Old Ruger Blackhawk 45 Colt

kwhi43

New member
My very old Ruger 45 Colt. It's a wonder it hasen't blown up yet. Used to
shoot it with 50,000 plus cup loads all the time. Now I enjoy shooting it with
nothing but Black Powder loads.
Blackhawk45Colt.jpg
 
Nice Blackhawk!

But 50,000 CUP? You were insane!!! Oh, the exuberance of youth! It's no small miracle that any of us survived adolescence! About the BP..... tell us more about your loads. I picked up a couple of boxes of once-fired balloon-head cases at the gun show just for BP loads in my Vaquero. I'm using fffg and hand-cast Lee 255 grain RNFP bullets. Wanna share recipes?
 
Well, the gun does have a history. Bought it new around 1970 78.00
wholesale. Cut one more thread on the barrel and screwed in one more turn
in and milled it off for a .004 gap. Heatreated the frame per Dick Casull so
it would handle heavy loads. I was young and couldn't get enough recoil.
Used to shoot 25 grs 2400 and a 300 grain bullet. My standard load was
27 grs 2400 and the Hornady 250 gr JHP This was checked out of my barrel
at 1400 fps. I shot around 4,000 of these. Put the Super Blackhawk hammer
on so I could cock it faster. I have small hands. Almost took my life once and
saved my life once. but those are stories for another time. Ex-wife took it in
a divorce. Hocked it and I finally tracked it down and had to buy it back 150.00. My Black Powder loads, I shoot Goex full Black Powder loads factory.
Haven't shot any other for over 30 years. I don't think I could anymore. The
pistol is still tight as a safe. Still .004 gap.
 
For the record what you did was extremely unsafe. 50,000CUP is custom five shot territory. The heat treat of the frame does nothing for the relatively thin chamber walls in a sixgun that most agree is safe to 32,000CUP but no more.
 
Yep, those loads are dangerous.

I hope no one tries to duplicate those loads. It would likely lead to disaster. Just because someone got away with it doesn't mean anybody else will.
 
Yeah Kwhi43, lucky you were able to buy it back before someone else received the brunt of another possible "3 Mile Island"! And if you were a cat you might not still have all of your 9 lives left! :D
 
Last edited:
kwhi43, your revolver looks very nice for it age and work load, despite the BP use. I'm interested in loading some BP loads for my BH .44 special, but am (was) concerned about corrosion. Could you please outline your cleaning procedure, both inside and out? Obviously it works. Thank-you.

ETA: Cool video too, that's what piqued my interest.
 
Well, I really don't shoot it all that much anymore. I'm so busy shooting the
other Black Powder pistols. But I cleaned it just like I do everything else.
Blue windshild washer solution. a few wet patches pushed thru the barrel and
chambers then dry patches, then WD-40
 
Back
Top