1971 Blackhawk 3 Screw Spring Kit Questions

[mickeyboat]

I am looking for a spring kit for a 1971 Blackhawk 3 Screw. I want a reduced weight hammer spring and trigger spring. Which trigger and main spring springs do I need to get? Where can I get them for the best price?

Did the trigger spring design change beween 1971 and 1972 or??

 

[SATCOM]

Whole innards changed in 73 (New Model).

I understand you want "a reduced weight hammer spring and trigger spring", may I ask why? I'll bet your 71 Blackhawk ($425) in such pristine shape just needs the 43 years of dried up grease bits of metal left from manufacturing cleaned well, parts polished (not stoned/filed/sanded), oiled and reassembled for a very good trigger pull and a quick/strong hammer fall. Just an idea.

SATCOM

 

[mickeyboat]

Whole innards changed in 73 (New Model).

I understand you want "a reduced weight hammer spring and trigger spring", may I ask why? I'll bet your 71 Blackhawk ($425) in such pristine shape just needs the 43 years of dried up grease bits of metal left from manufacturing cleaned well, parts polished (not stoned/filed/sanded), oiled and reassembled for a very good trigger pull and a quick/strong hammer fall. Just an idea.

SATCOM

I really want a reduced hammer spring and trigger spring. I want a hammer spring that will set off Federal primers (no other harder primers needed) and a trigger spring that will give me a 30 oz trigger pull. I do not want a strong hammer fall. the gun is quite clean. I do know exactly what I want. I load nothing but Federal primers. So is the 71 trigger spring and hammer spring the same as flat top springs or the later New model springs? Which company sells the hammer and trigger springs for the best prices?

 

[contender]

The OM (pre 1973) Blackhawks have an entirely DIFFERENT trigger return spring from the NM's, (1973 to now.) I've never bothered with changing any hammer springs as I like plenty of hammer force to assure me of ignition. I prefer a slicked up action to give me the best feeling when shooting.
PS: Jerry Miculek uses heavier springs in his guns for reliability & speed.
But if you need to change the hammer spring, I do believe they never changed them except for the Old Army.

 

[mickeyboat]

The OM (pre 1973) Blackhawks have an entirely DIFFERENT trigger return spring from the NM's, (1973 to now.) I've never bothered with changing any hammer springs as I like plenty of hammer force to assure me of ignition. I prefer a slicked up action to give me the best feeling when shooting.
PS: Jerry Miculek uses heavier springs in his guns for reliability & speed.
But if you need to change the hammer spring, I do believe they never changed them except for the Old Army.

I do not believe Jerry Miculek shoots any single action Rugers. He may shoot his S&W double action revolvers in single action mode occasionally tho.

I think I have the springs sorta figured out. First it appears that all Blackhawks use the same main/hammer spring, which I will attempt to get in 14#. All I care about is that Federal small mag match primers go bang. The trigger spring is certainly different than new model Blackhawks. Are the trigger springs on a late 3 screw model the same as original flat tops? I think 30 oz trigger springs should work but all my Ruger single actions are lighter with about a 20-24 oz trigger pull via measurement. I think the best way for me to proceed is to call Woff and they should know the correct springs for these guns. Get it right the first time.

 

[contender]

Actually, having spoken to Jerry several times, I do know he has shot Ruger SA's.
My point was more along the lines of showing how a world champion approaches shooting. He has to know that all his ammo is going to go bang, every time. Plus, the heavier springs speeds up the hammer fall. I know that doesn't matter to 99.9% of us, but it's something we've discussed.
I truly do understand your desires to lighten things. If I may, let me give you some things to consider.
You are the current owner of said gun. You load it with ammo using just Federal primers & your type of loads. It works fine for you.
Now the unthinkable happens & you are suddenly gone. Your family saves the gun for a while & then, in need of $$ sell it off, without knowing what you did to it. Or even if they knew, they didn't think it was important. New owner uses some factory ammo in it & needs it in a serious SD situation. It doesn't go bang.
Or, let's say one of your family members gets it & then they switch things, and when needed, it doesn't go bang.
Yes, I know there are tens of thousands of guns out there with custom spring jobs etc that are finicky.
My point in all this is a smooth action trumps just light springs any day. I have a few of my guns that when people shoot them, they swear they have "hair" triggers. Yet, when I put the trigger pull gauge on them, they are surprised to see 3-4 lbs of pull. They SWEAR they are under a pound. The action has been smoothed by a professional, and the springs are heavier than many think.
I was just trying to get you to consider having the action smoothed up before lightening springs hoping for a smoother gun. Springs can help a gun, but shouldn't be a crutch for a gun that can benefit from a little stoning.
PLEASE understand I'm not trying to offend you, just offering a bit of knowledge about making a gun perform reliably AND be smooth.

 

[mickeyboat]

I appreciate your comments about lighter springs. At this point I am a long way over the cliff on lighter springs. I just competed in the national championship of our sport, for the 14th time. There were roughly 1000 shooters present, each shooting two single action revolvers in the competition plus a rifle and a shotgun. Many had at least one pair of backup revolvers in case of failure.That is up to 4000 single action revolvers with the majority being Rugers the rest a mixture of Colt clones and a few original Colts. I would guess that about 90% of all those revolvers had significantly lighter springs, I know mine, my wife's and my son's did. All of our revolvers as well as the other guns we use in competition have significant action jobs performed by some great competition revolver gunsmiths.

We live in two different states about half a year in each. I have been carrying guns, leather, ammo, etc back and forth for the 15 years we had done so. Right now I am trying to get us set up with two pairs of revolvers each plus leather, ammo,etc in the two states to stop the hauling madness. As I get a couple more years older I will have to stop driving a 40 foot motorhome back and forth, settling on a SUV to haul our stuff semiyearly, and maybe at some point fly. With this new pair of 3 screw Blackhawks, my wife and I will each have two pair of competition Rugers in two states.

Many of our Rugers have significant modifications and the springs are a very small part. I have two pair of new model Blackhawks, my son has two pair of old model Vaqueros, and my wife has two pair of older 32 single Sixes (with adjustable sights) and I have one pair of these 32s. These revolvers have all been significantly modified to eliminate the transfer bar (a significant failure mode for our sport) and to modify the hammers significantly. The hammers have been welded up so the transfer bars are not needed (to engage the firing pins), the hammer sears have been welded up and new cuts made for safety notch, half cock and a new full cock that is significantly shorter than the original full strokes. In other words to make these newer Rugers work and feel like old model Rugers. This new pair of 3 screws will be the back up competition guns for a pair of flat tops (2nd year of production) I got years ago from a friend. Those flat tops are great guns and they both have an excellent action job by the best Ruger gunsmith in the US IMHO. These latest 3 screws need little more work than springs to make them excellent back up revolvers for our sport. I figured I would just do the spring work my self.

In addition to these Rugers I had/have about 15 other Ruger single actions and have been slowly giving them to my two sons-why wait till I die for them to enjoy them. These are mostly unmodified guns including several excellent collector guns such as two first year of production Blackhawks in 95-100% condition.

 

[contender]

Now that you have explained your desires for such lighter springs & such, I understand more. I used Jerry as a reference because many years ago we were talking & he told me about his guns & springs. It kinda shocked me as I fully expected his guns to have lighter springs.
I too have some seriously worked over Rugers that are fully competition ready. Smooth is the key, and consistency is what works.
May I suggest you do as I have done? Make a detailed, written description of such modifications so that anybody else who might get them someday will know what has been done. I call it "keeping the history."
Good luck in your mods & all.