Blackhawk Convertible - did I make a mistake?

I had one and liked it alot, but after a spell I only used the .45 Colt's cylinder as i didn't think that the long jump the bullet in the ACP cyl. had to make to get to any rifling was a good thing, as the .45 Colt's cyl. was more accurate. Another gun that I should have kept!
 
PGM449 said:
We are getting a little off topic here The OP wanted to know if he made a mistake. I have had second thoughts after a purchase of a new toy (gun) but it goes away pretty much after the first time I pull the trigger
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i've got one case of "still on the fence" with a gun, specifically the Norc 1911 Commander. not sure if it's the trigger, the sights, or the crudeness of it all, but i'm not LOVING it. if it turns out to be a mistake, i could likely resell it for about the same as i paid for it.

i have only one regret with my Ruger GP100, though - not buying it sooner!!! oh, and not making it my MAIN gun and not having enough ammo for it.
 
I love the BH convertable....
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I reamed both cylinders to tighten up the groups & reduce pressures at the same time.

With it's shorter brother...
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No mistake, you did great! Let me also say that the BH ruger is a very versatile revolver.....
 
Yah you did, but because I,m a nice guy, I'll take it off your hands for 50.00. See what a charming fellow I am. Sorry, bad joke, good luck with your new gun
 
dan belisle said:
Well, I don't think he made a mistake, but it all depends what he wants to do with the gun. Wouldn't be a great choice for IPSC, after all. Great bush gun, should big brother and his minions ever decide humans can actually protect themselves. - dan
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if reincarnation works, i wanna get reincarnated as a massive 6-ton grizzly in downtown toronto.
 
Took it to the range for a quick test drive firing. Was in a panic since getting the paperwork sorted out at WSS took a while and I was at the end of my lunch hour. Fired 12 rounds of custom reloaded .45 ACP, 219 gn, BDX Maple Leaf FMJ's with 5.6 gn Win231 and was VERY pleased. For a "F'ing around gun" it does the trick and is a WAY better decision than the Norc 1911 it ended up being a toss over between.

More comprehensive range report to follow.
 
Well - bad news - and hopefully someone can help me out.

Forgot to bring my targets - but had a problem with light strikes. Shot about 100 rounds, got decent groups BU 1 in 12 or so had light strikes. Looked like some of the primers were seated slighly deeper but not overly so. I've never had light strikes with my other Norc 1911 government with the same loads.

Anyone have any suggestions on tightening it up?
 
Bump

Sigh - I hate to concede defeat, but after a little research I can only conclude that indeed it was a mistake.

Looks like there are some problems with head spacing with a lot of the .45 ACP brass that I have. Simply put, if the brass is under 0.890" of an inch, the round won't head space properly and I'll keep getting light strikes.

Solution looks like to go through and sort the brass I have and individually measure each case. I'm a volume reloader and with a little one along the way, I don't have time to do something like that.

It's a nice gun, but I think it's a WTS.
 
curtmg said:
45acp and 45colt, use the same bore diameter, so the only possible issue with the ACP is the rimless case. If your casings are too short, there could be headspace issues, as they head space on the lip of the case, they might be too deep in the cylinder to get a good firing pin strike. But that's only if you have 25 year old 400 time fired brass that has shrunk from resizing/firing over and over again.
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t-star said:
can't happen- read my post- you CHANGE CYLINDERS to use 45acp - the shoulder is somewhat shallower in that cylinder to allow the use of 45 acp cartridges
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harbl_the_cat said:
Looks like there are some problems with head spacing with a lot of the .45 ACP brass that I have. Simply put, if the brass is under 0.890" of an inch, the round won't head space properly and I'll keep getting light strikes.

Solution looks like to go through and sort the brass I have and individually measure each case. I'm a volume reloader and with a little one along the way, I don't have time to do something like that.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnOcycgXpms


I todeso
 
I don't care if you're a "volume reloader" you still need to check case lengths occasionally. Or do you rlly just pick-up anything that's vaguely .45ACP shaped and run it through the loader?

With the new one on the way, you'll have plenty of time to sort brass, make yourself a little 'U' - shaped case length gauge and any time you're just sitting and watching the tube, sort brass.
You just might end-up having to buy a bag of brass that you keep segregated for the Ruger, it's not that big a deal, over-all, I think you'll see that this gun was not a mistake, and you and the new one will have a bunch of fun with it in a few years.
 
Splatter said:
I don't care if you're a "volume reloader" you still need to check case lengths occasionally. Or do you rlly just pick-up anything that's vaguely .45ACP shaped and run it through the loader?

With the new one on the way, you'll have plenty of time to sort brass, make yourself a little 'U' - shaped case length gauge and any time you're just sitting and watching the tube, sort brass.
You just might end-up having to buy a bag of brass that you keep segregated for the Ruger, it's not that big a deal, over-all, I think you'll see that this gun was not a mistake, and you and the new one will have a bunch of fun with it in a few years.
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Actually - connecting the dots from a few forums I bounced around and I'm going to give the BH one more try.

A fellow at Rugerforum.com pointed out that I might be over crimping my loads, which, with the taper crimp might explain the headspace issue. Makes sense if you think about it, since the taper crimp would make the case mouth narrower, and ergo create more of a headspace.

By the Lee reloading guide I have, I do tend to screw in the bullet seating -crimping die on the heavy side. I`ll try easing it off, whipping up a batch of lightly crimped .45 and see where I go from there.

Learning is cool and gaining wisedom is never a mistake.

In retrospect, I did shoot some Combat Masters through the BH and had the light strike issue. I wonder if those guys put a heavy crimp on their loads - although it wouldn`t surprize me, setback out of a 1911 might not be a good thing to deal with and I think folks who shoot autoloaders are the primary customers from BDX.
 
Just thinking out loud here, would Auto Rim cases work? I'm going to guess probably not, but I wonder if the cylinder could be cut to accept them. Then you buy say 500 Starline AR cases from Mystic Precision, and have enough brass to keep your grand children shooting.

Just as a Desert Eagle has problems using revolver cartridges in an auto, you'll run into problems you need to overcome using auto cartridges in a revolver. The crimp is very likely the issue here, just treat it like mid-range revolver ammo, and just put enough crimp to close the belling on the case. With 45 auto, you're not getting enough recoil to be knocking the rounds enough to get bullet set back, and you're (likely) not gonna go for the gold H110 compressed loads, so having a big heavy crimp isn't necessary. Hope it works out, I only have enough money to buy a S&W M&P, right now, so I don't have any reason to get you to put your gun up for sale :p
 
Eureka!

A couple of little experiments - last night I took some of my .45 ACP reloads and some BDX, loaded using a Lee factory crimp die. Caliper said the case was 0.468 - 0.469" around the case mouth. Took the cylinder out, and seated 6 rounds. Much to my surprise - some of the casings seated just so the rim was sticking out and none of the inset rim was visible - I believe these were the culprits of the light strikes.

I reloaded 12 rounds today WITHOUT the factory crimp die, gave it a measure and I was seated at 0.471 - 0.472". Repeated the same experiment - and I could at least see a the inset rim for all of them (some shorter than others).

I'm super excited again - can't wait to take it to the range to see if that fixes my light strike problem.

If that's the case - I'll just have to get reloading again :)
 
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