Riomouse911
Member
I really wasn’t in the market for another SA, but once in a while you just can’t say no to a gun in nice shape. Especially in a caliber you already have ammo for and experience with reloading. 
I picked up this 4 5/8” .45 Colt Blackhawk that only had a little scuff at the end of the ejector rod housing, the usual Ruger turn line and a tiny discolored spot on the side of the front sight. The rest of the gun looks like it was hardly fired at all.
I took it to the range on Friday with three home-brewed loads; a 185 gr SWC over 8.0 gr Unique, a 200 gr RNFP over 9.0 gr Unique and a 230 gr RNL (.45 ACP bullet) over 8.5 gr Unique.
After trying to adjust the sights using a foam shooting block to support the frame in front of the trigger guard and another for my wrists. I saw that it seemed to be consistently a bit low at 15 yards. The shots came up a bit as I shot, but this may require a bit of material removed from the front sight to bring them up a bit more.
Using the foam rests, I shot a six-shot group of these three loads at 20 yards, which is as far out as this indoor range has. These are basically X and 10-rings on a B-27 target. (I adjusted the windage as I was shooting this series.) The top of my front sight was set right at the mid-point of the orange ovals.
#3 above was the 185 gr load. It is really a pleasant load to shoot, but it shot pretty low and a bit right. (Even with playing with the elevation it still consistently shot low.) I don’t have too many more of these loaded up, but I do have 250 of the coated 200 gr swc that I will use when these are gone.
#4 was next, it was the 200 gr RNFP. This is a fairly high velocity load that hit a bit higher than the 185 gr load did. It also had a bit more recoil, but it wasn’t magnum-level recoil at all. This shoots great in my old Vaquero as well as my Rossi 16” ‘92, and is a load that I will e keeping in the rotation for as long as I can find Unique to load with.
#5 had pretty much the same impact area as the 200 gr load did. This one doesn’t kick much and was one of my favorite SASS target bullets as it is super easy to drop into the revolver’s loading gate compared to SWC type loads. I don’t use it in the rifle because the nose is a bit pointy on the primer compared to RNFP bullets, but I bet it moves effortlessly through the ‘92 action should I ever try.
One thing I noticed on these targets, and a couple of others I shot with this Ruger, was that one round usually impacted just a bit higher than the other five no matter what load was fired. The Blackhawk may have one chamber just a bit off compared to the others in the cylinder. The next time I shoot it I will try to isolate my shots on separate targets to figure out if this single flyer is consistent, or if it was just a product of my fair-to-middlin firearm skills.
I’m happy with this new revolver. Even though I wasn’t looking for one like it to add to the stash, it shot well and functioned perfectly. This newest .45 brings my Ruger SA total up to 9 (In 6 calibers), which is more than enough to keep me busy fiddling around with them for quite a while.
Stay safe.
I picked up this 4 5/8” .45 Colt Blackhawk that only had a little scuff at the end of the ejector rod housing, the usual Ruger turn line and a tiny discolored spot on the side of the front sight. The rest of the gun looks like it was hardly fired at all.
I took it to the range on Friday with three home-brewed loads; a 185 gr SWC over 8.0 gr Unique, a 200 gr RNFP over 9.0 gr Unique and a 230 gr RNL (.45 ACP bullet) over 8.5 gr Unique.
After trying to adjust the sights using a foam shooting block to support the frame in front of the trigger guard and another for my wrists. I saw that it seemed to be consistently a bit low at 15 yards. The shots came up a bit as I shot, but this may require a bit of material removed from the front sight to bring them up a bit more.
Using the foam rests, I shot a six-shot group of these three loads at 20 yards, which is as far out as this indoor range has. These are basically X and 10-rings on a B-27 target. (I adjusted the windage as I was shooting this series.) The top of my front sight was set right at the mid-point of the orange ovals.
#3 above was the 185 gr load. It is really a pleasant load to shoot, but it shot pretty low and a bit right. (Even with playing with the elevation it still consistently shot low.) I don’t have too many more of these loaded up, but I do have 250 of the coated 200 gr swc that I will use when these are gone.
#4 was next, it was the 200 gr RNFP. This is a fairly high velocity load that hit a bit higher than the 185 gr load did. It also had a bit more recoil, but it wasn’t magnum-level recoil at all. This shoots great in my old Vaquero as well as my Rossi 16” ‘92, and is a load that I will e keeping in the rotation for as long as I can find Unique to load with.
#5 had pretty much the same impact area as the 200 gr load did. This one doesn’t kick much and was one of my favorite SASS target bullets as it is super easy to drop into the revolver’s loading gate compared to SWC type loads. I don’t use it in the rifle because the nose is a bit pointy on the primer compared to RNFP bullets, but I bet it moves effortlessly through the ‘92 action should I ever try.
One thing I noticed on these targets, and a couple of others I shot with this Ruger, was that one round usually impacted just a bit higher than the other five no matter what load was fired. The Blackhawk may have one chamber just a bit off compared to the others in the cylinder. The next time I shoot it I will try to isolate my shots on separate targets to figure out if this single flyer is consistent, or if it was just a product of my fair-to-middlin firearm skills.
I’m happy with this new revolver. Even though I wasn’t looking for one like it to add to the stash, it shot well and functioned perfectly. This newest .45 brings my Ruger SA total up to 9 (In 6 calibers), which is more than enough to keep me busy fiddling around with them for quite a while.
Stay safe.
