ruger blackhawk
Would a Blackhawk with the barrel marked "Made in the 200th year of American Liberty" be worth a premium over a standard blackhawk?
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Current manufacture 44 Mag Blackhawk. Will be loading/shooting hard cast, lead bullets. What is the barrel twist rate and what weight bullets will shoot most accurately with that twist rate? Thanks! 0 -
The longer barrel gives you a better sight picture. The shorter one is of course lighter to pack. The shorter barrel will give a tad less velocity but not enough that a deer would notice. You didn't say if you were looking at an old model or new model. If you get an old model(pre 1973) and if it has not had the transfer bar safety put in you need to carry it with the hammer down on an empty chamber like a Colt SAA. I think the pre transfer bar models have a better trigger.
Be prepared to become a reloader if you don't already. .41 Mag ammo can be tricky to find sometimes and sometimes the price borders on the ridiculous. You can get some ok deals if you are prepared to look but if you are a Wallyworld for ammo only shopper then you will not be happy. The .41 Mag shoots as flat and sometimes flatter than a .44 and it can kill deer and black bear with no problem.
I love my 1960's era 6 1/2"
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The shorter ones have more wrist snap and muzzle blast. If you only carry it not an issue but if you shoot it my guess is it will become a big issue. +1 for reloading; way cheaper and you can tune the loads to your needs. 0 -
If your main use will be hunting/target shooting, definitely get the 6 1/2" barrel. I don't have a 41 but my 4 5/8" 44 mag has a lot of muzzle "snap" as mentioned before with heavy loads. My 6 1/2" Blackhawks in 357 are easy to shoot w/o being troublesome to carry in a belt holster. 0 -
Check your hunting laws, some states require at least a 5 inch barrel for hunting. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by mossberg500man
starting to look at buying a ruger blackhawk in 41 mag for hunting and because it just looks good but is there a diffrence in performance between the 4 and 6 1/2 inch barrel? im new to the handgun world so pardon any dumb questions
if you do buy the .41 Magnum, and want to reload, contact me for fired brass, i have about 200 (?) empty cases i can spare, i have the Ruger 4 5/8ths barrel, old model, 3 digit SN. , i also have a bullet mold for this caliber.
i have about 500 loaded rounds in reserve, i rarely ever shoot it since i got an old model (1958 vintage) Colt Python in .357 Mag.0 -
If you are new to handguns I would shoot one ( or something similar) first. The reason I say this is the last thing you want is to develope a flinch with the gun. Some times it helps to start off with a .38 or a 45 ACP or Colt with a target load and then move up to the big boys. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by ruger41
The longer barrel gives you a better sight picture. The shorter one is of course lighter to pack. The shorter barrel will give a tad less velocity but not enough that a deer would notice. You didn't say if you were looking at an old model or new model. If you get an old model(pre 1973) and if it has not had the transfer bar safety put in you need to carry it with the hammer down on an empty chamber like a Colt SAA. I think the pre transfer bar models have a better trigger.
Be prepared to become a reloader if you don't already. .41 Mag ammo can be tricky to find sometimes and sometimes the price borders on the ridiculous. You can get some ok deals if you are prepared to look but if you are a Wallyworld for ammo only shopper then you will not be happy. The .41 Mag shoots as flat and sometimes flatter than a .44 and it can kill deer and black bear with no problem.
I love my 1960's era 6 1/2"
im just looking at them nib they have them for a little less then $500 around here and finding the ammo ive heard can be challenging but i have two fairly large gun shops within driving distance of me and have already located it at pretty good prices on sportsmens guide and cheaper then dirt0 -
quote:Originally posted by mossberg500man
starting to look at buying a ruger blackhawk in 41 mag for hunting and because it just looks good but is there a diffrence in performance between the 4 and 6 1/2 inch barrel? im new to the handgun world so pardon any dumb questions
The same gun looks just as good in .44 magnum.
Meanwhile .44 magnum ammo is more powerful, easier to find (you can find it everywhere ammo is sold, including Walmart), and a good bit cheaper. Plus for "practice" you can run lower-power .44 special loads through your gun. As far as I know there is no commercially available lower-power .41 magnum load (though you could easily cook up your own, if you liked).
So unless you are reloading, don't plant to shoot much, or have deep pockets, I'd suggest at least looking at a .44 magnum instead.
Anyway, to answer your question, and re-iterating most of what's already been said, a longer barrel on a revolver gives you the following things:
a. Longer sight radius makes it easier to aim with iron sights. IMO this is the most important difference.
b. Longer barrel gives a slight increase in velocity, though the roughly 120 extra fps you might get going from a 4" to a 6.5" probably isn't going to change much on the receiving end!
c. Because of less weight out at the muzzle end, a shorter barrel will have a little more muzzle flip.
d. Shorter barrel is a little louder (since the barrel is 2" closer to your ears!).
e. Shorter barrel is a hair lighter, a little easier to carry and faster to draw. Its also easier to conceal, though realistically, that's probably not a factor either.
IMO .41 magnum is basically a hunting gun, and for that purpose, bigger is better. So if it were me, I'd go for the longer barrel.0 -
My first .41 mag was a 6 1/2" old model with a 3400 series SN. Bought it new and wish I still had it. It shot very well and was easy to load for. Back then there were two commercial loads available, a hot 210 grain JSP and a "service" load of a 210 grain lead SWC at about 1000fps. The 6 1/2" just seemed to balance better for me, the little extra muzzle bias seemed to make it more stable. My standard load is a 210 grain Sierra JHP or a 210 Speer Gold Dot with 13.5 grains of Blue Dot and a CCI Large Pistol Magnum primer. I have shot coyote and porcupine with it with dramatic results. If you are buying a new model you can carry all chambers loaded. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by mossberg500man
starting to look at buying a ruger blackhawk in 41 mag for hunting and because it just looks good but is there a diffrence in performance between the 4 and 6 1/2 inch barrel? im new to the handgun world so pardon any dumb questions
if you do buy the .41 Magnum, and want to reload, contact me for fired brass, i have about 200 (?) empty cases i can spare, i have the Ruger 4 5/8ths barrel, old model, 3 digit SN. , i also have a bullet mold for this caliber.
i have about 500 loaded rounds in reserve, i rarely ever shoot it since i got an old model (1958 vintage) Colt Python in .357 Mag.0
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