After joining the PD in 1972, I really became interested in guns. My in-laws lived in the country and there was a large farm field and woods behind their home, so I bought a small bullet trap to shoot into in the back yard.

Anyway, one day my father-in-law said a guy at work had a Ruger .357 Magnum that he had shot so much, there was no rifling left. He said he would sell the gun for either $75.00 or $100.00. I told my father-in-law to buy it and I would pay him back.

I get the gun and see that it is in almost excellent condition, but, the guy was right, no rifling in the bore. He had been using .357 Mag factory lead ammo, and the bore was full of lead. It took me a long time to clean out the lead, and when I had it all out, the bore was like new. Sold the gun to some Ruger collectors who ran a gun show several times a year. Wish I had kept it.

I have a 3 digit flattop .357 that was left to me by my dad. It is a great shooter.

Back in 1976, I wanted a .44 Special, but there were none to be had. I bought a 3 1/2" M27 to convert ala Skeeter Skelton. But first, I had to shoot it. I bought a box of lead SWC factory ammo. By the time the box was empty, I also had a smoothbore .357! That LSWC stuff would sure lead up a bore!

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

On the hunt for one of these. Looking for a good one with a good price and in nice condition. I've always thought that these were very good revolvers and they are.

My old model .357 Black Hawk (BH) makes an interesting contrast to my .44 Magnum framed all stainless .357 BH. With its aluminum grip frame and mid-size cylinder frame it is so much lighter that the two .357s do no not serve the same role. It is not old enough to be a flat top which is fine with me since I do not like the smaller earlier XR3 grip. The current Flat Top .357s have reverted to the early small grip and they weigh more because their grip frames are steel. My old model seems just right. They are not hard to find.

The original post was more about soft swaged nearly pure lead bullets in factory magnum cartridges. That was the only type of lead bullet I remember in factory cartridges during the 1970s and 1980s. They usually leaded horribly. That didn't matter to me because I was only interested in shooting my own castings and couldn't afforded much factory ammo.

Blued Ruger SA's often take on a plum color. I prefer stainless, partly for that reason. But the older ones are more Colt - like, and that 's a good thing.

In .44 and .45 , the all steel guns feel right. They only get heavy in smaller calibers.

My first .44 Mag was a Ruger flat top I bought used around 1964, in like new condition. It had a 4-digit SN. After firing one box of factory ammo, I decided it was just too painful to shoot. I held onto it until maybe 1968 and sold it to a friend, for, as I remember, less than $100, maybe $75. One of my numerous instances of selling a gun I should have kept.

Ruger recognized that they had to correct that. I am not a Ruger collector so I do not remember exact dates but during the early 1960s the Flat Top's small XR3 plow handle grip frame was superseded on Black Hawks (BH) by the larger XR3RED (redesigned) grip frame that increased the distance from the back of the trigger guard to the front strap. Super Black Hawk (SBH) .44 Magnums got longer Dragoon grip frames that moved your knuckles even further back. Using their factory smooth wood and letting them roll in my hand I find 7 1/2" Dragoon SBHs more comfortable than 29s for firing standard .44 Magnum cartridges. Ruger installs XR3RED grip frames on most shorter barreled SBHs which makes no sense to me.

Due to the passage of time and inflation most members wish they'd hung on to a few of their old guns. The ~95% condition .38 M&P Target I sold for $140 and the ~95% condition .22 Outdoorsman I sold for $400 come right to mind. I wish I'd kept the New Model SBH I bought in 1973. It would not have become valuable and a duplicate would be easily found. It was just a very accurate revolver and it is neat to be able to show guns you've had for a long time. I sold it when my name came up on the waiting list for an 8 3/8" 29-2.

My very first revolver bought new in 1973 was a short BH in 357.

No idea why I sold it.

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No life story has happy end.

The only Ruger anything I have left is an early no ser# prefix 3-screw Blackhawk 357.
Long bbl (6 1/2"?) and with a single hole drilled & tapped into the top strap, it must have had a 'scope on it at one time. I think Bushnell made a mt that used the rear sight mounting and one D&T hole.
I put a steel trigger guard/backstrap on it from a Ruger percussion and still have the intention of doing a 44sp or 45acp conversion but haven't gotten around to it. Thinkin' a 5" bbl.
The hole up top will get gone and maybe some engraving done to spark the old gal up a bit.

I sold a near new looking Colt .38 Super Match, made about 1935, for a couple of hundred dollars. Today, that gun is worth thousands!

A Ruger single 6 was my 1st quality pistol. Next to my buddies
H&Rs and IJs it was a target pistol. Bought new in early 60s.
Still have it, it has that purple cast and the grips are of Burl
Walnut, they look like chocolate marble. Gun still feels like it
runs on roller bearings. Posters talking about price on 3 screws.
In 60s they could be had new for around $80, SBH was $112.
At one time I had one of each cal, in each barrel length. Love
affair with RugerSAs ceased when I got a K22. Kept a few for
sentimental purposes and have long since traded most of them.
Good guns, just not on par with S&Ws.

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Back in the early '80's I sort of inherited a 4 5/8" BH flattop for helping a friend's widow clean up his estate after his untimely demise. Loved shooting it as it was one of the most accurate handguns in my hand I had ever shot. At one point I sent it back to Ruger for the conversion & then, in a fit of madness, I traded it for a stainless Security 6, 2' bbl. in .357. My wife shot it once & declared it to be her "new personal weapon" and I gave it up (although it is still in the safe.) Fast forward 30 years+ & I stumble upon a 3-screw with the ears in a LGS & it went home with me. Even thou it was a convertible model with only the 9mm cylinder, one of our forum members was kind enough to supply a .357 cylinder that I have fitted to the frame. So now, I again have one of my favorite guns to enjoy! I'm a happy camper.