An Idea Worth Pursuing, or Not?

Thinking of buying a fairly well used OM Blackhawk .357. Could a person convert it to .44 Special, and use the original barrel and cylinder? Can the Barrel and Cylinder be re-bored for .44 Special? Or, am I just crazy? Thanks for your replies.

When I first joined the forum many years ago that is exactly what many were doing to get a nice light single-action 44 special. When Ruger came out with the 44 special Blackhawk Flatop there was no point in paying to have it done. I see it isn't on their website any longer but there are many out there now. Lipsey's has the Bisley 44 special Flatops.

Those of us who shoot them had to do just that before there were any being produced. Thanks to Lipsey's ordering and selling them to the public, there have been some 44 specials made available. Those guns were well made and shot well. The cost of one would be equal or maybe less than the cost of building one. I would encourage you to search one out and purchase it while they are still floating around.

Have you considered buying a used Vaquero in 44-40 and fitting a Blackhawk or a Vaquero (interchangeable) 44 Mag cylinder to your new pistol to get your 44 Spl revolver? I did that several years ago and my Vaquero shoots the 44 Spl rounds more accurately than my original 440-40 cylinder. FWIW, the 44-40 Vaquero has the same bore as their 44 Mag pistols. Verified by both Ruger tech. service and slugging my own barrel. Go for it!

I understand the allure of an original Old Model 3 screw Medium size 357 Blackhawk in 44 Spl; either the flat top frame or the ribbed rear sight top strap.

What you propose is very common and has been done many, many times with excellent results. Re-boring the barrel is about $130 + shipping. Reaming the cyl to 44 is under $100. Using your original barrel and cyl saves you money because the barrel can be re-installed w/o needing machining because the bar/cyl gap will be unchanged when re-assembled.

If you can't do it, someone to pull barrel and re-install is another $100 or so + shipping. These are just ball park prices to give you an idea of cost.

Below is my OM FT completed conversion to 44 Spl, all steel including grip frame.
OM Super Blackhawk 44 Mag barrel, cut to 4 5/8" with resoldered front sight.

Ruger New Model 44 Spl factory cylinder, only now available because of the NM FT mid-size Blackhawk 44 Spls. Found on eBay.

XR3RED Old Army stainless steel grip frame with SBH wide trigger.



Another Old Model mid size frame with ribbed rear sight top strap, SBH hammer, SBH wide trigger, and stainless new model XR3-RED size stainless grip frame:

Check out the Jeff Quinn Special at David Clements website, about halfway down the page: http://www.clementscustomguns.com/rugerrevolvers.html

Thanks everyone for your replies. Hondo, a few additional questions;
Will a New Model .44 Barrel fit an Old Model Frame? Will a New Model Cylinder fit an Old Model Frame? Who would you recommend to re-bore and re-rifle the .357 barrel to .44? I'm guessing they could do the cylinder re-bore as well.

Yes, old, new, mid frames, and large frames all share the same barrel size and thread in the standard calibers.

Yes, New model mid-size frame cyls fit old model mid-size frames with the normal slight variations in cyl overall length. When changing cyls in new model to new model or new model to old model, cyls should be measured. A cyl that's a little to long is no problem, just file the front gas seal hub to fit the frame window. Cyls too short can be fitted but involves tig welding and are more difficult.

BARREL RE-BORING (not cyl reaming):
Alan Siegrist
8752 Turtle Road
Whittemore Michigan 48770
989-873-3929

Any gunsmith with the reamers can re-chamber the cyl. They or you can rent a 44 reamer on line and ream it.

Thanks Hondo!

OM 357 to 44 Special

Old model 357 to 41 Special

Old model 357 flat top to dual cylinder 41 Special/41 Mag

Pretty simple conversion as Hondo44 says.

I am surprised that no one mentioned that Skeeter Skelton made this conversion famous back in the late 60's.