Ruger Blackhawk

Ruger Blackhawk

A .357 Magnum/9mm convertible Ruger Blackhawk in blued finish, with Adjustable Sights, and a 4 5/8" Barrel
Type Revolver
Place of origin United States
Production history
Manufacturer Sturm, Ruger
Unit cost

US:$495 – Standard Model, Blued Finish [1]

US:$525 – Stainless New Model Vaquero
Produced 1955–Present
Specifications
Weight 36–48 oz (1,021–1,361 g)
Length 10 1/4–13 1/2 inches (260–343 mm)
Barrel length 4 5/8–7 1/2 inches (117–191 mm)
Cartridge Varies, see Calibers
Action Single-action revolver
Feed system 6-round cylinder

The Ruger Blackhawk is a 6-shot, single-action revolver manufactured by Ruger. It is produced in a variety of finishes, calibers, and barrel lengths.

History

In the early 1950s, Westerns were popular in movies and television. Colt had discontinued the iconic Single Action Army prior to World War II, and few single-action revolvers were available to meet market demand for cowboy-style revolvers. In 1953, the new firm of Sturm, Ruger & Company introduced the Single-Six, a .22 LR rimfire single-action revolver. The Single-Six proved to be a popular seller, leading Ruger to develop and market a centerfire revolver similar to the Single Action Army: the Ruger Blackhawk.[2][3]

Ruger introduced the Blackhawk in 1955. Chambered for the .357 Magnum, the Blackhawk was a simple and strong design, and it sold well. In 1956, as Smith & Wesson was introducing the new .44 Magnum, Ruger quickly developed a variant of the Blackhawk in the new cartridge. Ruger achieved wide popularity with this firearm in a hotly anticipated new cartridge, which was both cheaper and more readily available than the Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver. According to popular legend, Ruger was able to field a .44 Magnum revolver at nearly the same time as Smith & Wesson due to a Ruger employee finding expended .44 Magnum cartridge cases at a scrapyard and deducing that Smith & Wesson was about to launch a new cartridge.[4][5]

The 1955–1962 Blackhawks are known today as the "Flattop" models, because their adjustable rear sights were not protected by "ears" extending up from the frame as later became standard. From 1962 through 1972, Ruger made the "Three Screw" Blackhawk in various calibers, so called by the number of screws visible on the side of the revolver.

The Flattop and Three Screw Rugers were modernized compared to the Colt Single Action Army, in that they had adjustable sights instead of the Colt's fixed sights, and they used wire coil springs instead of the Colt's flat leaf springs. Bill Ruger chose coil springs due to their greater durability, saying that it solved one of the primary weaknesses of the Colt design.

The early models of the Blackhawk still operated the same way as the Colt, in that the hammer was half-cocked to load and unload and that the firearm was not safe to carry with all six chambers loaded due to the hammer resting upon the sixth chamber.[6] In 1973, in order to eliminate accidents occurring from the hammer jarring against a round loaded in the sixth chamber, Ruger introduced the New Model Blackhawk. The New Model Blackhawk did not require the hammer to be half-cocked for loading and unloading, and it employed a transfer bar mechanism which prevented the cartridge under the hammer from being fired without the trigger being pulled. The New Blackhawk was seen as limiting firearms accidents and legal liability. Ruger then began offering a retrofit program, offering free transfer bar conversions to earlier variants of the Blackhawk.

Various models

Ruger Old Model Super Blackhawk
Ruger New Model Super Blackhawk and Javalina
The Ruger Old Army is a 45-caliber percussion revolver based on the Ruger Blackhawk action.
The Blackhawk is a popular base gun for custom work. This one is a cooperative effort by members of the American Pistolsmith's Guild

Over the years the Blackhawk has appeared in a wide variety of models. These models include:

Calibers

Finishes

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ruger product info
  2. ↑ Taffin, John (2005). Single Action Sixguns. Krause Publications. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-87349-953-8.
  3. ↑ Taffin, John (1997). Big Bore Sixguns. Krause Publications. p. 336. ISBN 978-0-87341-502-6.
  4. ↑ Sturm Ruger booklet "Fifty Years of .44 Magnums"
  5. ↑ Sixguns.com
  6. ↑ Larson, Erik (24 June 1993). "Wild West Legacy: Ruger Gun Often Fires If Dropped, but Firm Sees No Need for Recall". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 October 2015 – via Proquest. (subscription required (help)).
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.