45 Colt Blackhawk..single action convert

3

38Mike

New member
Time to blow the dust off my 45 colt dies...

Picked up my first single action the other day; a 5.5 inch, blue, 45 colt Ruger Blackhawk. $302.00 with tax ( dirt cheap in my neck of the woods). I've owned a GP-100, a P-95, and still have a Speed Six, this Blackhawk is the nicest Ruger of them all. I don't think I've ever described a gun as beautiful, but this one is! My first single action sixgun!!!! Don't know why I waited this long...Got some old reloads ( 7.1 grains 231,255 grain lswc) that I'll use to break this pup in...then I'll have to work up some WESHOOT strength loads to really have fun!!!! :) :) :)

YEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.......

Mike M.
 
Single-action sixguns have style, and some of the most beautiful handguns I've ever seen were SA revolvers.

Just ask my roomie about the allure of the SA wheelgun when she struts around the living room with her SS Bisley Vaquero in .44Mag (now there's a beautiful handgun!). Yesterday, she even CCW'ed it for a quick trip to the local gun-o-rama.

Congratulations on your new addition, those things are a blast to shoot.
 
I forgot to mention this, the best part was finding a good down to earth gun enthusiast for a dealer. We got to talking politics, he said something like " you go to gunshows, you'd be suprised at the number of dealers who aren't NRA members or members of any organization,they're not interested in a gunowners rights, they just want your money.."

this guy and his wife are cool, and will get ALL my future business....
 
Mike: Congrats! One of the best .45 Autos there is, is the Ruger Convertible Blackhawk. Mine has outdone my National Match 1911 with one 200-gr. lead SWC load.
With the range of loads available in ACP and Long Colt, it's also one of the most versatile handguns you could own.
Ruger has run at least two or three versions of the .45 Blackhawk/Bisley (same basic barrel and frame) to a couple of different sets of dimensional specifications.
My '200th year' convertible has .453" chamber mouths in the .45 Colt cylinder, a .452" ACP cylinder, and a .4515" bore. It was very accurate with both cylinders, out of the box.
Some later guns, I hear, have tighter chamber mouths, allowing bullets to deform before being engraved by the rifling, and might need a little work with a reamer to achieve their full potential. More info on this at sixgunner.com.
Also, congrats on finding a simpatico dealer. They can be pearls beyond price.
You are gonna LIKE your new pistola, I GAH-ron-tee!
 
Get a 45 acp cylinder.

I bought a Colt SAA 2nd generation in 45 Colt in 1971 along with a box of ammo. I had it tuned to a 40 oz trigger, ( I had to wait to pick it up anyway ) took it out and verified the sights. I was just looking at the other half of the box, I mean this week. I never fired it since. Now I'm gonna get a 45 auto cylinder fitted. There's just too much cheap ammo for the acp out there. Have lots of fun.
 
Hope the line about single action convert didn't mislead you guys; gun is a straight up 45 colt (long colt?)..

The convert was me, being converted to single action sixgunning :)

Slabsides, without measuring the chamber mouths, are there any indicators that let me know, from just shooting, that the diameter is too small. My bullets are standard 500 to a box variety, .452 dia.

I didn't think about the 45 ACP cylinder.....maybe sometime down the road..

thanks guys,

Mike M.
 
Mike:
I suspected you might have one of the 'Long Colt only' guns since you didn't mention an extra cylinder, but the headline 'convert' convinced me otherwise.
If you don't have a good caliper or inside micrometer to measure your chambers, a field-expedient gauge is an unfired bullet. A .451/.452 (modern standard dia.) .45 slug should pass through the front of the cylinder with just light finger pressure...almost fall through. If it doesn't, you may benefit from a light reaming of the cylinder throats. Many newer Rugers will measure as little as .450 in this area, and when a bullet passes through it's swaged to the smaller dia, then has to take rifling in a .451 barrel. It does it, but sometimes it does it cattywampus, and accuracy suffers a bit. There's some really good discussion of this on sixgunner.com.
On the other hand, I've heard that some new Ruger BH .45's shoot fine with tight chamber mouths without alteration. Go figure. (BTW this doesn't seem to be a problem with BH/Bisley revolvers in .357, 41 and .44: Ruger got their cylinder throat dimensions just right.)
You may be able to have Ruger fit a .45 ACP cylinder to your gun. Sometimes, in the past, they've refused to 'converiblize' guns that left the factory in single caliber configuration, but lately I think the policy on that has eased somewhat. All you can do is ask. It's nice to have that extra capability of shooting ACP rounds, but the gun is at its best as a .45 Long Colt, so don't sweat it if you have just that...or you can have a new cylinder fitted by a competent 'smith like Hamilton Bowen.
 
Well, I miked the chambers, .451-.452.....

Should I worry about this, or go to the range and blast away???

Thanks,

Mike M.
 
It's not really something to worry about...just to be aware of. Your chamber throats are probably fine for modern bullets.
Blast away!
 
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