New -vs- used Ruger Blackhawk

[anotherKevin]

I was looking for a single six, and bought one just recently. I don't have any other Ruger revolvers, but wanted a single action. The counter guy mentioned something along the lines of how the new ones didn't need to be half cocked to load them, reverse indexing perhaps?

Anyway, bottom line is that there was a used .38/.357 blackhawk that I'd like to get next, (unknown age, but it looked pretty much new), and I want to make sure that the loading style is pretty much the same for the single six and the blackhawk. My rationale is that this is for me to use and to teach the kids, and I want an operationally identical method, for consistency.

As far as I can tell from the forums the last "big" change was in 73, but I could have sworn I heard something about the "indexing" having changed in the last year or two.

 

[461]

Indexing changed for the anniversary model and the newest Vaqueros, but it's not a big change and simply lines up the hole with the ejector rod. The guy you were talking to was talking about "Old Model" guns and you are exactly right about them being pre-'73. Sounds like your man doesn't get out much.

Actually there are a lot of new single actions on the market from other makers that have the old style lockwork where you still have to halfcock them to index the cylinder, he may have been talking about them as well, cowboy guns are very popular right now.

 

[Joe Gunns]

On new models opening the loading gate frees the cylinder, however it can only rotate in one direction so if you dont get the chamber lined up correctly you have to do a full rotation to bring it up again. There are aftermarket "free spin" modifications you can get to allow free rotation in either direction. Be advised that if you have to send the gun to Ruger for warrenty work, they will remove any such modifications to restore the gun to their original standards.

Also, while the new models have the transfer bar mechanism that allows carrying a load of six safely, it is an additional part to break. And they do break. I used to see complaints of broken transfer bars with some regularity back when I frequented the cowboy shooting boards. Granted, those boys put a lot of wear on their guns, but the bottom line is that dependability will just a scooch less compared to non-transfer bar guns.