Driftwood Johnson
Member
Howdy Again
With all this talk about Blackhawks and Vaqueros and fixed sights and adjustable sights, I decided to take my 1962 vintage, 6 1/2" 357 Mag Three Screw Blackhawk to the range last Saturday. It had been a long time since it had been out to play.
To make it interesting, I took my Model 27 along too.
I did not bring along a Vaquero, I shoot fixed sight revolvers all the time, this time I wanted to mess around with the Blackhawk.
I brought along a box of Federal American Eagle 357 Mag 158 grain jacketed soft point ammo as well as a few boxes of Federal American Eagle 38 Special 158 grain lead round nosed ammo. I really like the Federal American Eagle stuff. It's usually reasonably inexpensive. Yeah, I have not reloaded any 38 Special in quite a while, but that's a different story.
First, I fired a few cylinders full of 357 mags out of each gun. I was firing offhand, duelist style (that's what we call one handed pistol shooting in CAS). Both guns kicked smartly, but neither was uncomfortable to shoot with their factory grips. Perhaps the Ruger was just slightly more comfortable.
Then I did a little bit of benched shooting with 38s to see which one was more accurate. Of course, the trigger on the Ruger can't hold a candle to the single action trigger of the Smith. That's just a fact of life. So probably because of that, I shot slightly smaller groups with the Smith. Sorry, I did not take any photos.
Then I got down to the serious business of kicking soup cans around at the 25 yard berm. 38 Specials this time. Yes, I was shooting off a rest, that's the way I like to plink at soup cans. Again, because of the Smith's better trigger, I was sending more cans flying with it than the Ruger. I think the Smith's sight picture is a little bit better than the Ruger, so that may account for shooting more cans with the Smith than the Ruger.
Here is the rear sight on the Ruger. This is the old Micro rear sight, probably not what Ruger is putting on them now.
Another view of the Micro rear sight.
Sorry, I don't have a really good comparison photo of the Model 27 sights, this is as best I can do right now. That's the Model 27 in the foreground, a Model 19 in the rear.
Another view of the Model 27 and Model 19 sights. Not really a fair comparison, but my old, weary eyes were better able to line up that tall front sight of the Smith than I could the Ruger sights. Of course, I know I have dragged in a red herring with the Smith, but I was able to shoot better with it.
One more thing. I did not bring a screwdriver with me. The rear sight on this Blackhawk is still set the way I set it when I first sighted it in a few years ago. As I was saying earlier, once I sight in an adjustable sighted revolver, I never readjust it. Even shooting 357 Mags and 38 Specials like I was on Saturday. I just don't. It's easy enough to allow for the different bullet drop of the two different cartridges by adjusting my sight picture a little bit. I'm just shooting at soup cans, I don't need to make that first shot absolutely perfect.
With all this talk about Blackhawks and Vaqueros and fixed sights and adjustable sights, I decided to take my 1962 vintage, 6 1/2" 357 Mag Three Screw Blackhawk to the range last Saturday. It had been a long time since it had been out to play.
To make it interesting, I took my Model 27 along too.
I did not bring along a Vaquero, I shoot fixed sight revolvers all the time, this time I wanted to mess around with the Blackhawk.
I brought along a box of Federal American Eagle 357 Mag 158 grain jacketed soft point ammo as well as a few boxes of Federal American Eagle 38 Special 158 grain lead round nosed ammo. I really like the Federal American Eagle stuff. It's usually reasonably inexpensive. Yeah, I have not reloaded any 38 Special in quite a while, but that's a different story.
First, I fired a few cylinders full of 357 mags out of each gun. I was firing offhand, duelist style (that's what we call one handed pistol shooting in CAS). Both guns kicked smartly, but neither was uncomfortable to shoot with their factory grips. Perhaps the Ruger was just slightly more comfortable.
Then I did a little bit of benched shooting with 38s to see which one was more accurate. Of course, the trigger on the Ruger can't hold a candle to the single action trigger of the Smith. That's just a fact of life. So probably because of that, I shot slightly smaller groups with the Smith. Sorry, I did not take any photos.
Then I got down to the serious business of kicking soup cans around at the 25 yard berm. 38 Specials this time. Yes, I was shooting off a rest, that's the way I like to plink at soup cans. Again, because of the Smith's better trigger, I was sending more cans flying with it than the Ruger. I think the Smith's sight picture is a little bit better than the Ruger, so that may account for shooting more cans with the Smith than the Ruger.
Here is the rear sight on the Ruger. This is the old Micro rear sight, probably not what Ruger is putting on them now.
Another view of the Micro rear sight.
Sorry, I don't have a really good comparison photo of the Model 27 sights, this is as best I can do right now. That's the Model 27 in the foreground, a Model 19 in the rear.
Another view of the Model 27 and Model 19 sights. Not really a fair comparison, but my old, weary eyes were better able to line up that tall front sight of the Smith than I could the Ruger sights. Of course, I know I have dragged in a red herring with the Smith, but I was able to shoot better with it.
One more thing. I did not bring a screwdriver with me. The rear sight on this Blackhawk is still set the way I set it when I first sighted it in a few years ago. As I was saying earlier, once I sight in an adjustable sighted revolver, I never readjust it. Even shooting 357 Mags and 38 Specials like I was on Saturday. I just don't. It's easy enough to allow for the different bullet drop of the two different cartridges by adjusting my sight picture a little bit. I'm just shooting at soup cans, I don't need to make that first shot absolutely perfect.
