Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Changing a Blackhawk Barrel

I'm about to swap a 7.5-in Ruger Blackhawk barrel for a 4 5/8-in barrel. Is there anything I should be aware of that could improve the performance of the new barrel before its installed? Sometimes you read about forcing cones not being correct. Is this an issue with Balckhawks? Thanks much!

The barrel shoulder seat area on the front of the frame should be smooth and square before installing the new barrel. The barrel(lubricated threads) should turn up to about 10:30 hand tight and require a frame wrench to go the rest of the way. If the barrel tightens up too soon, the best fix is to set the shoulder back in a lathe. If it tightens up late, a thin steel shim stock washer is OK to take up some of the slack. I wouldn't use more than .010".

The max. barrel gap should be between .003" and .008". If it is more, the barrel should be set back one turn. Then the forcing cone and ejector rod housing have to be modified to match the shorter barrel. The only practical way to do it is on a lathe.

If the factory forcing cone is smooth and concentric, leave it alone unless you have to shorten the barrel.

RAN

Thanks much RAN!

Cylinder endshake is the lateral movement of the cylinder on it's pin. You must take this movement into account when setting the gap. Therefore, before you set the gap, push and hold the cylinder fully forward to get an accurate measurement and then subtract from that for the gap. It is usually at this point that I will make and install a removable cylinder bushing to reduce the amount of endshake so as to keep things fairly tight. Also, around these parts it is very common to simply cut the existing barrel to 4 5/8 and fit a new front sight. Usually less costly. Usually.