My First 45 Colt!

[Chief_10Beers]

Broke her out of Layway jail! It's been a long Two Weeks. The fit and finish is really nice. The Grip Frame to Cylinder Frame is the same as my 50th Anniversary 44 Mag Blackhawk, which is just about perfect. Felt no creep when I was Dry Firing.

I took a 452 cast Boolit and I was able to push it thru the Colt cylinders with my fingers, the same with the ACP cylinder. I guess this means I don't need to ream out the Cylinders.

In the box was the usual papers, manual and a Lispy Card, 45ACP Cylinder, Shank Lock, Internal Lock Keys and Test Fired Case. S/N is 520-26612 and the Test Fired Case is dated 22 July 2011( For those of whom that keeps those stats.).

Going to do some shooting this Sunday and have some Fun! ..................................

Edit: Correct Test Fire Date

 

[Hugh]

Very pretty.

 

[xtratoy]

Nice looking gun Chief. I guess the stainless guns have tighter throats. I couldn't push a .452 bullet through either cylinder on my 45 Flat Top until I reamed them. I also had to epoxy the grip dowel holes in the grips as they were 3/16" or more and the panels moved around when I held it. Its all good now.

 

[contender]

Sweet! Bring that puppy out next weekend and we'll let it visit with a lot of it's cousins, and grandparents!

 

[tek4260]

Those are about the nicest factory Rugers I think I have ever seen. They really have a winner in my book there.

 

[Lee Martin]

You can't go wrong with the round or that model. Good shooting.

 

[dougader]

Call me jealous. Very nice revolver.

 

[Chance]

Good catch Chief. My favorite caiber

 

[Rclark]

Hey, that looks like mine . No, can't be, wrong serial # ... Guess it is yours . Mine was born before yours 26372.

A story, my son was sighting in his new Browning Buckmark .22 Thursday night and he was having some difficulties settling down with it. Anyway, at 15Y, offhand I ups with the .45 Colt flattop and let drive at his target. At first I thought somehow I'd missed it, but after walking up to the target, I see a drilled the target 'perfectly' through the bullseye (his black bullseye was about the same size as the bullet). As perfect a shot as you could make. I turned around and said, see, "It's not that hard" . Course I never did try it again. Left it right there and went back to knocking down some steel .

 

[LAH]

Nice sixgun, love that barrel length.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Sweet! Bring that puppy out next weekend and we'll let it visit with a lot of it's cousins, and grandparents!

Me likes Family Reunions !.....................

 

[tookalisten]

Very nice! Makes me want one!

 

[Rclark]

Well, I went and picked up a sister to my blued .45 flattop convertible. Just picked up the SS flattop .45 convertible tonight. I especially cleaned the barrel and the throats for measurement tests. The throats seem a bit tight with a minus pin gauge of .451 goes through but .452 does not. Trying to press a slug through confirms it. Looks like I'll be reaming the throats to .452 . Easy job but shouldn't have to do it.... 0.006 for cylinder/barrel gap. Passes pin .442 down the barrel. That all seems ok to me.

Chief, looks like you lucked out, as both of mine needed the 'the' reaming treatment.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Hey, that looks like mine . No, can't be, wrong serial # ... Guess it is yours . Mine was born before yours 26372.

A story, my son was sighting in his new Browning Buckmark .22 Thursday night and he was having some difficulties settling down with it. Anyway, at 15Y, offhand I ups with the .45 Colt flattop and let drive at his target. At first I thought somehow I'd missed it, but after walking up to the target, I see a drilled the target 'perfectly' through the bullseye (his black bullseye was about the same size as the bullet). As perfect a shot as you could make. I turned around and said, see, "It's not that hard" . Course I never did try it again. Left it right there and went back to knocking down some steel .

Yeah man, yer 45 is an old man by 240 :lol: ....................................

 

[Rclark]

Here is my two .45 Flattop Convertibles. I put the black grips on the blued, because the other grips didn't fit well. Next up will be to buy some Bear Paw Grips to do it up right. Even on the SS the grips really don't fit the grip frame all that well ....

Oh yeah. Reaming complete. Now passed slug like it should.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Very nice! Makes me want one!

You know what is Funny? I wasn't even looking for this Particular Model. I was looking for a Regular 6.5 or 7.5 inch 45 Colt Blackhawk. I spotted this White Grip Blackhawk at Four Seasons in Goldsboro. I thought it was a used 44 SPL FT. I asked what caliber it was and I was told 45. So I gave it the once over (Steel Grip Frame and EH!) and so indeed it was a 45 FT.

I went home, did some nosing around Ruger's web site and didn't see in the cataloge untill I went to the Distributor Exclusives and saw it there, followed the link to Lipsy's, watched Jeff Quinn's Video, read his article. I did some back digging here and man-o-man, I wanted that 45. I went back to Four seasons the next hay hoping they didn't sell it, and there it was, my 45. Put down payment on it, two weeks later, I gave it a new home .............................

 

[Chief_10Beers]

Here is my two .45 Flattop Convertibles. I put the black grips on the blued, because the other grips didn't fit well. Next up will be to buy some Bear Paw Grips to do it up right. Even on the SS the grips really don't fit the grip frame all that well ....

Oh yeah. Reaming complete. Now passed slug like it should.

Nice Pair you have there, Four Seasons Told me they couldn't get another one.

Anyway, when I said my 45 is "about" perfect, here is the minor "about". The grips are snug on the Grip Panel Locator Dowel. The Grips are Flush on the Front and Bottom Strap but are a little High on the Back Strap. A little bit of sanding should fix that and the Chicken emblum is a little tilted on the right grip Panel, it's something I can live with..............................

 

[ShortBBL]

Now if they would make one in 4 5/8!

 

[Rclark]

Four Seasons Told me they couldn't get another one.

Well, when my blued revolver came in back in July, they also sent along the SS one. The SS just set there in the display case 'calling' to me. Surprised no one had picked it up yet as this is October 1! Anyway ... had enough, so went and bought it tonight. There was only 250 of each made I understand.

Now if they would make one in 4 5/8!

What, and ruin the 'perfect' barrel length of 5 1/2"??? . hah! Just kidding you! But I do prefer the 5 1/2" myself.

 

[one bullet]

Sweet!

 

[tookalisten]

Anyone know if they are still available from Lipsey's? I see it is still listed. I may have to do a search to find one of these and have emailed my local dealer. Chief - why did you post this thread - you are an enabler!

 

[Rclark]

I believe they only made 250 of each for 500 total. That is what I understand.

I tore the gun down tonight to check the guts. All seems to be in perfect shape . Anyone try the Casey's Moly Dry Lube on the insides of their revolvers? I sprayed it on this one after cleaning the oil off. Didn't oil it at all. Don't know if I 'trust' it. Anyway I'll give it a whorl for the first few hundred rounds .... Can't hurt during break in I suppose.

 

[tek4260]

I love mine as well. Sort of a pre-production model built by one of the members here.

 

[Jason at Lipsey's]

We still have more coming in. Our original order was for 500 of each finish, with the option of running more.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

We still have more coming in. Our original order was for 500 of each finish, with the option of running more.

Thanks for the INFO Jason!

I'm really pleased and couldn't be happier with this 45. ........................................

 

[Rclark]

We have a problem Houston ....

Well, I tried to shoot my SS convertible tonight .... and only got through 6 rounds of .45 Colt.... The crux of the problem is the face of the loading gate is way too high. So when you cock the gun, as the cylinder rotates the case 'opens' the gate and binds up the gun. When I get case to bypass the gate edge, the case will cause the cylinder to be just a 'little' harder to turn because of the high gate. From what I can tell all that needs to be done is to flat grind down the face of the loading gate so it is 'flush' with the frame... Simple enough job I think. But why of why can't these be checked and fitted at the factory . At any rate I was unable to test for accuracy.... Stay tuned.... Oh, not just 'one' case ... all cases...

 

[stare-decisis]

There's a pretty gun. Congrats.

 

[xtratoy]

Thanks to Rclark for pointing out the problem on his stainless Flat Top. I hadn't shot mine yet so I pulled it out to check the issue. Cartridges were slightly catching and rubbing the top edge and front side of the loading gate also. I was able to cycle the action but not without more pressure on the hammer than usual. These guns are pretty tight so any small error shows up quickly! It was fairly easy to stone the area down (.015" - .020") but had this been a blued gun it would have went back to Ruger since the whole area would have had to have been reblued or replaced with a properly fitted loading gate. Maybe our guns were made on the same day??? #520-26733. Fired at factory JULY 25 2011.

 

[Chief_10Beers]

We have a problem Houston ....

Well, I tried to shoot my SS convertible tonight .... and only got through 6 rounds of .45 Colt.... The crux of the problem is the face of the loading gate is way too high. So when you cock the gun, as the cylinder rotates the case 'opens' the gate and binds up the gun. When I get case to bypass the gate edge, the case will cause the cylinder to be just a 'little' harder to turn because of the high gate. From what I can tell all that needs to be done is to flat grind down the face of the loading gate so it is 'flush' with the frame... Simple enough job I think. But why of why can't these be checked and fitted at the factory . At any rate I was unable to test for accuracy.... Stay tuned.... Oh, not just 'one' case ... all cases...

Man, that's some bad mojo I fired 50 rds of 45 Colt and 45ACP and not one hickup. I read your post when I had my 45 completely tore down and I checked everything. The only thing I found was I had to dress down the Loading Gate spring as there was a nasty burr on it.

I would figure if these were limited production Guns, someone at Ruger would have taken' alittle more time and care.......................................

 

[Rclark]

My blued one appears to be fine. It is only the SS one that this problem surfaced. Yesterday I tore it down completely (a couple of times in fact, getting pretty good at this ) and worked on sanding down the loading gate face. Cylinder will now rotate freely with three different brands of cases in the chambers. Next up will be another field test for fired/dirty cases .