New Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt

[Hickok]

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!

[DougGuy]

If I want to move a roll pin hole over a tad, fill it in with a piece of hardwood dowel and superglue, spray the accelerator on it and it hardens instantly, sand or file smooth, tap the roll pin out of the grip frame, align the grip panel to where you want it and clamp it. Using a snug fitting drill bit I -carefully- drill through the hole in the frame (as a guide) and into the wood far enough for the pin to not bottom out. Repeat for the other grip panel, tap the pin back in and install your grip panels.

[Hickok]

Thanks Doug, very good idea!

[DougGuy]

Thanks Doug, very good idea!

Now here's an old guitar shop trick, if the roll pin is too stiff to put the grip back on, take the same drill bit or if you have one just a few thousandths bigger, put it in the drill and put it on the hole in the grip panel, but turn it backwards to remove just a shaving of wood it will fit then and your grip panel won't be split in half or drilled through if the drill takes a bite.

You wouldn't believe how many split pegheads I saw when I had my shop, guys are going to install their own set of tuners right.. (Bubba) won't take to a professional repair tech oh no that costs too much money and this is a piece of cake. Let's see this umm 3/8" bit ought to make the right size hole, first thing it does is bite into the wood and suck it right on up the drill like it's threaded, now it's split lengthwise through the hole they thought to make bigger, PLUS all the other holes! OOPS!!!

[Hickok]

And again, thanks Doug!

Tricks of the trade! These tips can save a lot of anguish and money.

[DougGuy]

And again, thanks Doug!

Tricks of the trade! These tips can save a lot of anguish and money.

Ok one more, when you are getting ready to drill through the hole in the frame and into the grip panel, put a piece of masking tape around the drill so that when the drill gets the right depth, the masking tape will be at the frame so you stop then, the hole in the grip will be as deep as the gap you left between the frame and the tape when you put the tape on.

You could also measure how much of the pin is sticking through the frame, and put the masking tape the same distance from the frame when the drill is resting against the wood getting ready to drill.

[RJM52]

Wonderful hits Doug...thank you...

And Hikok..what are using for bullets and loads...

Never did much with .45 Colt over the last 50 years of handgun shooting but have managed to accumulate a 1972 4 5/8" Ruger BH with the extra .45 ACP cylinder and a 4.75" 1997 Colt SAA over the last two.

Have been casting an original Lyman/Keith 452423 that is right at 250 grains in my alloy...8.0 grains of 700-X is running in the 900s...very accurate load.

Bob

[beemer]

A friend bought a new Blackhawk 45 Colt a while back. I don't have the exact measurements in front of me but I checked with pin gages. The cylinder throats were all very close, a .452 would slide through with a little pressure and the bore slugged slightly smaller. I fired 200 rounds of cast and commercial lead bullets sized to .452 over a week while checking loads. I cleaned after I was done. One swipe of a brass brush and a couple oiled patch and it was clean. He is happy with his. Only complaint was the grips, he replaced them. Seems you have a good one too.

[Hickok]

RJM52, I use the RCBS 45-255-SWC and the Lee 452-255-RF. I load both with 8.5 gr / Unigue.

The Rcbs cast heavy with 50/50 Coww/pure lead, at about 270 gr. The Lee runs right at 255 gr.