Hickok
03-09-2024, 03:38 PM
Just bought a new Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt, with 4.6" barrel. Lately I have had some trials and tribulations with new Blackhawks, but Ruger Inc fixed my last one very nicely!
This will be my 6th Blackhawk in .45 Colt I have owned over the years, bought-sold-traded etc, so I have some experience with them in this caliber.
First, all the previous 45 Colt BH's I have owned were very tight in the chamber throats, about .450".
I bought a Manson reamer set so I could ream the throats to .4525", and have used it on these previous revolvers. (sorry, not for loan.)
This newest 45 Colt BH has cylinder throats that accept a jacketed .451" bullet with just a slight resistance to push it through, so Ruger seems to have gotten better in this respect. I still ran my Manson .4525" reamer through all six cylinder holes as I like this diameter better for my cast bullets in this caliber.
Fit and finish are nice on this Blackhawk, but the black plastic grip fitment is bad. I fixed this by drilling out the stud hole in each grip to a larger size, and adjusting the grips for better fit. Pretty amazing how enlarging the stud hole in the grips allows them to be fitted almost perfectly!
I am going to use some JB Weld in the holes to make them snug.
Now to the one "boo boo" Ruger made when assembling the revolver, Not a biggy, and it is easily fixed, but still an error on Ruger's part.
The rear sight blade is wrong for this revolver. It has the very narrow rear sight notch of .090". It is so narrow, the front has no light on either side when you look at the sights.
The proper width for this barrel length is .125", as I own other Ruger in this configuration.
The height of the rear blade is correct @ .256", but the rear notch width is wrong.
No problem widening the rear notch, or simply replacing it, but still a mistake.
The good news, after my tweeking the revolver, it shoots very good groups with my cast reloads!
This will be my 6th Blackhawk in .45 Colt I have owned over the years, bought-sold-traded etc, so I have some experience with them in this caliber.
First, all the previous 45 Colt BH's I have owned were very tight in the chamber throats, about .450".
I bought a Manson reamer set so I could ream the throats to .4525", and have used it on these previous revolvers. (sorry, not for loan.)
This newest 45 Colt BH has cylinder throats that accept a jacketed .451" bullet with just a slight resistance to push it through, so Ruger seems to have gotten better in this respect. I still ran my Manson .4525" reamer through all six cylinder holes as I like this diameter better for my cast bullets in this caliber.
Fit and finish are nice on this Blackhawk, but the black plastic grip fitment is bad. I fixed this by drilling out the stud hole in each grip to a larger size, and adjusting the grips for better fit. Pretty amazing how enlarging the stud hole in the grips allows them to be fitted almost perfectly!
I am going to use some JB Weld in the holes to make them snug.
Now to the one "boo boo" Ruger made when assembling the revolver, Not a biggy, and it is easily fixed, but still an error on Ruger's part.
The rear sight blade is wrong for this revolver. It has the very narrow rear sight notch of .090". It is so narrow, the front has no light on either side when you look at the sights.
The proper width for this barrel length is .125", as I own other Ruger in this configuration.
The height of the rear blade is correct @ .256", but the rear notch width is wrong.
No problem widening the rear notch, or simply replacing it, but still a mistake.
The good news, after my tweeking the revolver, it shoots very good groups with my cast reloads!