Ruger Super Blackhawk

[Hornet22savage]

Hi all I just started my application process for a pistol permit. I'm not new to firing handguns and have fired several .357 Mags. I have always wanted a 41 Rem Mag and I see that Ruger offers several in their Blackhawk and Super Blackhawk series revolvers. I have been looking real hard at the Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter. Looking for pros and cons. Thanks.

 

[cayuga]

I own and shoot a Ruger RedHawk in .44 magnum. When I purchased mine, there was no such thing as the Super RedHawk, or Super BlackHawk. And I have never shot a Super Blackhawk. But the Ruger, it is a great shooting revolver. I've taken a couple deer with it. My friend purchased (because he is very wealthy and away has to out do me.. just kidding) a Super Redhawk in the same caliber as mine.

Both shot really well. But I do believe his had a little better balance. But I could still out shoot him with my blued Redhawk and his was a stainless Super Redhawk. Only because I shot a lot. I also think he was intimidated by the recoil.

My other friend uses a BlackHawk single action Ruger in .44 magnum. I don't like the looks of it, but it was a great shooter. We kidded him a lot, but very few of us ever used the double action feature of the Redhawk. I have, and believe me when you start hammering them out, you know it.

Actually there were seven of us that all purchased .44 magnums. We had a club. Since the BlackHawk owner reloaded.. we used to shoot about once a week as a group, always trying to out do the other one. One of the guys did purchase a Colt Anaconda in .44 magnum ( and that is just a sweet revolver ). All the rest of us had Rugers.

The .41 magnum is a great caliber. I owned one of them for a short time in the Blackhawk model, but made too much money selling the revolver. But that was an excellent hunting caliber. The reason I went to the .44 magnum is my friend used to down load the cartridge a little to almost a .44 special which made them much more shooter friendly.

You will like the Ruger Revolver. They are well made, and shoot very well. I have to tell you a little story..

I purchased and still have a fast draw holster custom made for my Ruger Redhawk. We were shooting one afternoon and like we usually did, carried a cooler of soda (alcohol was forbidden) with us. So of course one of the guys took a can of soda, shook it up, and placed it on the hay bale. And everyone was going to shoot at it.. as fast as possible. Well I stepped up to the line, fast drew my revolver, shot off the hip and hit that can of pop. The look on those guys faces when I did that was priceless. So I returned the revolver to the fast draw holster and just walked off, never saying anything.

 

[barkbuster]

Hornet,
you may find the .41 ammo is a little harder to find than the .44. I have a friend who has the .41 and that is his only complaint.

 

[cayuga]

That was one reason I parted with mine also. And ammo was getting expensive. The other alternative was to purchase the dyes and produce my own. Or have someone else do it for me.

 

[guitarpicva]

Try to hold the Bisley and the std. grip before you purchase. The Bisley isn't for everyone. Resist the urge to put the pinky on the Bisley grip. Still slide it underneath, because this lines the trigger finger up properly. Otherwise, you are pulling upward on the trigger.

Cock the hammer with your support thumb instead of the trigger hand thumb. Cross your support thumb over the other thumb. Changing this pressure point will affect your point of impact, so you will find your sweet spot and stay consistent.

A lot of full strength .44 mag will beat you up unless you are a big dude. It's worth it for the huge bang if.nothing else!

 

[Widude]

One factor may be if you reload your ammo or not? What is the intended use? Hunting or just range & maybe some woods carry? For ease of carry I like the shorter barrels, hunting a little longer.

The 41 cal is just fine, close to a 44 mag. Another to look at is the 45 Colt, fairly common in the Blackhawk.

 

[guitarpicva]

I chose to stick with the .44 mag because of easy ammo access, and the .44 mag can easily be loaded down to .44 special levels using Unique, which is really all you need for hunting because your range will be limited unless you scope the gun and REALLY practice a lot. Revolvers are way harder to shoot consistently because you have 6 different chambers instead of one. Getting very high levels of consistency from chamber to chamber costs some coin in a VERY good gunsmith's hands.

 

[guitarpicva]

I chose to stick with the .44 mag because of easy ammo access, and the .44 mag can easily be loaded down to .44 special levels using Unique, which is really all you need for hunting because your range will be limited unless you scope the gun and REALLY practice a lot. Revolvers are way harder to shoot consistently because you have 6 different chambers instead of one. Getting very high levels of consistency from chamber to chamber costs some coin in a VERY good gunsmith's hands.

A better gun for longer range hunting would be a T/C Encore or G2, even if you still wanted the .44 Mag. Stick with a rimmed cartridge and you'll have a shooter, otherwise, some work on the head space for rimless cartridges can be done and it's not too expensive.

 

[guitarpicva]

Head over to the

http://www.handgunhunt.com

forum for some really nice folks who have TONS of experience with this.

 

[adrexco]

My first handgun was a Ruger Redhawk in 44 mag. Since then I've owned a Ruger Old Army 44, and Ruger Blackhawk 44mag. I find that Ruger designs are very well conceived, but manufacturing execution is somewhat lacking in terms of build quality. Many of the parts used are investment castings with minimal machining. It saves money, but at the cost of precision. A S&W 629 is a much better manufactured weapon (not sure on new production as I haven't bought one in a while).

As for caliber, 41 mag lacks in ammo availability as well as bullet selection for reloading. There are claims that 41 mag is more accurate, but I suspect it is more to do with less recoil then inherent design. If recoil is a major factor in your decision in 41 over 44, you might want to consider a 357 mag. Much easier to shoot and very effective on deer sized game. My S&W 686 is my "go to" revolver for accuracy and "shootability".

 

[Hornet22savage]

My primary purpose is a gun to carry during deer season just for those areas that are too thick for my slug gun and to be used as a finisher should someone make a bad shot. I hate wasting my sabot slugs on somebody elses animal. I like the 41 Mag as it is not that common, far as reloading goes I am looking to start reloading for my .234 I imagine it would not be hard to make the jump to the 41 Mag also. Thanks for the info so far and keep it coming.

 

[guitarpicva]

Straight walled cartridges are actually easier to reload than necked ones. You just use a good roll crimp on revolver cartridges.

 

[adrexco]

Take a look at a long slide 1911 in 10mm. They are as powerful as a 357 and make a great side arm for thick brush deer hunting.

Springfield Armory has a nice off the shelf offering. But there are plenty long slide 10mm from many different makers.

I have my choice of 44mag and 357 revolvers. When I'm deer hunting I carry my custom 7" slide 10mm 1911

The last deer I took with it I put 3 rounds into the boiler room while on a "full tilt run" at 30yds.

 

[guitarpicva]

but you can put real optics on a Blackhawk

 

[adrexco]

but you can put real optics on a Blackhawk

No arguing that.

I went to a semi only because he mentioned hunting thick stuff.

 

[Hornet22savage]

Thanks for all of your input, I'm still working on the permit thing but pretty sure that I'm going with either the Blackhawk or the Super Blackhawk.

 

[guitarpicva]

Re:

My primary purpose is a gun to carry during deer season just for those areas that are too thick for my slug gun and to be used as a finisher should someone make a bad shot. I hate wasting my sabot slugs on somebody elses animal. I like the 41 Mag as it is not that common, far as reloading goes I am looking to start reloading for my .234 I imagine it would not be hard to make the jump to the 41 Mag also. Thanks for the info so far and keep it coming.

You could.use a 22 for a finisher, but better something legal for hunting deer.

 

[GM54-120]

45LC BlackHawks are pretty nice too if you plan on reloading. Load data for 45LC in the Ruger BlackHawks and T/C's is pretty close to 44mag levels.