all-time favorite Ruger; my .45 Colt RH was tied for least favorite! It - and it's bottom dweller sibling, an SP101, drove me away from my all-Ruger revolver collection to a much happier 'all-S&W' collection today. I have the opinion that if a given SAAMI spec'd caliber isn't enough for me, I'll go to a 'hotter' caliber rather than a '+P+' load in an existing caliber.

The hot Alaskan was the .480 Ruger caliber, only made for one run - the whole .480 Ruger, a .475 Linebaugh 'Special' loading, eventually being totally dropped by Ruger. I've shot them all - and was 'impressed' most by the .454 Alaskan. With it's barrel nub in that large snout, it produced a fireball with real .454 Casull rounds. My favorite round in my 7.5" .454 SRH was the Hornady 240gr XTP - 2,000 fps (2,130 ft-lb!). From the Alaskan - fireball! The .44 Magnum Alaskan seems unnecessary - plenty of good short barrel 629/329/29 variants exist. IMHO, of course.

If you need more oomph than a .44 Magnum... consider a .500 S&W Magnum!

Stainz