Another cylinder question, 45acp conversion.

[Tom W.]

Check with Bob Cogan down in Newville. It's a bit below Abbeville and North of Dothan on co.rd 99
apwcogan.com

[Beagle333]

Thanks Tom. I dropped him an email.

[Char-Gar]

I'm going to measure mine really good this weekend and then ask the brotherhood on here if they might have one close to that, then I'll explore options of hunting around vs. waiting to have one made. Somebody here might have the perfect fit just sitting on a shelf unneeded anymore.

One alternative would be to find a 357 cylinder that fits and have it rechambered to 45 ACP. It would be cheaper than a custom cylinder and would work as well.

[DougGuy]

You could do like I did, buy a convertible, close to the same year made as yours, "borrow" the ACP cylinder from it, send it to Ruger and let them replace it, keep the replacement cylinder and sell the convertible..

[Beagle333]

There seem to be quite a few options here. Thanks!

[lar45]

The 357 cylinder length is shorter than the 45Colt one.
My 357 blackhawk cylinder measures 1.640"
My 44 Bisley cylinder measures 1.702"
My 45 Bisley cylinder measures 1.701"

I have a 4 5/8" SS Blackhawk in 45 Colt. I picked up a blued Bisley cylinder in 45 colt that just happened to be larger on both ends and would not fit. So I took a Diamond hone and cut the front and back to fit my frame.
First I set the new cylinder in the open frame window with the cylinder pushed up against the back of the barrel, then took the diamond home and cut the ratchet end until it would just barely start to squeeze in.
Then I cut the nose on the front until it was a snug fit. I ended up with a barrel cylinder gap of 1.5 thou.
I know everybody says that that is too tight and it will bind up, but mine has never done it and I've put thousands of rounds through it without any problems.
The whole thing was fairly easy to do and took less than an hour.
I'd say, if you can't find one that will just slide in, then get one that is oversized and fit it yourself.

The 4 5/8" Blackhawk is the 2 tone one on the right.
I'm kind of a 45 Colt fan

[Beagle333]

Problem solved. I ended up just buying a convertible set. Now I can decide if I love it as a combo, or to sell off the gun and keep the cylinder. I didn't have a 4-5/8 BH in blue anyway.

[DougGuy]

That looks like a Lipsey's Flattop! That's the same exact one I bought to get my 45 ACP cylinder for my vaquero 45 Schofield conversion. The cylinder fit in mine within .001" of the original cylinder on every dimension!

I kicked myself after selling it, somebody got a real sweetheart of a sixgun too. I had recut the forcing cone on 11 degrees, reamed and honed both cylinders, took the creep out of the hammer, couldn't have wanted a better shooting 4 5/8" 45.

Edit: The more I think about this one, you should keep it. This is probably the best sixgun Ruger has made in many years, the weight and balance are perfect, these are the best example of fit and finish that I have ever seen on a production Ruger revolver, the barrels are not heavily roll marked, the examples I have had in my hands have had zero detectable thread choke, and if it is a Lipsey's gun, it is a limited run and should have a certificate of authenticity with it mine did.

[Beagle333]

I probably will keep it, because as I said, I don't have a 4-5/8 BH already. My other ones are longer.

Don't know if it's a Lipsey's. It is apparently an unfired safe queen, but they already lost the box and papers.

[Artful]

Problem solved. I ended up just buying a convertible set. Now I can decide if I love it as a combo, or to sell off the gun and keep the cylinder. I didn't have a 4-5/8 BH in blue anyway.

Nice - so the cylinder interchanges with your other Pistol

[DougGuy]

I probably will keep it, because as I said, I don't have a 4-5/8 BH already. My other ones are longer.

Don't know if it's a Lipsey's. It is apparently an unfired safe queen, but they already lost the box and papers.

Those grips tell me it's a Lipsey's limited edition flattop, 1 of 1500 or so. I think they made two runs of these, you can call Lipsey's with the serial number and ask. There were several things besides the grip too that Ruger did for those special runs, they were very well fitted guns. They have a certificate of authenticity you can print out, the rest of it is Ruger eye candy and safety lock I don't think that one has an internal lock.

[Beagle333]

Nice - so the cylinder interchanges with your other Pistol

I don't have it in hand yet. It should be here Thursday. But I do have two other BH's and one OM Vaquero that it might fit in.

(Edit: just got tracking #. Delivery Wednesday. )

[Pistolero49]

That looks like a Lipsey's Flattop! That's the same exact one I bought to get my 45 ACP cylinder for my vaquero 45 Schofield conversion. The cylinder fit in mine within .001" of the original cylinder on every dimension!

I kicked myself after selling it, somebody got a real sweetheart of a sixgun too. I had recut the forcing cone on 11 degrees, reamed and honed both cylinders, took the creep out of the hammer, couldn't have wanted a better shooting 4 5/8" 45.

Edit: The more I think about this one, you should keep it. This is probably the best sixgun Ruger has made in many years, the weight and balance are perfect, these are the best example of fit and finish that I have ever seen on a production Ruger revolver, the barrels are not heavily roll marked, the examples I have had in my hands have had zero detectable thread choke, and if it is a Lipsey's gun, it is a limited run and should have a certificate of authenticity with it mine did.

I agree it is probably the best handgun Ruger has come out with in years. I have one and would not part with it.

[bisleyfan41]

Ruger will only fit an accessory cylinder to a revolver if they have a cataloged model that was sold with a convertible cylinder. As an example, a 357 Mag Blackhawk with a 4 5/8" barrel (BN-34) was also made with a 9mm convertible cylinder (BN-34X) so they will fit a 9mm cylinder for you. If you have a model that was not available with a convertible cylinder, Ruger will not fit a cylinder because it would require filing an exception with BATFE .

Additionally, after Ruger fits a convertible cylinder, their data base is updated to reflect the change to the specific serial number revolver.

The last time I checked (Over 10 years ago), Ruger charged $90 (parts and labor) plus shipping both ways to fit a convertible cylinder. Depending on the mode of shipping, this could total as much as $170. Maybe cheaper to sell the existing and purchase a convertable.

This is true in my experience. Have a 7.5 stainless Blackhawk 45 Colt. Ruger made a limited run of these as a convertible model in the past but are very hard to find, key word limited. They fitted a 45 ACP cylinder to mine.

Here is my understanding of the issue.

1. Old Model Blackhawk cylinders cannot be used in the New Model Blackhawk.
2. New Model Blackhawk cylinder will pretty much drop in another New Model Blackhawks.
3. New Model Vaquero cylinder won't exchange with either Old or New Blackhawks.

Measuring your existing cylinder and finding a 45 ACP cylinder of the same dimensions is truly the best way to go.

OM cylinders can be used in large frame NMs. In fact, the very first NMs of every caliber were released with left-over OM cylinders. OM 357s will not interchange with NMs, but the 9mm, 41, 44, and both 45s will. OMs in these calibers had countersunk chambers, NMs did not. So if your NM has a cylinder with countersunk chambers, the cylinder was leftover stock during the OM/NM transition period.

One alternative would be to find a 357 cylinder that fits and have it rechambered to 45 ACP. It would be cheaper than a custom cylinder and would work as well.

357 cylinders are shorter than 41s which are shorter than 44s which are shorter than 45s. This was intentionally done by Ruger to prevent firing a larger caliber down a smaller-bored gun. The 357 cylinder will fit and index in a 45 Colt gun, but the B/C gap would be huge and endplay way excessive.

[DougGuy]

I don't have it in hand yet. It should be here Thursday. But I do have two other BH's and one OM Vaquero that it might fit in.

(Edit: just got tracking #. Delivery Wednesday. )

Medium frame and large frame cylinders won't interchange, your new one is a medium frame, good to 45 ACP +P pressures of 23,000psi, or what we call "tier 2" loads, but CANNOT take the Ruger Only loads that go to 30,000psi like the large frame guns can.

Medium frame BH and Vaquero are probably the most fun shooting guns that you can hunt with, most hunting loads in revolvers are wrist rippers, you can't load the medium frame that hot and still stay under the 23kpsi pressure ceiling, so the gun by it's own limitations regulates how much punishment you can load into the cartridges and in this case, it's right liveable. I can get 250gr boolits to 1200fps using H110 in 45 Schofield brass in my medium frame vaquero, and it is snappy but not at all sharp or painful, and 1200fps with a 250gr LBT WFN boolit will take any deer or black bear in North Carolina and probably anything else that needs taking as well.

Enjoy it! No other Ruger feels like these do in the hands.

[Rattlesnake Charlie]

Beagle333
I have a .45 ACP cylinder from a New Model Blackhawk that I bought in 1974. The revolver was stolen when the .45 Colt cylinder was installed. Let me know if you want me to dig it out and measure it.
Rattlesnake Charlie

[Beagle333]

Rattlesnake Charlie,
pm sent regarding that.

[Beagle333]

I can get 250gr boolits to 1200fps using H110 in 45 Schofield brass in my medium frame vaquero, and it is snappy but not at all sharp or painful....

I just happen to have a big bag of 45 Schofield brass that I was wondering what to do with.

[Char-Gar]

The Lipsey's Flattop 45 Convertible is one of the best handguns I own. I got a heads up before they hit the market and snagged one of the first 100 made. Everything anybody says about these are true. I added some mesquite grips and a SBH hammer.

[Ickisrulz]

The front sight on those Lipsey 45s is pretty tall. I replaced my rear sight with a "tall " blade so I could sight it in. I have only used the ACP cylinder.