Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Thinking about a 5-1/2 Bisley

I have a first run 5 1/2" Bisley in 45 Colt, a custom 5 shot hard chromed one in 45 Colt and had a Bowen 500 Linebaugh Nimrod that I sold a couple of years ago. This 44 Mag is my hands down favorite though.

That's a keeper.

Is that .44 of your's wearing a Clement's front sight Ed?

I think this is what you're looking for, though I doubt it tells you much.





Left is mid size 44 Spec, right is Large frame 45 Colt, both 5.5".

Their weights on a very accurate scale: 44 - 2.82 lbs (45.12 oz)
45 - 2.89 lbs (46.24 oz)
A little over an ounce difference.

Lipsey's has a sweet 3.75" barrel Bisley .44 that needs to join my 44 platoon.


https://ruger.com/products/newModelSuperBlackhawkBisley/models.html

Savuti,

Thank you very much for going to the trouble!

I'm not sure what you mean by "though I doubt it tells you much." It seems to me is tells me about all such a picture could. (Short of being on some sort of grid where one could try to measure to the gnat's azz. And even there you have the issues of perspective to deal with.)

I don't see much difference in size. Are you telling me there are things you sense when handling them that are hard to see?

As for the weights, thank you for that too. The .45 has bigger holes in cylinder and barrel, but an un-fluted cylinder. Steel weighs about 4.5 oz. per cubic inch. So the difference in weight works out to a volume difference of about 0.25 cubic inches. This is a piece of steel 1 x 1 x 0.25, but spread out all over the gun.

On another forum, I found the following dimensions for Ruger cylinders:
New Model Blackhawk .45 Colt, 1.731 diameter, 1.705 long.
New Model Flat Top .44 Special, 1.675 diameter, 1.610 long.
That is 0.056 difference in diameter (0.028 radius) and 0.095 in length.
It also seems to me there is a bit more “extra space” in the .45 window because the forcing cone projects into the window a bit more on the .45.

I don’t know if I am right, but my educated guess is there is not much difference in height between the two guns, but the larger frame is about 0.25 longer in the “cylinder window.” Is this your perception as well?

I wonder if both frames use the same grip panels? I don’t remember seeing “Blackhawk” and “Flat top” Bisley grips being offered.

Again, thank you, and do you perceive much difference when you handle them?

Yes, the large frame is about that much longer in the "window"..

There is only one size of Bisley grip frame, whether on a Single Six or a Flattop or a 480 Super BH.

Picking them up with eyes closed I can't tell which is which.

Savuti,

Thank you again. You have helped a lot. And your last sentence really puts it in perspective.

One of my Bisley SBH .480 Ruger frames is 1/16" longer than the other.

Just happened to see the scale on the desk after reading this thread last night . 44 spec 4 3/4 barrel empty if it matters to you

Buying a SA revolver today is apparently a much more scientific process than it was in the late 1800's when you just walked into the local mercantile store, put your $15 on the counter and walked out with whatever they had.

I'm not criticizing anyone, but I am just picturing the looks you would have gotten had you gone gun shopping with a tape measure, a protractor, and a postage scale that was accurate to the tenth of an ounce. Then just as the shop owner thinks you're a turnip short of a bunch, take a practice aim and say, "This one's bore axis is too high. By the way...do you have any guns made of plastic?"

I think it's been 10 years since I last walked into a LGS and bought a gun across the counter.
I find the more info I have the better when buying on the internet. YMMV.

FWIW, I've owned about a half dozen Bisleys in .22, .32 H&R, .41 Magnum and .44 Special. Still have one of each of the .22, .32 H&R and .44 Special. The grip frames all seem to be the same size. The .44 Special was part of a special run for one of their large distributors (Lipsey?) and is on the original sized Blackhawk frame. It has the 5-1/2 inch barrel. They are very nice guns and I'd certainly recommend them. I suspect you could load them up to Elmer Keith levels, but I find that 210 grain cast bullets at about 1000 fps will do anything I expect a handgun to do and without pounding me senseless in the process.

The Ruger Flattop will take the Keith load, 17 grains of 2400 under the 429421 bullet with no problem. A lot of folks focus on that load alone as a Keith load, but he was also fond of 7.5 grains of Unique and 5 grains of Bullseye under the same bullet. I use those three loads almost exclusively in mine and it likes all three. Keith indeed did load heavy loads but he wasn't opposed to light loads.

I recently got an MP mold for the Hensley and Gibbs #503 which is the H&G version of the Keith bullet. The mold comes with pins for solids or hollowpoints, making that bullet even more versatile. I'm anxious to get some cast up and run them side by side with the 429421.

As classic and useful as the Keith bullet is in a 44 Special, Remington40x is right. A 210 grain at 1000 fps will do a lot of good work. There are a lot of great options for cast bullets today in all diameters. We are in a golden age of custom bullet mold availability. LBT, Accurate, NOE, Arsenal, Mihec (MP), and Mountain are a few that come to mind. In many cases you're limited only by your own creativity.

Got one of them in a chest rig. Very precise shooter.

Based on the above, I bet about the time i pull the trigger on a stainless 5-1/2 Bisley .45 colt or .44 Special flat top, they will finally make another run of .44 Magnums.

Thanks all!
Based on:
Some great input from many on this thread
Savuti's excellent size comparison pictures and observations of the 44/45 vs. flat top frames
Responses to my thread asking about extra .45 ACP cylinders in .45 Colt revolvers
Responses to Ky221's thread New sixgun . . .input needed
and the fact that I have wanted a 5-1/2" stainless Bisley for at least thirty (30!) years
. . . . . . .
I put in my order for an 0472 Ruger Bisley stainless .45 Colt/.45 ACP 5-1/2".

Whoo-hoo, looking forward to it!

I think you're going to love it. Lot of versatility in one gun there. Enjoy and post some pics.

^^^^^^^
Thanks. I really had trouble deciding between the .45 Colt/.45 ACP and the same configuration in the .44 Special flat top.

There is a certain "cool factor" to a .44 Special flat top. For me, it probably comes from this Seyfried article in Guns America:
https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/ross-seyfried-lipseys-ruger-flattop-44-special-bisley-revolvers/
But objectively, from the good comparison pictures and accurate weights Savuti graciously supplied, the difference in size and weight seems negligible.

So it came down to the difference between the two, actually three, cartridges:
I already have dies for .44 Magnum/.44 Special and .45 ACP. I will have to buy some .45 Colt dies.
But I progressively load for .45ACP and .357. It is a bit of trouble to switch between the two. I won't have to add another cartridge to volume load, as I would with .44 Special. Plus .45 ACP brass is more common than .44 Special. Not to mention cheap .45 ACP if it comes down to buying ammo.

I plan to shoot a lot of .45 ACP and come up with a "heavyish" bullet load, maybe 270 grain, at about 1000-1100 for the .45 Colt. I know there is more to be had, but that should pretty well hammer any critter I will encounter in my part of Texas.
Had I gone with .44 Special, I was going to go with a light load and a similar 250 grain, 1000-1100 heavier load. Not much difference, but at the lighter end of things .45 ACP seemed easier than a light .44 Special.
(I'm not one for a lot if different loads. In hunting rifles, I usually stick to one load, and the older I get, the more I favor bullet weight over velocity.)

Other considerations: I already own a Bowen sight and Evolution Gun Works RMR mount for the the larger frame.

So I fretted a bit. But if the one I picked shoots well, I'm pretty sure I'll forget all about it.

The posters on this thread and few other threads really helped. Thank you all again!

I don't really consider the 270 grain bullet to be all that heavy in a 45 Colt. Its a good weight, just like the 255 Keith is a good weight in the 44. Might even say an optimum weight. A 270 grain bullet at 1100 fps would suffice for pretty much everything in NA. I wouldn't hesitate to carry that here in Alaska and do carry a similar load myself in the form of a 280 grain SWC when I carry a 45 Colt. In Texas, your choice would be outstanding and would indeed hammer anything you're likely to encounter.

There is one caveat with your choice and cast bullets. Ruger 45 Colt/ACP cylinders are notorious for having undersized throats. I have three and they were .450 on two of them and .449 on the other. I had them opened up to .4525 by Doug Phillips. Fermin Garza is another. Both do outstanding work. Doug is on FB under Cylinderhone and also on the CastBoolits forum under his name. Fermin is on the Single Action forum under 2dogs. When you get the gun I'd slug and measure the bore and get next to someone with a set of pin gauges who can check your cylinder for you. Fermin or Doug will pin gauge/measure your cylinder and let you know if if needs reaming or not. A cylinder with throats undersized of the groove diameter are never going to shoot to their full potential with cast bullets. Most Ruger revolvers are capable of some outstanding accuracy. Amazing really when you consider having six separate chambers in one gun. However, some Rugers, especially 45 Colts, need a little tweaking to get them shooting their best.

Most Ruger 45 Colts will shoot reasonably well with jacketed bullets without modification. If your going to cast your own or load commercially available cast, I'd check the critical dimensions.