Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Any love for Ruger Blackhawks?

I've had them in 357, 41, and 44 magnum. I currently have a Single Six convertible

When Super Blackhawks came out, I had a FFL. I bought and sold at cost 9 before I got one that shot extremely well. Some of the early Ruger's had very poor barrels.

I have a 4 5/8" .44 Special Flattop. I think I'd rather shoot it than any handgun I own. It goes afield when I do.

I am a big fan and own a fair number of both OM's and NM's. I have never had an issue with one. These two are my latest purchases from the past couple of years. Both are TALO runs with Doug Turnbull/Ruger. The Bisley is a 45 Colt (1 of 500) and the SBH is, of course, a 44 Mag (1 of 1000). They are the most well put together factory Ruger's I have ever seen. Both were NIB though they no longer are. The grips are aftermarket ones I already had on hand.

44 Spl Flattop here and also have a couple of 5 shot Bisley 480's. I prefer the Bisley grip for heavier loads.

The front sight was too low & the little sixgun hit high for me. I wanted a taller front sight but didn't want to reblue. I purchased a sight blank from Brownells & a dovetail cutter. The front sight was milled off & a dovetail cut in the front base. About any machinist could do this. I shaped the sight to my liking & filed it to the correct height for my load & applied cold blue. It works great.

Do it.

I'm a Ruger single action addict. They fit my hand, they fit my life. At the moment I don't have one in .357 but I'm shopping. I'd probably jump on a S&W M27 4" classic or a Lipsey's 5" half lug GP100 if I found one of those first.

What barrel length and finish does the gun you're looking at have?

They're okay I guess...

Did it. Got out yesterday and put a few rounds through it. Properly sooted up from Bullseye & 148gr LWC 38's. in this photo. It came with the Herrett stock shown in pic. Would like to find some stock grips for it also.

I really love mine..

I have a a pair of .41 Mags. A new model that I bought and an old converted 3 screw that my Dad bought brand new.



I also have a 5.5" Vaquero Bisley in .45 Colt that I really love.



Todd

I'm fond of them. Especially the Bisley Blackhawks. Mine are all Bisleys except for the Buckeye 38/40/10mm with the standard grip.

Top left, the Buckeye, top right, 357 mag, second row left, Flattop 44 Special, second row right, Turnbull 45 Colt, middle, 480, bottom left, 44 mag, bottom right, 41 mag.

Something I find interesting is that Ruger Model 77 bolt action rifles get little respect from the connoisseurs and cognoscenti as the basis for a fine custom firearm, yet as can be seen from several beautiful examples here the Blackhawk in its many iterations is lavished with all manner of work to turn it into a work of art.

Not making any editorial comment here, just noting the incongruous attitude. If someone has an editorial opinion on this please feel free.



P.S. My first centerfire handgun was an Old Model .357 Blackhawk with 6 1/2" barrel bought in 1968, I learned to reload on that. Have long since lost count of the number of Blackhawks and Super Blackhawks that have come and gone but a conservative estimate would put that as at least two dozen, likely a bit more. Blackhawks were also what I used to learn the kind of shade tree gunsmithing that makes real machinists cringe; made most all of them more accurate to a lot more accurate and only ruined one.

Down to a single example now, a New Model .357 Blackhawk with 6 1/2" barrel. I don't blast handgun loads at full volume much these days, but when I do that Blackhawk is the one that comfortably handles the job, emphasis on comfortably.

Good lookin' gun! A three-screw, no less. That's good for some extra style point.

Grips .. I'm not sure if that has the XR3 grip frame or the XR3-RED grip frame .. grips aren't interchangeable. Finding exact matches to the old Ruger walnut grips seems difficult. What's available is either too fat or too skinny, I haven't found a right match for my recent single actions. (I've had good luck with the Hogue bisley grips in black micarta .. require a little sanding / filing for an exact fit, but the final result is better than factory.) To me the original / correct wood grips had a feel similar to the single action army. The new ones are either like the Colt Navy DA (too skinny) or S&W target (too fat) guns. If you find something perfect please let me know!

Tom

Its the RED frame version. Pretty handy they cast it right on the frame.

.357 Mag.... or Super Single-Six convertible?






GR

I like the grips. They are obviously made from dead wood. At least it appears to be. because of the signs of fungus in the lighter and upper part of the right grip panel. I guy from the forrestry service I know used to work with deas wood by carving it. Sometimes it was quite fragile and difficult to work with. You could start to work and were almost finished with the candle holder or whatever you wanted to carve and suddenly everything was gone and your work was for nothing.

I bought these from Esmeralda, she calls them Rosewood Picazo. I have no clue on what the Picazo means. It’s probably been stabilized be fore carving. They have stood up well. I just got them because I thought they looked pretty cool. 😁

Bought this Bisley Blackhawk from a bear hunter who took many with it. 45LC caliber. He shortened barrel for "handiness". When I recieved it, he also gave me about 40 of his favorite reloads. With a 2 handed hold, revolver wanted to fly out of my hands, was terrible to shoot ! Found out what powder he used (H-110), was 2-3 grains above max in most of my books. Broke them down and reduced powder some. I will say they are strong !

Probably my favorite Bisley, once a SBH.

How do those Pachmyer grips work with the roll of recoil?