While I have N frame S&W's and have fired tens of thousands of rounds through the things, I seldom shoot my maximum load of a 240 LSWC and 7.5 grains of Unique through the things. The recoil is fierce for one thing, and the pistols just seem light for the load. I am concerned about battering the things.
The same can be said for the traditional Colt SAA revolvers, they are light and I don't want to push it. However, the Ruger Blackhawk is a very stout pistol and you can push a 44 Special to 1000 fps, which is all the recoil I want, and the round is powerful and accurate all the way out to 50 yards, which is the limit of my range, and the limit of my ability with an iron sighted handgun, offhand. Fifty yards is a long way for a handgun and my target is a 12" gong target and I am very happy to keep more than 50% of my shots on a 12" target at 50 yards, offhand, with any pistol. Hand guns are very hard to shoot well compared with a rifle.
Anyway, Unique is the best all around powder in my 44 Specials, the cartridge is a great cartridge and I am glad to see Ruger made a Blackhawk in the caliber. I have a three screw Blackhawk in 357, years ago I called Bowen for the cost of one of his 44 Special conversions, and I decided to wait. Lucky me, in 2008 , Lipsey made a limited edition, which I guess proved so popular, it is now unlimited.
I don't think the flaptop is a better design than the later Blacktop's, they protect the rear sight better, but, it works, and that was what was available at the time.
Code:
44 Spl Ruger Blackhawk 5.5"
240 LSWC 6.25 grs Unique thrown, lot 6/21/-98/92 Midway cases, Brass WLP
T ≈ 60-65 ° F 19-Apr-09
Ave Vel = 835.4
Std Dev = 26.83
ES= 74.52
High = 877.5
Low= 803
N = 24
240 LSWC 6.6 grs Unique thrown, lot UN364 3/9/92 Midway cases, Brass WLP
T ≈ 60-65 ° F 19-Apr-09
Ave Vel = 875.4
Std Dev = 25.94
ES = 109.6
High = 914.8
Low= 805.2
N = 25
240 LSWC 7.5 grs Unique thrown, lot UN364 3/9/92 Midway cases, Brass WLP
T ≈ 60-65 ° F 19-Apr-09
Ave Vel = 1001
Std Dev = 17.32
ES = 64.32
High = 1027
Low= 963
N = 27
The 44 Special is an old cartridge. I did a bit of research on the 44 Russian which was a very early blackpowder round. The Russian came out in 1871 which is just before the 45 Colt arrived on the market. Without the Russian military we would never have had the 44 Special. Anyway the 44 Russian was a 240 Lead bullet at 750 fps, a bullet weight that was less than the 45 Colt and a velocity less than the 45 Colt. It was however what the Russians wanted and S&W was able to sell 130,000 of them to Russia, I don't know how many to other countries, but the Japanese Navy bought some, so even though the 44 Russian was less powerful than the 45 Colt, sales were good enough. It took Colt till 1900 to make 190,000 Colt SAA's, so in terms of sales, the 44 Russian and the S&W revolver did well for S&W.
In the civilian market, what characteristics S&W emphasized in their sales literature for the 44 Russian were "penetration in wood" and accuracy. If S&W tried to sell the 44 Russian on velocity and bullet weight, it would have been obvious that it was less powerful than the 45 Colt, so the sales department ignored that. Whether that power difference makes any difference in lethality will bring out a lot of psuedo science arguments but no firm resolution one way or another. Something that was measurable was the incredibly good scores target shooters were making with their 44 Russian S&W revolvers. The round was very accurate and S&W stressed that in their mass marketing advertisements.
S&W should have bumped up the pressures and velocities for the 44 Special, maybe they did not want to have to strengthen their current revolver designs, but the smokeless 44 Special pushed the same weight bullet at the same velocity as the 44 Russian. Since bullet weight and velocity are hard numbers, and more means more, I would say the low velocity of the factory 44 Special has always handicapped the round in terms of sales appeal. However, once you start pushing the 240 grain bullet up to 1000 fps, because the round is so close in performance to a 45 Colt, it would be very hard to prove that it is less lethal.
Great collection!! 
