Opinions on a new Blackhawk 44spl

[timspawn]

I am thinking of buying a new Blackhawk in 44 Special. I would use heavy cast in it only. I have a bunch of 300 grainers to use up. I will use it to punch paper and maybe a pig or two. I like the 4 5/8" barrel. What are your thoughts on this revolver?

[white eagle]

I have one
I have the bisley grip,flat top with a 4/58 barrel love it
shoot mainly 200-250 gr boolits though it, but the gun is awesome :bigsmyl2:

[DougGuy]

300gr is really heavy for .44 Special wouldn't you be better off using those in a .44 magnum? If you get one of the New Model Flattops, bear in mind those are built on the medium frame, and you may be capped at about 25,000psi to be on the safe side with it.

[timspawn]

300gr is really heavy for .44 Special wouldn't you be better off using those in a .44 magnum? If you get one of the New Model Flattops, bear in mind those are built on the medium frame, and you may be capped at about 25,000psi to be on the safe side with it.

I am not stuck on the 300. I just have a bunch of them. Lighter would be fine. I am not going to load these max. I'm thinking 800 to 900fps no matter what the bullet weight. I'm looking to throw a big bullet at modest speed for fun. I want the Special because everybody else has a Magnum.

[Clay M]

I have one,shoots great but I had a problem not being able to get the rear sigh low enough for 250 gr bullets.. The 215 grains shoot about to point of aim with the sights adjusted all the way down. Ruger sent me another micro rear sight and I filed the top of the blade down which helped .Still not low enough for the 250 gr bullets..They made a run of stainless models which had a pinned in front sight..
Mine is blued and the front sight is silver soldered onto the barrel..

[Beagle333]

My opinion..... I want one too! It's next on my pistol acquisition list. :-D

[376Steyr]

I have one,shoots great but I had a problem not being able to get the rear sigh low enough for 250 gr bullets.. The 215 grains shoot about to point of aim with the sights adjusted all the way down. Ruger sent me another micro rear sight and I filed the top of the blade down which helped .Still not low enough for the 250 gr bullets..They made a run of stainless models which had a pinned in front sight..
Mine is blued and the front sight is silver soldered onto the barrel..

Ditto. My blued model will just barely adjust for 260 gr. (actual weight) at 900 fps. My stainless version can't do it. I sincerely doubt you will get 300 grs at 800-900 fps to hit to point of aim.

[Clay M]

I would say a 300 gr bullet would be hitting about a foot high at 25yds,,

[John Allen]

Tim I have been wanting one of these myself. I personally like the bisley grip.

[ejcrist]

I have the 5 1/2" barrel version and love it. I've been shooting 429421 at about 1,100 fps with 15 gr 2400 and it's very accurate. It has the best dimensions (throat, cylinder gap, etc.) out of the four Rugers I have. I wouldn't think twice about getting one.

[Clay M]

I think they are fantastic guns. I love the .44 Spl. especially in a short barrel single action..Would I buy it again.. well ..yes..I am not selling the one I have..but just be aware of the sights.. That is all I am saying..
To think you are going to get a 300 gr bullet to work well ..
I don't think so..
Ruger should have put a higher front sight on this gun.. It is easy to use a file,but hard to add metal..
But we have to remember guns are set up for factory loads, not the handloader,and especially not the bullet caster..

[Dale53]

I have the blued Lipsey Special flattop with a 5½" barrel and a TALO SS with 4 5/8" barrel. They both are exemplary revolvers. Either of them will shoot under an inch at 25 yards off a rest with my "standard" load of 7.5 grs. of Unique behind a 250 gr Keith sized to .430". Another load that works well is a 200 gr wadcutter (from a Group Buy mould) with 4.0 grs of Red Dot.

I had only waited on these revolvers from Ruger for 54 years[smilie=1:...

I can hardly imagine a better field revolver than either of these two.

FWIW
Dale53

[Clay M]

My dear old shooting buddy who is dead now, had a Colt SAA 3rd generation 4 3/4" with ivory grips..
That was his favorite holster gun.The 44Spl is fantastic..just don't try to make it a magnum..If you need a magnum, then buy one..

[WALLNUTT]

300g bullets don"t stabilize well at normal 44SPL velocity. I filed the top of my rear sight blade and deepened the notch to get the 250-260g bullets to hit right.

[Clay M]

Once above a time.I had a Colt New Frontier 7 1/2" .44 Spl I did a nice trigger job on it..
Dreams of days gone by.. I traded if for a Colt Bisley in .32/20
I should have keep both of those guns, but traded it off for a Winchester.
Then I sold the Winchester..but I got to experience shooting a lot of older guns..

[L Ross]

I rarely buy new guns, preferring older classics. However, I did buy a Flattop Bisley 44 spl in the 4 5/8" bbl and it will be one of the last I'd ever part with. I mostly shoot 246 gr round nose bullets with 5.5 gr. of Bullseye, because that is a 44 spl, and steel targets don't require a big meplat or expansion. My Ruger is well fitted, accurate, and a classic in its own right.

[Clay M]

If I see another Colt SSA 4 3/4" .44spl I will try to buy it..Not for the gun..but for the memory of my dear departed shooting buddy..He was a brilliant man..he taught me much about shooting and casting..
I will miss him every day of my life..He was a heavy smoker and died of lung cancer..
One of his guns is hanging in the museum at Cody,Wy..
He name was Rubin Hoyal. He was a retired State Patrol.
He did love the .44 Spl.
I think the gun hanging in the museum is a Hi Wall.
We both loved shooting and trading old Colts and Winchester..
It was a time that will never be again in my life..
But I got to experience it..

[timspawn]

Thanks guys.

[BrianL]

My dear old shooting buddy who is dead now, had a Colt SAA 3rd generation 4 3/4" with ivory grips..
That was his favorite holster gun.The 44Spl is fantastic..just don't try to make it a magnum..If you need a magnum, then buy one..
Could not agree more, big and slow is the way to go with this one.

[Mohillbilly]

I had ambitions of a 4 5/8 stainless Bisley .44 special woods loafing gun , but never even got a smell . That would have been a safer choice , than a repop off shore .45 Colt for standard speed black powder loads .I do have large frame .45 Black hawks , Winchesters , Rossi and Freedom Arms for heavier work . Alas my .44s languish

[rintinglen]

134879134880
Before I bought mine, I could not understand the "fan-dom" that the 44 Special seems to generate. I had previously owned several other 44 spl.s, and not found them to be particularly accurate. Then I bought my Flattop.
Now I know what the fuss was all about. I would buy another in a heartbeat. I keep looking for a stainless Bisley, either 4 5/8 or 5 1/2 inches, but haven't seen one yet.

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm not a fan of heavy for caliber bullets and 300grs is way heavy for 44 Special in my book. 240-250gr will get the job done nicely. I don't play with SA revolvers much, nothing against SA revolvers just not my cup of tea. That being said, 44 Special is an outstanding cartridge and currently the only way to get that chambering in a Ruger is to go with a SA. Of course you can get a 44 Magnum and shoot 44 Specials in it but that's a whole new thread.
I wish Ruger would make a 44 Special DA revolver and not just some 44 Magnum with short chambers but a correctly proportioned 44 Special.

[doc1876]

I am shooting some 250 g Keith styles that I got from a former member Bullshop, and I really enjoy them. they are a real beautiful boolit. I also think 300g may be too much.
(IF you are interested, I still have his email addy.)

[Lefty Red]

Its the handgun I will give my son! Its the only Blackhawk I have left! I would eat PB&J for a month to afford another one!
Jerry

[Lloyd Smale]

got to agree. If I need the power of a 300 grain bullet im grabbing a 44mag or 45 colt. The 44 specials niche is a mild recoiling gun that still kills well. that means nothing more then a 250 grain bullet for me.

[Charley]

135094Picked up a Blackhawk in .44 Special at a show two months ago, finally got the chance to play with it yesterday. Really, really like it. 300 grain bullet is a bit on the heavy side. I stick to Lyman's 429-421, over Unique or 2400. I'm a sucker for classics.

[kidmma]

My RCBS 250-K drops at about 268gr. The 7.5 gr load of Unique is a good one. It's also great with a 200 gr JHP over 9 gr Unique.
I had to swap the plastic grips with the walnut ones from Ruger. They were like sand paper with the 250 gr Keith bullet! (They fill my average size hand better too).

[Petrol & Powder]

A 250gr Keith SWC with some Unique behind it is hard to beat in a 44.

The 44 magnum just about killed off the 44 Special but it held on in the SA world and a few DA revolvers. I'm hoping for a resurgence ! The 44 Special is a classic cartridge with tremendous usefulness.

[bcr]

I got a stainless one in 4 5/8" and I have the same problem with the sights. I also found that the barrel is constricted where it screws into the frame. I emailed Ruger and they sent me an RMA number and said to call. I called many times but never once got through. I kind of got discouraged about it. I really love how it looks and handles, and I hope I can get it fixed.

[Larry in MT]

This is an post describing my experience with my short front sighted Flattop and how to fix it for any load. Mine gets carried a lot.

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The .340" high front sight that came on my TALO 4 5/8" FlatTop 44 Special was too low for a 'Dead On" hold with any of the loads I'd tried @ 25 yards. They all shot high. I received a .445" front sight from Ruger which was waaaay too tall, causing the rear sight to be raised so high as to be unstable.

Recently I started filing down the taller front sight to make Point of Aim and Point of Impact coincide. The first shots were below the bottom of the target but when I got to about .393" things started to click.

I kept the rear sight 4 clicks (about 3") off of the bottomed out position during the filing.

The measurements are with a digital caliper --- so they should be pretty close.

I post this so that any of you with the 44 Special TALO model who might want to try this would have an idea of where to start. As always, your results may vary.

http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab176/larrykay47/f88c6df3.jpg

[45r]

Always fun to have a Blackhawk.
My 357 with the short barrel shoots 1 inch easily.
Had to hone the cylinder and fire-lap but well worth the effort.