anyone else think Super Blackhawks aren't great

[Targa]

I have one in .44mag and .454Casull. Both outstanding revolvers.

[Chemoman]

a couple of years ago i bought a ruger 45 long colt bisley. it shot horrible groups. the end of the cylinder where the bullets came out was way too small. sent it to doug guy and he did the cylinder right. then it was a tack driver. still didnt like the way it felt in my hand. sold it to a man who loved it and he payed what i had into it. bought a uberti colt and it was and is a tack driver from the first shot. all my uberti colts are tack drivers from the first shot. no more rugers for me. except i have 2 ruger lcr/s and they are the best of the best. i guess i should say no more ruger cowboy guns for me. if i did get one off to doug guy it would go.

[elmacgyver0]

I own a couple Ruger Vaqueros in 44 mag.
I bought one then like the idiot I am, I made a two gun holster.
Of course I had to buy the second Vaquero.
Now I have a Vaquero I have never even fired, looks nice in the holster though.
I swore I would never own a 45 Colt chambered gun.
A friend came over with a Bond Deringer in 45Colt/.410, well I had to have one.
Now I have a Uberti Cattleman II and dies to reload for it.
How the heck did that happen?

[RC46]

I have a .41 mag Ruger SBH, pic/story in revolver section. Absolutely flawless performance from day 1, ditto with a year 1 Vaquero in 45 colt. I would agree with comments that you should send it back to the factory. If they don't fix it, trade it off. I went to a gun show recently, and was down right appalled with the quality of some of the Ruger stuff. Old guy's and guns rule!! or should I say vintage.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Since obtaining a Smith 24-3 I have not been shooting my SBH much. The ergos and action are better on the Smith. The Smith is easier to shoot well. I have not modified the SBH so some improvement could be gained by reducing the hammer hook. A lighter mainspring would just increase the lock time which is already slower than the Smith's. Ruger's action is rather crude compared to the Smith's. I wonder what Ruger's engineers could come up with if you tasked them with improving the action?

[pete501]

Another problem with the Super Black Hawk.

I was shooting my stainless 44 mag stainless years ago and noticed it wasn't shooting where I was aiming. Turned out the barrel was beginning to unscrew. It was about 5 degrees off. I purchased it new about 30 years ago. After contacting Ruger, it was sent back at my expense. They fixed it. It hasn't given me any problems since

[Forrest r]

Haven't bought any sb's in years but I tried 3 different one's starting back in the 80's. Never could get 1 that had all the cylinders even or close to even in diameter (44mags). Too bad I really liked the way the sb rolled in my hands with hot loads.

Ended up wearing out a couple sw's before going with a anaconda.

Every time I see dougguy post I get the urge to buy a new sb in 44mag and send him the cylinder. But I come back to reality, getting older and need to thin the herd not keep adding to it.

[yeahbub]

I had a new model SBH which was once very accurate and would shoot anything well. Eventually, I had to send it back to Ruger because of inaccuracy due to cylinder looseness (wiggling in the frame window) on the undersize (worn?) base pin. It was also backing out due to recoil from even mild loads. When it came back, they had fixed the base pin issue, but now it had a HUGE forcing cone which would swallow a 240gr bullet heel-first to beyond the cannelure, which meant the bullet would be free of the chamber throat and fly through space unguided before entering the rifling - so there went accuracy. I called and asked about that, but was told the forcing cone was "in spec" and they wouldn't do anything about it. Seriously? A forcing cone on a .44 big enough to easily accommodate a .45 cal bullet is "in spec"? Sounded like code for "I'm not interested in dealing with you." and he seemed in a hurry to get off the phone. If you do send it back to Ruger, make sure to remove any after-market parts you may have installed, like spring kits, base pin, etc. It will be returned to stock condition and your after-market parts will be in a scrap bin somewhere.

[Alferd Packer]

I blew the shell ejecter housing off mine, the first shot.
The screw snapped.
I had the dealer send it back that was 25 years ago.
I shot thousands of full bore loads and it still shoots fine for me.
The action is very slick.
Stainless steel 7.5 inch barrel.
I love it.
The stainless is a dream to clean.

[The_Eccentric]

Haven't bought any sb's in years but I tried 3 different one's starting back in the 80's. Never could get 1 that had all the cylinders even or close to even in diameter (44mags). Too bad I really liked the way the sb rolled in my hands with hot loads.

Ended up wearing out a couple sw's before going with a anaconda.

Every time I see dougguy post I get the urge to buy a new sb in 44mag and send him the cylinder. But I come back to reality, getting older and need to thin the herd not keep adding to it.

I should have bought an Anaconda back in the early '90s when they were $700-ish. Now they're scarce, and listed for original series Python money......

[Forrest r]

Ya those and the dw's were the way to go back then. Have no idea why I never bought a dw in 44mag, just never did. Have 2 dw's in 357, a pure joy to shoot/own.

Shot that colt for years and ended up trading it for a rifle with a pile of $$$ next to it.

[DougGuy]

I have not modified the SBH so some improvement could be gained by reducing the hammer hook.

I get a lot of hammers sent in with cylinder work, I reduce the height of the hammer pad ala David Bradshaw, works great, maintains a safe sear engagement.

A lighter mainspring would just increase the lock time which is already slower than the Smith's.

I suggest swapping in a Wolff 30oz. trigger return spring with the lower hammer pad, another good solid improvement that can cut groups in half. You can document this easily by dry firing the gun and observing any movement in the sight picture when the hammer falls. After the hammer pad is lowered and the Wolff trigger spring is installed, it becomes VERY easy to hold the sights motionless during this dry fire exercise. THIS is proof beyond question that these two seemingly insignificant changes translate to very real reductions in group size.

Ruger's action is rather crude compared to the Smith's. I wonder what Ruger's engineers could come up with if you tasked them with improving the action?

They would come up with a $959 base price instead of what it is now for the more expensive and time consuming manufacturing changes.

[Jedman]

I owned one in 44 mag and used it for deer hunting. The previous owned must have soaked that thing in deer repellent because while hunting and carrying it in the woods I never seen a deer. I hunted tree stands and ground blinds in a area that had a lot of deer but that pistol was just bad luck so I sold it.

Jedman

[gnappi]

The only issue I ever had with any of my blackhawks was my fault by not giving my bullet a good enough crimp and the bullets scooting forward in the cases on recoil.

[BamaNapper]

Only one SBH in my house, a 7 1/2" 44mag I got back in '75. Like everyone else, I had the base pin backing out with magnum loads. I was lucky. One of the guys I worked with at the time had a tabletop lathe and made me a 2-piece rigid latch to replace the spring version, then hardened it. A couple years ago, almost 40 yrs later, I noticed the pin backing out on me again. The latch was still good but the softer steel of the base pin had deformed. I installed a new base pin and a latch with a heavier spring. The base pin stays put now, but I'm at that age where I'm not loading as many magnum loads as I used to.

[frkelly74]

I had to take my 41 mag Bisley to see if it was still great. It is. I use it more as a 41 Special and have fun with it. It did best with Hornady jacketed bullets but is still fun with cast.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I get a lot of hammers sent in with cylinder work, I reduce the height of the hammer pad ala David Bradshaw, works great.

Doug, if I understand correctly there is less hammer travel after this modification? That sounds like a worthwhile change. Funny how subtle changes on a handgun can pay big dividends.

[Petander]

I had a nice 10" SBH for several years but I kept changing grips for full load comfort. And I never found that comfort. One hand with a glove,sort of ok but not quite.

I couldn't "roll" it, I've seen people drop their revolvers doing that. I need a strong steady grip that holds steady.

I then got my first long 500 S&W in 2003 and found it much more pleasant to shoot,it didn't hurt my large hands even with lots of more power,no gloves necessary. So I sold my SBH.

Had I grown up with single actions,my preferences might be different. My SBH was a well made revolver but SA:s with all that torque are not for my big hands. "Roll" looks good on TV.

[DougGuy]

Doug, if I understand correctly there is less hammer travel after this modification? That sounds like a worthwhile change. Funny how subtle changes on a handgun can pay big dividends.

No sir, the hammer travel is un-affected by this. It reduces the amount of rearward travel the trigger must travel before it comes out from under the hammer hook and the hammer falls. It is a VERY worthwhile change and well worth the rather small investment to have this done.

It also does not affect the rearward travel of the trigger when the hammer falls either, since the trigger travel is what elevates the transfer bar high enough to strike the firing pin when the hammer strikes the transfer bar.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Had my SBH out yesterday. Tried a few 240 xtp over 20.3 grains of 2400. No discomfort and gave good off hand accuracy. I never seemed to have an issue with that dragoon style trigger guard busting my knuckles. Thinking hard about scoping this gun which is something I have seldom done with handguns. But since these can reach way out there, further than my eyes can now, why not? Will look at some drill and tap style mounts because the no drill ones are big and ugly. And that hammer mod sounds good Doug.