Polished stainless Blackhawk?

I was looking around in my LGS when I saw a polished stainless Black Hawk in 45 colt. At first, I was thinking it was a Vaquero. I once owned a polished stainless Vaquero in .45 colt with 4 5/8" Barrel so I wasn't paying a lot of attention to it. But then I noticed it has adjustable sights so I looked a little closer. I didn't remember Ruger making a Polished stainless blackhawk with a 7.5 barrel.
were these a factory polished gun? did they make many of them or is this some rare bird that I came across. The price is reasonable but I'm 45 colt poor as it is.

.45 Colt poor ??? I dont think that is possible. One can never have tooo many guns of any caliber.
I have never heard of a high polished BH from the factory.

Bet it looks sweet with new, shiny .45 brass fillling those big chambers!

Those Vaqueros are handsome bet that Blackhawk was purdy. ps

The factory did catalog some high polish stainless revolvers for a couple years back in the 1990's. If it has the box, the model number would start with a G indicating high polish. I do have one.......if you have the s/n i can check it with mine and if somewhat close its probably original. Otherwise you can call ruger for verification.

Ron

Here is the low-down on the factory high polished Blackhawk .45s and .44s:
GKS458N, GKS45N, GKS47N and GKS411N. Known s/n range 86-57298 to 86-94863 (GKS458N); 86-58713 to 87-04780 (GKS45N); and 86-66700 to 86-98008 (GKS47N). The GKS411N is not known to have been made. Estimated quantities: GKS458N = 100; GKS45N = 550; GKS47N = 600. All are rare.

toroflow said:

Here is the low-down on the factory high polished Blackhawk .45s and .44s:
GKS458N, GKS45N, GKS47N and GKS411N. Known s/n range 86-57298 to 86-94863 (GKS458N); 86-58713 to 87-04780 (GKS45N); and 86-66700 to 86-98008 (GKS47N). The GKS411N is not known to have been made. Estimated quantities: GKS458N = 100; GKS45N = 550; GKS47N = 600. All are rare.

Click to expand...

Those are all Super Blackhawk serial ranges for the High polish stainless.
The high polish stainless .45 Blackhawks are as follows...

GKBN-44 and GKBN-45. Known s/n range 47-59303 to 47-79470 (GKBN-44) and 47-59159 to 47-78685 (GKBN-45). There are probably less than 200 of the model GKBN-44 and about 300 of the GKBN-45. Both are rare. Box note: In late 1995 by at least s/n 47-71068 the high polish .45 Blackhawk began to be shipped in a plastic lockable box of adequate length with Ruger eagle logo lock enclosed. The high polish .45 Blackhawk is not known to have been shipped in a yellow and black hinged box.

Info from the Reference of Ruger Firearms...
Chet15

Thanks for the info on the 45s Chet15! My retired friend has an unfired GKBN-44 I've been trying to pry loose from him for years! He was talking about replacing the barrel with a 7.5" to make it more like a "cowboy" gun! GADS!!! I even bought a 7.5" polished vaquero .45 to trade him. Then he didn't like the balance and light-weightedness of the vaquero so NO TRADE! I will keep at him!!!

Thanks for the info. I will go back and look at it again. It looked factory polished to me but as I stated I was unaware of them making it. Hmmm another .45 Colt in the safe. how many is too many? I guess it's like the Tootsie roll owl trying to figure out how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie roll pop. The world may never know.