Does my SA Ruger unicorn exist?

[jacotsmith]

Hi everyone,

Well, maybe "unicorn" is a bit of a stretch. I know these things exist somewhere in the wild but wonder if they're ever spotted north of the 49th parallel. Sort of like a cougar in Ontario I guess.

I have been on the lookout for an old model, three screw, pre-transfer bar Ruger Blackhawk 357/9mm convertible for ages now, preferably with a 4 5/8" barrel. Worn finish is not a concern, if anything it's a bonus as it would keep the price down

I shoot a lot of bulk 9mm so I really appreciate the 9mm cylinder for economic reasons. I picked up a new model convertible off the EE a while back for a great price but it just didn't do it for me. It's just not the same without that clickity-click

If they are hard to come by, what's involved in picking up a 357 model and sourcing a 9mm spare cylinder? I've read over and over that the cylinders are fitted specifically to their frames and not to shoot them without matching serial numbers but wonder if a good gunsmith could check the timing. Are the old model cylinders the same size as the new? I know the old model 357s had the smaller frame whereas now they are all made with the larger 44 frame.

Anyway, I'd love to hear your thoughts. My old model "super" single six is fun to play cowboy with but it just doesn't pack the punch of a Centre fire.

Thanks for reading everyone!

 

[kanook]

For your Ruger NM there is this h ttp://www.brownells.com/handgun-parts/trigger-group-parts/hammer-parts/hammers/ruger-sa-half-####-hammer-trigger-kit-prod9845.aspx

If you find a Ruger Blackhawk (3 screw) you will need an Old Model 9mm cylinder for it to work. Chances are it will work, but it needs to be checked.

 

[Lonesome Donkey]

Finding a 3 screw Old Model .357 Blackhawk would be difficult enough, I would think, with everyone hanging on to them.

Finding an Old Model 9mm cylinder, separated from it's parent combo revolver, would be extremely difficult.

If you did though, there might be variations through the dates of production with regard to overall cylinder length, or you might end up with a correct length cylinder which still had excessive end play or excessive cylinder flash gap.

As for timing, I would suspect that it might be close enough, but who knows?

If it were a tiny bit slow, like a worn revolver, you could probably rely on the over-cocking of the hammer, past sear engagement, to compensate. Installing a new hand would allow correcting the problem for the 9mm cylinder, but then the .357 cylinder timing would be off.

If it were too fast, then stoning the hand would correct that, but that would cause the other cylinder to have slow timing.
I suppose that a gunsmith might be able to stone each of the ratchet faces to match the .357 cylinder timing though.

In the end, buying an Old Model combo might be the least problematical, if you can find one.

 

[hatman1793]

Started out as a great idea, and I bought it thinking: wow! A two caliber revolver. Unfortunately, my sad tale of woe found me firing .358 SWC's in my Blackhawk convertible that was anything but accurate. The factory barrel was not .358 but bigger, so firing .356 9mm bullets in the other cylinder was fruitless too. Loading .357 or .358 bullets in 9mm cases didn't work as they would not chamber.
Ended up changing out that oversize barrel, while the 9mm cylinder cannot even achieve paperweight status. All so very disappointing.....

 

[ruffbird]

I purchased a new "Flattop" ruger BH 357/9mm convertable on the smaller frame awhile back & reload cast bullets sized .357" They chamber and shoot fine. The chamber mouths in the 9mm cylinder are .357" & the barrel slugs to .3575" in MY gun. I have tried .358" cast but these are too big to chamber. (The other cylinder this size works!) Best to try a few in your gun to see what works for you.....


The trick to reloading 9mm for these rugers is the crimp. Not enough & the ammo won't chamber! Just iron out the flare, because it needs to headspace on the case mouth.


I really enjoy this one. They are fun shooters!

 

[BCRider]

If your present NM Convertible is good with the 9mm ammo I would not be in a hurry to sell it. As you're seeing here and likely already seen on other forums a lot of them don't have the proper size barrel to do really well with 9mm. And that may well apply to your Holy Grail 4 click 3 screw you have yet to find.

Stories are numerous about how the Convertibles were supposed to have an inbetween bore to take either .356 or .358 with reasonable accuracy. But a lot of folks end up posting that their slugged barrels are measuring out closer to the .357 or .357+ side of the equation and have pretty loose groups with 9mm as a result.

Consider too that a Blackhawk originally sold in .357 would be sized to take .357 to .357+ bullets for sure. So even if you did get a 9mm cylinder that fits the accuracy is likely to be less than ideal with the smaller bullets.

Some, like ruffbird, sneak around that by using cast bullets that are nominally 9mm but are dropping from the mold at .357. But if you are using factory bulk ammo then chances are that they are jacketed or plated bullets and sized to a "proper" .356. And that will be an issue in a fair number of the Convertibles.

Depending on why and how you shoot this could be a serious issue. I know it would be for me. I prefer guns that make me look better than I think I am, not worse. And unless we are out there only for the kick and the noise I suspect that most of us are like that. Guns which do not do well in this regard end up being safe queens or sold off I'm sure.

 

[jacotsmith]

Thanks for all your input folks. I'm not nearly ambitious enough to get into reloading, hence my desire to keep shooting bulk factory 9mm to keep my hobby almost affordable. If I can hit a 10" pie plate with a single action revolver at 15 paces I'm a happy camper, it's not like I'm trying to put to bullets into the same hole at 100 yards.

Thanks as well for the Brownell's link, aside from reducing the weight of the trigger pull it looks like the main result of that mod is to bring back that satisfying extra click. And I didn't know there were modern productions of the a small-frame flat-top out there, will definitely keep an eye out for those as well!

 

[BCRider]

Does it need to be an SAA style revolver? A bunch of us found that the Alfa Project revolvers in 9mm are wonderfully accurate. And surprisingly affordable for the level of quality.

 

[jacotsmith]

Does it need to be an SAA style revolver? A bunch of us found that the Alfa Project revolvers in 9mm are wonderfully accurate. And surprisingly affordable for the level of quality.

I've had a couple Alfa Proj revolvers in 9mm, a 4.5" and a 6" and they were both plenty accurate enough for me. The 6" in particular with some wood grips to help fill my hand was really a nice shooter. My only complaint was they didn't like crappier surplus ammo with either hard primers or expanding casings that would get stuck in the cylinders.

Anyway, that's a long way of saying yes I am looking for a single action in 9mm.

 

[HDMopar]

As to why you may have trouble finding your 'Unicorn' is that for the one I have (SS 6.5" barrel, .357/.38/9mm) is that they only made 300 of them in the 32-###xx series. Beautiful revolver to play with.

 

[jacotsmith]

oooh that's pretty!