Difference between Blackhawk and Bisley cylinders
- Thread starter riverdog
- Start date
It's nothing technical, it's all just marketing.
See, each cylinder on a Vaquero/Blackhawk/Bisley type gun needs to be fitted to that gun. Other than that detail, they're all 100% interchangable because they all share the same frame.
On the Bisley, Ruger does a non-fluted cylinder with special fancy engraving. Since the engraving makes those cylinders more expensive, Ruger doesn't offer a factory double-cylinder setup for that gun.
But there's nothing stopping you from getting ahold of a .45ACP cylinder for any of the guns in this series, and having a gunsmith "refit it" to your gun. You might get lucky and find one that drops in, there's at least a 25% or so chance of that. The other choices include a full custom cylinder of higher quality as offered by Bowen, Alpha Precision or others (best done along with a custom barrel, with the custom cylinder line-bored to fit the barrel for max accuracy), or you could have a gunsmith start with a .44/.357.38-40 or whatever smaller bore cylinder and bore it up to .45ACP, then fit it.
You get the idea. The frames on all these "New Model" guns are the same, only the sights, grip frames, hammers and triggers really differ. You can easily turn a Blackhawk into a Bisley with basically bolt-on parts. Power Custom has a Bisley-type hammer that fits Blackhawk/Vaquero grip frames without hitting. There's REALLY no limit
.
See, each cylinder on a Vaquero/Blackhawk/Bisley type gun needs to be fitted to that gun. Other than that detail, they're all 100% interchangable because they all share the same frame.
On the Bisley, Ruger does a non-fluted cylinder with special fancy engraving. Since the engraving makes those cylinders more expensive, Ruger doesn't offer a factory double-cylinder setup for that gun.
But there's nothing stopping you from getting ahold of a .45ACP cylinder for any of the guns in this series, and having a gunsmith "refit it" to your gun. You might get lucky and find one that drops in, there's at least a 25% or so chance of that. The other choices include a full custom cylinder of higher quality as offered by Bowen, Alpha Precision or others (best done along with a custom barrel, with the custom cylinder line-bored to fit the barrel for max accuracy), or you could have a gunsmith start with a .44/.357.38-40 or whatever smaller bore cylinder and bore it up to .45ACP, then fit it.
You get the idea. The frames on all these "New Model" guns are the same, only the sights, grip frames, hammers and triggers really differ. You can easily turn a Blackhawk into a Bisley with basically bolt-on parts. Power Custom has a Bisley-type hammer that fits Blackhawk/Vaquero grip frames without hitting. There's REALLY no limit
.