Ruger's Super Blackhawk: Sixgun Bargain Number 1

American Handgunner, July, 2001 by John Taffin

In 1953, Bill Ruger went against all conventional wisdom and resurrected the single-action sixgun. Colt had stopped manufacturing their Single Action Army in 1941 when they switched to wartime production. They were all too happy to do so as the machinery to make the SAA was pretty worn out and the demand for the old Colt had been dropping steadily since World War I with the discovery of Colt's other great handgun, the 1911 Government Model.

Ruger was coming off the successful introduction of their semi-automatic .22 in 1949, a basic .22 that sold for about half as much as the competition and, in many cases, shot better. It was time for a new handgun and the result was the Ruger .22 Single-Six. The grip frame of the new sixgun was identical to the Colt SAA while the frame was scaled down for the .22. The little sixgun was an immediate success.

Ruger did not sit on his laurels for long, but continued to upgrade his sixgun. In 1955, the Single-Six was made into a full-sized single-action-- the frame was flat-topped and fitted with an adjustable rear sight from Micro mated with a ramp front sight, and the chambering was the best available at the time, the .357 Magnum. The Ruger Black-hawk was hailed as the best outdoorsman's sixgun going.

Meanwhile, over at Smith & Wesson, clandestine plans were taking shape. A secret venture with Remington was in the works to produce an entirely new cartridge chambered in an upgraded Smith & Wesson .44 Special 1950 Target revolver. Even before the new Smith arrived, Ruger got wind of the project. He made off with a sack of fired brass and some ammunition and went to work.

The .357 Blackhawk was rechambered to the new .44 Magnum. Elmer Keith told them the frame was too small, and he was found correct when one of the three prototypes blew while proof testing. Back to the drawing board. The frame was lengthened and enlarged, and the result was the Ruger .44 Magnum Blackhawk. With a 6 1/2" barrel, the Ruger Blackhawk hit the shelves before the Smith & Wesson .44 in many parts of the country.

I purchased a 5 1/2" Single-Six in 1956, a .357 Blackhawk with a 4 5/8" barrel and a 6 1/2" .44 Blackhawk in 1957. I did not have to agonize over which barrel length to pick as these were the only ones offered.

The .22 and .357 became instant favorites, but the .44 Magnum--in those days before I learned how to handle one--was punishing with full-house loads. I was not the only one who felt this way as complaints began to arrive at Ruger's doors about the recoil of the .44 Blackhawk. Again Ruger listened. The answer seemed to be two-fold: a larger grip frame and more weight.

As noted, the original grip frame featured on the Single-Six and Blackhawks was the same size and shape as the Peacemaker. Colt's grip frame was originally found on the mildly recoiling 1851 Navy and carried over to the Single Action Army. The first loading of the .45 with a 255 gr. bullet over 40 grs. of blackpowder for a muzzle velocity between 800 and 900 fps was looked upon as "too much recoil" for horse soldiers so you can imagine what the recoil generated by the .44 Magnum felt like in the Blackhawk with the same grip frame.

Ruger looked way back in history to the 1840s, resurrected the Colt Dragoon grip frame, made it of steel instead of the lightweight alloy used in Blackhawk grip frames, and lengthened the barrel to 7 1/2". The new sixgun also lost the flat-top profile with the addition of protective ears around the rear sight.

Another instant success. The Ruger Super Blackhawk became the hunting and outdoor sixgun by which all others have been judged for the past four decades.

The standard .44 Blackhawk stayed in production alongside the Super Blackhawk until 1963 when it was dropped. The .357 Blackhawk, in its original form, also disappeared at the same time as the grip frame was changed slightly and protective ears were added to the top strap.

To collectors, the original Blackhawks are now known as flat-tops. The 1963 version became the "Old Model" in 1973 with the advent of the "New Model" featuring a transfer bar safety.

Those first Ruger Super Blackhawks were beautifully blued and packed in a wooden box with a retail price of $120. When the box could no longer be shipped, the price dropped to $116 at a time when the Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum sold for $140.

In 1973, the Ruger Super Blackhawk became the New Model Super Blackhawk with a transfer bar safety. For the first time it was safe to carry a single-action sixgun fully loaded without having to let the hammer down on an empty chamber, as had been the standard practice since 1873.

With the coming of silhouetting in its full popularity in the 1980s, Ruger listened again and added a 10 1/2" barreled Super Blackhawk to the production line. Since that time we have seen the advent of a stainless version with 4 5/8," 5 1/2", 7 1/2", and 10 1/2" barrels. Two of the best Super Blackhawks offered for hunters have been the Hunter Model with a 7 1/2" heavy barrel and cut with scallops for accepting Ruger scope rings, and the Bisley Model.