Ruger Blackhawk owners...

[goon]

I had a Blackhawk in .45LC.
I didn't shoot it much because the triggerguard smacked the hell out of my middle finger. No fun.
Lately, I have come into a supply of 357 Mag ammo and no gun to shoot it out of. (See my thread about the S&W M-28.)
I have found a couple of .357 Blackhawks in town for around $225-$250.
Since I still have some cash left over from my refund on the M-28, I have taken an interest in them.
The only thing is, the triggerguard thing. I think this could be solved by a set of grips, but I am not sure.
Now to the point; have any of you other guys had this problem and will a different set of grips cure it?
Thanks.

 

[Coastey]

If you don't mind the look of black rubber on a single action revolver, I believe Pachmayer grips fill in part of the space behind the trigger guard so your middle finger doesn't get smacked. A more expensive fix is to change the grip frame to a Super Blackhawk grip frame. I read somewhere that the squared-off trigger guard of the Super Blackhawk is suppose to "cure" the middle finger rapping syndrome. However, I've never had a problem with my middle finger being smacked with either a Blackhawk or Super Blackhawk...so you can take my advice with a grain of salt.

 

[J Miller]

First of all if you have normal hands and the middle knuckle is getting smacked by the trigger guard on a pidly .45 your doing something wrong.

A single action is supposed to roll back in your hand. If you are shooting it with death grip and preventing it from doing this you'll get smacked.
And the most painfull SA I ever fired was a Ruger Vaquero .44Mag with a 7.5" barrel. The owner had put a set of the big rubber grips on it and it could not roll. Plus the rubber grabbed at my skin and in six rounds my hand was raw from the friction.

I hold mine with a firm consistant grip, with my pinkie finger under the bottome of the grip. Then when I shoot it, I keep it controled and just allow it to roll back.

I have retrofitted both my OM Ruger SA's with the older XR3 (Colt) grip frame. I find it works much better for me than the XR3-RED, even with +P loads.

My suggestion to you is to take your .45 and practice with it. Try different grips styles untill you reach the compromise between grip control and letting it roll like it was designed to do.

And I think you will find that a Ruger BH in .357 will have a sharper recoil than a .45. Unless you perfect your grip still it will smack you too.

Been there, done that.
Been shooting SA sixguns for nigh on 30 years now. Even in my sleep.

 

[Jim March]

Ya, something is wrong here. You're either holding it wrong, or your hand size/shape is oddball.

There are both rubber and wood grips for the XR3-RED grip frame that fill in the gap behind the triggerguard. That's one solution. It wouldn't be too hard to make an "insert" for that area out of wood or other materials.

There's also the Eagle "Gunfighter" grip which is skinnier towards the bottom 3/4ths of the grip - that would change your knuckle position quite a bit, letting it wrap further around and perhaps getting it out of the way. I suspect that right now, you've the first finger joint of the middle finger pointing right at the triggerguard, forming a "high point" that's getting nailed good. If so, Gunfighters will help a lot.

There's a lot of ways to skin this cat. You can change grip frames completely to any of several other types, including an aftermarket version of the Ruger Bird's-Head grip (made by Qualitas). We have a whole thread going on Ruger SA hop-up parts starting here:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80872

 

[Old Fuff]

While you are looking, check out the Ruger/Bisley style grip. It is entirely different and may be the answer to you're problem. I have no trouble with standard Blackhawk's in .44 Magnum, but I have small hands, and hand size does make a difference.

Also, as has been pointed out, custom grips that fill in the area behind the trigger guard often take care of the situation.

Last but not least, the .357 Blackhawk weigh more then the .45's, and the additional weight helps counter recoil.

 

[caz223]

I have a rubber uncle mike's grip on my .41 blackhawk, and it hasn't smacked me yet.
I also have a .41 mag hunter, and with the stock 'dragoon' grips that people seem to find desirable, it beats up my left hand, first knuckle.

 

[LAH]

Goon I think you'll find shooting the 357 easy on the hand and middle finger. There is a world of difference in moving a 250-300 gr. bullet and a 150-170. The large caliber Blackhawk tend to bump my finger but the 357 in such a heavy gun is a pussycat.

 

[goon]

My hand size may be kind of strange.
I have pretty good sized hands.
I can easily manage a large doublestack 9mm. A quick measurement with my hand fanned out gives me 9.25 inches from the tip of my pinky to the tip of my thumb.
I don't know if that is what you guys call big, but compared to most of the people I know it is.
What happened before was that the first section of my fingers would get sort of levered against the grip, and that would cause my knuckles to kind of stick out in sort of an angle. There was room behind the triggerguard, but when the gun rolled, the triggerguard hit me every time.
I was shooting 255 gr hard cast lead RNFP bullets over 11gr of Unique (I think, it has been awhile.) I had bought the gun for hunting deer, so I needed a fairly powerful load.
It was powerful enough alright. My finger was usually bruised in the first cylinder full and sometimes bleeding by the time I got through the second.
It was a shame, because it was a nice gun.
But a gun that you can't shoot is of no use, so I sold it.
I was too inexperienced to know any better. One of those choices you kick yourself for later.
Anyhow, my experience with the DA revolvers I have had have shown me that the shape of the grip makes a lot of difference.
So now that I have money left over from a refund, a bunch of .357 ammo that needs shot up, and a constant need for more guns, the Blackhawk is getting some serious attention.
I am thinking that I could pull it off with the right grips.
Depending on what else arises that I need to spend money on, we may find out soon enough.
Thanks.I will look into your suggestions.

 

[Jim March]

Somebody mentioned a Bisley conversion; this is perhaps a good approach, and entirely doable. Brownell's has a full kit with all the parts except grip panels for less than $200...see the thread I cited above.

Ruger's rendition of the Bisley is known for it's ability to soak up BIG recoil. But in your case, you need to get to a gun store and try one out, see where your knuckle is.

On the Dragoon-type SuperBlackhawk grips, the problem you describe is VERY common indeed. But it's not nearly so common with the XR3-RED.

Doesn't mean it can't happen though!

I still think the *cheapest* solution would be a grip swap. Or fill that area behind the triggerguard. Find somebody who shoots Ruger SAs with no problem, and compare their grip method and resulting knuckle placement with yours. All Blackhawks and Vaqueros use the same XR3-RED grip frame, as does SuperBlackhawks with 4.68 and 5.5" barrels.

 

[sctman800]

I had the same problem with my Blackhawk .41mag plus I didn't have anywhere to put my little finger, I didn't feel comfortable with it hanging below the grip. My other .41mag is a Taurus with their ribber grips, which I love. I put a set of Houge rubber grips on the blackhawk and love them. The gun stays solid in my hand instead of rolling up, but I was never really comfortable with that. They also extend the grip downward so now there is room for my little finger. I am real happy with them and they are inexpensive, another reason I like them. Jim.

 

[Bill Adair]

Goon,

A friend and I both had that middle knuckle bashing problem with our stainless 45 Colt Blackhawks, mine with a 5.5" barrel, and his with a 7.5" barrel. We also have very different sized hands, so it's apparently not hand size alone that causes the problem.

I installed Packmyer Presentations grips on mine, and he installed Hogue rubber grips of the same style, and both eliminated the discomfort completely.

I've shot some hot reloads in mine (250gr LRN at 1350 fps) with the new grips, and there was no knuckle busting in spite of the heavy recoil. Get those aftermarket grips, and you will enjoy your Blackhawk again, without the pain.

Bill

 

[444]

I have never had the problem you describe with any of my Blackhawks or my Super Blackhawk, but your hand does sound large. I have a set of grips on my SBH that completely fill the space behind the trigger guard. I didn't buy them for that reason, but for you, they would probably eliminate your problem.

I did have a problem with my first finger getting severely rapped with a .454 Redhawk. I realized that I wasn't holding the gun tight enough. Paying more attention to my grip solved the problem. The .454 has some serious recoil and showed me the error of my ways. The problem has now been totally eliminated since I was introduced to the Weaver stance.