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Terry,

WOW, that's an amazing story of perseverance and success!

I hate to think if it had wound up being one of the left over frames that were shipped with only one cylinder !!!!!

_________________
Jim
Ruger single action "collector, accumulator, builder and shooter"
NRA Life
CRPA Life
CRPC Life
SASS Life
SWCA
RCA

It would appear that wherever I go on the Inter Web I have a talent for kicking over hornets' nests! Here we are on our second page for this topic in less than a week!

To review what I think we know here, in the late '80s Buckeye Sports announced that they would bring out a series of combo (two cylinder) Blackhawks in the less available calibers; with one cylinder for each to be one of the old Nineteenth Century hyphenated calibers (the 32-20, 38-40, and 44-40.) They would come out one a year and buyers of the first would have the option of reserving the same serial number in the second and so on. The first year's release had a production count of 5202 and the second about a thousand more, but the market response was somewhat tepid with slow overall sales, leading to cancelation of plans to produce the third, 44 caliber variant. There was a small run of 44 combo guns made and sold through another vendor (Williams??) but Ruger didn't even make enough of the 44-40 cylinders to use up the frames that had been made and marked for that run.

Historically Ruger had made (and done reasonably well with) combo Blackhawks in 45 ACP and 45 Colt as well as 357Mag and 9 mm issues in smaller numbers, but the less well loved (as in "only by real enthusiasts") 32, 40, and 44 combinations just didn't seem to spark the market like their more well established siblings and their productions sort of "died on the vine," leaving them to become rare enough to be sought after by collectors and shooters of such arcane calibers later.

It is worth noting again that each of these three "unsuccessful" combos included one of the archaic hyphenated calibers from the previous century. With Bill Ruger's long established skill at tapping into the nostalgia of things old and classical, it should have been a safe bet that these would have been a roaring success. I guess there really is no predicting the fickle nature of the gun buying public.

Thanks to all who contributed to this examination of one small aspect of the history of the Ruger Blackhawk.

Froggie

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"It aint easy being green!"

Terry,

With that grey box and the envelope with fired cases, I would suggest that what happened was that your revolver somehow got stuck back on a shelf somewhere and forgotten for about a decade or so. Then during "Spring Cleaning" it came to light and was summarily run through the then-current market packaging process and slipped out the door to one of their distributors with no fanfare and probably at a bargain price. The fact that its path and yours finally crossed is a tribute both to your extreme perseverance and sheer serendipity. Congratulations and I would assert that your story caps off this little study nicely.

Regards,
Froggie

_________________
"It aint easy being green!"

Froggie,

Terry indicated in his story that he found it in the Ruger auction. But didn't say anything about what he had to bid for it.

_________________
Jim
Ruger single action "collector, accumulator, builder and shooter"
NRA Life
CRPA Life
CRPC Life
SASS Life
SWCA
RCA

Froggie,
No you didn't stir up a hornets nest you were just seeking information on a very scarce & collectible revolver, that's the name of the game here, . So feel free to ask your questions, we enjoy sharing the correct information with those who are interested.

Jim is correct, I bought the revolver from the Ruger auction site and the hammer fell at $1,550.00, and as I said in my original post money well spent because it was used to benefit our Veterans.

I think I have figured out why the gun remained at Ruger for so long. It appears that the front sight of the revolver was damaged (slightly) during packaging and set back in the rack and not shipped with the 1st batch, it was never repaired and then shipped with the second shipment as it should have.

Best,
Terry

_________________
NRA Benefactor
Life Mem.MOPH
Life Mem.USMC
Clyde "Jug" Johnson - Sixgun Man

Terry,

Makes perfect sense. So the front sight still not repaired when you won the auction.

_________________
Jim
Ruger single action "collector, accumulator, builder and shooter"
NRA Life
CRPA Life
CRPC Life
SASS Life
SWCA
RCA

Of course you should have refused it since the front sight was damaged. Who do they think the are letting QC slip like that?

_________________
"It aint easy being green!"

LOL, ROTFLMFHO

_________________
Jim
Ruger single action "collector, accumulator, builder and shooter"
NRA Life
CRPA Life
CRPC Life
SASS Life
SWCA
RCA

Interesting what one learns on this site. I have both buckeyes same serial number and I've never heard about matching holsters. What a set that would have been.

appreciate the thread from 'greenfrog' brings back memories, and 'froggie' hopefully gets some GOOD background info out of all of this...yes 'charlies' would have loved to have kept the matching holsters, and as I noted above not even sure any longer if those holsters were even marked 'Bianchi', as I recall they were 'prototypes' and may have been either Bianchi or another company called 'Cathay' or some such, and not even "stamped' on the back for production like the 'Practical ' holsters were...here is the marking on the flap for the Buckeyes Specials holsters

_________________
Dan

NRA Benefactor

Dan,
You made me think about mine so I dug them out. One is marked and came in the bag, the other is unmarked and was picked up at a gun show last year. Never seen a black one in anything but a picture,
Note:- .44 Mag on label so this would not be the correct bag.

Terry

_________________
NRA Benefactor
Life Mem.MOPH
Life Mem.USMC
Clyde "Jug" Johnson - Sixgun Man

not to be TOO 'technical' my bet the bag is correct, think what was available back then in a "large" (44 frame), and with a 6 1/2 inch barrel from Ruger,,,,hhhmmmm
Like said above, their "Practical" holsters were the main thing, the Buckeye was an afterthought?? prototype""ergo the no markings, some in black leather, and so few of them......interesting all in all...thanks for the pictures...now we need to get a time machine and go back and see what was what and ask LOTS of questions

Hey 'froggie' are you taking notes ???

_________________
Dan

NRA Benefactor

I appreciate this thread and find it very interesting! Thanks for the information!

Well . . . the .41 Magnum, at least.

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I^3

If Anyone Is Interested Jaqua's In Findlay, Ohio Has Two MINT Buckeye Specials In The Box With Extra Cyl.