Shooting A Ruger Blackhawk....In An IDPA Match

Roughly once a year, one of our local IDPA clubs holds a BUG-friendly match, where scenarios limit both initial load and reloads to six rounds, and the stage roundcounts are a bit lower as well. Last year and this year I seized upon this as a great opportunity to see how my 1979-vintage 4.62" stainless steel Blackhawk in .357 magnum/9mm and I perform under the stress of a match. Normally, the Blackhawk is used for hunting, hunting back-up and recreation.

Mine has been thoroughly gone through by Ruger, and it has received an action job, new sights, a set of fitted grip (with the grips carefully matching the frame), and a lower Hunter hammer. It's got an exceptional action, and is exceptionally accurate with both 158 gr .357 magnum and 115 and 124 gr 9mm. Since I used .357 magnum in last year's match, and I was curious to see how it would do with 9mm, I used the 9mm cylinder with Sellier & Bellot 124 gr ball this year. It was carried in an old Safariland suede-lined leather holster, with the retaining strap tucked and secured behind the holster to speed up drawing.

I use several devices as speed (well, realistically, "not so slow") loaders throughout the 6 stage match;

-a Check-Mate 9-round 9mm 1911 magazine, loaded to 6 rounds;

-a rubber Star reloading strip-like a Bianchi Speed Strip, only like a 5-pointed star, holding 5 cartridges-the star configuration is necessary to facilitate individual cartridges through the open loading gate into a chamber; designed for rimmed .357/.38 cartridges, it actually worked quite well with 9mm cartridges

-a configured section, capped at the bottom, of polymer water sprinkler pipe, with six cartridges stacked, loading each chamber sequentially by gravity, with the cylinder rotated to allow the cartridges to fall into the chambers.

Results and Lessons Learned:

-The Blackhawk, with either .357 magnum and/or 9mm is exceptionally accurate (I was only 16 points down for both this year's and last year's match), and the same sight setup/zero can be used for both chamberings;

-Longer .357 magnum cartridges are a bit easier to reload under stress than the shorter 9mm ones. With 9mm, the best results achieved were with either the loading pipe or the 9mm magazine, but by thumbing the successive cartridges into my hand first, and then feeding into the chamber, rather than by flicking them directly from the magazine into the chamber

-Shooting a single-action revolver isn't notably slower than a double-action revolver in a match/field-until, of course, you need to execute a reload.....

-Using a semi-auto magazine as a reloading device, with springs cut down to facilitate chambering is very viable, and an excellent way to securely carry reload cartridges in the field

-If you fumble/short-stroke a hammer cocking, you get to "go around the world" again to successfully fire the cartridge...

I had a great time, and provided a secondary form of entertainment for match participants. It was a great way to use, assess and modify my single-action techniques under stress, which will carry over to hunting, and, if ever necessary, self-defense with a single-action revolver.

Best, Jon

Very interesting that the longer cartridge is easier to load. In DA speed loaders, it is the opposite as multiple rounds need to line up with multiple charge holes and the same angular wobble translates to more offset for a longer round. With a single round, the longer rimmed round allows for easier manipulations.

There's just something innately satisfying in successfully campaigning the Blackhawk (or insert your similar choice) in this sort of activity. Lost River and Dagga Boy do a great job in depicting the combination of art, science, power and usefulness of older revolvers, both SA and DA-combined with the powerful nostalgia factor that accompanies them.

Not just a remembrance or commemoration of things past, these guns have a continued vitality and usefulness. While most of 2020 for me will likely be spent with a 17 round P320, it's a reminder that its the combination of the inherent qualities of the gun matched with the skill and adaptability of the user that's paramount-not just the amount of magazine capacity or what's the "latest and greatest."

Best, Jon

That's a great post. I always like to shoot the 'oddball' gun once in awhile in a match. Yep, the reloads slow you down. However, don't do too well or we might ban high capacity SAA reloading devices for the public good.

I've shot snubbies, G42s and my beloved SW 632. Sometimes I win my division as everyone else shoots their conventional semi.

In the carbine matches, we've had a lever action guy. Wasn't that great as he couldn't master the stroke of the action. Jammed a bit. A guy with a bolt gun. Deadly accurate making the one head shot on a target. Slow reloads of course. However, I wouldn't want to be around him if he was mad at me. He was very smooth with the gun.