Folks-
After all your input and my own tortured decision making process, I bought my first pistol: a Ruger Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter in .44 Magnum. (On a related note, I also bought brand new reloading equipment, in my case, a Dillon AT 500 set and Lee carbide dies; with which I am extremely pleased.)
Off to the range yesterday and today, toting handloads as follows: Remington brass, 240 grain Hornady XTPs, CCI 350 primers over 23.5 grains of H110. (This is a textbook load from the Lyman manual. Followed to the tenth of a grain and the 1000/th of an inch.)
Conditions were poor. Icy, windy, snowing and cold.
I fired 58 rounds yesterday and 56 rounds today for a total of 114.
When I fired the very first round, I didn't have my mouth fully closed, and was rewarded with top front teeth smashing into bottom front teeth when the gun fired. I can honestly say that my intial reaction to the recoil was: "This damn thing is for sale. I want a 25-.06." However, during the session I got the hang of it a little bit, and with a firm grip, solid stance, etc., it got very fun very quickly. The trick seems to be to take a very firm grip on the gun, but not fight the recoil when it comes. (If concentration waivers and/or your grip goes weak, you will be inaccurate and can get hurt. In my view, anyone who says you should hold the revolver like you are holding a live quail is nuts. I say take a very tight grip, in the case of the Bisley I seemed most comfortable holding the grip way up high, so the web of my hand literally bunched up a little but under the cocked hammer.)
The gun is certainly heavy, but points very nicely, and is quite manageable for off hand shooting.
The trigger has a little creep and is too heavy. There is a quickie fix that many owners of this gun recommend, the Po' Boy Trigger job. There are two springs for the trigger. Take one off, and trigger pull is cut in half, down to about 3 pounds. It's supposed to work very well, but I'm going to wait to do this until I am more experienced shooting and handling this revolver.
This thing really goes boom. When it goes off, there is a stiff push back into the web of your hand, and the gun lifts more or less straight up in the air from the recoil. It didn't seem to torque left or right much, nor did it seem to flip. So far, I think the Bisley grip was a good choice. As I type, my hands feel used but not sore. Wrists are fine. No blood, though I banged my strong side middle finger knuckle on the trigger guard with the several rounds.
Two buddies of mine shot it today. They both own DA Smith and Wesson .357 Magnums. One of them shot a full cyclinder, then quit. The other one shot two cylinders, then he quit and hurried back to his 40 Sig.
The gun gets filthy from firing, as does the brass. Everything must be cleaned after each use. Stainless steel: it's a good thing.
Accuracy, I was on paper out of the box at 25 yards, 3 inches high and 4 inches right. I got the sights kinda roughed in. They are nice: click adjustable for windage and elevation, very good quality. The rear sight is now maxed out in left windage adjustment, which concerns me a little, but this may be my technique and hold, not the gun. We'll see...
My best group from the rest thus far is about 3-4" at 25 yards, with one flyer. Obviously, there is a long way to go, but I am pleased overall.
Open sights in a handgun is a different ballgame from my cushy Leupold-scoped Encore rifle off the benchrest. It will take alot of practice to reach my goal: MOA at 50 yards with handloads and open sights from a bench rest.
I'm having fun, and would welcome any input to get me to my goal more quickly.
Thanks-Mawgie
