edwardyoung
Member
Ruger 44 Flat Top Blackhawks don’t ’shoot loose.’ I imagine the Super Blackhawk’s larger, all-steel grip frames were attempts to mitigate 44 magnum recoil. I’ve had many 44 Ruger Flat Tops. None have ‘shot loose.’
Used blackhawk 44 mags not worth much anymore?
- Thread starter 1sailor
- Start date
Yeah I hate Ruger Blackhawk .44s. That's why I'm down to only six of them.
The Keith #5 grip frame as sold by Power Custom helps with .44 Magnum recoil pretty significantly...
Very nice!
This reminds me of another attribute of the Ruger Blackhawks (“Super” or otherwise!): they make an excellent canvas for the custom gunsmith.
Some of the finest revolver gunsmiths work exclusively with these Rugers. Thinking of names like Bowen, Linebaugh, Gallagher, etc.
Likewise, virtually every modern, high performance single action made since the Bill Ruger’s time owes much, if not most, of their basis to Ruger.
An obvious example is Magnum Research, which, I think, uses frames made by Ruger’s Pine Tree Castings Co. There were, at one time or another, a myriad of other makers like Seville, North American Arms, El Dorado, Abilene, etc. (How many of you guys remember these brand names?) Many of these, when in operation, paid patent royalties to Ruger.
To my mind, single action revolvers are for cowboy rounds like 44 spl , 44-40 and 45 Colt. BHs in 357, 41, 44 mag, 30 carbine weren’t interesting.
Capt. F.
Member
I guess I’d better start hitting the auction sites more often if three screw flattop .44’s are going for $500.
I have one I bought three years ago, in the box with papers I paid $850 for.
I also have a 4 5/8” .357 flattop, in the box with papers my wife bought for me the year before. She pain $800 for it.
I also have 3 screw Super and a 4 5/8” and 7 1/2” 3 screw .45 Colt.
Yes, with magnum rounds in the flattops and the Super and heavy handloads in the .45’s you don’t need to sniff the barrels to see if they went off.
However I wouldn’t trade any one of them for a basket of plastic fantastic’s the younger crowd is enamored with.
Bet you can guess I’m over 70!
I have one I bought three years ago, in the box with papers I paid $850 for.
I also have a 4 5/8” .357 flattop, in the box with papers my wife bought for me the year before. She pain $800 for it.
I also have 3 screw Super and a 4 5/8” and 7 1/2” 3 screw .45 Colt.
Yes, with magnum rounds in the flattops and the Super and heavy handloads in the .45’s you don’t need to sniff the barrels to see if they went off.
However I wouldn’t trade any one of them for a basket of plastic fantastic’s the younger crowd is enamored with.
Bet you can guess I’m over 70!
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fatcat3
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JMHO. IHMSA and handgun hunting are not as prevalent as in the past. Less demand = lower prices. Still love my SBH 44 and would take one over a M29, RedHawk, Ragging Bull, etc. every day and twice on Sunday. I did have to finally put larger grips on it though. My stiff old hands just won't take the plow grip anymore with full power loads. What a pussycat in 44spl.
image taken from the web.
image taken from the web.
Yes, there was a time I would have happily added a $500 Blackhawk to my collection because I would really like a single action revolver. and the price is right. I never had a problem with recoil, but anymore I just don't find shooting powerful guns as much as I used to. I'd probably shoot handloaded Specials out of it or 'light special wadcutters' or whatever that was that Dirty Harry shot.
I've got an old three-screw Super Blackhawk that I bought in 1971 while stationed at Fort Campbell. It was about a dozen years later that I started shooting IHMSA with a buddy that I really got to shooting it a lot. We'd shoot a couple matches every weekend. I cast a lot of wheel weights and burned a lot of IMR 4227 in that revolver. I still have it.
Capt. F.
Member
Amen!The Ruger Super Blackhawk is not just a great firearm, it’s a true classic! Definitely one of Bill Ruger’s “home-runs”!
He started with the basic Colt SAA design, kept what he thought was best, then looking to the custom work being done and the call from Elmer and the boys, added just the right modern appointments.
But, it’s not just the design, it’s the way they’re designed to be manufactured.
I think you’d be hard pressed to match it for sheer reliability, toughness, power, and accuracy. Buy it now, shoot it for life.
Don’t care for the recoil, yet don’t like “Goodyear” grips? Get the Herrett target stocks that fill the area behind the trigger guard!
I think the market phenomena is an anomaly. To begin with, the national economy is a mess. Everything is a bit sluggish, to say the least.
But, also, a lot of today’s shooters just don’t “get it”.
90% of the guys I see at ranges show up with their plastic 9mm and AR-15, then spew hundreds of rounds at a target the size of a refrigerator door barely 10-20 feet in front of them. They call this “training”…
Yet, that same target is an easy mark with the Super Blackhawk well out to 200 yards or beyond!
Honestly though, you need to be a reloader, or better yet also a bullet caster, to get the most enjoyment and performance out of a .44 Magnum. So, again, most new guys will never get it. (Yeah, I hear you, “reloading just isn’t worth it”…OK, fine.)
They just look at things through the viewpoint of being obedient factory ammo mass consumers…exactly like the investment holding corporations running the present-day American firearms industry want them to be!!
But, this is just my opinion.
Similarly, for as much as I admire and appreciate the Super Blackhawk, I also consider Bill Ruger’s No. 1 single shot rifle to be the finest factory rifle still being made in America today. I’m not alone in that sentiment: Have you priced a used one lately?
At some point the market will self correct. And, just as the Ruger No.1 is priced on the used market from at least $1-2k, the Ruger SBH will likely take off. When it happens there will be little warning! If you think you might like one, buy it now!
Glenn R. McMannly
Member
The newer factory Ruger revolvers are a disappointment.
Fit and finish has gone by the wayside. QC is non-existent.
I have a safe full of Rugers made back when they were made right, made under old Bill.
Fit and finish has gone by the wayside. QC is non-existent.
I have a safe full of Rugers made back when they were made right, made under old Bill.
bigggbbruce
Member
Had a few never paid more the $300 for one.
Yes, I on the other hand found my 44 Mag Flattop to be very pleasant to shoot,, I do have smaller hands, but I found it very comfortable firing rounds that were very unpleasant in my model 29, (which I dearly love, with every fiber of my being). Sadly, a very attractive Colt New Frontier in 45 Colt, with a 45ACP cylinder, along with about 275 bucks worth of cash money, took the place of that lovely Old Blackhawk.
The "Raging Bull in 44 Mag" is the single most pleasant experience I ever had firing 44 Magnum,, heavy, but kind of like a big .22 revolver...
That's more of an industry thing than one company. The newer finishes are just not as nice as the older ones. The old bluing... Nothing done today compares to it.
I will say the Ruger's I've bought in the past couple of years have better finish jobs on them than the S&Ws bought in the same time frame. Most noticeably with the stainless finish on the revolvers.
If we start talking semi-autos, then S&W has the best finish used by far.
tate razor
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SA Rugers are not 'user friendly' for me. Recoil was always uncomfortable. l'm not shy to being thumped. l have been shooting 44 S&W N frames for 50 yrs. l shoot ''Bam Bam'' frequently, a 10'' 460S&W PC 5 shot. My Colt Model P in 44wcf is a great shooter
DWalt
Member
The only action my .44 SBH ever participated in was back in my Cowboy Action Shooting days. And that was only with .44 Special-level handloads. It worked fine in that role. My second CAS revolver was a .30 Carbine Blackhawk with .32-20 level lead bullet handloads.
For me, full house .44 mag loads in a Ruger single action are a lot more comfortable to shoot than in my 6.5" 29-2 (dependent on grips installed, to some degree). The single actions tend to roll up in the hand (more muzzle flip), while a 29 seems to come straight back and pound the base of the thumb. A 4" 29 with heavy loads seems to me to torque a lot in the grip. Even my 4" 24-3s do this, although I don't tend to shoot a lot of heavy loaded stuff in them.
bigggbbruce
Member
I was handed one at the range in 454 Casual. Popped off one round. No thank you.
Shrek Of The Arctic
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I just sold one. It was in decent condition, with a bit of holster wear, but still tight. It had a 7.5" bbl. And a Pachmayr grip. It took me a couple weeks to get $475 out of it. The guy I sold it to was a.. unique thinker. Good man, but he made my head hurt. Was buying it for his wife for bear protection. She keeps shooting the .38 he got her double action, even though he keeps telling her she's doing it wrong. With this gun, he figgers she'll be forced to cock it properly...I cringed, but the check cashed.
I knew everyone up here is all over the 10mm these days, but I was still surprised how slow it was to move.
The days of Ruger and S&W revolvers vying for the top spot as the most often carried handgun in the Alaska woods are definitely over.
I knew everyone up here is all over the 10mm these days, but I was still surprised how slow it was to move.
The days of Ruger and S&W revolvers vying for the top spot as the most often carried handgun in the Alaska woods are definitely over.
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