im a huge fan of ruger blackhawk convertible revolvers, but i’m a revolver guy anyway. they are forever handguns, built like brick outhouses, and gobs of fun. i have blackhawks in both 45lc/acp and 357/38/9mm, but no semiauto pistol in either rimless caliber. if i were a semiauto pistol guy my one and only, no question, must have, revolver would be a blackhawk in my favorite caliber.
10mm & 40 cal Blackhawk?
- Thread starter Huntolive
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TTv2
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I have two Rugers, a .45 Redhawk and .327 SP101. The Redhawk is fine, no issues and I expect there to be no issues considering the price it cost, but the SP101 is a disaster. Sharp corners inside the frame, on the trigger guard, barrel is canted, crown is rough, the hammer is the heaviest hammer I've ever felt on a revolver, plus the cylinder throats are oversize, but that seems to be Ruger's MO with their .327's.
I would send it back, but so far it seems to shoot okay with a cheap plinking handload I came up with and I'd like to test it further with some higher power .327 hollow point loads. Plus, with the way things are right now I'd rather not ship it off only for a week to go by and hear that the country is under a quarantine lockdown.
I can't say every revolver that Ruger makes is bad, there will always be good ones in the bunch, but to say that Ruger is a step above other perceived "inferior" revolver brands is wrong.
CraigC
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You judge that based on one gun with problems that you bought anyway?
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I bought that gun online and I didn't see the canted barrel or feel the burrs, I was checking the lockup and timing, which were good, but the gun shouldn't have the issues it had to begin with.
And I'm basing it on what others on forums and youtube videos and inside LGS's have said about Ruger revolvers going back a few years. They have big QC problems with their double actions, congrats that you haven't run into any yet, you should buy a lottery ticket or a raffle ticket for a package of toilet paper with that kind of luck.
I test handguns from a variety of manufacturers on a regular basis. Rugers are a tad rough out of the box in many cases, but at their price point I honestly come to expect some of it. That said, they are more often than not accurate and reliably strong. Glocks? Yeah, they always go bang but accuracy I wouldn’t characterize as better than decent, aesthetically they fall way short, the grip angle is funky (technical term), and as Craig pointed out they have a “squishy” trigger. All things that are consistent with that manufacturer. I however, would not judge the quality of Rugers (or any other make) overall based on one revolver.
The last G20 I tested had decent accuracy with a couple loads. The last 10mm revolver I tested from Ruger (a Super Redhawk) was accurate with most of what I shot through it. That said, start stretching out their legs to 50 yards, and the Glock isn’t acquitting itself very well in my experience.
The last G20 I tested had decent accuracy with a couple loads. The last 10mm revolver I tested from Ruger (a Super Redhawk) was accurate with most of what I shot through it. That said, start stretching out their legs to 50 yards, and the Glock isn’t acquitting itself very well in my experience.
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Well if you read it on the internet it must be true... You do of course realize that Ruger manufactures more guns than any other gun manufacturer by far, so if you play the law of averages...
Hey at 50%, I like your lottery ticket/toilet paper odds as well.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
I consider myself an informed consumer, not lucky. I thoroughly inspect every gun I buy, new or used. The only serious issue I've encountered in recent memory was a 30yr old S&W sold as "New Old Stock" but with obvious lockwork issues. I never filled out the 4473 and sent it back.
I also understand that most people are FAR more likely to get online and complain about the problems they encounter and do so MUCH more loudly than they will rave about the good. So the issues that do exist are taken out of context and their importance exaggerated. People love to complain and many do it for attention.
TTv2
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Believe me, attention isn't the intention, but I get what you're saying. I'm just tired of people praising certain brands due to their perceived quality whilst bashing other brands for their lack of quality when reality is singing a differing tune.
Like I said, the Redhawk I have is great, probably the best revolver I have, but the SP101 is far from that and its issues are ones that are becoming increasingly frequent with Ruger revolvers.
The biggest thing I want people to take away from what I say is never trust a brand solely because of the name. Blind faith gets you nowhere.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
It is for some folks.
I don't practice anything by blind faith and I'm not questioning the negative experiences people have had. I'm just keeping it in what I believe is the proper context. Experience is the best teacher. I just try to keep things in perspective. I don't believe in panicking, I do not judge a manufacturer based on one issue and refuse to adhere to the mob mentality that is so prevalent online. I'm not Chicken Little and the sky is not falling. Ruger builds hundreds of thousands of firearms every year. The idea that they are all suspect is just absurd. What is truly sad is that 99% of it is avoidable. If people would actually educate themselves on what to look for and scrutinize new guns as much as used guns, they wouldn't be buying guns with canted barrels or fit & finish issues. I don't. I also do not assume it's going to be perfect just because it's new.
That said, my "opinion" comes not from blind fanboism but from actually buying and shooting SEVENTY TWO of them.
Who are we bashing???
I don't practice anything by blind faith and I'm not questioning the negative experiences people have had. I'm just keeping it in what I believe is the proper context. Experience is the best teacher. I just try to keep things in perspective. I don't believe in panicking, I do not judge a manufacturer based on one issue and refuse to adhere to the mob mentality that is so prevalent online. I'm not Chicken Little and the sky is not falling. Ruger builds hundreds of thousands of firearms every year. The idea that they are all suspect is just absurd. What is truly sad is that 99% of it is avoidable. If people would actually educate themselves on what to look for and scrutinize new guns as much as used guns, they wouldn't be buying guns with canted barrels or fit & finish issues. I don't. I also do not assume it's going to be perfect just because it's new.
That said, my "opinion" comes not from blind fanboism but from actually buying and shooting SEVENTY TWO of them.
Who are we bashing???
Did you know that when Buckeye Sports sold the convertables from Ruger, many of them came with a special holster? I remember it was black and had some other distinquishing mark, perhaps a buckeye stamped on it or on the snap, but I can't remember exactly. If you're going to collect, you might try to get you hands on the holster too! Keep us posted.
P.S. For the past several years, the Ruger Collectors society has had a meeting and display during one of the meetings of the Ohio Gun Collectors Associaiton. Since you're in Michigan, you might try to get down to that meeting. You can find out more about it on the respective websites for the Ruger collectors and the OGCA. Thanks again for sharing.
P.S. For the past several years, the Ruger Collectors society has had a meeting and display during one of the meetings of the Ohio Gun Collectors Associaiton. Since you're in Michigan, you might try to get down to that meeting. You can find out more about it on the respective websites for the Ruger collectors and the OGCA. Thanks again for sharing.
gotboostvr
Member
Looking into it, I'm not sure if the holsters came with them or were optional. Most of them were light brown, but there were some black. They look like very nice flap holsters, with a big buckeye and leaf stamped onto the flap. Pretty site they were made by bianchi.
They are not cheap, or exactly easy to track down. Being a native Ohioan, and Blackhawk owner I thought it might be neat to grab one. But I'm not a fan of flap holsters, or spending that much on 30 year old leather. Maybe one day if I come across one at a gun show being sold out of the generic used holster tub they all have.
Yep, that's them! Now that you described them, my memory is more clear. I saw one for sale at a OGCA show about three years ago. At first the fellow was selling it with a pistol, but someone bought the pistol (while I was thinking about it) and didn't want the holster! I waited too long on the holster too. The March show of OGCA was cancelled and I don't know if there will be one in May, but if you're going, let me know and we can see about saying hi.
Over the years I've had probably 7 or 8 .44 Mag. revolvers and several .44 carbines and enjoyed them all. But at 75 yrs. old now with arthritis and bone joints worn out, I am not a fan of heavy recoiling revolvers anymore. The only 44 Mag that I still have now is my 77/44. I can do limited reloading but prefer to purchase most of my ammo. With that in mind I recently traded for a slightly used New Blackhawk 4-5/8" 10mm/40 S&W. Using reloads from my Glock 20 I find it is very pleasant shooting but still felt like it had some ump! The 40 was quite a surprise, very low recoil but knowing that I still had a 180 gr. bullet going 900+ FPS. I reload for the 10mm cylinder but 40 factory ammo is fairly cheap to purchase. I am very pleased with the accuracy of both the 10mm and 40 S&W out of the Blackhawk Convertible, with not much difference with bullet drop with either cylinder. I would not hesitate to deer hunt with the 10mm Blackhawk, with a 180 JHP or hard cast lead. I also have the New Blackhawk 357/9mm Flattop 5-1/2" Convertible too and don't feel there is a lot of difference in either the 10mm or .357.
Other guns that get me away from high recoil that I highly recommend for my enjoyment now are the S&W 625 .45 ACP (mine is the JM) and the New Blackhawk .45 ACP (mine is the New Vaquero Birdshead 3-3/4"). Very much fun to shoot, low recoil, big bore and .45 ACP is cheap compared to 44 mag and 45 Colt. And maybe my favorite of all is Ruger GP100 in .44 Special, but purely a reloading venture with my budget. I find the .44 Spec. (GP100) and 40 S&W (Blackhawk Convertibe) to have very similar recoil and both very quite (when using ear plugs of course).
Other guns that get me away from high recoil that I highly recommend for my enjoyment now are the S&W 625 .45 ACP (mine is the JM) and the New Blackhawk .45 ACP (mine is the New Vaquero Birdshead 3-3/4"). Very much fun to shoot, low recoil, big bore and .45 ACP is cheap compared to 44 mag and 45 Colt. And maybe my favorite of all is Ruger GP100 in .44 Special, but purely a reloading venture with my budget. I find the .44 Spec. (GP100) and 40 S&W (Blackhawk Convertibe) to have very similar recoil and both very quite (when using ear plugs of course).
You nailed it. The single actions are fun to shoot and the 10/40s offer plenty of it.There is more to life than fast reloading.
You don't get any style points (equally important) with the double-action platform...
.455_Hunter
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I have one of the Vaquero .38/40 & .40 S&W combos. 180 gr loadings are pretty equivalent between the two, so that removes the POI variance.
I have a 10mm Vaquero that started life as a .40 S&W. Shooting the .40 out of such a large revolver was anticlimactic to say the least. With the cylinder being bored out to 10mm it is much more of what I wanted. I picked this revolver up in the year 2000.
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