Blackhawk questions

S

Slimbo

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
223   0   0
Location
B.C
I just took possession of my first single action revolver...A beauty of a ruger blackhawk bisley in 45 Colt. When reading other threads I noticed people talking about installing a free spin pawl? What is this? and how does it affect the functioning of the revolver?

Thanks in advance
Simon
 
When you are loading and unloading you will notice that the cylinder will only go in one direction and if you go too far you will have to go completely around again. The free spin pawl will allow it to spin in both directions allowing for easier loading and unloading.

I don't have one in my Vaquero... yet. But it would be nice. The new small frame models now have it built in.


Fudd
 
Thanks for clearing that up. I have another question. I was down buying a bunch of 45 colt reloading components and I bought a box of 200 Hornady 255gr FP "cowboy" bullets. These have a diameter of .454...I asked the man at the counter and he told me they were the correct bullets for 45 colt.But, I was reading my lyman 48th and it said that a new blackhawk has a bore diameter of 451...can I use these bullets or no?'

Thanks
Simon
 
Slimbo said:
Thanks for clearing that up. I have another question. I was down buying a bunch of 45 colt reloading components and I bought a box of 200 Hornady 255gr FP "cowboy" bullets. These have a diameter of .454...I asked the man at the counter and he told me they were the correct bullets for 45 colt.But, I was reading my lyman 48th and it said that a new blackhawk has a bore diameter of 451...can I use these bullets or no?'

Thanks
Simon
Click to expand...

Yes, you can use them, but it's kind of a waste on a modern gun.

.45 Colt was (nominally) .454 until after WWII. When the barrel making machinery was started up again, the bore was left .451 as per the 1911 .45acp.

You will find that most .45 Colt guns made from the '50s into the '90s tended to have .451 bores and .452-456 chambers....
 
pure speculation on my part, but maybe he was referring that you don't need jacketed bullets with the velocities the 45 colt provides- however, you may want to shoot some anyways so you don't have to cean the bore as often- also, there are special loads for the rugers ( real top end white lightning stuff) that might be better with jacketed- anyway, your ruger bore is 451 bore
 
Makes sense, but the bullets I am talking about are solid lead. Seems like .451 to .454 is quite a difference. I just want to make sure i wont damage the gun by using them.
 
You should be fine. At the pressures you're loading lead bullets to, it won't cause you pressure problems. Unless your chamber is exceptionally tight (unlikely with a Ruger), you won't have chambering issues either. You will likely find the bullets seat a bit harder because your expander die will be expanding for a .452 bullet, but again, with lead bullets it won't matter much. Your finished rounds will just have a bit of a 'waist' underneath where the bullet stops in the case. Depending on the size of your chamber mouths (Rugers tend to be a bit tight for 45 Colt, unless they've opened them up in the past couple of years), you may actually find that you get better accuracy and less leading with the .454 bullets. If that is the case, and you want to stick with that size, RCBS sells a .454 expander that is included in their CAS dies. It fits fine into the regular RCBS expander die. Will make seating plain-base bullets a bit easier, but won't make much difference if you load bevel-base.
 
you can buy an after market type, & can change the pawl back to the factory one if you don't like it.

then there's another way to do it by altering the factory part already in your gun. remember though, if you don't like it you would have to replace it with another,....of the very same length. (timing issue)

another thing to remember, when you rotate the cylinder you won't hear that click-click-click, as the pawl slips off each ratchet tooth of the cylinder. some folks like the sound! if i could hunt with these things, that silence would be plus in my book anyway....

here's how you can do it,...check out this link!
http://www.marauder.homestead.com/files/FreeSpin.html

i've done about a dozen of my rugers, & i sure like how you can move the cylinder backwards for loading/unloading....

Ruffbird.:wave:
 
Thanks for the info ruffbird! My internet was down for a couple days there, thanks for tagging it. I dont know if I will change over to the free spin pawl. I havn't really had a problem with loading it as it is, and I do enjoy that click-click-click!:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom