Blackhawk Shooting tips Needed

[Hollowdweller]

Hi Y'all,

I am decent at pistol shooting as far as autos, but not very good with revolvers, and terrible with the sixgun type revolvers.

I got this new Ruger Blackhawk in .30 M1. Have been having a terrible time keeping them on the paper at 20 yards. Now every now and then off a rest or even offhand I can cut them right together, but mostly just widely spread with no trend except maybe shooting a bit high.

Anyway, can anyone give me any tips to improve my accuracy?

Seems like I've got a bit better since the trigger has broke in a bit, and yesterday I was doing pretty decent with a very high tight grip on the thing, But I don't know if it's the weight (7+" barrel) or what- but there seems to be a bit of wavering in my grip when I'm pulling the trigger. Holding tighter at the top of the grip seems to minimize this some but I'm open to suggestions. Also where should my non trigger hand be? If I put it in the same position I shoot autos on I get too much blasty stuff from the cylinder.

So any tips anyone? I mean with this big long barrel I SHOULD be able to outshoot my Makarov and CZ82 at 25 yards but so far they are beating this Blackhawk. On the other hand the grip design on autos seems to allow for less movement of the gun when I pull the trigger.

 

[Tom C.]

I have a .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk, and a bunch more Blackhawks in .357, .44 and .45. They definitely take some getting used to. The long hammer fall requires more follow-through than you may be used to compared to guns with much shorter hammer fall, like a 1911 or most other autos. Grips play an important role here. I don’t care for the usual Ruger grips. At a minimum I tend to sand them on a belt sander to make them thinner and flat. I often replace them with Eagle Gunfighter grips. Smooth for heavy recoiling calibers, checkered for lighter recoiling calibers. I have checkered grips on my .30 Carbine Blackhawk.
After you get your preferred grips set up on your gun, you really do need a trigger job. I do my own, but if you aren’t familiar with the workings of a Blackhawk, you may want to let someone else to do it. It will greatly help your hammer release. Smooth hammer release and good follow-through (due to the rather extended locktime of the long hammer fall) will help a lot. Anchoring the gun in your hand with good grips will allow you to start extracting the inherent accuracy of the gun.

 

[mountain_cowboy]

The first thing you need is a consistent grip. I have twenty or so Ruger single actions, and most of them are of the standard "plow handle" grip frame type. I normally hold them with my pinky finger going on the bottom of the grip frame, underneath. You shouldn't hold it up high on the handle. With single actions, the recoiling of the gun is supposed to "roll" the gun up into your hand, as your hand slides up the frame. This will also allow your thumb to quickly move up to the hammer for another shot. If I shoot two-handed, I just use my left thumb to re-cock the hammer. Practice with dry-firing to get a consistent grip going.

Next, I'd work on the trigger. If it's a new model, the easiest thing to do is buy a lighter trigger return spring. You can get about four different brands from Brownells. I've tried several brands, and still like Wolff the best. That will make the trigger pull lighter. If you're too cheap to buy the $9.00 aftermarket spring, you can get a free homemade trigger job by unhooking one of the legs from the frame pin on the factory spring. I usually just cut one of mine off, because I don't like the feel of the unhooked leg riding up against the hammer spring. The hammer main spring can also be lightened, but it will decrease lock time, which can actually make accuracy worse. Plus, if you're using surplus ammo, whose primers can be hard, a lighter main spring may cause failures to ignite the primer. Unless you're doing some SASS gaming, the factory hammer spring should be fine.

Thirdly, I'd look at the ammo. If you're not already, try some good quality factory ammo. Since it's .30 carbine, the surplus ammo you may be using was not meant for consistency in revolvers. The variance in the rounds could be putting your shots all over the map.

 

[ACP230]

What kind of ear protection are you using?
The Blackhawk in .30 Carbine has a rep as a very loud gun.
Adding more ear protection could be a help, if the noise is causing you to flinch a bit. I had some trouble with that when I first shot my Contender in .357 Maximum. There was just enough more racket and recoil to start me flinching. Dry fire got me back on track in a couple of weeks.

What kind of ammo are you using? My impression is that .30 Carbine ammo may not be the most accurate stuff made.

 

[Hollowdweller]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

Yeah, follow thru, that's definately a problem. It seems difficult to hold steady while pulling the trigger. Better now that' it's broken in a but but still...

Long hammer fall, yeah now that you mention it I know exactly what you are talking about.

Tom C thanks for the suggetion on the grips!

Mountain Cowboy thanks for the tip on the springs.

The noise doesn't bother me too much, and I have been shooting the Wolf, which seems to shoot ok off a rest, but I never shoot my pistols off a rest so hopefully I can try some of the stuff you suggested and see if it helps

 

[22hipower]

try different ammo- go buy a box of federal ,winchester or ,remington. then try it again i think it itis the ammo

 

[Hollowdweller]

I went outside today and shot a few cylinders. The pinkie under the grip grip suggested by Mt. Cowboy seemed to really make a difference. I think I got all on the paper and a good % age in the black! Also tried to keep the follow thru in mind and that helped too but the pinkie under the grip seems to have the most influence! Thanks! I was really getting discouraged.

 

[Cosmoline]

The first thing you need is a consistent grip. I have twenty or so Ruger single actions, and most of them are of the standard "plow handle" grip frame type. I normally hold them with my pinky finger going on the bottom of the grip frame, underneath. You shouldn't hold it up high on the handle. With single actions, the recoiling of the gun is supposed to "roll" the gun up into your hand, as your hand slides up the frame. This will also allow your thumb to quickly move up to the hammer for another shot. If I shoot two-handed, I just use my left thumb to re-cock the hammer. Practice with dry-firing to get a consistent grip going.

I also shoot with my little finger wrapped below. I find that it's best to forget the Weaver stance or similar modern handgun stances. These are old-school handguns. If you wrap your palm under the thing it's just going to get smacked. Fire bullseye with a wrist brace and I'll bet your group improves. The roll should be enough to take the hammer right back up to your thumb, and you can then let the handgun fall back down towards the target as you cock it. Just don't fight it too much.

 

[Hollowdweller]

Much better with the under the pinkie grip and I got some slightly thinner grips too.

I couldn't keep them on the paper at 20 yards before and now I can keep most in the black at 25. I shot these this evening at 25 no rest. Thanks for the great tips!

 

[Cosmoline]

Love the look of those grips--are those commercial or custom?

 

[MCgunner]

You may wanna resort to a non-traditional grip, finger groove. The ones I picked up at a gun show for my .357 sure feel good, though I like and shoot traditional SA grips well, too. I can shoot about anything and get used to about any grip angle. I'm not real fussy about that. If the gun is accurate, I can hit with it.

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=36061&d=1140748446

 

[depicts]

What some of the guys said about letting the gun roll up in the hand is important too. But to me it means NOT holding the gun so tight. Instead of exerting all that muscle strain trying to hold the gun rigid, hold it comfortably snug, but not tight, in the hand, and let it roll with recoil after the shot.

Blackhawk triggers get better with use and dry firing, and dry firing itself can help build the new muscle memory you need to shoot them well.

Last, I sand or file all my Blackhawk grips to eliminate edges and ridges that don't feel comfotable after a few times shooting the gun. Each grip is a little different, and for me, ones with a nice curving radius to the gun's frame work best. They are good for commercial grips, but a little ole whittlin' and some sandpaper can make a huge difference

 

[Hollowdweller]

Cosmoline,

Ebay grips. I think the maker was Bear Paw Grips. The finish isn't very good but the fit excellent.
Curley maple actually matches a knife I own



Depicts,

Yeah, I took note of that and I found it to be true.

To celebrate my new found accuracy with a gun I had almost given up on I promptly ordered a case of 1000.