By Joe Berk
Good buddy Greg and I (along with about a gazillion other people) are long term Ruger Blackhawk fans, and last week we were on the range with a new .357 Magnum Blackhawk Greg recently acquired. It’s one of a limited run offered by Talo, a distributor specializing in custom guns from a variety of manufacturers.
Greg’s Blackhawk has a 5 1/2-inch barrel (standard New Model .357 Blackhawks have either a 4 5/8-inch or 6 1/2-inch barrel) and really cool birdseye maple grips (most Blackhawks these days have black plastic grips). The birdseye maple grips contrast well with the Ruger’s deep bluing, and that 5 1/2-inch barrel just flat works on a single action revolver. At 40 ounces (one ounce heavier than a 1911 Government Model .45 auto), the Ruger balances well and feels right. Greg’s birdseye Blackhawk is beautiful, it groups well, and it has a superb trigger. This particular offering from Talo includes an extra cylinder chambered in 9mm, so Greg can use .357 Magnum, .38 Special, or 9mm ammo (I guess he won’t be running out any time soon).
Greg loads the same .357 Magnum ammunition that I do (a 158-grain cast lead bullet with 7.0 grains of Unique), which is the “go to” accuracy recipe in .357 Magnum. It sure shoots well. A target load that is superbly accurate in a Blackhawk is the .38 Special with a 148-grain wadcutter bullet and 2.7 grains of Bullseye propellant (that’s been a preferred .38 Special accuracy load for decades).
Ruger makes a beautiful revolver, and this Talo birdseye Blackhawk’s limited production run almost guarantees these will be investment grade guns. Most dealers are sold out, but if you poke around a bit on Gunbroker.com, you may still find one.
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9mm, .38 and .357 all work ok in the barrel?
.38 and .357 both use bullets that are typically .357 or .358 inches in diameter (jacketed bullets are .357; cast bullets are .358). 9mm bullets are typically .355 to .356 inches in diameter. I have not found 9mm ammo to be as accurate in a convertible Blackhawk as .357 Mag or .38 Special ammunition. Others tell me they find 9mm to be just as accurate in convertible Blackhawks as .358 or .38 ammo. But to answer your question: Yes, all three will work.
Joe, does 9mm take another cylinder or anything special to shoot them thru the Blackhawk?
It does. Greg’s Blackhawk includes an extra cylinder chambered for the 9mm cartridge. The .38 Special and .357 Mag cartridges chamber in the other cylinder that Ruger provides with the handgun.
Yes 9mm is a separate cylinder