RUGER RESCUE

[Tommy Kelly]

I rescued a super blackhawk yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how some people think they are gunsmiths. This poor super has had the erh come off in the past and now has a phillips head screw in it the whole head is outside the housing. The barrel has been cut off to 4 5/8 and not recrowned. The grips are a set of hogues that look like they have had rubber added to them. The front sight is a fibre optic type sight that is screwed on. The topstrap has grooves cut on each side like for a tipoff style scope mount. This gun has had a previovs owner at one time who thought he was a gunsmith. Wrong. My son is bringing his ruger parts and his crowning tool this weekend to see if we cant put this gun back together again. and make it back into a good gun. I bought this gun sight unseen and got it at a fair price but if I had not promised to buy it. I would have passed on it. I knew the price was too good to pass up but it needs a lot of work to get back into shape. It will be cared for properly from now on and will be put back as wright as possible this weekend. It will get a new lease on life and have a good home.

 

[wwb]

I'm surprised they didn't ask a premium price for all the extra "custom" work.

I've seen that too many times to count.... then you try to explain to them, "If it ain't the way it left the factory, you just cut the value about in half - and if it's crappy work, you're down to a parts gun price." It's usually met with disbelief.... then you see them at a gunshow a year later, still trying to sell the same gun.... but now, the price is almost reasonable.

 

[Hondo44]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but how did they reattach the front sight, or did they?

Almost every gun is saveable, espacially at the right price. You done good!

 

[Greebe]

How much does one pay for an abused BH?

 

[Danjet500]

Post some before and after pics.

 

[Smee781]

yes, pics please and what does a parts BH go for these days?

 

[Hondo44]

This poor super has had the erh come off in the past and now has a phillips head screw in it the whole head is outside the housing.

The two sizes of ERH screws are still available. If it has the studded barrel and the threads are still good,it's Ruger # MR-33-44 from Brownwll's; their order #780-012-024. $2.86
The newer screw is Ruger # XR03300; Brownell's #780-012-088. $3.99

 

[flatgate]

How much does one pay for an abused BH?

One hunnert bucks for this one...........

flatgate

 

[Tommy Kelly]

Well I was wrong it seems this gun started life as a 10" heavier bbled gun. after cutting the crown the bbl is a bit larger than the cutter. Not a big deal but the erh is longer than a normal one and the bbl is 5.5" instead of the 4 5/8" I thought the erh is flush with the bbl. Also my son had a erh and screw in his parts but the screw was too small for the hole in the bbl. So I worked the screw they had in it and fitted it a little better and ended up using it. I may play with it a little more later and get it closer to right. also the front sight I left on until I shoot it and see where its hitting it's tall and I can maybe rework it and do away with the fibre optic top and reshape it a little and get by. I put all the parts in a pot and boiled them in water and dawn dishwashing liquid to remove a lot of the dirt and grease built up in the gun. You wouldn't believe all the crud that came out of it. Then I took a toothbrush and my oil rag and cleaned each part one at a time. A previovs owner had bent the return spring all out of whack so we replaced it with a new one and worked on the trigger its now very good. The rear sight is set very high but I dont know what range they were trying for so maybe I can rework the front sight and run the rear sight down to normal levels and get by. I will try it out tomorrow and see where it shoots with the sight setting now. Also the cylinder pin release had the wrong spring in it so we replaced it before you had to remove the screw to get the cylinder pin out. Now it works right. The front sight looks like aftermarket sights for a muzzleloader and where the screw hole is a ruger sight would be sitting way back on the gun. So I will try to use the sight that's on it and remove the fibre optic if possible then reshape the sight into a better shape that's more holster friendly shape.

BEFORE PICS

 

[Tommy Kelly]

See this was one ugly gun. It looks a lot better now but didn't work out like I wanted it to. But I can live with it now especially if the sight can be reworked. I will try it tomorrow and see if I can cut the front sight down and reshape it with the adjustment in the rear sight I probably can. Then it will be a lot better looking. We will add after pictures tomorrow after we see what we can do with the front sight

 

[wwb]

I goota say, that Super is one sorry mess...... but the ERH screw and the grips really take the cake.

 

[Hondo44]

Well there is a way to resolve the sight screw hole problem. You can cut the barrel back to 4 5/8 which will eliminate the erh screw hole, install the shorter erh and go to a nice steel one. Drill and tap a hole for the correct screw that I listed above. Then the proper Ruger sight will cover up the sight screw hole that's too far back.

 

[EDK]

I'd keep it at 5.5 AND keep the long ejector rod housing. You have a longer ejection stroke...and can remove they cylinder pin without dis-assembly.

Help with the grips is a phone call...and some plastic! away.

 

[Hondo44]

I'd keep it at 5.5 AND keep the long ejector rod housing. You have a longer ejection stroke...and can remove they cylinder pin without dis-assembly.

Help with the grips is a phone call...and some plastic! away.

EDK makes two very good points regardless of what I said above. The longer stroke is a nice advantage. And frankly, I had the factory 5 1/2 barrelled model at one time and always wanted to install the longer erh but sold the gun 1st.

For what it's worth, the 5 1/2 on your SBH actually looks better proportioned with that long dragoon grip frame! If you decide you want a factory front sight, you could put a flush plug screw in the existing hole like comes from the factory in predrilled-for-scope receivers.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

The nice thing about this project is that you really can't hurt much of anything. Almost anything is an improvement.

Fascinating. Keep us informed.

 

[oregon73]

This is an interesting thread!

First, I just gotta say, I think those are the ugliest grips I've ever seen on any gun, period.

I think it would look better cutting the bbl. to 4-5/8'' and adding a new ERH and front sight. And then ditch the dragoon grip frame for a steel XR3-RED with some decent wood grip panels.

But still, it's an interesting thread and a nice project.

Rob

 

[Hondo44]

I did that with my SBH and it was my favorite 44 until I got a 44 FT, since I shot more 44 Spls than Magnums.

 

[Tommy Kelly]

BEFORE

AND AFTER

 

[FergusonTO35]

I like buying Frankenstein guns because you can't really make them any worse, also there are times when you would rather take a beater gun out instead of one of the nice ones.

 

[Tommy Kelly]

In my opinion it's a lot nicer now. Not perfect but a big improvement. Come to find out the screw from a new ruger fit's the erh and solved that problem so I ordered a couple of each listed in brownells. I robbed one of my other guns and will replace it when the order comes in. It turned out to a nice truck gun. The front sight was high enough that I was able to grind off the fibre optic top and have a regular sight. I'm sure they have their place but I don't care for them. They are too bright for daytime use probably great at last light.

 

[Hondo44]

That's a big improvement! I don't know if it's going to be high enough for the short barrel though.
I think you might be able to cover that front sight screw hole w/a standard Ruger front sight but you'd have to drill and tap another hole to get it close enough to the muzzle to look right.

 

[Tommy Kelly]

You are right the front sight is a little short now but I did away with the fibre optic that I didn't like. I sent the gun home with my son he is going to drill a couple of holes in the sight top and put pins in and build the sight up with jb weld. Then load some 300 gr cast bullets over 22 gr of h110 then adjust the rear sight to the center of the adjustment range. Then file the jb weld till it's right for that load. He is a excellent pistol shooter and reloader. When he returns the pistol he is bringing me a couple of hundred of the bullets to load for the pistol so I'll be set for a while for this gun. He was cutting bullet holes with the pistol today at 25 yds. They were just about 4" high above the target. He shoots a handgun as well as most people can shoot a rifle. I don't shoot good groups but usually don't miss anything I shoot at.

 

[Greebe]

How much does one pay for an abused BH?

One hunnert bucks for this one...........

flatgate

Man I want a $100 homely BH to do some cosmetic surgery on. Was that a gun show find?

 

[Spike12]

Things are so bad just about anything you do will make you hero. I hate it when it gets that bad!

 

[Tommy Kelly]

My son and I both enjoy working on a gun and bringing a gun back to life. It was a fun weekend of playing with the pistol and getting it back into shape. It is going to be a good shooter when finished. And everytime I look at it and use it it will bring back memories of the work and rescue we did to it. Somehow I will enjoy it more than the ones I have that are brand new looking. We both are very attatched to our guns and enjoy shooting a good gun very much. A gun like this is a challange and we both love to piddle with a gun and make it the best we can. I especially enjoyed the cleanup. It's amazing how much gunk came out of this gun. We took it completely down and boiled the parts then hand cleaned each part with a oil rag and reassembled it. It's cleaner than it was when it left ruger's factory and works as smooth as silk. To most folks this is a old beater gun but to us it is more.

 

[w5lx]

That's definitely a "fixer-upper" but should be a fun project and you will wind up with a nice gun in the end. I enjoy periodically browsing the for-sale forums and I get a kick out of reading the posts of guns that are advertised: "For Sale: "tricked out" [insert gun name here]. It's amazing how some guys will "trick out" a nice gun.

 

[Snake45]

I LOVE project guns! If it's cheap, if ammo is available for it, and if there's any chance it can be made to shoot again, I'm in! Nothing like taking some old unloved or even abused orphan and bringing it back to life.

Keep us posted on your work on this one. I have a feeling it'll turn out to be a good shooter! :wink:

 

[tek4260]

Well here is the front sight pinned and ready to be built up with JB. I started with 3, 1/16 holes and pinned them. Then I decided to go ahead and fill the gaps with more pins. I may go ahead and make a short pin for the front so there will be less unsupported JB Weld. The pins are 1/4" in the sight and were coated with JB before I hammered them in. The JB was probably unnecessary as I had to really lean on the hammer to get them to seat. Should be plenty stout.

 

[Tommy Kelly]

Well my son called today. he is going to put the jb weld on the sight tonight then shape it up tomorrow night. 2 more days and it will be up and running again. I told him to set the rear sight at 1/2 way on the adjustment then file the front to zero with the load we will load. That way there should be plenty of adjustment either way for other loads. The rear sight blade is centered and the left and right was fine it just ran out of down adjustment about 4" above poa. Building the front sight up should fix this problem. after this the only thing left will be the grooves in the topstrap which don't bother me.

 

[tek4260]

Poor pics of the shaped sight. Should be sturdy. Now to paint it.....