Ruger Bisley Hunter tuning

[rimfire]

Good morning all!

I have a Ruger Bisley Hunter in 44 magnum.  My FA 83 44 is my scoped gun, partly because the Bisely Hunter handles recoil better so I added the scope to the 83 for some weight.

I want to turn the Bisley into my open sighted cast bullet gun and tweak it as neccessary.  I want to shoot a WFN [Beartooth 250GC?] at no more than 1200 fps to reduce recoil.  I am through beating up my hands like I did for a few years there.  They still have not recovered from some of the 300 grainers I shot at rediculous levels 2 years ago.  It will never happen again.  Stupid.

I want to send the gun to a good smith for functional work...nothing cosmetic.  I am considering M-N-P, Bowen, Clements, Alpha or of like reputation and I was looking at the following.

1.  Complete action job with trigger as close to 2.5 pounds as possible with creep removed and an overtravel stop.  I have heard that M-N-P is about the best on Blackhawk triggers.  Anyone know the difference between Bowen's standard trigger job and his Premium as they are much different in price?  Anyone with experience with action jobs on Blackhawks by some of these guys?

Will have timing and fit gone over at the same time.  This gun shoots very accurately right now so I expect they will not find a major issue.  I scoped it for accuracy tests and this thing is pretty darn close to my FA out at 100 yards.  I was quite surprised.  It is harder to do it myself with the terrible creepy trigger though.

2.  Taylor throat or 11 degree forcing cone or ?  I want to shoot cast bullets and I have heard this can be helpful. 

3.  Bowen Rough Country rear sight or ?  Anyone know where I can get different front sights for this?  The front sight is easily chageable...to what other than Ruger?  I want the best sight combination I can get. 

4.  Should I get it re-crowned?

I would appreciate any comments on work above, additional work you would suggest and the different smiths out there.  Again, I only want functional changes...nothing cosmetic.  As long as I can get it back by September I am fine.  No real hurry.

Thanks for reading this far.

Barry

[Two401Pm]

You may also want to check out John Linebaugh's site for the custom work also. He has cost posted on this site for custom tuning sights and recrowning. The site is    customsixguns.com

[BlkHawk73]

  I use John Gallagher for all my Ruger SA work.  Shorter lead times and a little less.  Been ahppy with his work thus far and will send off another to him for a complete makeover soon.  I'd look at Clements second and progress up to Bowen and Limbaugh.  Depends on your alloted wait time you're able to have.

[Lloyd Smale]

heres my take on it. Nothing you want done is rocket science and any of the smiths you mentioned can do it well. As to who does the best action work id say its a toss up and id also say dont expect a miricle action job for a 100 bucks. Your going to get a vast improvement buy surely not perfection. My buddy does mine and to do them right your talking probably a minimun of 4-6 hours of work and if you had to pay a gunsmith to do that it cost you 500 bucks. Taylor throating and even recutting your forcing cone are more a cure for a bad shooting gun then something you just spend money on to say its done. If your gun shoots well now its a waste of money. Same with recrowining. If its shooting well why bother and most ruger 44s shoot well right out of the box. What id consider is an action job. Not only the trigger but smothining up the internals. Have him check the endshake and make sure its not excessive becuase if your shooting  big loads out of a gun with endshake it will get worse quickly. Id put a belt mountain pin in it just to make sure the pin doesnt jump in the field. For sights id scrap the rough country idea. They have a tendency to lossen up under recoil unless  you loctite them down and they you basicaly have a fixed sight. Id go with the bowen target sight. Ive never had one loose zero and theyve got about the best sight picture of any rear sight. Pair it up with a clements post front blade thinned to .10 and you have probably the best sight picture of any revlover set up. Id also have the cylinder freewheeled while it was at the gunsmiths. thats real handy.

[EdK]

What Lloyd said. If the gun shoots as well as your FA right now how about an action job and leaving it at that?

[rimfire]

Honestly, although it shoots well, when I tried cast 250 gr Beartooth WFNGC in it they leaded like crazy.  I will say however that my friend who loaded them and let me try them put them in front of 24.5 grains of H110...may just have been too hot and I do not expect to load that hot.  He also used .431 and I believe I may want to try .432 diameter in this gun.

I will probably skip the crown work, but the throat work might help the cast bullet leading...right?

So right now maybe action job and throat work only along with checking timing.  Should I consider tightening the cylinder gap also at the same time? 
 

[Lloyd Smale]

If it needs the endshake adjusted they will do the cylinder gap at the same time If that doesnt need to be done i wouldnt bother unless its spitting. Recutting your forcing cone may help accuracy but if it does help its because your gun doesnt have good alignment to start with. Ive use .430 bullets in each and every ruger 44 Ive ever owned and thats a bunch of them. Never needed anything bigger. If you got leading id guess two troubles. Either the  bullets were to soft or you many have a restriction in your barrel where its screwed into the frame. Some lapping with lapping bullets will take care of it. Veral smith a sight sponsor here sells a lapping kit.

[safetysheriff]

Honestly, although it shoots well, when I tried cast 250 gr Beartooth WFNGC in it they leaded like crazy.  

when someone says that a gas-checked bullet is leading like crazy it sounds like something is wrong.   i'd do a search ''taylor throating'' and consider sending it in for that treatment.   alpha precision is  the shop doing that 'throating'.   the concern about a 'choking' effect on the barrel where it is screwed into the frame can also be addressed with 'taylor throating'.   

please consider this before doing anything else.

let us know how it all works out,

ss'   

[Racer X]

I have a 45 Colt Hunter that Clements did. It started out as one of the Lipsey's limited edition 45 Colt Hunters but came from the factory dimensionally incorrect. Barrel was belled at the muzzle. I decided to let him do a conversion using a 44 Hunter barrel that was rebored and a linebored/rechambered 44 SBH stainless cylinder. Mine is setup as follows:

1) Sights -- Bowen Target rear and Clements front sight (modified post). I agree w/ Lloyds assertion...very nice sight picture

2) Locking # 5 basepin

3) Barrel / Cylinder -- Rebored 44 Hunter Barrel and linebored a SBH 44 mag cylinder to tight 45 Colt specs with .453" throats, minimum enshake, free-wheeling cylinder and tight barrel/cylinder gap. Barrel recrowned and forcing cone recut. Barrel was hand-lapped by Dave's rebore guy to .451" diameter. Also removed warning label

4) Action Job -- Action tightened and timed w/ a 2-3/4 lb trigger

5) Grips - Black Micarta (Letts) fitted to grip frame. Dave actually took some metal off the grip frame. The grips fit very nicely and are now actually a little smaller than before he fit them. 

6) Crescent Head Ejector Rod

It took 16 months to get it back but Dave does do nice work. As soon as I figure out how to use my wife's new digital camera I will post a picture.

[henryb]

RacerX,

I had David do very similar work on an Accusport 45.  He made a heavy 45 / 5 shot out of it. Express barrel, new cylinder, adjust endshake, trigger job etc. Sights are almost the same (Keith bar on the front).  It shoots like laser.  Love the gun and David's work.

[rimfire]

Taylor throating usefullness?

[safetysheriff]

it may help with the leading problem, particularly if the forcing cone right now is creating a problem for the gas checks on your bullets.   since you were considering the taylor throating in your first post, and the 'choking' effect was mentioned elsewhere, i am encouraging you to get the taylor throating done.   

i keep the sights on my Rugers.   i paint them with a red nail polish to pick them up better against green backgrounds when hunting, and to help with some of the target shooting i do.   otherwise i leave them 'stock'.

www.sixguns.com/crew/castbullet.htm will speak to leading factors such as barrel/frame constriction, etc.etc.   

ss'   

[Racer X]

Talk to Dave Clements about Taylor Thoating before you have it done. I know Jim Stroh also does it but he is more expensive than Dave.

[rimfire]

Finally, any opinions on Bob Munden's work?

[magman]

I sent my ill handling SBH Hunter to Jim @ Alpha Precision for his SuperTune. It was pricey but the results are unbelievable. The gun now locks up tight, no more cylinder slop. The trigger breaks right at 2.5 pounds. The basepin and cylinder bushing are a great improvement. I think that Jim did a better job than even Magnaport can do. I have 3 guns that Magnaport has touched and they are great also. My Alpha job took 6 months even though he quoted me 10+ months. Really gonna wring it out when I have the time to shoot it.