I have a lot of guns, and I’ve shot a lot of guns, but I found one that I love more than all of them combined. The Ruger Blackhawk 45 is the gun we all dreamed about when we were watching those old Westerns in our PJ’s on a Saturday evening.
We wanted a gun that looked cool, one you could shoot while riding a horse down a ravine and a gun that could shoot a bad guy off the roof of a building and watch him fall into the water trough. This is a real gun, a man’s gun, and it’s so tough you could pound in nails with it if you wanted to.
I had the chance to shoot this gun a few weeks ago and I liked it so much, I ran down to the local gun shop and bought one. Since then, I’ve really grown attached to it. I like to think of it as a sportsman’s utility gun, and my hunting sidearm of choice.
Right out of the box, it just feels good in your hand. I got the 4.62” barrel in the blued steel with black grips and it looks strikingly similar to my old BB gun pistol that I used to be able to watch the BB come out of. So maybe it brings back an old memory or something but it is cool nevertheless. I was never a big fan of single action revolvers but something about the Blackhawk made me fall in love with the classic style of it. Pulling back the hammer is addictive to say the least.
At a modest 39 ounces, the Blackhawk is relatively light, and the trigger pull is just under three pounds. I was amazed at the accuracy too and found that my pattern was better than my trusty Sig P226 (even after shooting over 5,000 rounds at the police academy). Another cool thing about the Ruger is that there is an available “convertible” model that comes with two cylinders. One can shoot 45 long colt rounds and the other can shoot 45ACP rounds—you simply switch cylinders. It’s like two guns in one and some people will appreciate that. The Blackhawk is available in several calibers ( 30 carb, 357 Mag, 41Mag, 44 Special and 45 Colt) and has barrel options from 4.6” to 7.5”. There is also a stainless model available in 357 Mag ( a super cool gun)! If you have some big bucks lying around, there are Distributor Exclusive models available in all different styles and calibers. I think I’ll save up my money and get the stainless 45 with the rosewood grips but for now the blued 45 is all I could want all the way around.
If you like the classic look and feel of old Western style revolvers, you will be pleasantly pleased with the Blackhawk. It’s a fun gun to shoot, you can load up with a big Buffalo Bore round and blow down a small tree if you have the desire and it will hold up to years of use. I take mine everywhere and it is always on my hip as a back up. Sometimes I just take it out and shine it up.
Photo credit: Rich Wright
