First range trip with Bisley Blackhawk

[Hounddog]

After lusting after a bisley blackhawk for some time I finally picked up a new 45 colt bisley blackhawk off of gunbroker. Picked it up this week and managed to find some brass and powder here locally. Broke out my NOE 250 grain mold and after making a mess of boolits, got em sized and lubed. Loaded up a few rounds with some 231, Unique, 4227, and some h110.

Got out and shot them off today and was blown away with how awesome this gun is. I still need to tweak the sights a bit but still managed some great groups. Best group was this one with top end load of H-110 off hand from about 25 feet.
7098370984

Barrel slug mic'ed out at .450" and all cylinder throat slugs mic'ed at .4515" so i have just sized the rounds at 452 for now. I have been really impressed with everything so far and look forward to putting more rounds down range.

Happy shooting!
Hounddog

[fcvan]

That's a fine looking weapon and great shooting. Did you have any issues with thread choke where the barrel meets the frame? I've heard Ruger is known for that. I have a Vaquero in 45 Colt and didn't notice any undue constriction. I'm not the first owner but he never fired real boolits through the gun. He fired wax or blanks for quick draw but sold it when the New Vaquero came out. Anyway, nice weapon, enjoy your new shooting iron!

[Hounddog]

I didn't notice any constrictions when I slugged the barrel. The lead slug just pushed through the whole way nice and smooth. The cylinder throats were also very uniform and were all the same bore size.

Hounddog

[jmort]

Fine looking gun. Love unfluted cylinders.

[x101airborne]

Looks like you have a fine buster there. Good luck!

[gray wolf]

Now that's some great looking Iron--------Eh.

[Dale53]

I have had a SS Bisley Convertible in .45 colt/.45 ACP for some time (a year or so). The cylinder throats were undersize. Two of my shooting buddies also bought one at the same time (a group buy:lol:). Their throats were undersize, also. I borrowed a reamer kit (made for the job) and reamed all six cylinders (including my buddies' guns). They now shoot extremely well in both cylinders. You are very fortunate to own a Bisley Blackhawk. They are FINE revolvers. You are exceeding fortunate to have one with the correct dimensions. Although, to be clear, I am NOT unhappy that mine came with undersize throats. In my particular case, I ended up with a KEEPER, that is for sure. Many thanks to my buddy who loaned me the reamer kit (we made it up to him:drinks:).

I have one of Mihec's (MP Molds) two cavity brass hollow point moulds for the clone of the RCBS 45-270-SSA moulds. Talk about a versatile bullet for the .45 Colt. I cast up a box of the hollow points for one of my friends (who owns one of the Blackhawks I am discussing) and he, due to conditions, made a less than perfect shot through the liver of a young whitetail buck. The buck didn't go far. That big pentagonal hollow point definitely expanded big time, but also fully penetrated (cast of 20/1 lead/tin) and made it possible to recover the buck without issue.

FWIW
Dale53

[fivegunner]

Very Nice!:-D

[Hounddog]

Just a quick update, I got home and cleaned out the gun and had almost zero leading after 100 rounds so I know my gun likes this boolit fit. Just gotta dial in the sights and try some different powders. Thanks to all on this site who have vicariously helped me in my acquisition of boolit knowledge.

Hounddog

[Hounddog]

I also loaded up a few rounds with w231 and unique and got some stellar groups.
This is the best group with 6.7 grains of w231. There was almost no recoil.
71032

This was the best group with 6.5 grains of Unique. The recoil was minimal and group was awesome.
71033

I didn't have a screwdriver small enough with me to adjust the sights so I will be sure to make some changes and re shoot. This gun was very accurate right out of the box. I think I'll be buying some more revolvers in the near future!!

Hounddog

[Jupiter7]

Beautiful gun, I looked at the Talo version recently. Needed something more utilitarian for now. Went with plain 4.5" blued blackhawk. One of these may be in my future...now if only I could find dies!!!

[Shedhunter]

Good looking iron and nice shooting. I would like to get a blued version of that revolver.

[detox]

As long as boolit alloy is on the soft side there should not be any leading. My 45lc Blackhawk would not shoot a certain commercial hard cast boolit (16-17 bhn). Accuracy was terrible because of the leading. I was literally pulling out strips of lead with the bore snake. Changed to a softer 20/1 lead tin alloy and leading problems solved.

[RobS]

I have that model Bisley 45 Colt too. I reworked the grips to better fit my hands and then I took the liberty of opening up the cylinder throats to .4525 and I cut an 11 degree forcing cone in the barrel as well. Really didn't take me much time to personalize this one although with mine the cylinder throats had to be opened up as my were .4495 to .450 with a .4505 bore. I also had a thread choke and had to do some work with that as well. Now it shoots very well and is one of my favorite revolvers. I shoot mainly one of my own 310 grain designs from this revolver but I also push out some of my 345's and then I occasionally shoot a 45 2.1 (forum member here) design that is a 260 grain LFN style boolit.

If you like LFN style designs on the heavier side:

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-310B-D.png

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-345A-D.png

[robpete]

I NEED one of these!! A convertible would be awesome. I've been wishing for a 625 classic, but on the rare occasion that they come up, they go for an astronomical amount. I think this Ruger is taking the 625's spot on my short list!

[Cherokee]

45 Colt is a great round, really like mine. Your SS Bisley looks great.....

[TMenezes]

I have that model Bisley 45 Colt too. I reworked the grips to better fit my hands and then I took the liberty of opening up the cylinder throats to .4525 and I cut an 11 degree forcing cone in the barrel as well. Really didn't take me much time to personalize this one although with mine the cylinder throats had to be opened up as my were .4495 to .450 with a .4505 bore. I also had a thread choke and had to do some work with that as well. Now it shoots very well and is one of my favorite revolvers. I shoot mainly one of my own 310 grain designs from this revolver but I also push out some of my 345's and then I occasionally shoot a 45 2.1 (forum member here) design that is a 260 grain LFN style boolit.

If you like LFN style designs on the heavier side:

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-310B-D.png

http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=45-345A-D.png

I really like those molds! So if my bore is slugged at .451 should I order the mold specced out at .452? I am want them to come out close enough in size so sizing is optional. I size my hunting bullets but not usually the just for fun range loads. Tend to just throw on a coat of LLA and load em up. My lead is Lyman #2 mixed 50/50 with scrap rolls of sheet lead from the recyclers.

[DougGuy]

OP you might want to reslug the barrel. I did mine by using a #8 egg sinker and attaching it to the end of a wooden dowel with a #4-40 screw so I could push it down to the area before the threaded part, then pull it back out and mic it. Mine was right at .452" and that would give me a measurement of the barrel after the forcing cone/threaded part. The second egg sinker I pushed all the way through, and it dropped out at .449" after going through the threaded area. I also noticed that it took a LOT more effort to drive it through, once it got to the threaded part.

I've also noticed that even with a constriction, if the boolit is around bhn 15 or softer that they usually can obturate enough to fill the bore if you are shooting ruger only loads and so the constriction really isn't an issue until you get to a boolit that is hard enough that it stays swaged down and won't obturate after passing through the thread area constriction.

I opted to Taylor throat the constriction out of mine, and as expected it had no effect at all on the J words' point of impact, but I have some extremely hard 340gr SSK boolits that benefited greatly from opening up that area, it dropped their point of impact 6" at 15yds.

[RobS]

I really like those molds! So if my bore is slugged at .451 should I order the mold specced out at .452? I am want them to come out close enough in size so sizing is optional. I size my hunting bullets but not usually the just for fun range loads. Tend to just throw on a coat of LLA and load em up. My lead is Lyman #2 mixed 50/50 with scrap rolls of sheet lead from the recyclers.

I usually go .001 to .002 over depending on what I need. I actually shoot those two designs in 4 different guns and the largest needs it at .4545 and the other at .452. I had the molds cut to drop as cast at .455 and size them where I need.

[LuvMy1911]

That's one of the models I've always liked... I had a single six convertible but it was never really accurate with the 22 mag cylinder in place.