Ruger Super Blackhawk and Keith-Style Bullets

[Kevin Rohrer]

I just purchased the above-named revolver and am wanting to load a heavy, Keith-style bullet in it for hunting. Is the gun's cylinder long enough for 270-300gr., .44mag cast bullets?

[Any Cal.]

It is long enough for a LFN 300, I would assume a 270 Keith would be fine, 300g Keith would be a pretty close fit.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

My 3 screw SBH will not chamber RCBS 44-250-K seated at the crimping groove, I have to crimp over the driving band. The chambers are too tight. Maybe the cylinder is long enough for your 270-300 gr boolit but depending on the ogive you might run into the same issue I experienced.

[44man]

I shoot a 330 gr WLN from my SBH that has a nose .438" long to the crimp grove. Still room to the end of the cylinder. Throats are usually generous in the .44 but some early ones were tight and if under groove, should be reamed. Sized to a proper throat and the SBH can take a long boolit.
I don't like Keith boolits and the only way I got them to shoot was to make them super hard, 28 to 30 BHN. The little shoulder hates to be aligned at the forcing cone. Only perfect throat to bore with all six chambers works.
Some of the best boolits are the Lee 310 gr, LBT 320 WLN and RD 265.
These boolits align in the cone and pull the cylinder into alignment. They have all shot from 1" down to 1/2" at 50 yards and I have had 1-1/4" to 1" groups at 100 yards and all kill deer like the hammer of Thor.
My last two deer this last season were shot with the Lee from my SBH and they worked perfectly.
My 330 gr was a mistake, coming out heavier but I matched the ogive angle to my forcing cone and to show how important alignment is, here is a 50 yard group with the RD and a 200 yard group with my 330. This boolit has dropped deer past 100 yards, off hand.

[Shuz]

The Lyman 429650, a nominal 300g gas checked Keith style swc, when crimped in the crimping groove and thus loaded to an OAL of 1.710" fits into all of my Ruger Super Black Hawks.

[K-Rod]

My 3 screw SBH will not chamber RCBS 44-250-K seated at the crimping groove, I have to crimp over the driving band. The chambers are too tight. Maybe the cylinder is long enough for your 270-300 gr boolit but depending on the ogive you might run into the same issue I experienced.

That's strange? I have a 3-screw SBH & it chambers 429421 at the crimp groove just fine. RCBS must have made their boolit I bit different?

[44man]

That's strange? I have a 3-screw SBH & it chambers 429421 at the crimp groove just fine. RCBS must have made their boolit I bit different?
I shot thousands of the 429421 boolits from my 1956 flat top. Decent boolit but does not match new designs.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

I wrote to Dave Skovill about my 3 screw SBH not chambering the RCBS 44-250-K and he said this was not uncommon. He suggested I sized down the driving band. I tried .430" and .429" with no luck. I did not try .427".

I had a SBH NM which accepted the 429421 all long no problem however the driving band of the RCBS boolits is visibly more pronounced than the driving band of the 429421. Foolishly I sold my 429421 years ago and have not replaced it yet.

I tried trimming the magnum brass to chamber the RCBS Keith boolit but by the time I had the brass trimmed back far enough to chamber in my 3 screw the loaded round would also chamber in my Colt .44 Special SAA 3rd gen's. So I went to seating over the driving bank.

I'm not real happy with the RCBS seated over the driving band but currently I have to usually carry concealed even in the woods so I carry the short barreled Colt and not the 7 1/2" SBH. I often have Boy Scouts with me in the woods and if kids see a gun they tend get distracted from their task at hand, so I carry a SAA concealed. The SBH is more difficult to conceal with it's 7 1/2" bbl.

[44man]

I wrote to Dave Skovill about my 3 screw SBH not chambering the RCBS 44-250-K and he said this was not uncommon. He suggested I sized down the driving band. I tried .430" and .429" with no luck. I did not try .427".

I had a SBH NM which accepted the 429421 all long no problem however the driving band of the RCBS boolits is visibly more pronounced than the driving band of the 429421. Foolishly I sold my 429421 years ago and have not replaced it yet.

I tried trimming the magnum brass to chamber the RCBS Keith boolit but by the time I had the brass trimmed back far enough to chamber in my 3 screw the loaded round would also chamber in my Colt .44 Special SAA 3rd gen's. So I went to seating over the driving bank.

I'm not real happy with the RCBS seated over the driving band but currently I have to usually carry concealed even in the woods so I carry the short barreled Colt and not the 7 1/2" SBH. I often have Boy Scouts with me in the woods and if kids see a gun they tend get distracted from their task at hand, so I carry a SAA concealed. The SBH is more difficult to conceal with it's 7 1/2" bbl.
First you need groove size by slugging. Then the throats must be larger by at least .0005".
Most of the Rugers have .430" groove and it is rare to find .429" so your throats might be way too small. It happened so your throats might need reamed. Ruger does the same with the .45 Colt most times too. But most .44's have large throats.
It will do no good at all to fit to way undersize throats, get a bore and groove measurement first and go from there.

[BruceB]

In my own 3-screw SBH (serial #289xx), the RCBS 44-250KT works fine. I size at .431, and the bullets pass through the throats with just a gentle push. It's apparent to me that the barrel diameter is essentially irrelevant, since the bullets are sized in the chamber throats before ever contacting the bore. This revolver has fired many thousands of rounds since we bought it new in 1967, and is now about the SMOOTHEST-operating sixgun I've ever had the pleasure of using. (It's also the one my wife used to kill her bull moose after her rifle blew up....)

[1bluehorse]

In my own 3-screw SBH (serial #289xx), the RCBS 44-250KT works fine. I size at .431, and the bullets pass through the throats with just a gentle push. It's apparent to me that the barrel diameter is essentially irrelevant, since the bullets are sized in the chamber throats before ever contacting the bore. This revolver has fired many thousands of rounds since we bought it new in 1967, and is now about the SMOOTHEST-operating sixgun I've ever had the pleasure of using. (It's also the one my wife used to kill her bull moose after her rifle blew up....)

Ohhh....now there has to be a story there...:)

[BruceB]

Yes, there is a story.

Do a search for "karen moose", and scroll down about five threads to "The Day Karen Met The Moose"..... you might find it interesting.