Full case ejection from standard-length Ruger Blackhawk ejector

[C. Latch]

I wanted to share this here because I don't remember seeing it posted here before, and I've found it useful:


I've posted before about my bisley blackhawk .45 that I enjoy shooting. One minor annoyance I've had is that with a very few hot loads with soft brass (usually a case that I annealed so as to extend the life of the case neck), I've had a hard time ejecting the case. So I looked into the possibility of adding a full-length (target length, I think ruger calls it) ejector setup. Problem is, even if I bought all the parts and converted my .45 to a target-length ejector, I'm still left with a fairly expensive holster that's molded to a standard-length ejector setup.

A couple of weeks ago I made a few observations:

1) My ejector rod bottoms out on the revolver's base pin, which is longer than it has to be.
2) My ejector rod could be 1/16" longer and still fit and function.

I did a bit of shopping and found:

1) For less than $10 I could buy a target-length ejector and cut it to be 1/16th" longer than my stock ejector rod. I did this, cutting it long and trimming until it just barely fit.

2) For less than $10, I could either buy a ruger base pin and shorten the head or buy a shopkeeper-length base pin, which is already very short. I got the shopkeeper-length pin. It works, it's easy enough to remove, which is all that matters length-wise. As a *possible* bonus, I've heard of people having their base pin come loose under recoil. In theory, a shorter and lighter base pin should be less prone to this (less mass).

3) When I moved to the shorter base pin, the ejector bottomed out on the ejector spring. I bought another spring ($2.50 I think) but shortened my stock spring a bit. It still is long enough to keep the ejector fully forward, but doesn't bottom out until after my cases eject.

The upshot is this: I spent $20 on parts (from Midway) and didn't even need the spring and might have been able to get full case ejection without the new, longer ejector rod. Merely changing the base pin might have been enough.

The downside: My base pin is no longer captive. It can be fully removed. I don't know if that's a downside....time will tell. It's hard to imagine a scenario where it came out completely without being pulled intentionally. Perhaps a stock-length pin could be shortened a bit and still be captive but allow full ejection, or maybe ejection that wasn't full but was enough to allow easier grasping of the fired case, for those of us with short fingernails or fat fingers.

Anyway....I'm enjoying having full ejection. Hold the revolver correctly and empties fall into your hand. Work the ejector rod slowly and you can stop just short of full ejection. Best of all, you can do all of this and still have a standard-length housing.

[contender1]

Congratulations on your mods to make your gun work for you. Especially since is didn't require permanent modification to the gun. As for the shorter base pin head,,, and not being captive any longer,,, no problem. Many of the OM 3 screw Rugers,,, especially the Single-Sixes were like that. As long as they are snug in place,,, & don't shoot loose,,, you are fine.

For future ideas,, you can also look into a Belt Mtn base pin,,, as they may be able to fix up one that's a bit shorter, with a different grasping area. Or,,, the new Bisley Super Blackhawk in 480 or 454 has a different style,,, from Ruger,,, and can be locked in place with it's screw. If I recall,,, (w/o going & getting mine,) those base pins are shorter as well.

[ronniet]

sometimes the spring will " stack up"

[lefty o]

that is one of the features i always like in the super blackhawk hunter, the extended ejector. push it, and the casings clear the cylinder.

[daleraby]

I consider the Ruger Blackhawk to be one of the best revolver designs out there. That said, it isn't perfect.

The "captive" ejector rod of the Ruger Blackhawk revolvers, I would guess, is a deliberate design decision, most likely to avoid losing the ejector rod when cleaning.

I personally find the captive ejector rod feature to be mostly an irritation, especially when cleaning. The current generation FlatTops do not have this, you can remove the ejector rod completely right from the factory. FlatTops also have a superior chamber alignment system for ejection. In short, the FlatTop is an improvement over the New Model Blackhawks in some ways, though the the FlatTop frame is a tad lighter and not as strong for those folks who enjoy excessive recoil.

I recently acquired a New Model Blackhawk in .357 Magnum with a 7 1/2" barrel. It had been mistreated a bit, but most of the rust came off with a little oil and fine steel wool. The first fly in the ointment was the short ejector rod. It would sort of eject .38 Special shells if I hit them hard enough, but heavy loaded .357 Magnum rounds stayed in the chamber and had to be pulled out by hand. Light Trail Boss loads just fall out as they don't even seem to expand the cases.

As I sometimes use heavier loads, I wanted a longer ejector rod, or the equivalent of one. My solution was to shorten the cylinder pin, giving me another 3/8" of travel and then to cut a few coils off the ejector rod spring so the coils do not stack and limit travel.

The rusty gun is going to cost me the trade of another gun I really didn't like all that much. The modifications so far cost me about an hour of time. You will need a bench grinder or belt sander, diagonal snips (or a toe-nail clipper) and maybe a hacksaw. This will get you a Blackhawk with a free cylinder pin and full length ejection with .357 rounds.

The overly-short aluminum grip frame that is not properly aligned with the frame is another issue to be addressed later. Somehow, I suspect that it will end up costing me more than a little time I don't think I'm going to miss the Colt Lawman III, though.