OM Blackhawk 357/9mm Convertable

[BearStopper]

Just got a good buy on one of these in a 6 1/2" barrel and am curious how others like them. The 9mm sounds fun and am wondering about the accuracy potential. I have seen posts that state the bullet diameter of .355 will not shoot accurately from a barrel designed to shoot .357 but I suspect some of this comes from idle talk and not real experience. So, who has shot and tested these thoroughly and has any input? By the way it came with a Ruger brass grip frame complete with the wide trigger and box and the correct grips to boot. I will be selling that as I prefer the standard grip frame on the .357.

 

[Wrangler John]

I had one of these awhile ago. The 9mm wasn't very accurate, nowhere near the .357 Magnum or .38 Special wad cutters. Good thing is that ammo is available anywhere and in a pinch you are set with a source of 9mm. The 9mm is a good plinker and there are many sources of inexpensive ammo.

The absolutely most astoundingly accurate Blackhawk I had was a .45 Colt / .45 ACP convertible. The .45 ACP cylinder would shoot 200 grain target ammo completely in the "X" ring at 25 yards - off hand. I burned more of that stuff in the Blackhawk than my heavy slide 1911.

 

[wild_weasel]

I have a 4 5/8 inch BH Convertible. Sighted in at 15 yards for 158gr Federal/Eagle 357 Magnum is easily shoots into 2"-3". Switching over to the 9mm cylinder 115gr Winchester White Box shoots 2" lower and the group opens up to 3"-4" inches. I tried some 125gr Fiochi (sp) 9mm thinking that the longer bearing surface would be more accurate, but they turned out to shoot about the same.

Cheers,
W-W

 

[contender]

I have found that to answer your question, the best thought that pops up is; "it depends."
Some of them shoot very well, with certain types of ammo,, and others just marginal,, no matter what type of ammo you try. Still with the fact that there is a lot of cheaper 9mm ammo out there in military surplus (well there used to be,) it can be an economical way of shooting.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Nice find.

PM sent.

:mrgreen:

 

[greener]

I have found that to answer your question, the best thought that pops up is; "it depends."
Some of them shoot very well, with certain types of ammo,, and others just marginal,, no matter what type of ammo you try. Still with the fact that there is a lot of cheaper 9mm ammo out there in military surplus (well there used to be,) it can be an economical way of shooting.

"It depends" pretty much sums it up. I can't find a load for a 9mm lead bullet that is accurate with the BH convertible. I did load some .358" bullets in 9mm cases and get fairly reasonable accuracy. I also have some 115 gr FMJ loads that seem to be accurate although commercial FMJ wasn't.

Since I reload the cost difference between 9mm and .38/.357 is negligible. It is a lot of trouble to get accurate 9mm loads while it is almost no trouble getting accurate .38 special or .357 loads out of the pistol.

Nice idea, but not, to my mind, worth the effort. Now, the .45 Colt/.45 ACP convertible is a great shooter with either round.

 

[EDK]

Just got a good buy on one of these in a 6 1/2" barrel........ By the way it came with a Ruger brass grip frame complete with the wide trigger and box and the correct grips to boot. I will be selling that as I prefer the standard grip frame on the .357.

If the box is correct to the gun and you can obtain a factory letter on the brass frame, you could sell it or trade for TWO similar guns with standard grip frames...or maybe even more $$ or guns!

The brass frame...if it is a factory MR3-DB...goes for around $300 as parts. You might want to make some inquiries before doing anything. (I assembled a similar gun back in the mid '70s...wish I had it now.)

 

[BearStopper]

The grip frame was an add on and is very nice with the box and trigger. On a .357 I prefer the stock frame which also came with it. I once got one of the MR3DB frames for free from one of my dealers so I found out about their value at that time. I have toyed with the idea of using one of these frames on my OM Flattop .44 but after shooting it with the stock frame and heavy loads it doesnt seem to bother me as I thought it might. The old Flattop does feel a little out of balance with an alloy gripframe though. I keep wishing it had a 4 5/8" barrel as I have a totally sweet OM Super that already fills the 6 1/2"-7 1/2" category very nicely.