Accuracy of Ruger Blackhawk 9mm?

[Bill B.]

Is there any drop off in accuracy with the 9mm cylinder in the Ruger Blackhawk Convertible 357 mag 9mm? Just curious as I had forgotten about them being available with the 9mm cylinder.

 

[mongo4567]

I haven't put mine on a bag, but it seems just as accurate as any long barreled .357/.38...more accurate than I can tell. I usually shoot at clays at 17 yards, any misses are me.

 

[potmetal]

I've heard some complaints about the accuracy of the .45acp cylinder, in the .45colt/45acp version, but not as many complaints about the 9mm. I don't see new ones with the long barrels for sale. I would think a longer barrel would help accuracy.

 

[Bill B.]

The ones I had seen were the Ruger Blackhawk's 4 5/8 version in stainless and had some great looking grips on them. Much better looking grips than they used to come with and appeared they may have been high polish stainless. May have been a special run for Davidson's or someone.

 

[CraigC]

The .45's tend to shoot very well because they both utilize the same diameter bullet, while the 9mm's tend to be no better than "acceptable".

 

[ClemY]

The problem with shooting 9mm in the .357 NMBH is that the throats of both my .357 and 9mm cylinders are .358”. This is fine for the .357” bullets of the .357, but it is a little oversized for the .355” bullets typical of 9mm. That said, my .357 NMBH is very accurate with the .357 cylinder, and nearly as accurate with the 9mm cylinder and CCI Blazer elchepo 9mm ammo. I didn’t expect that level of accuracy with the 9mm cylinder and was very pleasantly surprised.

I also have a couple of .45 Colt NMBHs with .45 ACP cylinders. The .45 Colt chamber throats were very tight. When the throats were opened to .4525”, things got much better. One of the .45 ACP cylinders was also very tight. I opened it with the same reamer. It is now very accurate, too. For range work, I am usually using the .45 ACP cylinder.

 

[MMCSRET]

I load my 9MM for use in my NMBH with Ideal cast bullet #358345. It drops at 110 gr. using wheel weights and sized to .358. Works great at +p velocities from a 6 1/2" barrel.
Fun and accurate. 9MM jacketed bullets didn't work for sour owl s**t.

 

[1911Tuner]

Having only had one experience...and that just recently with the aquisition of a convertible Blackhawk...I was surprised and pretty well pleased at how well it shot with the 9mm cylinder. I haven't tried it yet with cast bullets, but it shot well on 25 yard falling plates with jacketed 115-grain ammo. Recoil was almost laughable.

 

[Mr.Squinty]

Two years ago I bought a used Ruger Convertible Blackhawk 9mm/.357.

I read a few accounts of 9mm inaccuracy; however, in my gun the nine was fine.

Now it is not quite as accurate as the .357 but it is at least as accurate as the typical 9mm semi auto pistol.

Normally, I use the .357 cylinder in my gun. But the way I see it, the 9mm cylinder is useful for shooting hot surplus ammo. There's lots of surplus 9mm ammo that was intended for use in submachineguns. And you can safely shoot any 9mm ammo in a Blackhawk.

Every now and then I also shoot my handloads in the 9mm cylinder. I found that a 115 grain JHP chronographed at 1250 fps when fuelled by 4.9 grains of 231 powder. I expected that the cylinder gap would cause me to lose velocity but this was not so.

Mr. Squinty