trigger job on ruger blackhawk

[1moa@500]

I recently purchased my dream gun after lusting after one for ten years. I have always wanted a 3 screw blackhawk in 44mag to match my model 94. I have run across a few and i new could obtain one due to finances or other curcumstances. I walked into a local Turners recently and saw the 50th anniversary 44mag behind the glass. I was there to purchase a chamber brush for my garand but this pistol caught my eye. I asked the price and the sales clerk told me in was going to be reduced in price due to a scratch on the barrel. I asked for the price and off he went to consult with the manager. I joke with my friend that if he said $400 or und I would but it and I laughed.. To my surprise he told me $350 +tax and I had to make an emergency call to my wife on yet another purchase. She told me to buy the stupid gun because she did not want to here me complain for another ten years. I was reading an article in the Nov Guns Magazine by John Taffin and he mentions that he reduced the trigger pull by removing one leg of the trigger return springof its post on the inside of the grip frame. Is this safe? I have done trigger work on rifles of all sorts but I have little experience with pistols. Does anyone have any experience with this. Any advise would be a great help.

 

[jrhines]

It will reduce the trigger pull, but...

The real question remains with the shooter, can you manipulate a high-powered pistol with a very light trigger? Do you EVER put your finger in the trigger guard before aligning the sights on the target? Do you ever apply your control grip pressure after you place your finger on the trigger? If you answered yes to these last two you will most likely have a hammer spur embedded in your forhead at some point in the future. You may put a round or two over the burm at your local club while your at it. This is not speculation on my part, I have seen it happen at my local range on guns that I prepared and gave long, detailed, stern safety lectures to the owner. He now wears a half-moon scar upon his brow and the spring was replaced back to factory specs. How light was the trigger? It went from a crisp 5lbs to a hairy 14 ozs. Just considering touching the trriger seemed to set it off. Was it safe? I put 200+ rounds through the gun and my brow is un-bloodied, (my hand hurt like hell!!). Is it safe for me? Did I feel safe when on the line with someone else using this gun? Would you feel safe? Is it safe for you? You tell me. YMMV

 

[Old Fuff]

Unhooking one leg of the trigger spring isn't in itself dangerous, and if you feel that the trigger pull has become too light you can hook the leg up again and be back to square one. This is one modification that won't effect your warrantee. You may pick up a bit of creep in the pull that you hadn't noticed before. If in the long run you find that you like the results you can purchase a similar, but lighter spring from Brownells (www.brownells.com) and replace the original spring. If you need to, or want to go back you can switch the springs again.

For more information on what can be done to improve these Ruger Blackhawks, go to The High Road's search feature (in the green bar at the top of the page) and look for posts and threads by Jim March. Lot's of good stuff.

 

[bob k]

I use the one leg unhooked method, I've not noticed more creep but it does make the trigger pull noticeably lighter

 

[ocharry]

1moa,,,, brownells has a spring kit for the ruger blachawk guns that has 3 reduced hammer springs and a reduced trigger return spring. IIRC you can get up to 1/2 lb. out of that spring. i like to use them for final tweeks,, and i(just me) don't like to leave the leg unhooked,, i bend the legs a little at a time to get the trigger to break at around 2 1/2 to 3 lbs. also as Old Fuff said if you lighten the spring pressure and don't do anything else you will probably feel more creep than the trigger already has my .02

ocharry

 

[1moa@500]

thanks for the info o the blackhawk guys. i just purchased a spring kit from wolf and I look forward to posting the results.

 

[Rollinruger]

I did not like the idea of shooting a .44 Ruger with parts not installed properly (i.e. spring leg unhooked) or bending stuff. So, I installed a Wilson Combat trigger and hammer spring kit ($13 bucks at MidwayUSA.com) which lightens and improves trigger feel considerably. It feels safe to me and I would not be concerned letting any experienced shooter use it this way. I feel if you can afford a $600 handgun you can afford $13 bucks for a proper trigger spring kit (assuming you can install it yourself). This kit also comes with a new spring for the cylinder rod but I did not feel it necessary to mess with that.

Trigger pull was OK out of the box but a bit heavy. The original parts can easily be reinstalled if desired.