Single action grip frames

C

csp271

Inactive
I have heard both the following and would like to know which one is really true.

#1 The Ruger blackhawk is easier to shoot because the gun (barrel) rolls up in your hand. This does not beat your hand up.

#2 The Ruger bisley is easier to shoot because the gun pushes back into your hand giving you more control.

any personal thoughts??


Chuck

*** I notice that freedom arms 454 thumper looks like a bisley frame.
 
Well, I put big, fat,ugly Hogue rubber finger-groove grips on my .45 Colt Blackhawk (7 1/2" barrel), and I've never been happier. Hand remains undamaged after a session on the range, and I'm shooting better than ever. I could NEVER get the Blackhawk to "roll" up in my hand. It just went straight back, smashing my second finger's knuckle to a pulp on the rear of the trigger guard. Hogue's fixed that.
 
csp271 - Thanks for asking that great question. Having newly discovered the happiness of single-action revolvers, I have wondered the same thing. Seems fans of each both claim their favorite is better for heavy loads. I have heard some put it another way which makes more sense to me, that is that the Blackhawk softens recoil more due to rolling and the Bisley *controls* recoil better due to its shape not allowing as much "roll" in the hand. Recently I read a small blurb from a writer on SAs who suggested that the Blackhawk grip tended to pinch and bite those with large or meaty hands and the Bisley avoids that. I have also heard that the Bisley tends to force recoil straight back instead of allowing the "roll" to absorb it. I have a couple of .45 Colts, both Vaquero and Blackhawk but have never fired a Bisley with any load let alone a heavy one. I hope those more knowledgeable will post on this and maybe both of us will learn something. My hands are not overly large or overly meaty and so far the regular grip has been great for me but I have not yet tried heavy .45 Colt loads. I'm looking forward to shooting a Bisley one day and finding out. Good luck and have fun. Lazarus
 
The Bisley grip and hammer were designed for target shooting and the main purpose of the grip was to put the trigger finger more in line with the sight line and to control recoil a bit better. Since upward recoil is caused by the gun rotating around its own center of gravity, the top-heavy single actions never could really be controlled in recoil.

Jim
 
I own and shoot both the Bisley Vaquero and the Backhawk in 45 LC, and there is a considerable diffrence in felt recoil with the same loads.Both guns roll in your hand, but the different grip designs transfer the recoil to your hand differently.

The samll, short Blackhawk grip tends to pinch your finger with the trigger guard. Because the Blackhawk grip is so small, I find that it slips through my hand in recoil making it more difficult to control.

The Bisley has better ergonomics and never bites; it rolls up more gently and because your hand has a greater purchase, holding on is never a problem. I prefer the Bisley for stouter loads and the Blackhawk for milder stuff.

Mr. Davis is correct about the Hogue rubber grip fixing the Blackhawk biting problem; I've shot a friend's revolver set up with these and it shoots painlessly. The only downside to the Hogues is aesthetics.
 
I've found that the extra length of the Bisley helps me get a the better grip I need for heavy loads. The regular Blackhawk seems to be fine for light to medium loads.

Good Luck...

Joe
 
This is so subjective you just have to try them yourself. I owned a Ruger Bisley .44 for a while and the grip was a little too big for best control for my hand and it bit my trigger finger in recoil. The Super Blackhawk doesn't bite me but is also a bit too large.

My preference is the Blackhawk size, or even better the Colt SAA size grip frame, but I'm also not a fan of the hottest loads.
 
A comment here...the "Blackhawk type" grip was really designed for one-handed firing from horseback. That's why the loading gate is on the right, you're supposed to hold the reins and gun in your left hand while cramming rounds in with the right.

So by allowing more "slippage", the older grip style allows better one-handed control. Once you go to two-handed shooting styles, less slippage may be desired which is probably what's going on with the Mike running the Hogues. That will work with .45LC power levels, maybe even with hot .357s, but at some point as the power levels rise into .45LC+P or .44Mag territory or beyond, I would suspect that going back to something with at least a bit of slip (Bisley-oid maybe) would be worthwhile. As would TWO-HANDED SHOOTING :).

For my hands, the Blackhawk-type grip with a standard hammer seems to put everything in the right places BUT I don't think I need more than .357 power levels.

Jim
 
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