Good thread...
There's a lightly used Blackhawk convertible .45 at the LGS right now that's on my short list. Inexpensive enough that I might be able to squeeze in a RIA 1911 or that used Calico as well and still stay in my Budget this spring.
My Sister is the Ruger shooter in the family at the moment, and she's had a love affair with her .357 Redhawk for some time now. Her husband eventually is going to show me where to find Oregon hogs, prompting my need for a more solid wheelgun for the odd Hunting round.
I already load my own .45 colt, but had myself convinced that I'd need a .44 mag for the little bit of extra strength, until finding an article Mr Linebaugh wrote.
http://www.customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm
"The Ruger Blackhawks and Bisley models chambered for .45 Colt are approximately 80% as strong as the same Ruger chambered for .44 magnum. This means we can load the .45 Colt to 80% of the pressure of the .44 Magnum round and still maintain the 100% safety level. 80% of 40,000 is 32,000.
To check our findings we again turned to H.P White Labs and their findings paralleled ours. Ruger Blackhawks in .45 Colt caliber were destroyed in controlled test conditions at approximately 60,000 CUP pressure levels"
I don't think I'll ever load something hot enough to approach his tests, but a very good read for Ruger newcomers like us. I'll get a .44 later, but I can stay within my .45 caliber reloading for now.