Ruger Balckhawk in 30 carbine.

Used Super Blackhawks in 44 Mag are usually $400-500 around here. Occasionally I see an abused one with crooked holes drilled in the top strap, or rust, etc, for $300, but never a cherry one.

The rub for me would be whether I wanted .30 Carbine in a revolver. I only shoot it in my Inland M1 Carbine. My Super Blackhawk is a 44 Mag. With a 240 grain SWC, I can load cheap lead at 44 SPL velocity, and still deliver good energy (if not trajectory). For 30 carbine, I buy bulk from CMP, and rarely shoot it (due to cost).

How much does 30 carbine velocity suffer in pistol length barrels?

I suppose my advice is to not buy it on impulse.

.30 carbine is one of those "not quite" rounds, not quite a handgun round and not quite a pistol round. It was developed for the military to meet the need for a light, low recoil rifle for troops who wouldn't need a full power rifle (M1 or M1903). What with "this and that", it soldered on long after it should have been been gone, and it was a good civilian "plinker" as long as $2.00/100 ammo lasted.

As for the .30 Carbine in a handgun, it is (IMHO) too much for most handguns and not enough for a rifle. IF one must buy a .30 Carbine handgun, the Ruger will be OK, but overpowered for most use. (There were some other handguns made for .30 Carbine, but most tended to come apart at the seams due to the high pressure.)

Jim

The 30 Carb. is Rugers 3rd caliber and has been popular for decades. It has a rugged case that can be reloaded many times. It is a 32-20 on hormones. It lends well for loading 125 grs cast bullets. Berry Bullets makes a 30 Cal .309 platted lead bullet that is very reasonably priced. The Ruger .30 M1 is a great trail gun and fun plinker. It can turn velocities of 2,000 fps and makes a great varminter for coyote calling and busting Jack Rabbits.

Ruger brought out the .30 carbine revolver in the 1960's when the ammo was dirt cheap. While it sounds impressive to say that it was third in popularity in the Ruger SA line, it also needs to be said that the .357 was 10 times more popular. Many users of the .30 Carbine version like it for the reasons Dog Soldier has stated, but the numbers are not impressive. I have known several users who had problems with extraction and also with finding the right loads. It is still in the Super Blackhawk line but sales are not high and it might not be around long. As to popularity, to each his own.

Jim

Been recently hearing of several of them failing and since they are discontinued in the Blackhawk line they are being replaced by similarly priced guns like gp100s and the like. I would buy it simply to hang onto for a while. It could increase in value a bit, but likely not much since so many were made.

Now for performance...it's essentially a 327 federal with a lot more noise and flash. 30carbine is primarily a carbine round and is loaded with slow pistol powders (sometimes) and fast rifle powders (usually) kinda bridging the gap between rifle and pistol rounds. In the 16-20 inch barrels it does what it was designed to do. In 6" barrels it is still burning when it leaves the gun. It's highly inefficient and somewhat unpleasant because of that.

As an interesting gun, it's a buy. As a regular shooter, it's a pass.

Wow, wow, wow, there! The .327 FedMag in no way compares to the .30 Carbine.

Went to the Hodgdon reloading data website and got the data below. For both, these are probably the hardest hitters on that site. So we see for the .30 Carbine with a 110 gr bullet driven to 1685 ft/sec v. a .327 FedMag with a 115 gr bullet driven to 1222 ft/sec. And Buffalo Bore just announced a .30 Carbine round that pushes out a 125 gr hard cast, gas checked, flat nose bullet at 1641 ft/sec.

BTW, the .30 Carbine data on the Buffalo Bore round comes from a .30 Carbine Blackhawk.

.30 Carbine
BULLET WEIGHT 110 GR. HDY JRN
Manufacturer Hodgdon
Powder H110
Bullet Diameter .308"
C.O.L. 1.680"
Starting Load
Grains 14.0
Velocity (ft/s) 1,605
Pressure 32,000 CUP
Maximum Load
Grains 15.0
Velocity (ft/s) 1,685
Pressure 36,500 CUP

.327 FedMag
BULLET WEIGHT 115 GR. MEI LRNFP
Manufacturer Winchester
Powder 572
Bullet Diameter .312"
C.O.L. 1.460"
Starting Load
Grains 4.6
Velocity (ft/s) 1,068
Pressure 23,500 PSI
Maximum Load
Grains 5.4
Velocity (ft/s) 1,222
Pressure 33,800 PSI

I just picked one up.

- $400 is a good price
- It's running 1,450 fps/110gr Comm'l (ARMSCOR/Remington) and 1,425fps w/ my own 115gr Cast/Lyman#2
- It is supremely accurate (50₵ piece/X-ring at 25 yards)
- It is very -- and surprisingly -- pleasant to shoot... no "huge-big-blast" as always reputed by those who don't have them

The .30 Carbine Blackhawk is my favorite wheel-gun to take to the range. And that includes a .45 Colt, .357 Mag, and .41 Mag. Must say, the .45 Colt is a VERY close 2nd.

My most accurate handgun.

Hey jski, you quote Buffalo Bore but I see not where you get your data from that.

How about this, both from Buffalo Bore measurements.

30Carbine, 125gr hard cast..1641fps from 7.5" Blackhawk
.327, 130gr hard cast..........1450fps from 7.5"USFA

.30Carbine hotter n faster? Yep. That much faster? Ehh. Worth it?....hhmm

The Wikipedia article about the 327 Federal Magnum agrees with AlfonsDeWolf about ballistics in a Ruger Blackhawk:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.327_Federal_Magnum

And given what Jim K and West Kentucky say, I'd rather have a 327 as a shooter.

robhof

It's a great gun, like the 357 Max, it can be loaded from mild to wild, I've got a 357Max DW that I got dirt cheap because as the shop said "they don't make ammo for it anymore". Well I roll my own and shells are all over the auction sites, so I've got a few thousand rounds of brass and hundreds of loaded ammo. If you load, it's the best all round gun, can be loaded down to 38 speed for plinking and up for shooting rabbits or coyotes at fair ranges, what barrel length? The longer the better for reaching out, the 8" and 10" were high scorers in Ram competition in the 70's.

The .30 Carb. maybe too much for amature handloaders.They have stuck brass etc. It seems they cannot full length size and trim the brass properly. The .30 M1 is unlike the tradition straight wall cases a rimless case head spacing on the mouth.
The .30 M1 GI brass must be trimmed to length and the pocket crimp removed. I would use a LEE factory crimp die for best results. Winchester 296 powder was developed for the .30 M1 during WWII. This "War Baby" round still likes W-296.
Ruger continues to make and sell the BH .30 M1 priced at $669 dollars SRP. They remain very popular among handloaders and bullet casters. If you go back to 1968 and read the Handgunner Magazines they stated it would be a market failure. Humm? almost 50 years and the BH .30 is still with us.

This is from Real Guns: "Ruger's 30 Carbine Blackhawk"

The 30 Caliber carbine holds only 2 grain more powder than the diminutive 327 Federal Magnum and 4 grains less than the mundane 357 Magnum. However, seat typical bullets in all three and the long overall length and long cylindered .30 Carbine has a net capacity 2 1/2 time greater than the 327 Federal magnum and only half a grain less than the ubiquitous 357 Magnum.

Click to expand...

The Buffalo Bore data comes from here.

Jski, yeah, but your .327 data is way wrong as you use another manufacturer or handload data to falsely push your agenda. Why not also use BuffBore data on the .327 also? You list 1222 for a lighter round. BuffBore states 1450 for the heavier 130 gr .327 loading WITH the same barrel length also as their .30Carbine data. Sure seems more fair to look at it this way, no?

https://www.buffalobore.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=285

and the pocket crimp removed

Click to expand...

Um, what? I've reloaded thousands of .30C cases, never seen a crimped primer pocket.....

Let's look at case capacity:

327 Fed Mag, volume rated in grains of water:
Max case capacity = 19.0 gr
Volume occupied by seated 100gr bullet = 5.111 gr (Speer 100 gr JHP .312" dia)
Useable case capacity with seated 100gr bullet = 13.889 gr

30 Carbine, volume rated in grains of water:
Max case capacity = 21 gr
Volume occupied by seated 110gr bullet = 4.711 gr (Speer 110gr FMJ .308" dia)
Useable case capacity with seated 110 gr bullet = 16.289 gr

As you can see the .30 Carbine has greater capacity in all measures. The .30 Carbine simply has more space for more powder.

Jski, how does all that extra volume help you in a short barrel? Maybe just use a different, faster powder where you don't just "fill er up". It seems your stand is to have all revolvers chambered in 357max filled to the brim?

All military 30 Carb. has crimped primer pockets. Maybe you have only loaded commercial brass.

AlfonsDeWolf, just go to the Hodgdon reloading data website and check out pistol loads for the .30 Carbine v. .327 Fed Mag. That tells the tale.

Lets all remember the Ruger .30 Carbine only came in 7.5 " barrels, that helps a lot with burning 296 and 2400 powder rates IMHO . Yes there is that 36,000 psi muzzle blast and maybe some GI ammo is pretty flashy (Hirtenberger head stamped ammo was the worst I have seen for flash ) but not out of line of full .357 or .44 mag loads and NOT equal to .357 Max or the lone super S&W mags for sure ! It is an accurate round and in my scoped 14" Contender takes ground squirrels at 200 yards . The Ruger can hold 2" groups at 50 yards rested on bags with good loads . My Winchester and Inland carbines held about that off hand, when my eyes were better

Actually jski, I don't believe that does "tell the tale". I only get 5" barrel length in .327 vs 7" for the 30Carbine. Also, this doesn't say whether they are both revolver or what. (but assume so) Also, chances are they aren't even the same gun....(would be nice to know if they were even both Blackhawks, maybe even around the same vintage) So, my suggestion would be to get loadings from the same manufacturer, same bullet material, same, or close to, weight. Maybe then your words on this will be taken as fact vs fallacy. But I invite you now to get the last word in as I think I have no more to add. You seem insistent enough on selling....something anyway.

I love my .30 Carbine Blackhawk. It's very accurate. It's low recoil with a lot of energy on target.

Easy to reload, once you've trimmed a bunch of brass.

I load mine close to the minimum published load I could find. My brass doesn't stretch once trimmed.

Coated bullets from Bayou Bullets perform very well, for very little $.

Problems with extraction with surplus ammo are common.