Ruger Blackhawk - Help Needed

[RJ]

I received the below Ruger Blackhawk revolver as a gift recently, and am a bit unsure about a few things. I’m pretty new (read: clueless) to revolvers so I had a few questions.



Ammo - This can shoot .38 special, correct? I’m just looking for decent ammo to take it to the range for fun. Any suggestions, or will something from WalMart be fine for now?

Cleaning - Anything odd about cleaning these things? I have normal clp stuff for my Glocks, Bore Snake etc.

Shooting - Is this more complicated than it appears? (Single Action Revolver seems pretty straightforward).

Conversion - There is a conversion cylinder for 9mm included - is this generally reliable for 9mm? Will my regular range ammo (Speer Lawman 124) work for this?

Lastly, is there anything in the ‘I don’t know what I don’t know’ category about shooting one of these?

Thanks!

[oregon45]

1. Yes, it can fire .38 Special. American Eagle / Blazer 130gr FMJ seems to be widely available and are both good choices.

2. Nothing special about cleaning. You'll want to put a good grease on the cylinder ratchet (the toothed part on the rear of the cylinder) and base pin but it isn't strictly necessary.

3. Shooting is straightforward. You might experience the rear sight pin drifting; this is common in Rugers and can be fixed by pushing the pin back in or, if it annoys you, a small dab of blue loctite on the end of the pin. One tip for shooting a single action if you're coming from DA's and autos: the lock-time is an eternity, so good follow-through is essential to accuracy.

4. The 9mm conversion cylinder should work fine with 124gr Speer Lawman.

A quick way to lower the weight of the trigger pull is to remove the grips, and take one leg of the trigger spring (near the top of the grip frame, it is an L-shaped spring sitting on top of a stud in the frame) off of its stud. This can be done without alteration to the gun and is something I have done on all my Ruger single actions.

[Malamute]

Nothing special to know about cleaning or ammo. It will shoot any 38 special or 357 loads. You may find it has preferences in what it shoots best, or may shoot most stuff well, you never know until you try it. Buy some cheap jacketed and lead ammo and see how it does.

Be sure the base pin is in securely, if it rides forward past its catch, the transfer bar can snag on the firing pin and it wont cock. I dont think its common, but knowing about it may save experiencing it. When pushing the base pin back in, watch the catch and see that it looks like ti snaps back out to lock the pin in place.

It should shoot any 9mm loads. I had one ages ago, but never shot the 9mm cylinder enough to know how well it did. If the headspace is snug, it may get dirty and not seat cartridges all the way, meaning it could get sticky turning the cylinder. Ive had it happen on a 45 acp cylinder. Just rotating the cylinder around a time or two pushes the shells in enough against the recoil shield to allow the cylinder to turn easily. Its more a convenience for being able to find ammo when traveling than something I shoot much. It might be something you like though.

Ill send a pm later with a trick or two that may be helpful.

[Duelist]

It’ll shoot anything that’ll fit in its chambers. And do it with some style, too. Assuming you don’t go for nuclear handloads, you won’t wear it out.

[Totem Polar]

Rich, I have the same basic gun, only blued. I shoot it a lot these days, as I am currently going through a "single-action phase."

1. Yup, I’m in agreement that it’ll digest anything you can find to chamber. With weight exceeding a 5" 1911–your gun goes roughly 42oz, IIRC—.38 is downright pleasant. Even full-house .357 loads are surprisingly comfy. At my pay grade, I pretty much have to buy .38 in bulk online; .38 tends to be one of the more expensive of my pet chamberings, more than .45acp, .380acp, and especially 9mm. I’ll throw some links to ammo that has worked for me at the bottom of this post.

2. Cleaning is minimal, at least for me. Pull the cylinder (beyond easy), patch, bore snake from back to front (barrel, cylinder), go shoot another day. No reason to treat it any different than your G19.

3. Shooting: it’ll shoot itself, so long as you observe good follow through (which will definitely shrink your groups a little—SA wheelies are good training/feedback in that regard), as mentioned earlier. I use my support hand thumb to run the hammer/action. Go ahead and load 6 rounds—it’s 2018ish production, not 1868ish production (short discussion: modern Ruger SA’s are transfer bar designs; safe to carry with 6 rounds, drop safe while decocked; traditional Colt/clones without the transfer bar require more care; most carry 5 rounds, with the one under the chamber empty. Plenty on the ‘net discussing this if you want more info).

Keep all parts of your support hand behind the front of the cylinder/forcing cone gap. Easy enough to do on a big ass gun like that BH, but worth mentioning. A lot of gas and micro bits of metal come out the sides of the frame window up front when you touch off those little explosions.

4. My dad has a conversion BH, and both cylinders work as expected.

5. It’s a good idea to know how to decock safely; I use my support thumb as a positive block in between the frame and hammer, then release the hammer, then positively register/index my trigger finger outside the guard on the frame (which drops the trans bar) then gently let the hammer the rest of the way down, knowing it’s now botch-proof.

I’ll put a few gunsight links below the ammo links on edit; one of Il ling’s vids shows a couple of decocking methods, including the one I mention. Stay tuned for edit (links)...

[45dotACP]

The SA revolver design is meant to roll up in recoil rather than to track flat like a semi automatic.

Don't fight it too much. It's easy to shoot rhino roller loads through if you plan to run some hot stuff. It is an awesome gun to shoot powerful loads through because of that reason exactly

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[Totem Polar]

Got back to the desktop too late to edit, but here we go anyways.


LINKS:

ammo ideas:
158 rn flat point plated from freedom (the reman has worked fine for me, as has the "new" I get whatever is in stock...)
https://www.freedommunitions.com/amm...hmt_caliber=84

WWB 130 fmj (admittedly, I am more interested in this for my j-frames, but it'll work in the BH, and can be found almost anywhere)
https://www.sgammo.com/product/38-sp...ammo-usa38spvp

the fiocchi version seems a bit more refined, IMHO
https://www.sgammo.com/product/38-sp...mo-fiocchi-38a

For half-way affordable .357 full roll-on fun recoil grins, I've gotten some use out of this PMC stuff (not typically a fan of PMC, eg. their powder-puff version of 115gr 9mm fmj, but this cheap .357 is pretty good. I especially like it in my Henry .357 lever: hitting a steel plate, soup can, or old bowling pin at 50 yards will make one believe that they are shooting something much bigger than a .357; these things hammer right along out of a long lever gun... for the inner redneck in you)

https://www.sgammo.com/product/357-m...oint-ammo-357a

For "carry" (Note big quotes, hereby to be envisioned with "bunny rabbit fingers in the air" whilst reading. "Carry," for me, is limited easy woods trail hiking, or to and from the range...so I probably "carry" the BH weekly, because I live close to my membership range...), I like the way this load shoots, as it is a perfect match for the BH's bulk and inherent accuracy. This may sound odd, but the way these rounds plunk into each of the big cylinder's chambers is refined and musical; it just has an ineffable feel of old-world quality to the experience. I know that sounds odd, but until you try it...

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/10...heck-box-of-20

^^^That's a hot load, by .38 standards. Plenty of muzzle flip in a k-frame; easy going in the Blackhawk.

For fun, with a side of safety, check out Il Ling New's GS/Ruger stuff, excerpted below:

intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoW7VUZtn-E



Here's that decocking clip (I vastly prefer method #2):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfH815tBBCQ



This is an entertaining watch, and I prefer his reloading method, for whatever that is worth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUt_hy5yCw0



lastly, the namesake:





Bill Ruger evidently liked the old Stutz cars, and even made his own parts to hot rod a couple of them. That's where the "bearcat" came from, as well. Check this out:

http://revivaler.com/1931-stutz-dv-3...a-by-rollston/

[willie]

Wow. What a nice revolver. I also like these fine handguns. I can't think of a simpler and more trouble free companion. When you do decide to clean the cylinder, consider using B12 Chem Tool available at auto parts places, Walmart, etc. Go outside and spray the cylinder and allow the solvent to work for a couple minutes. Spray again to remove crud. Finally, spray with Rem Oil and wipe clean. Of course, run patches to remove oil from chambers. But don't spray the rest of the revolver(frame). Clean there as you normally would. I don't use Chem Tool on plastics or rubber.

These revolvers do not come with target triggers, but with use, they will clean up nicely. The hammer arc is longer than that seen on S&W revolvers. The extra distance causes the lock time to be greater. The hammer seems to fall slower. It hits the frame with a clunk instead of the tick heard when a S&W hammer hits the frame. Do these statements describe a bad situation? No. Practice will help you become accustomed to the single action, and then you will not notice these differences. You will have accommodated them.

You really do have a fine handgun.

[DAVIDF]

Screws tend to loosen, particularly on the ejector rod housing. I use some blue Loctite on all of them as well as the rear sight pin.

[BN]

Excellent advise so far. My first center fire hand gun was a Ruger Blackhawk. Since foolishly sold.

Be prepared for different ammo to hit at widely varying points of impact.

Be sure to thank whoever gifted this to you. It's a very nice revolver. You won't live long enough to wear it out.