I too have sinned.
Some years ago I backed into an unfired stainless steel Blackhawk .357 with the seven inch barrel. I polished it bright and put on faux stag grips so it looked like what my 'B' movie heroes carried (except for the adjustable sights).
I was far too busy with work to take it out and fire it. Either I was shooting my duty pistol at dept shoots, or teaching the shooting portion of my college classes. No time for recreational shooting.
After we retired and moved to the mountains life settled down. Getting to a range was no longer an issue. We are in a National Recreation Area surrounded by USFS land.
Went out one day with an old timer local friend (since, sadly, passed) who was raised on a ranch and had been shooting all his life. We both fired the Blackhawk from a rest. We both got groups that astounded us. We were not sure if had ever seen groups like this before from an out-of-the-box revolver. I did not have my 6" Python with me, but it would have been extremely close.
This was off a rest. Offhand though, it was handicapped by a long, hard, rough trigger pull. Another friend, who had tuned his own single actions, did an action job on mine. It came out so crisp, smooth and light I would never want anyone else to touch it. Think of tuned S&W single action pull.
I swore my buds to secrecy about this sleeper. A group of us would get together from time to time, go out to a local quarry site where we could get some distance, and shoot for groups. If a brought out one of my PPC revolvers I got accused of sandbagging. As sensitive as I am, this truly hurt (ok, perhaps slight exaggeration in the foregoing). So instead I brought out this shiny, stag-gripped, 'B' western movie gun. Other than the usual remarks about something so pretty assuredly not being a shooter, no one suspected. Then I fired it and everyone took notice. To make matters even worse, I let anyone who wanted to also fire it. Between the inherent accuracy and the slick action, they too achieved similarly amazing groups.
I had some fun while that Blackhawk was a sleeper, but that did not last long once others had seen and fired it.
What I have derived from this thread is that these Blackhawks, not just mine, can be great shooters. Combine that with Ruger-rugged, and that is a formidable combination.
