{"id":32400,"date":"2026-09-05T00:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=32400"},"modified":"2026-09-06T06:20:54","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T13:20:54","slug":"a-tale-of-three-30-carbine-blackhawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/09\/05\/a-tale-of-three-30-carbine-blackhawks\/","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Three .30 Carbine Blackhawks"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n

We’ve written a lot about .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawks here on ExhaustNotes, and with some justification:\u00a0 I’ve owned three of the things.\u00a0 I still have two; one went back to Ruger and stayed there, a victim of my own stupidity.\u00a0 I’ll get to that a few paragraphs down.<\/p>\n

.30 Carbine Blackhawk No. 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

My first .30 Carbine Blackhawk is one of the earliest ones ever made; a three digit, three screw Old Model.\u00a0 It is unfired (other than test firing at the factory), it has a very low non-prefix three-digit serial number, and it has the original box and all of the original paperwork. It’s one of the coolest Rugers I’ve ever owned.\u00a0 It will be one of the guns my heirs will have to sell (or keep; it will be their call) when I go to that big server in the sky and my blogging days are over.\u00a0 I spotted this one on Gunbroker, I bought it, and I’ve had no regrets.<\/p>\n

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Unfired. 3-screw Old Model. Low 3-digit serial number (cloned over in these photos). Complete with the original box and all the paperwork. No, it’s not for sale.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Well, almost no regrets.\u00a0 When I bought that first .30 Carbine I had it shipped to my FFL buddy Bryan, and when he saw it, he spoke at length at how cool it was and how much fun it was to shoot a .30 Carbine revolver.\u00a0 I had never done so, and this one will remain in its unfired condition for as long as I own it.<\/p>\n

.30 Carbine Blackhawk No. 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bryan’s comments got me thinking that I needed another .30 Carbine Blackhawk I could shoot, and a week or two later, .30 Carbine Blackhawk No. 2 (also an Old Model), came floating in from another Gunbroker ad.\u00a0 The thought was a good one, but the reality was not.\u00a0\u00a0That second .30 Carbine Blackhawk was anything but fun to shoot.\u00a0 Every cartridge case stuck in the cylinder (they were extremely difficult to eject), and the cases of my reloaded ammo dragged on the revolver’s backplate.<\/p>\n

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Ruger Blackhawk .30 Carbine No. 2.\u00a0 It was the original design, informally referred to as the Old Model. It was a beautiful handgun, but it had problems.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I doped out the cylinder drag issue fairly quickly.\u00a0 I had to trim the brass after nearly ever firing, and I had to make absolutely certain the primer was below flush after seating.\u00a0 .30 Carbine cases shrink in length when fired, and they grow in length when resized.\u00a0 \u00a0The cartridge headspaces on the case mouth, so case length is critical.<\/p>\n

To address the extraction issue, I tried polishing the chambers and I swabbed them with alcohol to remove any traces of oil, but I still had the problem.\u00a0 So I tried lighter loads with Trail Boss (a powder known for working well with lighter loads), and that’s how I got in trouble.\u00a0 The Trail Boss guidance is to load to the base of the bullet for a max load, and not less than 70% of that amount as a minimum load.\u00a0 I loaded at just under the max load and I thought I was doing well when I fired the first Trail Boss load.\u00a0 The case extracted easily.\u00a0 This is progress, I remember thinking, and I fired four more rounds.\u00a0 They all felt okay, with essentially no recoil (that should have been a clue).<\/p>\n

I had stuck a bullet in the bore with that first shot and I didn’t realize it.\u00a0 Then I had fired another, and another, and another, and another.\u00a0 I felt even worse when I ran my fingers along the length of the barrel.\u00a0 I could feel the swells along the barrel from each bullet.\u00a0 I didn’t recognize what was happening.\u00a0 Stupid is as stupid does (Forrest Gump, 1994).<\/p>\n

.30 Carbine Blackhawk No. 3<\/strong><\/p>\n

After the above debacle, I called Ruger.\u00a0 I told them my story and the nice lady on the other end told me I wasn’t the first one to call with stuck bullets.\u00a0 I asked if they could re-barrel my Blackhawk.\u00a0 Sure, she said, and off the revolver went, on its way back to the mothership.<\/p>\n

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The third time’s a charm: .30 Carbine Blackhawk No. 3. This revolver is awesome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few days later Ruger called.\u00a0 A new barrel would be $400.48, they told me, but they weren’t too sure about the gun’s structural integrity.\u00a0 Or, they could sell me a new Blackhawk.\u00a0 How much would that be, I asked.\u00a0 $400.48, she said.\u00a0 Ah, I understood.\u00a0 What they were really telling me is to buy the new gun at the steeply-discounted price (MSRP on a new .30 Carbine Blackhawk at the time was $669; it’s more today).\u00a0 I was in.\u00a0 It wouldn’t be an Old Model, but by that time I didn’t care.<\/p>\n

When I received the new Blackhawk, I loaded ammo in different flavors to test what worked best.\u00a0\u00a0How did it go?\u00a0 In a word, the new .30 Carbine Blackhawk is awesome.\u00a0 Take a look:<\/p>\n

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Six different loads tested on two targets each. All groups are 5 shots, and all are at 15 yards.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The loads.\u00a0 My .30 Carbine New Model Blackhawk seems to like everything.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This new .30 Carbine Ruger Blackhawk revolver liked every load I tested.\u00a0 One was exceptional:<\/p>\n

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The secret sauce: 13.0 grains of 296 and the 110-grain Hornady jacketed soft point bullet. It’s consistent, too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shooting a .30 Carbine Blackhawk is fun.\u00a0 It’s 7 1\/2-inch barrel and long sight radius make for great accuracy. There’s massive muzzle blast, a huge muzzle flash, and major noise (hey, 40,000 psi is 40,000 psi), but little recoil.\u00a0 As mentioned above, it’s accurate.\u00a0 The spent brass practically fell out of the cylinder.\u00a0 This New Model Blackhawk is a honey.<\/p>\n

\n

A bit about the gear I use in my .30 Carbine reloading activities.\u00a0\u00a0I use Lee dies, although just about .30 Carbine reloading dies<\/a>\"\"\u00a0will do the trick.\u00a0 I normally stick with RCBS reloading gear, but I could get the Lee dies quicker so that\u2019s what I bought.\u00a0 \u00a0I like them.\u00a0\u00a0Most of my other reloading gear is RCBS, including the\u00a0RCBS powder dispenser<\/a>\"\", the\u00a0RCBS Rockchucker press<\/a>\"\", and the scale.\u00a0 Again, any brand will work.\u00a0 In looking at the prices for RCBS gear, I notice that it has become fairly expensive.\u00a0 If you want to get into reloading for a lot less, you might take a look at this\u00a0LEE PRECISION Anniversary Challenger Kit<\/a>\"\".\u00a0 It contains most of what you need except for the dies.\u00a0 Knowing what I know after having been a reloader for 50 years, it\u2019s what I would buy if I was starting out all over again.<\/p>\n

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Keep us in components!<\/p>\n