I recently came across a guy who was selling several Rugers for a customer. As I looked at pictures of the guns, one gun caught my eye so I looked a little closer due to my bent towards custom revovlers. As I studied the pictures closer I begain to see more and more unique features on the gun. Enough so that I decided to get it coming my way. When I picked the gun up today, it was even more fascinating than the pictures showed. The most obvious feature on this old model Super blackhawk is the glued on Poly-choke rib. I was hoping that this one was simply glued on rather than glued and screwed and I got lucky, it is glued only.
The next thing I had noticed in the pictures was the ivory grips that were blind screwed. Oops, the picture from the other side show no screw as well which means a two piece gripframe and one piece ivory grips. IF they were real ivory! The next thing I noticed in the pictures was a crescent headed ejector rod. The next feature that caught my eye was the rear sight. Too big to be a Ruger sight but not quite right for a Bowen.
The hammer also caught my eye in that while it resembled an old model SBH, something just looked "different"
The pictures also showed a white line on the front sight. The gunsmith had actually milled a very shallow and neat pocket on the top surface then painted the inside of the milled pocket rather than simply paint on a white line.
Once I picked the gun up I could actually see what custom features the gun actually had. Sure enough, the grips are actual ivory with that neat cream and white coloring that I love. Also, the grip frame is a two part steel part with both parts having matching serial numbers that end in SA. I must assume they are Colt parts. The really interesting part about the grip frame was that the 'smith did not manufacture a hanger for the Ruger main spring but used the Colt style flat spring but modified the Ruger hammer to a roller pin type configuration to work with the flat main spring. The spur was also different in that the Super wide spur was grafted onto a standard configuration hammer. Where a person modified a Colt hammer to work with Ruger action screw or modified a Ruger hammer to work with the Colt main spring is something I don't have the Colt experience to tell. I can see where the 'smith welded up the front mounting screw at the front end of the Colt frontstrap and redrilled it in the proper location for working with the Ruger main frame.
Oh yes, I also found the non-inc. Ruger barrel had been magna-ported.
The steel crescent ER was encased in a steel, cam slotted ERH too. All in all, a very fascinating piece of work that I would love to have the history on. While I toyed with swapping the gripframe and the grips onto an old model Ruger conversion, I think this old custom will stay just the way I found it.
The next thing I had noticed in the pictures was the ivory grips that were blind screwed. Oops, the picture from the other side show no screw as well which means a two piece gripframe and one piece ivory grips. IF they were real ivory! The next thing I noticed in the pictures was a crescent headed ejector rod. The next feature that caught my eye was the rear sight. Too big to be a Ruger sight but not quite right for a Bowen.
The hammer also caught my eye in that while it resembled an old model SBH, something just looked "different"
The pictures also showed a white line on the front sight. The gunsmith had actually milled a very shallow and neat pocket on the top surface then painted the inside of the milled pocket rather than simply paint on a white line.
Once I picked the gun up I could actually see what custom features the gun actually had. Sure enough, the grips are actual ivory with that neat cream and white coloring that I love. Also, the grip frame is a two part steel part with both parts having matching serial numbers that end in SA. I must assume they are Colt parts. The really interesting part about the grip frame was that the 'smith did not manufacture a hanger for the Ruger main spring but used the Colt style flat spring but modified the Ruger hammer to a roller pin type configuration to work with the flat main spring. The spur was also different in that the Super wide spur was grafted onto a standard configuration hammer. Where a person modified a Colt hammer to work with Ruger action screw or modified a Ruger hammer to work with the Colt main spring is something I don't have the Colt experience to tell. I can see where the 'smith welded up the front mounting screw at the front end of the Colt frontstrap and redrilled it in the proper location for working with the Ruger main frame.
Oh yes, I also found the non-inc. Ruger barrel had been magna-ported.
The steel crescent ER was encased in a steel, cam slotted ERH too. All in all, a very fascinating piece of work that I would love to have the history on. While I toyed with swapping the gripframe and the grips onto an old model Ruger conversion, I think this old custom will stay just the way I found it.
great find------------------------------
