laststandonzombieisland

A product of 1960s experimentation, the carbine caliber Ruger Blackhawk is almost unknown in the gun world. This does not mean, however, that is unloved. On the contrary, these hard-hitting long barreled wheelguns are a very interesting niche carved out for them.

In the 1950s, the most popular television shows were almost all based in the Old West. Sure, they were mostly fictional accounts of an age that was romanticized, but a hit nonetheless. Little boys ran around with cowboy hats and Red Ryder BB guns. Older boys scoured dusty cases in their local hardware stores looking for Colt Single Action .45 revolvers. This is when Bill Ruger decided to take the then-public domain Colt, which was long out of production, and rework it. He added adjustable sights, used wire coil springs instead of the Colt’s original flat leaf springs, and introduced modern production practices to the old the vintage gun to come up with the Blackhawk in 1955. Chambered in .357/38 it was a more modern take on the famous old gun.

By 1962, Ruger had improved the design and added an option to chamber the gun in .41 Magnum. Then in 1967, they added a new caliber to the line that seemed almost as odd then as now…
Read the rest in my column at Ruger Talk