9mm Blackhawk "accuracy"..

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A couple weeks back someone here asked me about the practical self defense accuracy of my Ruger Blackhawk 38/357/9mm with the 9mm cylinder installed. Today I was able to check it out at 10 yards with some old cast bullet re-loads. I was shooting at a B-27 target and it was pretty much keeping them in in the COM 5 ring for me. What I did notice is that the rounds seemed to be key holing. Not sure how it would be with factory ammo but will try that sometime to see.
I really haven't shot much 9 in this gun since buying it years ago but it is kinda fun having the three calibers as options.
 
The groove diameter of your barrel is probably .357". Your 9mm lead bullets are probably .355"-.356". Undersized bullets are known for shooting poorly. Unless you load your 9mm rounds with a .357" projectile, or better yet one measuring .358" you may not get sterling performance from you 9mm cylinder. Oh, and check the throats of the 9mm chambers. If they swage your bullets down below groove diameter you have another problem.

You are absolutely free to do what ever you like but personally I never saw the utility of 9mm cylinders for SA revolvers. They almost never shoot well, at least in my experience, and if it doesn't shoot well, why bother? YMMV!

Dave
 
I've got a .357/9mm convertible and it shoots 9mm OK, not great but well enough. Short of scavenging a war-ravaged hellscape for ammo for the only gun you have (the Blackhawk), I haven't seen much use for the 9mm out of mine other than it kicks about as hard as .22 short out of such a chunky gun. It's fun shooting heavy bullets through it that might not cycle well in an autoloader.
 
I've found good accuracy with my 9mm cylinder in my 38/357 Blackhawk, as good as 38 or 357 ammo - based on tests at 25 yards from a Ransom Rest.

The most accurate load was a 9mm loaded with .355" Sierra 125 gr JHP bullets, putting 24 rounds in under 1.5".

So, don't throw in the towel. Try different ammo.
 
On mine, the throats on the 9mm cylinder and the .357 cylinder were exactly the same @ .357. I went ahead and opened them up with a reamer to .358 and reload with .358 lead bullets. Both shoot equally well.

With the fatter bullets I run into chambering problems if I also try to use some of the thicker walled brass, which is mostly foreign. Remington brass seems to work the best.

Check your barrel, a box of lead 9mm I shot leaded my barrel. Like a lot. Which makes sense.
 
Good comments Gents. I never expected match accuracy and the member here was curious if it was defensive range accurate.
Kind of if you had to use the 9mm cause that's the only ammo that you have sort of thing.
 
My Blackhawk seemed to like heavier 9mm bullets better than light. Probably due to the heavier and thus longer bullets having more bullet in contact with the barrel. Might have helped make up for being a nominal .002 undersized. That said never tried lead 9mm bullets.
 
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I was expecting 9mm out of mine to be a disaster, but it wasn't. Like Tallball, It shoots 9mm as well as it shoots .38 and .357. Because 9mm is so easy for me to reload, I think mine has shot more 9mm than anything else.
 
In regards to the keyholing issue. Do you have something backing your target? If you just tack up a target with nothing but air behind it, a lot of times, the paper will rip leaving an elongated tear that is easy to mistake for keyholing. The hole will sort of look like a comet. A round hole, with a ripped tail. Put up a piece of cardboard or something like that, then staple your target to that, and it should solve the problem.

If it's real keyholing, with a sideways hole, you've got a problem I can't give you any advice on, although I'm sure someone here can.
 
It's amusing to tell your friend that you're bringing a 38, a 357, two 9mm's, and a 40 to the range. Then you arrive with a Blackhawk 357 convertible, and a Glock 22 with a 9mm conversion barrel and magazine. :)

FWIW, my Blackhawk 45 convertible also shoots 45colt and 45acp with the same practical accuracy. Again, it might be the Indian rather than the arrow.
 
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It's amusing to tell your friend that you're bringing a 38, a 357, two 9mm's, and a 40 to the range. Then you arrive with a Blackhawk 357 convertible, and a Glock 22 with a 9mm conversion barrel and magazine. :)

FWIW, my Blackhawk 45 convertible shoots also shoots 45colt and 45acp with the same practical accuracy. Again, it might be the Indian rather than the arrow.

To a similar point, I always enjoyed telling a buddy I was bringing a 45acp and showing up with my 625.
 
I always liked the idea of the 9mm Convrtible just for the utility of it. The ability to use another common cartridge is nice.

As noted above, it is possible to load .358” bullets in 9mm cases to maximize the accuracy potential. However, in my mind that takes away from the utility somewhat. If you have to load a custom set of ammo, you might as well load it using .357 or .38 cases.

Either way, I still like the concept. I’ll likely get one some day. I have two other Blackhawk Convertibles in other calibers.
 
I’m got one from the 70s and have only fired a handful of 9mm through it. And then, never did any accuracy test.
On the the hand I’ve fired hundreds of thousands 357s (and a few 38 spc) both factory and reloads through it - almost all of which were cast reloads. You know the drill, buy a box of factory rounds to get the brass and then reload it 15 to 20 times until it split. Cheaper today as you can just buy used brass- which is fine at the levels I load to.

I may just drag out that 9mm cylinder and give her another go at the range punching little holes in paper. I reload 9mm but will probably start with 115 FMJ which I have on hand. Sounds like a fun afternoon diversion. I’ll try to post some 25 yard targets in the future.
 
Catpop, I'd be curious to see what your 25 yard targets look like.

As I said, mine seems to shoot 9mm as well as 38's or 357's, but I haven't done any rigorous comparisons.

Slightly OT, my G22 shoots just a little bit lower with the 9mm conversion barrel than it does with the 40.
 
There's a channel on youtube I watch and the guy who makes the videos has two .357/9mm Blackhawks, one he bought decades ago and another he bought more recently and one shoots 9mm better than the other. So, like with all guns, it depends on your particular model.

I would suggest shooting FMJ, that's what 9mm was meant to shoot.
 
I may have gotten lucky. Mine wasn't originally a convertible, but I bought a 9mm cylinder from Ebay and it fit just fine (after I cleaned it).

I've read that isn't always the case.
 
I always liked the idea of the 9mm Convrtible just for the utility of it. The ability to use another common cartridge is nice.

As noted above, it is possible to load .358” bullets in 9mm cases to maximize the accuracy potential. However, in my mind that takes away from the utility somewhat. If you have to load a custom set of ammo, you might as well load it using .357 or .38 cases.

Either way, I still like the concept. I’ll likely get one some day. I have two other Blackhawk Convertibles in other calibers.

I don't have to, but I do. Mostly just because I can. About the only advantage the 9mm has is the short case ejects completely. With factory 9mm jacketed or plated It's not as accurate as .38/.357 in my gun. But it's accurate enough to have utility.
 
Very interesting discussion thread. I have a blackhawk 357 but no 9mm cylinder.
 
i have the ruger blackhawk in both 45lc/acp and 357/38/9. for me the cheap fun of shooting bulk 9mm out of a blackhawk far outweighs my relative inaccuracy as i’m a fully acknowledged lousy shot. it came along on a few extended multiweek road trips during the obama era ammo droughts. knowing that i could find some more handgun ammo along the way if need be was reassuring.
 

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I took my 357 Blackhawk to the range on Saturday and brought the 9mm cylinder along.

Accuracy was the same with 38 special and 9mm. 357 was a little harder to keep on target for a cylinder or two, until I adjusted my grip.

I had a friend with me who is a better shot than I am. His results were the same.

The 9mm had a little more recoil than 38 special, enough to be noticeable. Maybe it was just the specific rounds we were using.
 
The 9mm had a little more recoil than 38 special, enough to be noticeable. Maybe it was just the specific rounds we were using.

9mm is more powerful than 38 Special by a significant margin.
 
My Blackhawk testing 9mm before I sighted it in, 6 shot test at 10 yards, I wrote 15 yards on the target that was a mistake, and the targets I did for the single action challenge at 15 and 25 yards. 100_2168.JPG IMG_9620.JPG IMG_9621.JPG
 
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