Customizing the Ruger old model revolver

Guns Magazine, August, 2004 by John Taffin

We live in an imperfect world. If things were perfect Bill Ruger would have introduced his .357 Magnum Blackhawk earlier than 1955 and it would have been allowed to follow a natural path into other calibers before the .44 Magnum arrived so quickly in 1956. But alas, such was not to be.

Ruger's first centerfire sixgun was a study in near perfection. As a teenager, Bill had obviously spent time in the pages of the American Rifleman studying the custom Colt Single Actions often pictured. When it came time to produce the Blackhawk, Ruger reached back and incorporated such ideas as a flat-topped frame and adjustable sights he had seen on those early custom Colts.

The Ruger Blackhawk was almost perfect. However to save production costs, the grip frame was of one-piece aluminum instead of the blued steel that would have moved it closer to perfection. In 1955, the .357 Magnum was the most powerful cartridge available, however then as now, big bore sixgunners preferred the .44 Special and the .45 Colt. Ruger planned to offer his new Blackhawk in these two big bore chamberings, however something happened to stop those plans.

There are two versions of the story and you may pick which one you care to believe. One says a Roger employee round a cartridge case marked ".44 Magnum" in Remington's trash. The question naturally arises as to what he was doing there. A second more believable version is that of a sack of ammunition being delivered to Bill Ruger by a Remington employee.

Elmer Warned 'Em

Ruger chambered three Blackhawks in .44 Magnum with the three prototypes having barrel lengths of 4 5/8-inche. 5 1/2-inche and 7 1-2-inch all of which were displayed at the NRA Convention in 1956. The original .357 Blackhawk had a flame and cylinder basically the same size as the Colt SAA. Elmer Keith told Ruger this was not enough steel to contain the .44 Magnum, however he would like the short-barreled .44 Magnum to use as a .44 Special.

Keith was told he could pick up the shorter barreled .44 and take it back with him to Salmon, Idaho. Remember, as we said, this is not a perfect world and when Keith went to pick up his new revolver he found it had already been packed for the return trip to the Ruger factory.

Ruger heeded the words of Keith, did further testing of the .44 Magnums, and one blew up. The result was the .44 Magnum Blackhawk with a larger frame and cylinder. Not only was the original .357-frame Blackhawk never chambered in .44 Magnum, it also never arrived in .44 Special or .45 Colt.

Ruger did chamber the Blackhawk in .45 Colt 15 years later, however the larger, heavier .44 Magnum frame was used. To have anything other than a .357 Magnum in the original Flat-Top (1955-1963) or Old Model .357 (1963-1972) it's necessary to go custom.

Getting An Early Start

Graduating from high school in 1956, I went to work unloading freight from trucks and boxcars for $40 a week. Over the course of the next year I purchased three Ruger single actions, a .22 Single-Six, a .357 Blackhawk, and a .44 Magnum at $63.25, $87.50 and $96 respectively. (Add to this several Colt Single Actions and Marlin leverguns along with a 1911 and a 1903 Springfield from the DCM and it is easy to see where all my money went.)

My first efforts at customizing were quite minimal, consisting of walnut stocks and having the barrel of the 6 1/2-inch .44 Magnum cut back to 4 5/8". I soon found myself married, working and going to college, and procreating. There was definitely no money available for custom sixgun work.

Droolin' And Dreamin'

In 1972 Skeeter Skelton wrote of converting two .357 Magnums, a S&W Highway Patrolman and an Old Model Ruger Blackhawk, to .44 Special. I drooled and dreamed over that article for several years until having my first custom .44 Special Blackhawk built in the late 1970s. An Old Model .357 was sent off to have the cylinder re-chambered and the original barrel re-lined.

The result was much less than satisfactory. The liner used was a l:38-inch twist rifle barrel and simply would not work with the .44 Special loads I wanted to use. The cut down barrel was removed from my .44 Magnum Ruger and along with the .44 Special conversion sent off to Trapper Gun.

Trapper installed the proper barrel and beautifully reblued my conversion giving me a sixgun I was so proud of I fitted it with ivory stocks. Meanwhile my old Flat-Trip .44 Magnum went back to Ruger to be fitted with a 7 1/2-inch barrel. I now had two custom Old Model Rugers.

Custom Little Rugers

Sometime in the early 1980s I spotted a simple little ad that said ".44 Special Conversions." I contacted Andy Horvath and he soon sent along two of his personal .44 Specials for my perusal. One was a Winchester 92 re-barreled to .44 Special and the other an Old Model Blackhawk. His work was outstanding and it didn't take very long to find a .357 Old Model to send off for his magic touch.

Leather maker Thad Rybka enters the picture here as he had built up a custom Old Model in .45 ACP with a 4-inch barrel and slightly rounded grip frame. That's the sixgun I wanted but in .44 Special. Along with the Old Model .357 I had also managed to find a Ruger .44 Magnum barrel to use for the conversion.