new 45 colt-45 acp convertible?

[hillbill]

im looking at getting a new 45 blackhawk convertible. the questions i have are, are the cylinder throats still undersized?accuracy? and accuracy with the 45 acp cylinder?im looking at the 5.5 blued model. id prefer stainless but they dont seem to offer it any more.any help from yuall would be greatly appreciated!
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[tacklebury]

Mine purchased in January of this year was.  It had some major issues.  Luckily, I returned it to Ruger and although not the nicest, they did repair it free of charge and threw in a trigger and lock job.  They had to install a new barrel and both cylinders.  Good news is now it's very accurate.  I can shoot clay pigeons at 30 yards easily and have hit the 10x10 gong at 50+ yards consistently.  Before, I had trouble hitting a 2' x 2' backstop for the target at 15 yards.  Sorry to have to give you the bad news. 8(

[1sourdough]

 I have a stainless 4 5/8" barreled Blackhawk in 45 Colt with the acp cylinder. I bought it last Spring. It shows a 2009 date on the empty case test/ballistics round. I actually bought mine just as a 45 Colt and then bought the 45acp cylinder from a guy on the Rugerforums.com. The acp cylinder is blued and fits great. There can be some issues with fit & one may have to prepare for minor 'fitting'. I paid $120 for the acp cylinder, new condition.

   I have not measured any chambers on my gun but I don't feel the need to do anything to it for "improvement". There are guys that trade around a reaming tool to do a job on Ruger chambers. They pay postage & a rental fee to a guy to do it to their own 45 Colts. The thread(or 2) is at the ruger forums.com. There is also a .net, so be aware. Anyway, I like my 45 Colt & have loaded a bunch for it. Another light option to shoot if you don't get the acp cylinder is the 45 Schofield. It's like shooting a 38 in a 357, mostly just a shorter case than the colt. It's not hard to find a 4 5/8" SS Blackhawk for sale. I see private sales & a few should be on Gunbroker if you want to just through a few hoops. I paid $475 for mine, not a great deal, but local. 

[texagun]

I have a .45LC/.45ACP Convertible with a 5 1/2" barrel that was made in 2003.  It's been an excellent gun but both of the cylinders were undersized and accuracy suffered a bit.  Sent them to CAS at cylindersmith.com and they came back at .4525.  It shoots noticeably better now.

[Dale53]

A couple of friends "twisted my arm" and we all three bought Ruger SS Bisley .45 Colt/.45 ACP revolvers some months ago. They were all finished extremely well, in my opinion. They all needed a trigger job and all six cylinders (throats) were undersized. I borrowed a Manson Reamer Kit made for the job from another good friend and reamed all six of them. After the trigger job (I also had the original pawl modified to a "free spin pawl") and cylinder reaming, all three of these revolvers shoot extremely well.

You might think from the above that I am complaining about he undersize cylinder throats. However, that is not true. I consider that we all have custom throats on our revolvers and the performance is enhanced immeasurably. Before reaming the throats, mine started leading from the first shot and by the twentieth shot was no longer "on call". Now, I can shoot several hundred loads with NO leading and accuracy is maintained from the first shot to the last.

I consider this combination one of the most desirable handguns to be had. It makes a tremendous range gun with the .45 ACP cylinder and with the .45 Colt, you can load and use very powerful loads for hunting big game. I cast my own bullets and reload, so that is a plus for me.

This is my revolver with the .45 ACP cylinder:



FWIW
Dale53

[tacklebury]

I don't know if you have all seen this article, but it's interesting.  I have duplicated the findings, using similar bullets, and find the loads very versatile in the Blackhawk.  I have similar loaded up as my defensive loads.  Definitely not your grandpa's .45 acp loads. 

http://www.handloads.com/articles/default.asp?id=41

[wyohandi]

I love mine, Yes the throats were small which is great lets me do a custom throat job.
I havent even fired the 45 colt cylinder yet, thanks to the link above. A 230gr hp
at 1200fps is more than enough, makes the Blackhawk about perfect for a lightweight
deer/walking gun.
And it will outshoot me any day.

[texagun]

im looking at getting a new 45 blackhawk convertible.... id prefer stainless but they dont seem to offer it any more.any help from yuall would be greatly appreciated!

Though it's not a Blackhawk with the adjustable sights, I found a nice Ruger Vaquero Convertible in my local gun shop yesterday and brought it home.  It's a Davidson Special Edition in .45LC/.45ACP in bright stainless and both cylinders measured .452 to .4525 so it should be good to go.  This one was made in 1999 and it doesn't look like the original owner ever shot it.  Can't wait to get it out to the range and run some reloads through it.