My first pistola, Blackhawk in 41 mag... Now with pics and new grips!

D

DeathPenalty

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I am picking it up in the next few days after over three months of sitting through NY's bureaucracy. I was going to get a 10mm auto, but the Witness that was available no longer is, and the AO 1911 is as big a POS as was described. I came onto a Ruger New Blackhawk in 41 mag with: dies, molds, powder (AA #9), a luberisizer, size die and 5 sticks of LBT Blue. All for $400, the gun has 40 rounds down the barrel after my test firing. It seemed a more practical pistol for walking around the deep dark woods than any available autos. I think I lucked into a good thing.

I'm curious though, what kind of exit wounds can I expect with a cast lead SWC moving at ~1200 fps in a coyote or fox? How about performance on whitetails when shot through the ribs vs. shoulder? I know it will perform well, I'm just curious what to expect.
 
There is a lot of "depends on" in that question. With a store bought swc my guess would be about a quarter size. I think you'll be glad you got the revolver. It'll do you right on whitetail at 75-100 yds. if you can do your part at those distances.
 
youngdon, it is a Lee 195gr SWC cast of water dropped wheel weights. I have them lubed with a homemade mix but will switch to LBT once I get the lubrisizer. It sure is nice being able to shoot a centerfire for just a hair over the cost of 22lr.
 
The 41 blackhawk was my first also, real nice revolver. I think you will really like the 41. Find the right recipe for your casts and you should be able to punch .41 hole threw both sides of the coyote. As for deer I really like the xtp. No first hand bucks with the 41 but have seen how the 44 xtp works and they shot real consistent in my 41 and my current 357.
 
We had a fellow hunting with us last year who dropped a deer running with his 41 Mag, a Smith & Wesson model 57 with a 4 inch barrel. The deer was at around 30 to 35 yards. Not sure what bullet he was using, but the deer was DRT.

Great handgun, and an heirloom now, whereas neither of the other pistols you were considering would be worth passing on to the next generation.

If you don't have a Pachmayer grip, you'll probably want one. Not as "cowboy-esque", but much more functional in the real world.
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Dan
 
Nice!! Congrats on the new toy. Hope you like it as much as I like mine.

I recently traded a taurus tracker in 357 mag for a new model blackhawk in 41 mag w/6.5" bbl.

Haven't done to much shooting with it so far, had issues setting up the seating/crimping die at first, but since have put around 100 rounds through it. Haven't shot anythign with it but paper, steel, and water jugs. Coulda shot a coyote with it at about 10 yards a week ago if I had some freaking shells loaded up for it!!!!!!!Oh well...

I am shooting Remingtons bulk 210g SP with 20g of H-110. Dont think I would trust this bullet for anything but deer as it comes apart really easy. Getting around 3-4" 6 groups at 25 yards with a rest and a muzzle velocity of 1365fps. Its about all the better I can do with open sites and the god awful recoil, and minimal pistol experience. I am NOT a pistol shooter by any means, so basically starting off with a 41 magnum with decently stoked 210g loads probly isn't the best way to be going about practicing and becoming a good shot with a pistol. However, for hunting, the 41 mag is a good revolver round for deer and black bear, much more so then the 357 that I've read about anyways, thats why I traded the 357 off, although I shot it better.

I also have some cast 215g bullets that the guy gave me with the pistol. Dont really know where to start on loads with these, but would like to use them for plinking at around 1100-1200fps.

One thing I noticed the 41 mag with plastic grips kicks a helluva lot more then a ported 357 with ribber grips. I seriously need to invest in some pachmyar grips, but am really unsure of which to get because none of them say there for the "new model" blackhawk.

I intend to put a scope on it and shoot it out to 100 yards and use it for coyotes and vermin, and occasional deer if I can ever become proficient enough with it to do so. Its not on the top of my list for things to do though as I am not a pistol shooter by any means, more of a LR bolt action guy, so thats where the majority of my money goes.
 
DP, you made an excellent choice. I like the .41 very much, and if I was starting over in my revolver buying/shooting career, would probably buy the .41 over .44/.45. Nothing wrong with the other two, and I shoot mostly .44 mag, but the .41 gets the job done and the difference in recoil is noticeable if not great.

Coyotekiller25, Allow me to make a suggestion. Since you say you are a new pistol shooter, get off the 1300 fps stuff, load those 195 gr. Lees to about 1000fps with Unique or some other good medium burn rate pistol powder, and master the gun before you try to master shooting magnum loads.

That done, your .41 will do anything you need it to do, deer or black bear included. I like heavy SWCs hard cast for hunting, and don't think pushing them to maximum velocity is necessary or even desirable. I have some Black Jack Hills cast .41 SWCs that weigh 245 grains. I push them about 1050 - 1100 fps and would tackle anything short of a grizzly with that load and gun.

That said, the Hornady 200 gr. XTP is excellent as well. The one deer I shot with this bullet from a 4 5/8" Blackhawk died within 20 yards of being hit.
 
The guy I bought the gun from has an array of loaded ammo for it as well. There are Lee 210 TLSWCs, 195gr Lee SWCs, and 210gr Lyman SWCGCs over 8gr Unique, 18gr AA #9, and 18gr 4227. I'm starting with 15gr of #9, I have 30 loaded up under a 195gr Lee. Hopefully the recoil will be manageable. If not then I'll get a pound of Unique or Universal for some training loads. From everything I have read, anything 40 cal + moving at over 1000fps will run lengthwise through a whitetail, it doesn't seem like it would be a benefit to load them any hotter unless I were using XTPs or GDHPs. I figure I should get about ~1100 with a 195gr out of my 4 5/8" barrel.
 
Those lead/water dropped/wheel weight bullets will go through a bowling pin with very little damage to the projectile. If they are not gas checked, then keep the speed down to 1000 or so, to keep lead from building up on the bore.
 
I have a 6 1/2" Ruger Blackhawk .41 that I have beat the heck out of and it is still going strong. Makes a great truck gun for the boonies...
 
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