Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum

J

JSAW

New member
I just bought myself a Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum, and my question isn't about the gun it's self, but a box of ammo that came with it.

I got a box of 20 Speer Gold Dot 200 grain Short Barrel rounds with the gun, and since it's a 6 or 7 inch barrel; I'm curious if it's safe to put these rounds through it?
 
I was curious, I did some quick research on the ammo and was reading about bullet expansion at velocity.
 
You will be very pleased with that gun and it will eat just about any ammo you are brave enough to shoot in it.
I've put some massive rounds down one of mine that damaged a S&W29.
They are dam tough revolvers.
 
I'm looking forward to taking to the range soon. And since I work on coal mine property where bear tend to roam, it would make a nice weapon to carry with me.
 
If you are worried about bears I would keep something more powerful under the hammer then what came with the gun.
The 200gr short barrel magnums are more for get ready.........for shorter barrels and two legged social work. ( self defense)
They will have less recoil, and flash. And will work just fine out of your Blackhawk for that purpose. For hunting, and bear defense..........get a heavier round 240gr at about 1400 fps would be my starting point, and go up from there till you find the threshold of what you can tolerate in recoil, and second shot capablities.
 
Those short barrel rounds weren't the only rounds I got with the gun, I just had a question about them.

I've also got a box of magtech 240 gr. SJSP rounds, I put a few of those through it today, I can handle the recoil, I think I could handle some hotter rounds. But I do need to practice with it, and sight it in, at 10 yards I had a terrible spread.

But I'm also a novice shooter, I know how to shoot and shot through out my life but never with any real practice.
 
If you don't reload, now would be a good time to start/ learn.
The .44 mag is one of the most versatile caliber to reload, and makes it cheaper to feed the beast.
 
I don't think I'll be putting enough rounds through it to justify the purchase of reloading equipment. At least not yet...
 
I've put some massive rounds down one of mine that damaged a S&W29.
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I wouldn't use those rounds in any gun I own. I'm assuming they were handloads?

If conventional 44 magnums rounds aren't powerful enough to to the job, it's time to move up to a more powerful cartridge. At the least, a short barrelled 30-30 lever rifle.

I don't understand people using perfectly good handguns, and pushing them to the absolute limits of safety, simply because we can.

It's hard on the guns and on the shooter.
 
I've also got a box of magtech 240 gr. SJSP rounds, I put a few of those through it today, I can handle the recoil, I think I could handle some hotter rounds ........... at 10 yards I had a terrible spread.
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No offense, but I think you might be going about this all wrong.

Terrible spread at 10 yards? That's only 30 feet. Currently, the only application I can think of for your revolver/ammo is if a bear is on top of you and you can manage to stick the gun in his mouth.

But I do need to practice with it, and sight it in,
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Yeah, a terrible spread at 10 yards demands a lot of practice.

I don't think I'll be putting enough rounds through it to justify the purchase of reloading equipment. At least not yet...
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Given the above parameters, terrible spread at (a mere) 10 yards, yes, you need to start reloading. Have you checked the price of 44 mag ammo?

Note: I just checked Cabelas. It's running about $1 per round. A decent practice session would be maybe a couple of boxes: 100 rounds: $100.

IMO, you need to be practicing with low recoil, lower velocity ammo, then working your way up. And you need to practice often.

Best of luck.
 
SBH

Yeah...^^^what he said.

A powerful gun like the SBH demands attention and proper practice. At a buck a round - unless you've a lot more disposable income than I - you will find that loading your own pays you back in short order.
That gun will give you nice groups offhand at 50 yards or further if you spend the time.
Pete
 
I feed my Super Blackhawk for about a nickel a pop. I cast my own bullets with scrounged lead, and figure that the powder and primer costs me about a nickel. I don't know that my SBH has ever seen a factory round, and I know that I've never put a jacketed bullet through it. For low-recoil practice, I use Skeeter's Load, a load popularized by the late, great Skeeter Skelton. He proposed that a good, cast bullet traveling ~1000 fps was good for most handgunning tasks and came up with a load that meets those specs. Skeeter called for his cast bullet over 7.5 grains of Unique in .44 Special brass. I tried it (as have thousands of guys who read Skeeter's work) and found that it's a very nice load, absolutely suitable for practice and fun, yet fully capable of 95% of the tasks we carry a large handgun to accomplish.

kim1312+02.jpg

That's my daughter-in-law touching off one of Skeeter's loads.
 
Skeeter called for his cast bullet over 7.5 grains of Unique in .44 Special brass
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I was always a fan of Skeeter. My favorite 44 mag load is 7.0 grains Unique behind 240 grain SWC. It makes for a fun plinking/target round in my 29-2s.

I'll be running some through my recently acquired OM unconverted SBH that I had modified.
 
First...if this is your first handgun, don't be concerned with your initial accuracy. No body here started out as an expert marksman with their first revolver. As others have said, the 200 gr GDs are for SD/HD applications and the 240 SJSPs are for hunting. Both work at the range. If you are not going to reload, or until you do, you may want to consider shooting .44 specials from your Blackhawk until you get used to it. They should be a tad cheaper to use and with much less felt recoil, you will find yourself flinching less and shooting much more enjoyable. They also are all you really need for shooting at the range. .44 Special loads designed for Cowboy Action will actually be pleasant to shoot from the Blackhawk.
 
I'm not beating myself up for not shooting as well as I'd like, I'm a decent shooter; at least with BB guns lol. I know I've just got to get used to the gun. Shooting this .44 mag isn't like shooting a BB pistol at some pop cans off the back porch! lol

I just got back from a short session today and I already feel like I'm getting better with my flinching. I couldn't hit a pop can with it from 25 yards out, but I found a tree about 15 yards out with good visual reference points and shot at it. I found that my shots were low and to the left of where I was aiming, and my grouping wasn't nearly as bad as my first go around; they all found the trunk! lol

I'm gonna toss some kind of paint on my sights so I can see them better, put it on a stand and sight it in; then see how I do.
 
44 mag was what I started loading first 30yrs ago. Beautiful/flexible round, get use to your new gun with some light loads and save your brass, you never know when you might want to try your hand at reloading. :)
 
I like it too, and in this gun the recoil ain't as bad as what people let on. Other than the trigger guard bumping my knuckle I could shoot the thing all day long.
 
I'm gonna sound like a total dork... But I just found out a few hours ago that my rear sight is missing... I've been mistaking the bracket for a rear sight the entire time.

This probably contributes to my bad shooting! lol
 
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