I traded to a friend

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Gordon

Gordon

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I traded to a friend that moved to Montana and " had" to have " at least" a .44 mag. I had an excellent Astra 6 " .44 Mag, from the early 80 s I was going to put on GB but feared the beautiful revolver would not bring what I thought it should. So this friend had " just" this 1981 Ruger Stainless Blackhawk 4 5/8" .44 special he bought in late 1980s and only shot a few times and found it shot right on with factory .44 specials and is very accurate. But he wants more power for Bear encounters and a longer barrel so I traded.
Funny the trigger is great, the rosewood stocks sweet, has a Belt Mountain pin AND On examination someone lined bored the cylinder to .44 special with mirror polish and rebored and re rifled the Barrel with beautiful rifling that is certainly not Ruger ,as I have .44 mag Rugers and this is six deep grooves , really flawless and polished smooth ! There were no .44 specials when this Ruger was Made ! Work was done in mid 80 s but by whom ? The caliber is nicely re struck , and the taller front sight has a brass inlay and the rear sight doesn't appear Ruger. This is my " new" knock around gun ,I have a nice compact cross draw holster for it .I have lots of .44 special ammo and components. Although the frame is the full size Blackhawk new model, the cylinder appears thinner over chambers than my other .44 mag Rugers, so I'll load it like it was a medium frame - conservative. IMG_20211014_111009311.jpg IMG_20211014_110910298.jpg IMG_20211014_110936468.jpg IMG_20211014_110622242_BURST000_COVER.jpg IMG_20211014_110749031.jpg
 
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Hamilton Bowen did such conversions for years, don’t know enough about them to recognize one. I think he even provided kits for other gunsmiths. A very interesting revolver. Good luck with it, curious to see how it shoots. .44 Special as you more than likely know is a mild pressure 15,000 PSI cartridge. Even the old Skeeter loads are not excessive except for maybe a Charter Arms. I would not delve past that however. Enjoy, very interesting and I would have made that trade in a heart beat.

As an edit I do know that Bowen used his own rear sight, I cannot tell from your pics but the rear sight would be a clue. The front sight looks like a Weigand base. I had this put on my SBH when I had the barrel cut so the revolver had an easily change able front blade.
 
There was a .44 Mag Blackhawk Three screw flat top . I think when then went to the hump sight, still 3 screw era, from a flat top they went to the Super Blackhawk for .44 Magnum . Of course newer guns have non Super Black hawk trim. This one appears to be 1981 Stainless regular Black Hawk New Model 4 5/8 .357 Stainless.
 
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A few holsters I'm trying. My new "New Vaquero" leather is too small and I have a old Milt Sparks AW Sloan type Holster for my 1985 Bisley .44 $ 5/8" Magnaport edition which is not gonna be separated .
I have it in an old Bianchi Cross draw Berns Martin style holster that fits it perfectly I am gonna try. Easy slip on the end of the belt (last) and it conceals well .
Vintage-Bianchi-Cross-Draw-126-Leather-Holster-for.jpg

Vintage-Bianchi-Cross-Draw-126-Leather-Holster-for-_1.jpg
 
I didn't "get to " my friend too bad, these Astra .44 Mags are comparable in value I believe :
RECENTLY SOLD ASTRA 44 PISTOL
Price Item Condition Date Sold
$680.00 OTHER MODEL ASTRA 44 INOX LARGE STAINLESS .44 MAGNUM DA/SA DOUBLE ACTION REVOLVER, 1987
Simi Valley, CA 93065 Used 2 months ago
$637.77 ASTRA 44 TERMINATOR INOX - .44 MAG INTERARMS INCLUDES SPEEDLOADERS C
Reno, NV 89502 Used 7 months ago
$750.00 .44 MAG. ASTRA MAG 462 BLUED REVL. 6 SHOT DOUBLE ACTION 2 GRIPS MINT FREE SHIP INCH " BARREL
Grand Ledge, MI 48837 Used 9 months ago
 
Yup, I’ll also guess it’s a .357 conversion. Looks like they did a nice job on it, too. :thumbup:

If you’re a hand loader, both of my dedicated .44 Specials love the Eggleston bullets 200 gr RNFP loaded over 7.3 gr Unique. It is accurate in both my Blackhawk and GP 100 and has a bit of pep with easy recoil.

FB29EF90-46D5-4B7F-ACF0-F53D472A63AB.jpeg

And the Missouri Bullet Co 165 gr TCFP over 5.4 gr of IMR Target (or 5.0 of Bullseye) makes for an easy shooting, accurate load as well.

772D8E54-A673-473F-9284-DEA816ECC70A.jpeg

Stay safe.
 
I have a 5 gallon bucket half full of 255 grain wide flat points lubed in my old Lyman sizer to .430 . Yes they will get 7.3 grains of Unique as that has proved accurate in my .44 mags and Special s over the years . I have a 6 hole gang mold for that bullet from the 90 s . Lyman 429244 mold. That load never has gone into my Charter Bulldogs by the way. I tried one cylinder full in my S&W 296 snub and it was too much of a good thing.
 
Gordon said:
I have a 5 gallon bucket half full of 255 grain wide flat points lubed in my old Lyman sizer to .430 . Yes they will get 7.3 grains of Unique as that has proved accurate in my .44 mags and Special s over the years . I have a 6 hole gang mold for that bullet from the 90 s . Lyman 429244 mold. That load never has gone into my Charter Bulldogs by the way. I tried one cylinder full in my S&W 296 snub and it was too much of a good thing.
Click to expand...

Perfect! .2 grains from the Skeeter load I mentioned previously. You would be hard pressed to find something a 255 Grain bullet at 900 FPS that shoots clovers leafs cannot accomplish.
 
Gordon said:
There was a .44 Mag Blackhawk Three screw flat top . I think when then went to the hump sight, still 3 screw era, from a flat top they went to the Super Blackhawk for .44 Magnum . Of course newer guns have non Super Black hawk trim. This one appears to be 1981 Stainless regular Black Hawk New Model 4 5/8 .357 Stainless.
Click to expand...
Wow! Sweet deal! I load my Taurus and Rossi .44Spls mostly with 240gr. LSWC or Speer 200gr. GDHP. I tried XTP's once and they weren't worth the extra $$ compared to Gold Dots, IMO. Unique, No.5 and HS-6 are THE powders for .44Spl. IMO. YMMV. ;)

If you ever feel like trading... ;)
 
Gordon said:
I didn't "get to " my friend too bad, these Astra .44 Mags are comparable in value I believe :
RECENTLY SOLD ASTRA 44 PISTOL
Price Item Condition Date Sold
$680.00 OTHER MODEL ASTRA 44 INOX LARGE STAINLESS .44 MAGNUM DA/SA DOUBLE ACTION REVOLVER, 1987
Simi Valley, CA 93065 Used 2 months ago
$637.77 ASTRA 44 TERMINATOR INOX - .44 MAG INTERARMS INCLUDES SPEEDLOADERS C
Reno, NV 89502 Used 7 months ago
$750.00 .44 MAG. ASTRA MAG 462 BLUED REVL. 6 SHOT DOUBLE ACTION 2 GRIPS MINT FREE SHIP INCH " BARREL
Grand Ledge, MI 48837 Used 9 months ago
Click to expand...
LOL!! Well, as I learned a long, long time ago, all things in the Universe are worth exactly what the buyer is willing to give, and what the seller is willing to take. No more, no less.

I think you both got a great deal and that's how it oughtta be. Enjoy your new-to-you revolver. And here's hoping your friend NEVER NEEDS that Astra!
 
Nice gun, it's a great trade if both sides are happy. The caliber restamp looks like it was done by someone who cared enough to do fine work even on the smallest detail.

Perhaps a call to Ruger could shed some light on it.
 
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