Reviving a worn blackhawk

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tikka-guy

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I've acquired a Ruger New Model Blackhawk in 30 carbine. As you can see, it needs some work. My original thoughts were to give it an Aluma-Hyde II treatment, but after doing some reading, it doesn't seem like that's a great option for revolvers. The tolerances are too tight for my unskilled hand, and the blast can cause the finish to be worn off the top strap quickly.

So now I'm leaning towards just shipping it off to Ruger and having them reblue the thing. Any other ideas or suggestions? I suppose Parkerizing/phosphating could be an option. Is that fairly easy to do at home?

I also need to think about some grips. Again, the standard wood grips straight from Ruger are the easy way out...

Any comments/suggestions are much appreciated!
 
I'd let Ruger do it if you want to do it for short-ish money.

Anything that requires blasting or spraying on would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down at the bottom of my list of options IMO.

If your pockets are a bit deeper, a trip to Doug Turnbull for a CCH and blue job would look really nice.
 
Some great looking pieces on Turnbull's website. So I'd have to do the CCH AND the blueing? From the looks of it, most of the revolvers on there have a CCH frame and a cylinder and barrel that have been blued.

Sadly, deep pockets are not something I'm blessed with at the moment :)
 
Good God, it looks like someone mistook sulfuric acid for gun oil.
I'd probably send it to Ruger for a refinish.
Either that, or grit blast/blue it, or Parkerize it.
Don't feel bad. I have a Dan Wesson .357 that looks like that. I got it cheap, because of that.
I think I'm just going to parkerize it.
 
Oh yes!!! PARKERIZE it! The grip frame I believe is aluminum so you'll have to use something else on that. Ruger might be able to re anodize the grip frame for not much, call and ask them (and also ask about re blue prices). Everybody at the range always drops what they're doing and stares when you touch off a .30 Carb Blackhawk. And it gets real quiet for a few seconds. Then you start to hear "What the heck was THAT!!!?"
 
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I am pretty sure Ruger has prices for reblueing on their website. I would have a gunsmith check the gun out before doing anything to it. The gun looks like it has been in a house fire.
 
If you don't like the aluminum grip Ruger used to sell the steel SBH grip frame and for a few bucks more they'll fit it to te gun. Had a Blackhawk in 45 Colt that I had them put a SS SBH grip frame and it looked very nice with it.
 
Wow that looks positively nasty! Reminds me of that old expression of being rode hard and put away wet, only in this case it looks like it was subjected to some other abuse as well. I would see what Ruger to do for it as my first choice for any repairs and renovation.
 
I agree it looks like it has been in a house fire.

Do the springs still work??

If the springs are soft, it got hot enough to anneal them.
Which also ruined the heat treated cylinder & frame.

rc
 
I'd send it to Ruger for evaluation and restore if possible. I've seen a few guns they refinished, sent in by the LGS I worked at. If they check it out as OK, it will come back looking like new, and for a fair price.
 
Some great looking pieces on Turnbull's website. So I'd have to do the CCH AND the blueing? From the looks of it, most of the revolvers on there have a CCH frame and a cylinder and barrel that have been blued.

Sadly, deep pockets are not something I'm blessed with at the moment
Click to expand...

You don't have to do the CCH, but it sure is nice.

I'm sure Turnbull will do an all blue finish, but none of his work comes cheap.

Ruger is going to be your best bet on a budget IMO.
 
The springs do still work. Everything looks to be in order with it. We *safely* test fired it, and it fired properly, and was quite accurate. One thing I did NOT think about, was that we only fired one cylinder. It's possible one of the others is weakened. I definitely don't consider it 100% safe at this point.

So, as excited as I am to see the thing be refinished, a professional evaluation needs to be the first step. So Ruger will take care of that as well? It seems more and more like shipping it off to Ruger is the way to go. I'd like a unique looking blackhawk, but I certainly like the way they look from factory, so I might as well go the easiest and most affordable route.

If I were to take it to a gunsmith for an evaluation, any ballpark idea of what that would cost?
 
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Send it to Ruger.

Most shade-tree gunsmiths have no way to evaluate fire damage, other then annealed springs.

I have been hovering around this stuff for 50+ years, and I even landed in or on it a time or two.
But I couldn't tell you if a fire damaged cylinder is damaged on one side, or both sides, or no sides, or what.

I am still leaning on fire damaged because of the appearance of the metal, and the missing grips that probably burned off.

rc
 
I would send it to Ruger.
They can evaluate any damage & give you peace of mind.

If it checks out OK to them, a re-blue would look awful purdy.
 
Looks more like neglect than fire damage to me but I'm no expert.

Way too much hand polishing is necessary to bring the metal up to the standards for a Turnbull job. Which will easily cost as much as it would to replace the whole sixgun and that's just the prep BEFORE the finish work is factored in.

Best bet is to send it to Ruger. Nobody will do as good a job as cheap as Ruger. They have not anodized grip frames in quite a few years but would probably end up replacing it. They won't do anything better than the original finish so if you want it to look like a pre-war S&W, you need to send it somewhere else. Like I said, the prep work necessary will make it exorbitantly expensive.
 
So whenever you hear someone mention "truck gun", you know what they're talking about. That looks exactly like an Arkansas truck gun if I ever seed one. Been in the old tool box for years.
 
The reason I think it was in a fire is areas that make no contact with a holster are bare but the cylinder is still blue. The cylinder would be rubbed shiny if that were holster wear.
 
Looks like I'm going to send it to Ruger. Just need to give them a call to set it up I guess.

If it was in a fire and the grip frame is aluminum, will it likely need replaced? When did they start using aluminium grip frames, or what is the best way to tell if its aluminum? It feels different than steel, but hard to say for sure.

I'm hoping at most they'll need to replace the grip frame, cylinder and springs.
 
It is aluminum, I can tell just by looking at it. All blued Blackhawks have had aluminum grip frames since the very beginning in 1955. The only exceptions I know of are the Buckeye exclusive .32H&R/.32-20 and .38-40/10mm convertibles that were all polished and blued steel.
 
a house fire would have melted the aluminum frame. the steel should be fine.

i have an om flattop 357 with a frame and barrel that looks like that. the bluing job on those ain't the greatest.

murf
 
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The bluing is pretty much the same, regardless of the maker. The difference lies in the prep work and no bluing will stand up to the neglect this sixgun has obviously lived through. It looks like it was left in a soft case for a long time and moisture got into it.
 
i think you made a wise choice. pics of the gun when you get it back from ruger would be nice. ruger may even put grips on it for you if you ask.

murf
 
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