New Wheel Gun Headed My Way

[waco]

I've had the itch to get a new revolver for sometime now. I had really thought about a .327 Fed Mag and almost pulled the trigger on one. The only thing that really stopped me was my wallet. A new caliber that I have never cast for means new dies, conversion for the Dillon, Brass, mold, ect...
It didn't take but a few days of adding stuff up to talk myself out of that purchase....for now...
I have been eyeballing a Ruger Blackhawk for sometime. It's a Lipsey convertible chambered in 45 Colt with a 45 ACP cylinder. It has a Bisley grip frame, grey/black laminated scales and is SS. It has a 3 3/4" barrel. I really like a 4" revolver and don't think a 1/4" shorter barrel will make too much difference at the distances I'll be shooting this. It should pack nicely. The Dillon 550 is already set up for both 45 cartridges and I have an NOE H&G 68 200gr SWC mold, a Lee 200gr RNFP, an RCBS 45-270-SAA, and a very nice single cavity Ideal mold that Ian had modified to drop a 300+gr RNFP thumper. Simply Rugged makes a very nice pancake style holster that can be worn either strongside or cross draw. My only other 45 Colt revolver is a Cimmeron SAA. Pretty limited to loads I can run through it. Looking forward to a super strong Ruger.

Sourdough Pancake™- (MED TO LARGE FRAME REVOLVERS)- Leather Concealment Holster

Sourdough Pancake™ - Leather Concealment Holster - FOR MEDIUM & LARGE FRAMED REVOLVERS Leather completely encompasses the pistol Three belt slots, 1.75" in width Designed to be worn either strong side (15 degree cant) or crossdraw (45 degree cant) Chesty Puller straps can be worn with this...

www.simplyrugged.com

Ruger® New Model Blackhawk® Convertible Single-Action Revolver Model 0475

ruger.com

 

[waco]

OH yeah. On a side note. I thought the price wasn't too bad for a new Ruger Lipsey. $670 shipped.

 

[StrawHat]

I have had Rugers but found I do not like all the extra weight. Hope you enjoy yours.

Kevin

 

[Brad]

670 shipped isn’t bad at all.

My BH in 45 Colt is mostly fed a 300 gr bullet in the 900 FPS range. Manageable recoil and anything it hits stays hit. I am running it with 10-10.5 gr of a surplus #105 powder that is very similar to AA5. Shoots very well in the Marlin 1894 as well.

 

[Ian]

Congrats, Walter, glad that deal came together for you. If you've never owned a convertible you're about to discover all the fun you've been missing.

I like the weight of the Rugers, especially with stoked-up .45 Cold loads using heavy bullets. Tough to carry but easy to shoot.

 

[gman]

You may have a hard time removing the 45 acp cylinder if it shoots as good as my flat top convertible. Had to open the throats on both cylinders but that's easy. Everyone I know of that has a convertible all say the 45 acp is a sniper pistol. Your going to have lot's of fun! In 45 colt you should really try the 270 saa bullet with 20 grains of 4227 and a fed 150 primer. It's been accurate for me in several Blackhawks and is easy on the back end. In the short tube I would guess somewhere in the 900 fps range. The bisley grip makes it sweeter!

 

[freebullet]

A friend of mime got a convert in 357/9. Ss & I really liked it. The next year he got a 45 convert in ss. I have refused to look at it. I'm afraid the virus that got him into 2 might be contagious.

You been warned!

 

[Rick]

Na , , , Ain't nothing contagious about admiring someone's new gun. Go right ahead and fondle it, take it out and shoot it. Not a thing to worry about.

 

[RBHarter]

I wonder if the 45 ACP cylinders shoot so well because of the designs affinity for hot loads ? In the BlackHawk that is . The bullet with most powders and even more so the really fast ones like BE are all but at the apex of their peak when the bullet base clears the cylinder . (I've read a lot but in application it escapes me why a 7.5" revolver is still faster than a 5" auto , the math doesn't work it should be a dead heat at best.)With a 230 in application it should be going about 650+ fps when it hits the lands , it's had a near nil friction ride so far in a mostly sealed straight run for the best part of 1.5 inches it's 2-2.25" before it gets full into the lands and standard ball loads will do over 750 out of a 2.5" barrel in a compact with barely as much slide as grip . It's almost like that Weatherby arrangement .
Don't beat the mechanic .
I was very pleased when I shot the one I loaded for . Nil recoil pointing out every flaw in my form while shooting really small groups at 25&50 yd , after I got past my recoil compensation push that is . Ok maybe it was flinch , whatever , it was a bad thing and made me shoot low .

 

[Wasalmonslayer]

You will love it!
That is the same one I have and it shoots very very well for me
One of my favorite 45 acp loads is a 235gr WFN lubed and sized .451 and seated over a modest charge of hp38.
shoots to point of aim and smacks steel with authority.
I shoot the same bullet in the 45 LC cylinder in LC brass over 8.5gr of unique and it is quite nice also!

 

[waco]

I am looking forward to getting it. I'm sending the MO out tomorrow. I have a holster picked out as well. My RCBS 45-270-SAA mold will probably be the go to in 45 Colt if I can get it to shoot. My only ACP mold at the time is an NOE copy of the H&G 68.

 

[Ian]

The only convertible I have is a Taylor's (Uberti) SAA clone but I'll fourth, fifth, whatever the ACP cylinder shoots like a laser beam. The Colt cylinder is a meh 6" @ 25 shooter but with the ACP the bullet will go where the front sight was when the orange flash appears. I managed a few 1" groups at 25 from the bench and feel it actually shoots better than that.

As to why? I think the long, parallel throat and tight chamber gets the bullet started really straight and the bullet is moving so fast by the time it hits the forcing cone that its enertia keeps it from getting crooked. How they don't strip in the rifling still has me baffled. I'm kind of thinking that a rifle with an inch of .001"-over-groove freebore and a torpedo-shaped bullet might be something to try.

 

[StrawHat]

I do have two Italian SAA copies, one 5 1/2” and one 7 1/2”. Both are fitted with ACP cylinders and I have no idea where the long Colt cylinders are. Both are about the ideal SA revolver but I prefer the shorter one.

Kevin

 

[waco]

Forgot I had a two cavity Lee 45-300-RNFP mold. Cast up just over 100 tonight. I PC them with Smoke’s Jet Black. Really excited about this new revolver.

 

[Ian]

That's a good bullet. I plain-based one cavity of my old two-cavity mould and mostly used those for my standard-pressure "hammers" until working out the prototype for the AM 45-287G. The Lee bullet has just a touch too much meplat for my Henry BB, otherwise I would have stuck with the Lee.

Since PC has come along, I'm wondering how a plain-based version would compare to a bevel-based or gas-checked version? I can turn a bevel on plain-based ones and try all three in two different rifles, that may be something to look forward to testing after I get healed up from surgery.

 

[waco]

I only bought the two cavity mold awhile back to play around with in my SAA. I really don't see a need for a GC even with Ruger only molds. I might have to try and remove the GC shank on this mold and see what happens.