Convertable vs Convertable

I have both. I think the popularity of the 45colt/45acp is because of the history of the 45 colt mixed in with the popularity of the 45acp. Face it most fans of the 45acp are 1911 guys, so they probably tend to be drawn to a Single Action based on historical reasons. Give a 1911 guy a 45colt Single Action he can also shoot his 45acp in and you have a winner..

That being said, my 357/9mm would be the last gun I would part with. It is a blued model with a 6.5" barrell. I shoot it more acurrately than any other center fire guy I have ever owned. I see no noticable difference in accuracy with the 9mms. The 6.5" balances perfect for me.
 
Considering you're new to shooting and what you want it for, I think the 9mm/.38/.357 is the way to go. I had that combo in a 4-5/8" blue Blackhawk. Very nice and a good shooter in all three calibers.
 
I bought a 7.5" .45 convertable back in 1983, because I already had a .45 auto, and figured I could shoot my .45acp ammo and not have to hunt for the brasss to reload. Made one tiny mistake. Bought a box of .45 Colt, and shot it, before shooting any ,45acp through the gun. WOW! I was hooked on the .45 Colt!

I don't think I've shot 300 rnds of ACP through that gun since I got it. However I have put a few thousand .45 colt loads through it over the years. Mostly a 250gr SWC loaded to about 1100fps.

The.357 is a great round, I own several. It gets its biggest punch from longer barrels, and when you use heavy loads in short barrels, you lose a significant amount of speed, and gain a tremendous increase in blast.

Since I don't consider the Ruger Blackhawk to be a CCW gun, I have no use for the short barrel model. Mine are 6" or longer.

I was looking for one of the .357/9mms, but ran across a 6.5" .357 Blackhawk at a good price (used, but like new), so I settled on that for my .357 Blackhawk. I've got a couple of the .45s, the .44 (super), and the .357 Blackhawks and am quite fond of them. I also have S&Ws and even have had autoloaders in .357 Mag.

My two favorite revolvers are my 7.5" .45colt Blackhawk and my 6" S&W model 28. Between them, I can do anything I need or want to do with a revolver,except stick it in my pocket. For that, I have a Colt .38 agent.
 
As stated, both the 45ACP and 45LC are meant to use the same barrel spec: .454". So accuracy with both tends to be good.

You can handload .357" (or .358") slugs into 9mm cases, but, if you're handloading why bother? You can just handload 38 or 357.

In my particular case, I'm strongly considering adding a custom 9mm cylinder to my 357 New Vaquero, but I have a special use case: I'm adding magazine feeding and 9mm cases will work better in that instance. I'll probably handload "9mm" rounds with .357 projectiles. I might even use 100gr double-ended wadcutters to make them shorter so that more fit in the magazine tubes :).

But then again most people think I'm nuts :D. I have the gas-powered shell ejection just right of the barrel working already, which is why tube-stuffing spring-loaded rounds into the cylinder just left of the hammer should work. Once the cylinder runs dry it'll feed from the foot-long magazine plugged in. For carry there'll be a one-shot mag plus the whole cylinder of course. Run that dry, drop the one-round mag, plug in 8rds per tube. 9mm ammo would use a narrower tube, the ammo will feed straighter in the mag and the rear of the chambers can be radically "funnelled" as the tail end of a 9mm round doesn't need full support.
 
IfI recall correctly, .45ACP barrels have always been .451/452". Pre war (WWII) Colt SAA (and I think other makers guns) in .45 Colt were .454", while at sometime after the war, the barrel specs became .452". I might be wrong on the timeline, but I know old .45 colts were supposed to be .454, while today the are .452 (nominal).

Which is why a convertable .45 works so well. 9mm bullets at nominal .355 are just a tad undersize for the .358 spec 38/357 barrels. Sometimes this is not important, but sometimes (especially with the hard jacketed 9mm slugs) this can lead to less than stellar accuracy when firing 9mm though the .357 barrel. Each gun seems to be a individual in this regard, so onemught give acceptable or even good accuracy with the 9mm, while another might not.
 
I recently bought the .45 ACP / .45 LC convertable because I eventually plan on having a 1911 as well. Wanted to be able to use the same ammo for both.
 
If I recall correctly, .45ACP barrels have always been .451/452".
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You recall correctly :) . That is why we Ruger guys have to 'open' up the cylinder throats to .4525 for better accuracy and reduced leading (both .45 Colt and .45 ACP ) . Jim is correct though in that both the .45 Colt and .45 ACP barrels are the same which is better for accuracy sake compared to 9mm and .38/.357 .
 
Had to update, I bought the Ruger .357 / 9mm yesterday, NIB LGS had one in the back. Missed out at the Gun show on Sunday, they had one, I hesitated, and it was gone. I got the 4 5/8" Barrell and look fwd to plinking a bit this weekend.

Thanks to all for the advice.

Ike
 
I also wanted to say, The only reason I did not buy the .45 convertable was the cost of the bullets, .35 per round vs 1.10 per round. I am not at the roll your own point yet.
Ike
 
Enjoy your new gun. There really was no wrong chose. You now need to look at reloading, it will not save you any money but you will shoot twice as much LOL. :D
 
I think you made a good choice, Rubber Duck. Now you need to plan on getting the Ruger Single Six Convertible as a companion piece to your new Blackhawk Convertible :)
 
Thinking about a .38 for carry, this was a fun gun, next is carry, then a really Fun gun a .44 s/w model 19 with a 8" barrel (I know, good luck) , oh yea, the wife wants an automatic blah, blah blah....:D
 
Rubber duck, you made a good decision. I have the very same revolver you just bought. Its my best all around revolver. I also think its the best value in a revolver. Capable of shooting three different types of ammo. Just does not get any better.
Good luck,
Howard
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Dg, I Mis spoke I meant a model 29. I know the model 19 is a .357 still will be hard to find.

Road Dog I would like to find grips like that for mine. and thats why I bought it, 3 different types of cartridges, seems pretty versitile. :D

Ike
 
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If you can, find yourself a Ruger Buckeye convertible: 38-40 & 10mm. You get two ENTIRELY different guns in one pistol! You'll get that soft pushing', easy shooting' 38-40 and then switch to a hot, snappy 10mm. Only about 9,000 were made (and I own two of them!).
 
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