Blackhawk Convertible

S

stu925

New member
I've had a hankering for a Ruger Blackhawk Convertible in .45 Colt/.45 ACP for years. So now that I got my tax refund back and a buddy with an FFL made me an offer I couldn't refuse I decided it was time. I opted for the 5.5" barrel for the longer sight radius. I picked her up yesterday and I'm thrilled with it. My only minor complaint is the grips will need to be changed to fill my hand a little better. I need to wait for my days off to spend some time loading for it and getting it dirty, but I'll post a range report afterward.



Stu
 
You had me going when you said the longer at 5.5. I had to go look. Looks like they don’t offer the 7 inch with the two cylinders anymore.
Tell you what. I'll trade you my 7 ½ for your 5.5 inch.
You have a great gun and you’re going to have fun.
Last fall I started shooting a great bullet in mine. Check out the 270 thunderhead

http://www.pennbullets.com/45/45-caliber.html
 
Yes, the Penn bullets Thunderhead is a great shooter. It smacks paper like a hole punch. I've run them pretty hard out of my guns. They averaged 265 grains in weight which is the same as the RNFP that were supposed to be 255.

I recently used up the 270s and will probably get more when I restock the lead.


Stu, try picking up a set of the Hogue grips. I have rather large hands and the Hogue imitation pearl (and black pearl) thickened the grips enough to fit me well.

Nice score.
 
Actually when I picked the gun up yesterday it had a fired case in the box and the date on the envelope was 2004. So I guess I bought a brand new 10 year old gun. Doesn't matter much to me, I've been pining for a Blackhawk since I found out my father sold the Bisley Super Blackhawk he had which by the way was a fantastic gun. I think I'll hold on to my 5.5" ozzieman but I appreciate the offer and the bullet recommendation. I'm planning on ordering up a Lee Bullet mold or 2 for it so I can start casting my own bullets. I'm going to start with a 255gr LWSC and then maybe add a 300gr later on. I've used a 300gr Hornady XTP bullet in my S&W 25-5 for years and it's always shot well so maybe the 300gr lead will shoot well in this. I'm not really planning on hot rodding the loads too much but it's nice to have that capability which I don't have in the 25-5.

Feets: I'll check out those Hogues, need to decide if I want wood or something else. Whatever I get for it won't be plastic or rubber that's for sure.

Stu
 
Nice score on a great gun. I have one that I got in 2001 that came with the wood grips and long before the lock bs. It shoots both cylinders really well.

I had trouble getting a repeatable grip for every shot with factory stocks and the recoil with my Ruger-only handloads slammed the trigger guard into my shooting hand. I eventually went over to the dark side and put a set of the rubber Hogues on it and on my 357/9mm convertible too. (Sacrilege I know on a SA but they are my guns and I do shoot much better and more comfortably with them on. If you don't like them don't get them. I understand.) The Hogues make it nearly impossible to reach the Blackhawk hammer with your shooting hand though. I soon thereafter dropped in Super Blackhawk hammers in both of them and I'm really happy with my setup.

I'm sure you will be happy with whatever you do to your revolver too. You can't go wrong with a Ruger SA.
 
I picked up the exact same gun for a Christmas present to myself a couple months ago. I was amazed by the accuracy with both cylinders. Ruger used to have some issues with accuracy in the 45s but looks like they have these dialed in now. I put Altamont wood grips on mine. Check them out
 
Howdy

I bought this one brand, spanky new in 1975 when I was still in my twenties. I didn't really want the 45ACP cylinder, only wanted to shoot 45 Colt out of it. Price was $150 which was a lot of money for a kid in 1975. So like an idiot I asked if they would sell it to me without the extra cylinder. Of course, they wouldn't so I coughed up the $150 and took it home.

Always been glad that dealer was smarter than me.

BlackhawkConvertible02_zpsac3ff932.jpg
 
The 45 LC and 45 ACP is a commination that is hard to live without.
My 1976, 200th Year of American Liberty version with genuine, imitation Ruger ivories.
 


When I went looking for mine, the only way to get 5.5" barrel was to have a 7.5" cut down.

I personally prefer the rubber grips.

10gr Unique under a 250gr SWC does just under 1100fps from these guns.

Plenty of "thwop" and not painful to shoot.
 
Nice Stu925! Your going to like it. I have the same gun without the .45 ACP cylinder. 5 1/2" is my favorite barrel length. I use mine as my test loads gun as it is on the large frame. Just had mine tuned up a few months ago and it is a joy to shoot. I just turned over another .45 Colt revolver (SS flattop convertible) to my gunsmith for a tune up too.... Anyway enjoy!!!! Nothing like .45 Colt in my mind .. and yes those grips have got to go.
 
jolly roger:I picked up the exact same gun for a Christmas present to myself a couple months ago. I was amazed by the accuracy with both cylinders. Ruger used to have some issues with accuracy in the 45s but looks like they have these dialed in now. I put Altamont wood grips on mine. Check them out
Click to expand...

I have been in contact with Altamont. They claim they do not offer either Tru-Oil nor linseed oil finished grips. Nor will they sell unfinished grips. All they show appear to be that stabilized stuff, which I don't want. What about your grips? I'm looking for walnut.

Bob Wright
 
Picked up this Bisley Convertible last year. Love it. Grips are from Altamont.

IMG_3629_zps8ba1ee02.jpg


Wearing the stock Ruger grips:

IMG_3616_zps9b5a4fd1.jpg
 
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Man you guys have some good taste in guns, those Blackhawks look real nice. When I was about 14 or so my father decided to order a Ruger Bisley Super Blackhawk and said he had bought it for me. I knew that was an excuse to buy that gun but I did love shooting it. Years later he sold it along with a bunch of other guns to finance a move south. I've been longing to own a Blackhawk of my own ever since. I'm infatuated with the .45 Colt and shoot quite a bit of it from my S&W 25-5 I also shoot a lot of .45 ACP and load for both cartridges. So when I finally decided to scratch this particular itch it only made sense to go with the .45 Colt/ACP convertible that way I'll always have ammo to shoot. Now all I have to do is order up some casting supplies and I'll pick up another hobby casting my own boolits to feed it. My wife will have to come out to the shop to see me once I start that up I guess.

Stu
 
Nice score, the Blackhawks are a great deal made even better by the convertible models. I have a 5.5" stainless Bisley just like cobra's above and it's a hoot to shoot.

I can understand your complaint about the grips, I wish Ruger still used wood grips instead of the black plastic ones they do now on the BH models.
 
Range Report

Yesterday I spent some time loading up some ammo for the new gun. I found an old box of Albert's (long out of business) Swaged 225gr LWSC HPs that I decided would do well enough for a shakedown run. So I loaded those over 8.5gr of Unique with a CCI LP primer. I really had no idea what to expect from those bullets since I had never used them before but my only other choice in a .452" bullet was a box of Speer 230gr LRNs. Got up this morning and put the kids on the bus and headed up to the gun club, I had the place all to myself since it was barely 20 degrees when I got there. Set up a B-27 target at 25 yards and started shooting. First round right in the X ring, "OK I can live with that" I thought, the next 5 rounds headed high and left. Next cylinder same thing, first round in the X with the next 5 high and left. What I found was that if I slow down and really concentrate on my grip and the sights I can keep them in the x ring at 25yds but my real problem is the grips (no real surprise there), they're just to thin and I find it difficult to get a repeatable grip on them. Initially I had planned on just running a couple of cylinders worth of ammo through it because it was just so damn cold up there with the wind howling but I was having so much fun with it I burned up 100 rounds before I knew what happened. I'm definitely going to have to start casting for this gun or it's going to get very expensive very quickly. I did notice after it was all over that there was a significant amount of unburnt powder on the ground in front of me so I need to figure out whether a) my powder is so old that it's going bad, b) Unique burns so slow that in the 5 1/2" barrel it's not burning completely, or c) if Unique tends to be temperature sensitive. This is an issue I've never had before with my .45 Colt loads but then again previously to this I've only run them in an 8 3/8" barrel. I know Unique is a go to powder for .45 Colt so I'm thinking mine is just old and I should get a new can (mine is one of the old cardboard cans).

All in all the gun is a lot of fun to shoot and those light loads make a pretty good plinking load once I figure out what the unburnt powder issue is. I did notice that the rear sight pin had a tendency to walk itself out to the left under recoil, no real issue there a little locktite on the pin should keep that from happening again. I do need to start thinking about replacement grips for it and I'll probably try making my own and see how that goes. Once I get the grip issue taken care of this should be a great shooter. Did I mention this gun was fun to shoot?

Stu
 
Much like my first round with the 45. Even down to the Alberts bullets. Have several thousand of the things in 41, 44, and 45. Wish they were still around. Had the same issue with the rear sight pin, roughed it up a little with pliers and it stays put now. Added a set of Pachmayrs and got my consistent grip. Bump the Unique up toward 10 grains and the unburnt problem is alleviated, too.
 
I had the same problem with the repeatable grip. Factory stocks aren't for everyone. Neither are the Hogues I put on mine but they work for me. I'm sure you'll be able to find ones that work for you too.

Now you need to wring out the ACP cylinder too. And try some hot Ruger-only loads in the Colt cylinder. They can be rough on the middle finger of your shooting hand with the factory stocks though. You've been warned.

You may need a stronger base pin latch spring with the stout loads. My base pin would jump with the heavy stuff until I put a Wolff spring in there. It still sometimes does with really heavy loads but I rarely shoot those anymore. The Belt Mountain pin is the most secure but requires tools to remove the pin. Kind of ruins the ease of swapping cylinders in a convertible.

My sight pin does the same thing yours does too. I haven't tried locktite, I just keep an eye on it and push it back in as needed. I probably ought to come up with a permanent solution before I accidentally lose the thing.

Enjoy your new gun. If it runs anything like mine it's a keeper.
 
Hmm, hadn't though about increasing the powder charge to alleviate the unburnt powder, I'll have to look into that. I'll load up some more this week and try to get back out with it next week to see if the issue is solved, it'll also give me a chance to see if the locktite keeps that pin in there. I was having to push that pin back in every 3rd shot or so. I was worried I'd forget to push it back in and end up losing it.

So far no issue with the base pin but it may show up later on down the line. I don't plan on hot rodding too much although I'll have to do it at least once just to satisfy my curiosity of what the round is really capable of.

Stu
 
Unique does tend to burn a little cleaner the warmer the load is. My go to "all purpose" .45 Colt load is around 9.5-10.0gr Unique under a 250/255gr hardcast. Recoil isn't bad, but it's enough that you know you're not shooting something weak.
 
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