Black Hawk .45 Pros and Cons Question

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MRCapps

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First post - nice to be here.

Looking at buying a revolver soon and I THINK :)o) that I have narrowed down my choices to one...

I am looking at getting the Ruger "new model" Blackhawk Convertible .45 ACP - .45 Colt.

Anybody had experience with them? Good or bad? Hates? Likes? Reliable? and so forth.

Thanks guys!
 
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Welcome to THR!

I like my Ruger Bisley Blackhawk Convertible. I can't think of any cons, except that I think I like the Super Blackhawk hammer better. I am undecided on the Bisley grip. It seems you are looking at the standard Blackhawk, not Bisley, so these won't affect you. Mine is as reliable as can be.
 
I like the bisley's but the barrel is too long for me. I like the 5.50" Wish they had a shorter barrel for em. Beautiful guns!!

Thank you
 
I have a 7.5" Bisley-Blackhawk (.45 Colt) and I love it. But I shot a friend's Blackhawk .45 convertible with a shorter barrel (looked like about a 6" or 6.5" but I don't know) and it felt a lot better in my hand. Less muzzle-heavy and faster on-target.

Vern said:
did buy a set of rubberized wrap-around grips which helps a lot when shooting "Ruger only" loads.
Click to expand...
The previous owner put checkered rosewood grips on mine. They'll rip the skin off your palm if you shoot too many hot loads, but they are too purdy to take off (I have the original smooth walnut grips too.)
 
Ruger recently did a distributor special run of stainless .45 Bisley convertibles with 5½" barrels.

The .45Colt is a fine choice but you will need to handload to take full advantage of its potential.
 
Love em. These are both in .45 Colt. The 7 1/2" is mine and the 5 1/2" is my dad's. They both shoot like champs. I like the wood grips better though. I've got some rubber wrap arounds but they just take away from the classic single action look. They go on only when the heavy loads come out to play.

Dadsnewgun026.jpg
 
I have the 45Colt/45ACP convertible with a 4 5/8 barrel. Great gun except the factory black plastic grips, I put some birdseye maple grips on mine. I also installed the bisley hammer and worked on the trigger some.

Mine is very accurate with both ammo types although the sites won't adjust low enough with 300 grain handloads. It shoots about an inch high at 25 yds with those and the sight as low as it will go.

IMG_4025.jpg
 
I can't think of any cons right off the bat. I really like mine and have yet to hunt with it but plan on doing so in the future. Mine is the 5-1/2" barrel. I am having a good time experimenting with 45 Colt loads.

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Thanks for the input guys. With the convertible, are there any rounds (besides the wrong caliber) that you wouldn't recommend using? I have heard that the Redhawks are a better built gun... but I like the looks of the BH.
 
I have one of the 5.5" stainless Bisley convertibles. Don't really have anything bad to say about it. I did have to have the throats reamed as they were tiny (.450) and I got a lot of leading. I sent both cylinders off to Cylindersmith.com and no more leading.

One other small issue, .45acp ammo can be hard to get all the way into the cylinder, especially LSCWs with the full diameter shoulder beyond the case mouth.
I almost never use the ACP cylinder though as I reload and I have more .45 colt brass than I do acp brass. That and I like the heavy loads :)
 
The gun itself is great. But I'd want to ask myself just how much I would shoot .45ACP from a single action gun. I know from my own SAA guns that they are easy to load due to the length of the .38Spl that I shoot mostly in mine. And the times I've borrowed a .45Colt gun the length of the cartridges makes the gun very easy to load and empty. I suspect that the shorter length of the .45ACP would make both of these aspects more of a fumble around. Besides, as you get into reloading, which you'll want to do with the .45Colt rounds, you'll be able to tailor the load so well that I suspect the .45ACP cylinder won't see that much use after the novelty of it wears off. At least I know this would be the case for myself. Given this I'd rather just buy the non convertable version and save a bit of cash to put towards setting up for the reloading process.
 
I debated on the convertible when I bought mine. The main advantage everyone talks about is that the .45 acp ammo is cheaper. I handload, so I can load em up pretty cheap. Just under $20 a hundred using brass I already have and lead bullets. Stepping up to Hornady XTPs don't add a whole lot to it. I didn't really see the advantage.
 
That joker has been trying to sell that Blackhawk for $950 for at least a year and a half. I think I got mine for about $500.
 
The Blackhawk Convertible in .45/.45acp is my favorite handgun. I have both 4 5/8 and 5 1/2 and like them both but tend to like the shorter barrel better as it is more "usable" for me. I have a line on a 7.5 inch convertible which I am finding more and more tempting, though I have little use for such a long barrel other than to have it and see if I can hit a bit further out with it (which is a perfectly fine "use for it" I guess...:D.
 
Well, since I am looking at reloading (eventually) would it be worth it to go with the SBH convertible .45? Or is it pretty much the same gun?

Thanks a lot guys!
 
I really enjoy mine. I didn't go with the 45colt/ACP version. Didn't think the acp would see any use, as I can load the 45colt to acp velocities. One word of caution, mine did need to have the cylinder throats reamed (Cylindersmith.com is awesome). I hear lots of people have this issue with factory new Bhawks in .45colt. Couldn't figure out why my .45 wouldn't shoot nearly as well as the .44. Measured factory throats were a tad over .450, reamed they went .4525. Made a TON of difference shooting lead. Went from a 4" 25yd gun to a 1-2" gun (the gun can do it...I can't...sniff, sniff). Buy it, you'll really enjoy it.
 
I bought the convertible thinking I would shoot the .45 Auto more, and occasionally reload the .45 Colt. I was wrong. Once I started reloading for the .45 Colt, the Auto cylinder just sat in the box. I think I shot a grand total of 100 rounds of .45 Auto through the gun, although it shot those very well. If I had to do it over again, I would have gotten the regular .45 Colt version.

The Blackhawk can handle anything you throw at it. A Redhawk may be a tad stronger, but it's a much bigger, heavier gun that handles completely differently than a single action.
 
I have so far resisted the temptation to get a .45 ACP cylinder for my Blackhawk, for the same reason.

I have M1911s to shoot .45 ACP. Why do I need to shoot the same cartridge in my Blackhawk?
 
MRCapps, good luck on checking with Williams for what you want. Since you plan on reloading "eventually", I doubt you would regret starting out with a convertible since that is going to have a beneficial affect on shooting right away for really a nominal extra cost for the acp cylinder. If you don't use .45 acp a great deal at a later date, you won't be out much and depending on how much you shoot before getting into reloading, you will probably be money ahead. Seems like a no-lose situation to me. Around here Walmart has 100 round valu-paks of .45 acp ball for around 33-34 dollars and they shoot pretty good. Compared to 75-80 dollars minimum for a 100 rounds of factory 45 Colt around here, it won't take you long to save the cost of that extra cylinder.

BTW, a 5 1/2 inch Bisley Convertible from Williams was going for somewhere under $600 before (I think I paid around $570 for mine). I don't know that they still have them or if the price has gone up but if they do it shouldn't cost you anywhere near $900
 
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