Ruger Blackhawk 357 6 1/2" Barrel Questions

TheBig1

TheBig1

New member
Good morning everyone, my 13 year old son has been on me asking to get a revolver that he can shoot and reload for. Last night I stopped by my local gun shop and found a used Ruger Blackhawk 357 with a 6 1/2" barrel for $294. I snatched it up right away.

So my questions begin with:

1. Can we hunt with this gun also?

2. If so, what is the biggest game that you'd hunt? I'm reading whitetail deer.

3. Just to make sure, can I shoot and practice with 38 Special's out of this gun?

4. If so, do I need to get a 38 Special die or can that also be done with the 357 die?

5. Does anyone else have this gun, hunt with this gun, and possibly have any load data (power, primers, bullet) information that they'd care to pass along to help?

I know that these are probably basic questions to some, and I apologize, but I've never had a 357 and am only about 6 months or more into reloading. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chad
 
Hunting with it depends on the laws in your state.
Yes you can shoot 38spl from it, dies usually cover both calibers. I would stick with some 158gr HP's for deer. Your son will have a blast with that gun!
 
Thanks Widow Maker, I too think that he'll have a blast. Even for me, I've always wanted to try hunting with a handgun.
 
Chad, I killed a lot of stuff with that exact same gun. Brownell's sells a spring kit that will get that trigger down real sweet.

my favorite load:

125g jacketed HP
17.8g of imr 4227
No crimp, just take the flare out of the case mouth, adjust bullet seater to seat the bullet and remove that small amount of case mouth flaire for this operation
play with primers, they make a huge difference, I used a cci mag If my memory is correct
Bullets all touch at 25 yards when shot off of sand bags

18.0g of H110 works well also, but more muzzle blast with this load.

158g Hornady XTP will take out deer, place your shot, stuff is not hard to kill. Slight crimp on these bullets. Also, 125g Speer gold dots would make a good deer bullet, some would laugh but I have done it.

38 specials, AA#5 with 125g HP works well

Chad, I use a second die for the roll crimp so I do not have to change my seating die on every use. Once in a while you can find an old RCBS NON carbide set of dies real cheap to get the extra dies set up for belling the case mouth and crimp die on the bullet seater, and throw the non carbide sizing die in the trash. I really hate changing die adjustments, especially a roll crimp. So, I will have a separate die for seating 38 speicals, another for 357 mag, another for a roll crimp on a 357. Bell case mouths only enough to get bullet started easily.

Muzzle blast is rough on a 357, good to have your son wear ear plugs and ear muffs.

Children do not have strong fingers, they need a light trigger pull. Set him up to shoot off of sand bags if possible, the gun will be heavy for him in the beginning. I would start him off with 38 special loads, only. 2.9g of bullseye with a 148g wad cutter in 38 special cases is very accurate and little recoil. Get him to enjoy the pistol, and be completely comfortable with 38 speicals before you douse him with LOUD and much harder kicking 357 magnum loads.

You will need some good bronze bristle brushes or Montana Extreme plastic brushes.

If you can find any 125g Rem Hp or 125g Win HP, buy 2000 of them. Plated bullets will foul up your barrel when shot fast, I avoid them in loads over 900 fps.

Good luck!
 
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158gr semi jacketed HP's or Hornady 158gr XTP's with Alliant 2400 have always been golden in a 10" TC Contender for my ol man. He has taken many deer with it, farthest was 85yds with iron sights. He used to shoot it a lot!
 
Keith, that's a great amount of information. Thank you very much for taking the time to write that all up for me. As always, I'll most certainly heed your advice on things.

Chad
 
I'm taking out my late father's 357 smith out this weekend for deer. I have it loaded up with 180gn cast performance bullet and h110. Mother in law quite a few years ago took a few deer with her 357 (158 xtp). Just take your time and pick your shot
J
 
I use. RCBS Turret press, I have 2 sets of carbide dies on 1 head. One set for 38, and one set for 357, all are adjusted so makes loading easier and faster. I use Lee crimp dies for all crimping. My hunting load for deer is: 18.0gr. Charge of H-110, Hornady 140 XTP. I get 1390fps out of my S&W 4" 686 on my chrono. Of all my handguns, (22, 38spl, 357mag. 44mag, 45acp. 460mag.) 357 is by far my favorite. Good luck and glad to see your son picking up the interest in revolvers.
 
Thanks Rifleman, I too am excited. When he's not with me I'll be carrying it in addition to my rifle.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has a bandolier holster that they don't care for and wouldn't mind passing on.
 
Originally Posted By: Widow maker 223Ackleyman have you noticed any accuracy differences with magnum primers in hotter loads?

Yes to your question, world of difference. Play with primers, shoot off sand bags at 25 yards, look for all bullets touching.

When you set up your bullet seater, you can adjust the height to where it will take all the case flare out where you belled the case mouth to accept the bullet. Roll crimps are voo doo magic, as case lengths vary. You may see a very slight amount of improvement in accuracy by going to a various amounts of taper crimp, and it will be like opening and closing a door. When you find something your load likes, lock the die ring. If you can use a caliper to measure the distance from the top of the die to the die ring and record that number, it may help you tremendously in the future, same on roll crimps. Some loads like a very slight amount of crimp and other loads like a lot depending on how slow burning the powder is and bullet weight.

Being able to duplicate your taper crimp or roll crimp with various bullets is critical to achieving max accuracy out of your pistol. Some of the 357's will shoot unreal at 50-100 yards, but you have to get pretty anal on your load. My GP 100 6" shoots unreal with a light trigger, and I replaced the rear sight with a V notch and the front sight with a Beade sight...able to get a real fine "hold".

I use an el cheapo Yellow Hoppes pistol rest to shoot off of when working up loads off the bench.
 
I experimented with taper and roll crimps on revolver cartridges years ago. I used the .357 Magnum case and 140 gr. jacketed bullets. There is no doubt the roll crimp is better at preventing bullet creep in the straight wall case. That was before the Lee FCD was on the market. Now I use the FCD for applying a crimp and its very repeatable and consistent. That's probably the single best Lee product on the market. And yes, I always crimp my straight wall revolver loads. Especially so magnum level loads.
 
If you are planning to shoot .38 spl rounds in a .357 revolver, be aware that you will develop a powder/lead ring in the cylinder chambers that need to be thoroughly cleaned out before switching back to the .357 cartridges...

If you are going to be shooting lead bullets, invest in a Lewis Lead Remover system...When I was shooting Police competitions, we used both standard factory and modified .357 revolvers and after a day on the range, the chambers and barrels needed a really involved cleaning, including a strip down of the total workings...
 
That's a great price for that Ruger.

I've been a dedicated handgun hunter here in PA, so I can answer your questions.

1) Yes, your Ruger is legal for use during the regular deer and bear seasons.

2) With a .357 Magnum, hunting deer is perfect. For bear, I would want to go with a bigger caliber. This year, I used my Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum to take a small bear during bear season.

3) Yes, you can safely shoot .38 Special from your revolver.

4) With .357 Magnum die set, you can load .38 Specials too. Been doing this for almost 26 years now.

5) I have the same gun, but choose to hunt with my .44 Magnums or T/C Contenders. My normal "magnum" load is a 158gr XTP over H110. Brass is Remington and I use nothing but CCI primers in all my reloadings.

Top revolver is my Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum, revovler below it is my Blackhawk in .357 Magnum.
 
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