Ruger Blackhawk 45 Colt question

[Chaparral]

Is there an adapter one can purchase that will allow you to shoot 45 acp out of the Ruger Blackhawk 45 Colt?

[dewcrew8]

I think the old models you changed out the cylinder to a 45acp they sold.

[Chaparral]

Originally Posted by dewcrew8

I think the old models you changed out the cylinder to a 45acp they sold.

Yeah I remember those. This was a newer one I bought from a guy at a good price and was just wondering if they had anything for the newer ones.

[44caliberkid]

There are gunsmiths that will make you an extra cylinder.

[44 AMP]

Is there an adapter one can purchase that will allow you to shoot 45 acp out of the Ruger Blackhawk 45 Colt?

Yes, and it's called a .45ACP cylinder.

The best way to get one is to buy a Ruger Blackhawk .45 Convertible. They've been making them since the md 70s.

I do not know if Ruger will currently fit an ACP cylinder to your .45 Colt gun. Call them and ask.

A GOOD gunsmith could get a cylinder for your gun, bore it and fit it, but I have no idea the cost of such work today, or who would be willing to do the job, sorry.

I got my Convertible in '83, with the idea I could shoot ACP and not have to hunt for the brass. I made one small "mistake"...the first ammo I shot from the gun was .45 Colt, and WOW!! I was hooked! After that shooting the ACP in that gun was a letdown.

I've put thousands of .45 Colt rounds through mine in the years since, but perhaps only 300 ACP rounds.

Find a convertible, and buy or trade for it if you've got to have both cylinders.

[Bob Wright]

As to the fitting of .45 ACP cylinders to Ruger .45 Colt revolvers, the story is somewhat sketchy. I bought a .45 Colt about 1979 or so and sent it to Ruger and they did fit the ACP cylinder.

However, more recently, they state they will do this only if the gun were sold originally as a convertible.

Currently the practice is: Who knows?

Contact them and ask. If they won't, there are cylinders available that may, or may not, work. And your gunsmith can fit one for you.

Bob Wright

[Bob Willman]

I bought a used Blackhawk convertible with 2 cylinders that was made in 1976 - the bicentennial year - and it is marked as such.

[rice paddy daddy]

My first 45 Convertible was bought in 1974.
Alas, that one went and my current Convertible is from 2005.
They are still being made today

If you can't find an ACP cylinder, do not despair. The 45 Colt is the best handgun round ever made.

[reynolds357]

Related, but not totally, I recently bought a Blackhawk 9mm/357 Mag. The pistol is marked 357 magnum. Nowhere on anything does it say 9mm.

[44 AMP]

Nowhere on anything does it say 9mm.

Because the gun is not a 9mm, its a .357...

I don't have that particular gun, but I do have Ruger convertibles in .45 and .22 caliber, and that what they say on them, Ruger .45 caliber or Ruger .22 caliber. They don't even say "convertible" only the caliber, without reference to a cartridge name.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

45 Colt chambers on the cartridge rim.

45 ACP chambers on the case mouth.

I bought my 45 Colt/45ACP convertible Blackhawk in 1975. I even still have the little red bag the ACP cylinder came in.






As I said, the rounds in the 45 Colt cylinder seat on the case rims. The rounds in the 45 ACP cylinder seat on the case mouth. Dropping a 45 ACP round into the 45 Colt cylnder does not work because the ACP round falls right through and stops against the narrowing of the chamber to the chamber throat, way down inside the chamber. I won't swear to it, but the ACP cylinder appears to be cut to allow 45 ACP rounds clipped to moon clips to seat. I have never used moon clips, so that is just an assumption.






The 45 Colt cylinder, the one at the top of the photo is 1.6990 long over the main body of the cylinder. The 45 ACP cylinder is 1.745 long over the main body of the cylinder. The difference is to allow for the fact that the rims of the ACP rounds sit flush with the back of the cylinder.

And before anybody asks, no, neither cylinder will allow the thick rims of 45 Auto Rim to chamber.

[44 AMP]

I won't swear to it, but the ACP cylinder appears to be cut to allow 45 ACP rounds clipped to moon clips to seat. I have never used moon clips, so that is just an assumption.

I don't think its a valid assumption. No idea exactly why your acp cylinder is cut that way, but I don't think moon clips is it.

Just checked the ACP cylinder from my 83 Blackhawk and it is cut exactly the same way as the .45 Colt cylinder in your picture, there is no "channel" in it like there is in your ACP cylinder.

Using full moon, half moon or the 2rnd clips is not possible in a factory standard Blackhawk. First there simply isn't enough clearance between the rear face of the cylinder and the frame. This is also the reason .45 Auto Rim brass won't work.

Second, even if there was enough clearance, what would be the point??? Half moon, and moon clips are made so that you can get simultaneous extraction and ejection in revolvers with swing out cylinders. Not only is there no room in a Blackhawk, and no need for clipping the rounds together, since there is no swing out cylinder, one would have to remove the cylinder from the frame to load/unload clipped rounds and that would actually be considerably SLOWER than using the ejector rod built into the gun!

[Driftwood Johnson]

Come to think off it, your are right. I was not thinking. How in the world would moon clips be used in a single action revolver that has to be loaded one round at a time through the loading gate?

Sorry, I wasn't thinking.

I have no idea why that groove is there at the rear of the cylinder.

The simple fact is, I have always fired 45 Colt ammo through my old Blackhawk.

In fact, when I bought it way back in 1975 I didn't even want the extra cylinder.

I used to be able to buy relatively inexpensive 45 Colt reloads, so that is what I was shooting in my Blackhawk all those years ago.

Then I started reloading my own 45 Colt ammo, so there was no need for me to be buying 45 ACP.

It was actually many years before I ever used the 45 ACP cylinder, it has been sitting in the little red bag for over 40 years, and has hardly any wear on it at all.

Sorry, before anybody asks, the ACP cylinder is not for sale.

[John D]

Maybe you can find the ACP cylinder at a gun show or online. Many will say that the cylinder needs to be "fitted" to your specific gun; I have not found that to be the case. I have two .38-40/10mm Blackhawk convertibles - I mixed the cylinders long ago and no longer know which goes with which gun. They were a special run, so maybe the specs were the same for that batch, but I've never noticed the difference.

[105kw]

Could the groove be to keep bot cylinders about the same weight?
Has anybody weighed each if them?
Just an odd idea.

[44 AMP]

The point of "fitting" the spare cylinder is not about the amount of work that may or may not be needed its about determining if work will be needed, and then what, and how much.

There are times when serendipity is in play and another gun's cylinder, or even sometimes another maker's cylinder will fit in your gun and work well enough to not need the gun or the cylinder being worked on for proper operation.

AND there are also times when the different cylinder will SEEM to fit and function well enough but be out of time, possibly dangerously.

There are guns with parts made to "drop in and fit" or "plug and play" without any fitting needed. Revolver cylinders aren't one of them.

This does not mean that the proper "fit" cannot be the same in two different revolvers, one is talking about small precise physical dimension, and what's right in one gun MAY also be right in another, creating the illusion that fitting isn't important or required, but that's all it is, and cannot and should not be relied on.

[jackmoser65]

The groove is for the firing pin.

It's relatively easy to find a 45ACP cylinder and they usually drop in. If it functions, the gap looks okay and the cylinder locks fully by the time the hammer reaches the full cock notch on each chamber, you're good. If not, any decent gunsmith can fit it. Ruger doesn't "fit" cylinders when they build these guns. They take one out of the parts bin, try it and if it doesn't fit, they try another.

[Tom C.]

20 years ago I wanted a pair of stainless .45 Colt NMBH’s with 5 ½” barrels for cowboy action shooting. Ruger didn’t make them at the time. I got a pair of 7 ½”, sent them to the factory for a barrel change to 5 ½”, and asked to add a .45 ACP cylinder. They did it. The only issue was, I had to ream the chamber throats because they were too tight. They shoot great and have been working just fine for over 20 yrs.
While the .45 ACP cylinder won’t, as it comes from the factory, take .45 AR brass, it can be trimmed and allow both .45 ACP and .45 AR. I prefer .45 AR for range ammo because of the smaller case.

[Lavan]

My Ruger 45 ACP/LC that I just happily sold was OK. But JUST okay.
Of course, I despise the Ruger 2 screw large bores as they leave no room for backing off if you happen to go a smidge past the loading gate.

MY issue with the gun was that the ACP cylinder would only chamber hardball round nose. My target wadcutters would not go in as the tiny amount of lead exposed at the case mouth would not enter the ACP chambers.

I do not miss that Ruger.

I believe it is only the larger bore ones that are so critical in ammo alignment when loading.

But, man was it frustrating.

I confine my ACP usage to my 1911s.

[44 AMP]

I believe it is only the larger bore ones that are so critical in ammo alignment when loading.

No, they're pretty much all like that. Once you go past the "click" you can't go back. The difference is, that with smaller cartridges, you can go a bit past the click and the chamber is still in the loading gate window allowing you to insert a round. With the big bore rounds, the edge of the chamber is right at the edge of the gate window when you get the click and going past that cuts off the chamber enough you can't load a round, and you can't just "back up" so you just go on to the next one, and then load the one you missed the next time it comes around.

There are aftermarket parts you can get to allow a "free spin" but I never bothered.

And if your LSWC .45ACP rounds won't fit in the Ruger cylinder, seat the bullets deeper, so there is no lead shoulder sticking out.

You don't have a spring driven slide slamming the round into the ACP chamber to overcome a tight fit. :

Also, while the old Blackhawks are often referred to as "3 screw" it's because there are 3 screws visible in the action, while the New Model Blackhawks don't have ANY screws in those locations, they have pins.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Yes, with a New Model (the transfer bar models) Ruger, if you allow the cylinder to rotate just a tiny bit too far when loading, the hand will pop into the next ratchet tooth and you will have to go all the way around again to load that chamber.

I found this so annoying that I installed Power Custom half cock hammers in three stainless 'original model' Vaqueros. Just like a Colt, with the half cock hammers, the chambers line up very nicely with the loading gate for each chamber when the hammer is placed in the half cock position.






Ruger solved this problem with the New Vaqueros by installing a spring plunger in the frame that lines up the chambers with the loading gate when loading, without needing a half cock hammer or a free spin pawl.

[jackmoser65]

Actually the New Vaquero and Blackhawks with the same features, have a free spin pawl already. Which is why they needed the plunger for indexing the chambers.

[rclark]

Over the years of using the NM Ruger, I got used to loading/unloading them by feel and it was/is no problem. That said, I do like the flattops and New Vaqueros with the free spin pawl, and plunger stop. Someone came up with a good idea there at Ruger .

[44 AMP]

Someone came up with a good idea there at Ruger .

Finally, but that doesn't mean I'm ditching my best SA revolver of the past 39 years to get a new one...

[rclark]

I wouldn't ditch it either . Have a keeper, keep'er goin'. For me though, Once I got my hands on the medium frame flattops it was love at first sight (so to speak) ... No turning back. I have my set of perfect pack'n, shoot'n, toot'n. rip-roar'n, snort'n revolvers. All four are tuned the same by the same gunsmith, all the same barrel length, all shoot to same POA, all with custom same grip style..... In .357, .44 Special, and .45 Colt. The forth flattop is the .45 Colt New Vaquero. I guess if you bring in a fifth, it would be the .44 Magnum 50th flattop with 6 1/2" barrel. It just doesn't get out as much, but it is the gun I go to if shoot'n .44 Magnum. .44 Special just made the .44 Mag 'obsolete' for my .429 shooting needs . Also the .357 and .45 Colt flattops can shoot the odd ball cartridges 9mm and .45 ACP too if I ever get the silly idea to do so....