Thought I'd share this draft article with you - as always, comments welcome.
John
Ruger .30 Carbine old model Blackhawk revolvers
In June of 1940, the U.S. Army Chief of Infantry put out a call for the design of a light carbine chambering a new .30 caliber round that was similar to the earlier Winchester .32 self-loading cartridge. This newer development used a 110-grain jacketed round-nosed bullet, and fired it at about 2,000 feet per second from the M1 Carbine, designed by Winchester and adopted in 1941. The .30 Carbine round was made using ball powder and non-corrosive primers from the start. The M1 carbine was produced by the millions during World War II, and ammunition for it was generated in huge untold numbers. Three rounds of that WWII ammo are illustrated here, brought back from Europe by a Battle of the Bulge and Hurtgen Forest veteran who was my next-door neighbor when I was a youth. His widow gave these to me several years ago. The headstamp on these cartridges is “LC 43,” indicating manufacture at Lake City Arsenal in 1943.
When the war was over and the U.S. adopted new weapons that made the old carbines obsolete, many tons of surplus military .30 Carbine ammunition were released to the public for literally peanuts. Bill Ruger, the founder and president of Sturm, Ruger & Company, saw an opportunity to produce a handgun that could fire the round, and went to work to design one. What he did was chamber his popular single action Blackhawk revolver for the now widely available ammo. Traditionally-configured single action revolvers, with their one-at-a-time poke-‘em-out ejection rods, can easily accommodate rimless cartridges. The pint-sized military .30 caliber round would today be termed a superb “magnum” handgun cartridge, propelling its bullet at about 1400 feet per second from a 7 ½” barrel, which Ruger chose for optimum velocity combined with reasonable handiness.
The .30 Carbine Blackhawk was introduced with an ad in the American Rifleman magazine in 1968. The ad stated “It fills the ‘Magnum gap’ between the .22 magnum and the .357 Magnum cartridges.” The suggested retail price in the January, 1968 price sheet was $87.50. The revolver illustrated here, unfired and in original condition, was manufactured midway in that first year of production. Today it is still packed in its original yellow and black box with all papers intact. Serial numbers for that year numbered from 1 to about 9304, and specimens in nearly any condition dating from 1968 are considered collector’s finds. There are three known exceptions that have serial numbers not in this number block. One was shipped in 1967, another was scrapped, and one was serialed way outside the range, shipped in December of 1968.
Beginning in 1969, serials were prefixed with “50-“. In all, a grand total of 32,985 “old model” .30 Carbine guns were produced. The last one, probably shipped in mid-1972, was serial numbered 50-23681. As is normal with many gun manufacturers, guns are not necessarily shipped in serial number order. Only factory verification can provide an actual shipping date for specific guns.
All of these .30 caliber revolvers had 7 ½” barrels and Super Blackhawk-sized cylinder frames. Only one had a brass Super Blackhawk-style grip frame, specially produced to be used in a Ruger promotional photograph. Actually inspected and shipped on February 13, 1973, it bore serial number 50-18400. Additionally, some are known to have been fitted with steel Super Blackhawk grip frames. In 1973, the “new model” Blackhawks were introduced, and to the best of my knowledge, .30 Carbine revolvers are still in limited production today, following a brief hiatus in the 1990s. The old models covered here should always be loaded with only five rounds and the hammer kept down on an empty chamber. The new models may be safely loaded with live rounds in all six chambers.
The old model .30 Carbine Blackhawks were handsome handguns, beautifully fit and finished. The upper frames, barrels, sights, ejector housings, loading gates, screws and triggers were made of alloy steel, nicely polished and blued. The right side of the cylinder frame showed the heads of three screws, which was a major indentifying characteristic of the old models. The hammer was blued steel, polished bright on the sides. The standard grip frame was anodized aluminum. The front sight was ramped, and the rear sight was fully adjustable. The overall length of the gun was 13.38” and it weighed in at 46 ounces. The two-piece grips were usually walnut with handsome grain, oil or lacquer finished. The barrel had a one in 20” right-hand twist rate with six grooves. The cylinders had 6 chambers that fully enclosed and supported loaded cartridges. The cylinder pin was blued alloyed steel, extended, grooved and collared. The serial number was stamped on the right side of the grip frames under the cylinders. The left side of the barrel was stamped “STURM, RUGER & CO., INC.” over “SOUTHPORT, CONN. U.S.A.”. The left side of the cylinder frame under the cylinder was stamped “RUGER BLACKHAWK” over “.30 CARBINE CAL.” and the Ruger logo. The grips on each side featured a silver-colored disc with a black Ruger “eagle” in the center, imbedded in the upper part of the grip.
Now that surplus .30 Carbine ammo is no longer plentiful as it was, many users elect to handload this round. It’s easy enough. I personally have loaded 100-grain Speer semi-jacketed “plinkers” and I have also cast and used some suitable bullets using hard linotype metal. I found that 92-grain jacketed bullets designed for the .30 caliber Luger round also work well. Since the carbine round headspaces on the mouth of the case, it’s important to use a long taper-type crimping die; never a standard crimp which would affect proper headspacing. .30 Carbine military brass is tough and can be reloaded many times with no problems. The cases can stretch somewhat in firing or resizing. Case length is critical, so be sure the cases are trimmed to specification if needed. Proper case length should be between 1.280” and 1.285”, no shorter and no longer. I recommend carbide sizing dies to eliminate the need for sizing lube. If you lube the cases for sizing, be sure to remove all residual lubricant to avoid case setback in firing.
A couple of caveats apply to shooting this gun. Number one, the report when firing is LOUD. Remember hearing similar cautions about firing the Russian Tokarev high-velocity pistol round? This Ruger is even louder, guaranteed to startle, amaze and probably annoy innocent bystanders. The bullet is achieving supersonic speeds, the barrel is shorter than that of the M1 Carbine, and you are dealing with chamber pressures in excess of those that are standard for the .357 Magnum. Wear earmuffs and earplugs to protect your hearing. Secondly, do ensure that the chambers in the cylinder are kept clean and free of lube to prevent excessive setback of the case when firing.
You will find that shooting this relatively heavy handgun is pleasant, recoil-wise. You will also discover that this firearm is very accurate if you do your part. 100-yard plinking hits are easy to accomplish, and small game should be in danger even at that range.
By way of history, a few other handguns have been chambered for the .30 Carbine round. In 1944, Smith & Wesson made a double-action revolver to fire it. Although it fired over a thousand rounds satisfactorily, the U.S. military decided not to adopt it. It was just too loud for field use. In 1958, the now-defunct Kimball Arms company made a semiauto .30 Carbine pistol that resembled the old High Standard Field King .22. It never really got off the ground. Beginning in 1964, Plainfield Machine Corporation made an M1 Carbine “pistol” that lacked a shoulder stock. It was called the “Enforcer” and was later sold to Iver Johnson. They continued it in production until 1986. The Thompson-Center Contender single shot pistol has occasionally been chambered for the carbine round. The Taurus “Raging Thirty” and the AMT AutoMag III were both available in .30 Carbine chambering, but only the Ruger Blackhawk has survived the competition consistently over many years. The old models in particular were meticulously made, traditional in operation, and very effective .30 caliber “magnums.” Consequently, they have become quite collectible!
(c) 2020 JLM
John
Ruger .30 Carbine old model Blackhawk revolvers
In June of 1940, the U.S. Army Chief of Infantry put out a call for the design of a light carbine chambering a new .30 caliber round that was similar to the earlier Winchester .32 self-loading cartridge. This newer development used a 110-grain jacketed round-nosed bullet, and fired it at about 2,000 feet per second from the M1 Carbine, designed by Winchester and adopted in 1941. The .30 Carbine round was made using ball powder and non-corrosive primers from the start. The M1 carbine was produced by the millions during World War II, and ammunition for it was generated in huge untold numbers. Three rounds of that WWII ammo are illustrated here, brought back from Europe by a Battle of the Bulge and Hurtgen Forest veteran who was my next-door neighbor when I was a youth. His widow gave these to me several years ago. The headstamp on these cartridges is “LC 43,” indicating manufacture at Lake City Arsenal in 1943.
When the war was over and the U.S. adopted new weapons that made the old carbines obsolete, many tons of surplus military .30 Carbine ammunition were released to the public for literally peanuts. Bill Ruger, the founder and president of Sturm, Ruger & Company, saw an opportunity to produce a handgun that could fire the round, and went to work to design one. What he did was chamber his popular single action Blackhawk revolver for the now widely available ammo. Traditionally-configured single action revolvers, with their one-at-a-time poke-‘em-out ejection rods, can easily accommodate rimless cartridges. The pint-sized military .30 caliber round would today be termed a superb “magnum” handgun cartridge, propelling its bullet at about 1400 feet per second from a 7 ½” barrel, which Ruger chose for optimum velocity combined with reasonable handiness.
The .30 Carbine Blackhawk was introduced with an ad in the American Rifleman magazine in 1968. The ad stated “It fills the ‘Magnum gap’ between the .22 magnum and the .357 Magnum cartridges.” The suggested retail price in the January, 1968 price sheet was $87.50. The revolver illustrated here, unfired and in original condition, was manufactured midway in that first year of production. Today it is still packed in its original yellow and black box with all papers intact. Serial numbers for that year numbered from 1 to about 9304, and specimens in nearly any condition dating from 1968 are considered collector’s finds. There are three known exceptions that have serial numbers not in this number block. One was shipped in 1967, another was scrapped, and one was serialed way outside the range, shipped in December of 1968.
Beginning in 1969, serials were prefixed with “50-“. In all, a grand total of 32,985 “old model” .30 Carbine guns were produced. The last one, probably shipped in mid-1972, was serial numbered 50-23681. As is normal with many gun manufacturers, guns are not necessarily shipped in serial number order. Only factory verification can provide an actual shipping date for specific guns.
All of these .30 caliber revolvers had 7 ½” barrels and Super Blackhawk-sized cylinder frames. Only one had a brass Super Blackhawk-style grip frame, specially produced to be used in a Ruger promotional photograph. Actually inspected and shipped on February 13, 1973, it bore serial number 50-18400. Additionally, some are known to have been fitted with steel Super Blackhawk grip frames. In 1973, the “new model” Blackhawks were introduced, and to the best of my knowledge, .30 Carbine revolvers are still in limited production today, following a brief hiatus in the 1990s. The old models covered here should always be loaded with only five rounds and the hammer kept down on an empty chamber. The new models may be safely loaded with live rounds in all six chambers.
The old model .30 Carbine Blackhawks were handsome handguns, beautifully fit and finished. The upper frames, barrels, sights, ejector housings, loading gates, screws and triggers were made of alloy steel, nicely polished and blued. The right side of the cylinder frame showed the heads of three screws, which was a major indentifying characteristic of the old models. The hammer was blued steel, polished bright on the sides. The standard grip frame was anodized aluminum. The front sight was ramped, and the rear sight was fully adjustable. The overall length of the gun was 13.38” and it weighed in at 46 ounces. The two-piece grips were usually walnut with handsome grain, oil or lacquer finished. The barrel had a one in 20” right-hand twist rate with six grooves. The cylinders had 6 chambers that fully enclosed and supported loaded cartridges. The cylinder pin was blued alloyed steel, extended, grooved and collared. The serial number was stamped on the right side of the grip frames under the cylinders. The left side of the barrel was stamped “STURM, RUGER & CO., INC.” over “SOUTHPORT, CONN. U.S.A.”. The left side of the cylinder frame under the cylinder was stamped “RUGER BLACKHAWK” over “.30 CARBINE CAL.” and the Ruger logo. The grips on each side featured a silver-colored disc with a black Ruger “eagle” in the center, imbedded in the upper part of the grip.
Now that surplus .30 Carbine ammo is no longer plentiful as it was, many users elect to handload this round. It’s easy enough. I personally have loaded 100-grain Speer semi-jacketed “plinkers” and I have also cast and used some suitable bullets using hard linotype metal. I found that 92-grain jacketed bullets designed for the .30 caliber Luger round also work well. Since the carbine round headspaces on the mouth of the case, it’s important to use a long taper-type crimping die; never a standard crimp which would affect proper headspacing. .30 Carbine military brass is tough and can be reloaded many times with no problems. The cases can stretch somewhat in firing or resizing. Case length is critical, so be sure the cases are trimmed to specification if needed. Proper case length should be between 1.280” and 1.285”, no shorter and no longer. I recommend carbide sizing dies to eliminate the need for sizing lube. If you lube the cases for sizing, be sure to remove all residual lubricant to avoid case setback in firing.
A couple of caveats apply to shooting this gun. Number one, the report when firing is LOUD. Remember hearing similar cautions about firing the Russian Tokarev high-velocity pistol round? This Ruger is even louder, guaranteed to startle, amaze and probably annoy innocent bystanders. The bullet is achieving supersonic speeds, the barrel is shorter than that of the M1 Carbine, and you are dealing with chamber pressures in excess of those that are standard for the .357 Magnum. Wear earmuffs and earplugs to protect your hearing. Secondly, do ensure that the chambers in the cylinder are kept clean and free of lube to prevent excessive setback of the case when firing.
You will find that shooting this relatively heavy handgun is pleasant, recoil-wise. You will also discover that this firearm is very accurate if you do your part. 100-yard plinking hits are easy to accomplish, and small game should be in danger even at that range.
By way of history, a few other handguns have been chambered for the .30 Carbine round. In 1944, Smith & Wesson made a double-action revolver to fire it. Although it fired over a thousand rounds satisfactorily, the U.S. military decided not to adopt it. It was just too loud for field use. In 1958, the now-defunct Kimball Arms company made a semiauto .30 Carbine pistol that resembled the old High Standard Field King .22. It never really got off the ground. Beginning in 1964, Plainfield Machine Corporation made an M1 Carbine “pistol” that lacked a shoulder stock. It was called the “Enforcer” and was later sold to Iver Johnson. They continued it in production until 1986. The Thompson-Center Contender single shot pistol has occasionally been chambered for the carbine round. The Taurus “Raging Thirty” and the AMT AutoMag III were both available in .30 Carbine chambering, but only the Ruger Blackhawk has survived the competition consistently over many years. The old models in particular were meticulously made, traditional in operation, and very effective .30 caliber “magnums.” Consequently, they have become quite collectible!
(c) 2020 JLM
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