newly purchased NMSB w/issue

[old greybeard]

Just bought a used NMSB. 98% finish, beautiful mid 80's Blackhawk. Glad to have it, sold my .357 BH a few years ago and missed having a single action. Put my Weaver 301 and my Burris 2x scope on it. Using it on a hog hunt in Florida next month.
I will be reloading down the road, but have been practicing with AE 240 gr HP's and Magtech 240 gr SJFP which I plan to use on the hunt.
Issue is that I was getting a single shot out of a group of 6 thrown high and to the left, about 2-3 off at 50yds. I marked the cylinder and it seems to be a single chamber causing the issue.
The good news is with that chamber out of the mix its shooting 1.5 to 2.5" groups at 50yds.

What would it take to fix this issue, and is it even worth it? I plan on just loading 5 for hunting for now.

I do need to work on the trigger,breaks clean but the pull is a little steep.
Its easy to shoot with the weight of the scope and the mild magtech factory loads.
Thanks.

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

Welcome to the forum!

You already have answered your own question,,,, :wink: Load five and leave that cylinder empty and under the hammer,,you have no problem with the way the other five group. That's why a lot of the Custom Smiths number their cylinders for their customers.
Good luck on your hog hunt.
Terry

 

[cherokeetracker]

Good Answer and I couldn't agree more. Shoot the 5 and mark the bad cylinder. I would like to add, Load it like a Colt. Do you know what I mean? Well if not,,, then I will tell you for information purposes. Find the bad cylinder. Open the loading gate and get the bad cylinder second in line for loading. Load first cylinder. Skip bad cylinder . Now load the rest of the cylinders. Close the gate and the bad one will end up in the position under the hammer. If you do this you will always have the five ready for firing.
If you do this with a colt on half cock,, then when you get ready to cock the weapon and let it fall,, It falls on an empty chamber. Take no offense if you already knew this.

 

[old greybeard]

No offense taken. I was laughing to myself a I loaded it that it was like having a no transfer bar revolver. I need to find a better way to mark that chamber, maybe black paint.
Being tempted by another Ruger, guy locally has been trying to sell a 1970's 30 carbine in great shape, he's down to $420. Seeing I have plenty of carbine ammo it may be next.

 

[LAH]

Place a rolled 100 dollar bill in the bad chamber & you'll not forget which to leave empty. 8)

 

[Hondo44]

I would also inspect that chamber closely.

Compare throat dimensions with the other chambers.

Look for a nick in the throat opening on front face of the cyl.

Also check the cyl notch for that chamber on the opposite side of cyl for a burred edge that prevents the cyl bolt from aligning the chamber properly with the barrel forcing cone.

Use a cleaning rod down the barrel with hammer cocked on that chamber to see if the rod catches on one side or the other or the top or bottom of the chamber.

If you find a problem or even if you don't, send it back to Ruger. Call 1st for a free shipping label.

 

[OldePhart]

I, too, was going to recommend shipping it back to Ruger until I reread the original post. If I understand correctly the "bad" cylinder is throwing the "flyer" about 2-3" off at 50 yards. Frankly, even the flyer is not really bad accuracy for a handgun and is probably well within what Ruger defines as "in tolerance" for the revolver. It seems like the remaining five cylinders are grouping remarkably well for a handgun. I'd be afraid to send it back to Ruger and have it come back shooting worse over all...

John

 

[pisgah]

I'd probably mark the cylinder and load so that, in the field, it will always be the last round up. But like OldePhart, 2-3" at 50 yards is no big deal to me, usually, at 50 yards. And if it's always #6, how often are you going to use it in a hunting situation, anyway?

 

[old greybeard]

This will only be a deer/bear/hog hunting revolver, so loading 5 shots will be plenty. I was pretty amazed when my last group went 1.5". With my .357 I only got that accuracy with handloads at 40yds. Getting it with $32 a box Magtech loads at 50 was surprising. I think the average has been about 2.5 with the flyer opening it up to 5 or 6".
Hunter I appreciate your list of items to check will do so after my hunt next week.
I actually like the idea of physically putting something in the chamber, beats marking it with a punch as I was considering.