There is another reason, besides frame & cylinder strength to avoid the "ruger only .45 Colt loads", and that is, very simply unless you are interested in pain, you won't like them.
you have a beautiful gun for .45 Colt. Congratulations. Standard .45 Colt (the regular original factory load) has been giving excellent service since 1873.
Save your brass and start rolling your own. 270 grain hard cast Keith style SWC's for hunting and 250 grain softer lead SWC's for plinking. While there are other powders I find Unique fills all my needs.
Most of the 250's I cast myself from pure lead with a wheel weight or two thrown in the pot for a little hardness.
I have different grips on mine, not nearly as nice as yours. My daughter likes my gun so much that after one trip to the range, she informed me that I cannot sell it EVER (not that I want to) because she gets it whenever I get tired of it (like that is going to happen) or I die. Your girlfriend may say something like that to you if you don't get her something she can call her own soon.
Nice looking gun you have there and there is lots of advice on this forum.
Great choice! I love mine. Since I don't reload I usually shoot the cheaper and easier to find 45acp. To some people such as ourselves, the SA revolver grip has less felt recoil than other handguns in similar calibers. I have never had trouble shooting SA revolvers accurately - I am just as inaccurate with them as I am with anything else. Since I grew up shooting a Ruger Single Six, SA revolvers feel natural to me. And, btw, that would be a fine choice for a his and hers 22/45 set!
Here is mine. You can probably tell that it's wearing the 45acp cylinder.
Excellent choice! I have the stainless version of that convertible in 45Colt/45ACP. And, it's the firearm of choice that I always bring with me to the range to shoot.
Of all revolvers and semi-autos in my collection, that Blackhawk gets the most use and is the most fun. Extremely accurate, too.
Only want to add my congratulations on a fine choice. I have the same frame in a 50th Flattop .357 M and it ranks among my favorite revolvers of all time.
I will make a holster recommendation and that is a Galco SAO. I have three of them for my Ruger SAs and, IMHO, are hard to beat. No, they are not 'Cowboy', but you will find that cowboy leather is pretty bulky.
Welcom!
Glad there are more than a few of us out there with that opinion
while I do have one of the black plastic wonder guns everything else in the safe is wood and steel. Almost every pistol I own now is a wheelgun. Only one is a ruger though. I traded a worn out plain jane 4" ruger mkII even steven for it. (and I got that ruger MKII for free)
You purchased a great gun and a great caliber and at a great price. I would strongly advise you to start reloading. You will save tons of money, especially on the .45 Colt. As someone stated, stay away from "Ruger Only" loads. The only Rugers they are safe to shoot in are full size Blackhawks, Old Vaqueros and Redhawks. You'll have more fun shooting the milder loads anyway.
Someday I would add a Rossi lever 92 in .45LC. The '92 was slicker cycling than the 94 (94 took higher power loads of course). John Wayne, Chuck Conners, et. al. used '92s...
You WILL make a profit if and when you sell the flatop on Gunbroker, even figuring inflation...