357/9mm Revolver ?

deckerhead

deckerhead

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
59   0   0
Location
Kawartha Lakes
Looking at my next purchase....... Ruger makes a Blackhawk convertible that has good reviews and I understand Taurus makes one as well ?
Any input on these would be nice. Likes and dislikes please chime in ?
Also who's got them in stock? .....would prefer longer barrel and stainless.
 
Last edited:
my dad picked up the Ruger one.
he really likes it.
he did find that the stock black hard plastic grips that came with it hurt his finger or hand when shooting 357 for a while (he got the black one not the stainless).
he swapped out the grips for some Hogue Over-molded ones and now no issues.
 
I think the Ruger convertible is a great zombie apocalypse gun. Shoots 3 calibres and is rock solid. I've owned a few and yes the factory grips making shooting 357 unpleasant, but that's a SA revolver for you.
 
I purchased a couple of those smaller framed "Flattop" blackhawks a couple years ago & I really like them.
One is in 357/9mm & the other in .44 spl.
Prophet River one of our sponsors have them in stock.
If we could carry in the wilderness either one would be the perfect carry gun, being lighter weight than the bigger framed rugers, & would be good for rabbits, grouse, right on up to deer & black bear. One can only dream about it... Of course being an old cowboy at heart, a single action revolver is hard to beat, especially in the ruger brand! JMHO.
 
Last edited:
I have blackhawks and quite like the black grips, I actually prefer them. They are nice and slim and dont find they bite at all shooting .357mag. They are a nice heavy revolver for shooting hot loads. I have two 6.5 inch models i shoot cowboy with. I dont really have any complaints.

Edit should add the shape of a single action grip is meant to roll in your hand, it has less felt recoil than my gp100, i used to have the short barrel model too. Get the .357, 22 is for rilfes which I shoot more, even with the cost of a turret press and components it will pay for itself my reloads are as much as rimfire these days.
Also for the bulk price of 9mm its pretty low and comparable to .357 for recoil
After a few years now all i shoot now is 38 reloads
 
Last edited:
deckerhead said:
Looking at my next purchase....... Ruger makes a Blackhawk convertible that has good reviews and I understand Taurus makes one as well ?
Any input on these would be nice. Likes and dislikes please chime in ?
Also who's got them in stock? .....would prefer longer barrel and stainless.
Click to expand...


Holy crap I need one! Thanks I guess lol :)
 
Thanks for the input.....
pc9 I also own the Blackhawk 22lr/22mag
sheep100 Agreed the Taurus is a sweet gun, I own the Raging Judge 454cassul/45lc/410 shot shell
 
I do like my 6.5 inch Blackhawk, I considered getting in stainless but I prefer the look of a 'blued' revolver. Like said above, I did not like the factory grips for a similar reason, the sharp plastic 'checkering' dug into my office hands :redface:. Altamont has various style grips and ships north. Here's what my '6 guns' look like with their Altamont Faux Stag grips. These grips are a little thicker than factory and fit my hands better. I was presently surprised that the faux stag grips where not identical.

Ruger Blackhawk Convertible 357 Mag / 38 Spl & 9mm Cylinders.
q6znP2Sl.jpg

Ruger Single Six 22lr & 22 Mag Cylinders.

I have not shot them much, I got them late last year. Looking forward to the outdoor range this spring.

I would not recommend if your plan is to shoot a lot of lower cost 9mm. Just so you know, all my reading on shooting 9mm in the Blackhawk is, accuracy is gun dependent and if you want better accuracy you need to handload a larger diameter than normal 9mm bullet. Which may or may not work in your regular 9mm semi-auto. A Flaring die is then required to flare the brass for the larger diameter bullet which means you may have to have the 9mm cylinder reamed and/or honed to get the clearance and accuracy you want.
This 9mm is a 124 grain Campro HP loaded over 5.0 grains of CFE Pistol that was shot from my Ruger, it bounced off the target @ 5yds. when testing penetration.
Hard to see rifling and looks like lots of blow by. IMO these bullets are to small in diameter for my Blackhawk & won't be using them again in the Blackhawk. To date, I have not tried any factory 9mm ammo in my Blackhawk.

3dkJswjl.jpg


While testing 357 Mag penetration with 158 grain Campro 357 bullets c/w 16.3 grains of H110 using the same piece of 2" oak @ 5yds., I did not have any of those bullets bounce off :).

The Ruger makes a nice 'companion' revolver for my Marlin PCC ;). I use the same reloads in both, looking forward to chronoing the speed difference in the spring, reloads are about 1700fps from the Marlin, factory S&B 158 grain rounds where only about 1480fps from Marlin.

Marlin 1894c 357Mag /38 Spl c/w Vortex Diamondback 2-7*35 BDC
rube9E6l.jpg

Ruger Blackhawk Convertible 357 Mag / 38 Spl & 9mm Cylinders.

I use Campro bullets in various caliber handguns and rifles for target & gong shooting: 124gn HP 9mm in my Beretta 92A1 & CX4 Storm, 158gn .357's in my Marlin 1894 357 Mag & Ruger 357mag, 240gn .430's in my Marlin 1894 44Mag and have some of their new 300gr .458's all loaded up for ready an accuracy/load test this spring in my Marlin 1895GBL 45-70 Gov.
 
If you reload you might find that you can load the 9mm cases with .357 size bullets instead of the proper .356 size 9mm bullets. That would assist the barrel fit.

But really if you reload anyway why buy a convertible revolver like this? Just reload the .38spl or .357Mag cases and call it a day.

While it might seem like it's great to have the option I do know that when I shoot I feel better about myself if I can hit what I aim at or make smaller size shot groups. So even for casual plinking I prefer guns that are more accurate and don't mind feeding them the proper size ammo. And looking around at the options there's enough accuracy issues with 9mm out of these Convertibles that I think I'd rather buy a gun with a dedicated caliber.

It's a bit of a shame that no one is making a single action that actually takes 9mm exclusively. With the ejector pin on the single actions it matters not if the casing is a 9 or a .38Spl. The pin has to travel just as far. And I suspect that a lot of folks would enjoy the ability to shoot the cheap 9mm ammo to a higher degree of accuracy too.
 
I have a Blackhawk 357. I swapped out the grips for Hogue oversize wood "big butt" grips. Allows one to get a firm grasp on the beast. Had a problem with a spring breaking within the first couple months of ownership. Sent it off to Snap Shot in Quebec, got it back in a week, havn't had any trouble since. Very nice gun.
 
CzyHorse said:
I do like my 6.5 inch Blackhawk, I considered getting in stainless but I prefer the look of a 'blued' revolver. Like said above, I did not like the factory grips for a similar reason, the sharp plastic 'checkering' dug into my office hands :redface:. Altamont has various style grips and ships north. Here's what my '6 guns' look like with their Altamont Faux Stag grips. These grips are a little thicker than factory and fit my hands better. I was presently surprised that the faux stag grips where not identical.

Ruger Blackhawk Convertible 357 Mag / 38 Spl & 9mm Cylinders.
q6znP2Sl.jpg

Ruger Single Six 22lr & 22 Mag Cylinders.
Click to expand...

just for comparison's sake, here is the same with the Hogue grips, ugly as all get out but sooooo comfy to shoot!
(my dads pistols, mine are stainless with the stock pretty grips)

Stock Grips
Rugers001.jpg


Hogue
RugerHogues004_zps349df1ae.jpg
 
BCRider said:
But really if you reload anyway why buy a convertible revolver like this? Just reload the .38spl or .357Mag cases and call it a day.

It's a bit of a shame that no one is making a single action that actually takes 9mm exclusively. With the ejector pin on the single actions it matters not if the casing is a 9 or a .38Spl. The pin has to travel just as far. And I suspect that a lot of folks would enjoy the ability to shoot the cheap 9mm ammo to a higher degree of accuracy too.
Click to expand...

When I bought my Blackhawk Convertible it was on for a lower price than I could have bought a straight 357 Blackhawk for, plus it was easier to find at the time. I did not buy the Blackhawk to shoot 9mm regularly, I have Berretta's for that :).

Not counting the cost of my used brass, my reloading cost/round of 357 is very close to the cost/round of factory 9mm. I have not reloaded for or shot 38 Spl. in the Blackhawk or Marlin. I find the 357 a 'low recoil' round at Max. published loads in both the Ruger & Marlin. ATM I'm shooting 158 grain Campro's @~1700 fps (Marlin MV) with 2/10 grain less H110 than Campro's listed Max. I found reloads that are at the low end, start data, of the load data suffer big time accuracy issues at 100 yds with the Marlin.

I believe I've seen a Chiappa Rhino SA somewhere that was 9mm only.
 
I have a Ruger Blackhawk in 9mm/ 357 and it shoot decently accurate with 9mm factory 115 grain ammo. It even shoots the steel cased Forged ammo really well, which is very cheap when its on sale. Only downside to the steel case ammo is that its hard to extract, the cases stick. Brass ammo, piece of cake.

I would say there is no noticeable degradation in accuracy shooting 9mm out of a 9/357 Ruger barrel. None that I can notice.
 
I had a convertible 9mm/357 blackhawk. Great gun in .357, but shooting regular 9mm out of mine was a waste of time. No real accuracy to speak of, but goes bang. If you loaded larger diameter bullets it would likely be fine, but then you may as well load .38
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom