i've owned this 41 years

greencobra

greencobra

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and have never fired it. a made in 1957 ruger blackhawk flat top. i bought it from the original owner who sent it back for a reblue and the transfer bar safety conversion. a beautiful gun before it went off to the homeland, to the red barn in connecticut. i was in a shop when the old guy brought it in and overheard him saying what he wanted done. i collected rugers, primarily the single actions, and really wanted to add this as is to the collection. i pleaded with him to sell it to me, or i'd buy him a new model and trade even for it, but he wouldn't. back story, he was a real working cowboy from montana or wyoming, somewhere around there, and carried it every day for 20 plus years in a beautiful leather rig. he retired from the range, moved east to be near his daughter. so the gun ended up here in massachusetts. it had no blue left on the barrel. the ejector rod housing is aluminum alloy or something similar and so it's painted cause it didn't take hot blue well, and that color was scrapped off. the frame retained 50% of it's blue. ruger used that deep blue black finish in the day. it had a beautiful 3 click clak sound (think colt) when cocked that would be lost with the conversion.

it went off. and when it came back and i saw it, the gun had a pair of cool but inexpensive ivory micarta grips. i have the grip box and their price was $22.50 then, so it says penciled on the top of the box. and the loading gate still retained that beautiful plum color that the early guns were known for. the guy in the shop told me the old man didn't want the gun for some reason, told them to keep it and sell it to cover the expenses of sending it out, paying ruger for the reblue, buying and putting on the grips. ruger paid return freight. so knowing how much i wanted it, they offered it to me first. we contacted the owner, i talked to him to make sure he wasn't having any remorse, or maybe he changed his mind. no, he didn't, and gave no reason for wanting to rid himself of it. but it came back looking good with it's face lift. ruger did a good job coming close to the original finish. of course they sent the original parts back.

i have the gun, original box & paperwork, original sales receipt from 1957 that says the cost was $58 or about. i have the micarta grips and their original box from 1981 and the ruger work order/test sheet from the work ordered and completed of the safety conversion and reblue. not in original condition but i thought it so beautiful i never fired it, stuck it in the safe, and took it out every so often to look at. when we did the transfer, i ask the guys at the shop not to open the loading gate or cock it and turn the cylinder. there is no score line around the cylinder. if they test fired it at the time it was at the factory...you can't tell it. this gun is one of only 3 or 4 i kept when i sold my ruger collection in the mid '90's.

i'm going to fire it next week when i go to the range. a thrill will be just cocking it, never mind launching a round down range. i have 2 other rugers that are unfired. a story for another day on why. i wanted to share the story of this revolver, remember the old guy who is long dead and show you all a photo of the pistol. i have put up it's photograph before but here it is again. i monkeyed with the photo color saturation a bit to try and highlight the plum colored loading gate. here it is below, my 65 year old blackhawk with a face lift. i hope you enjoy looking at it as much as i do. oh...i paid $75 for it but was so thrilled to have it, i tossed in an additional 20 bucks so the shop could make some money. they gave me a bag of 50 .357 reloads also but they went into another pistol. here is the ruger blackhawk flat top below. [grin]

ruger bh #2.jpg
 
Ooh Mama...

If you ever want to put that into Loving Hands... I'm your man!

I officially request Right of First Refusal... [smile]
1664926506277.png
 
LuvDog said:
beautiful gun. I’m curious though, why is now the time to fire it?
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i'm getting up there and i can't take it with me. well, i guess i could. but the person who takes possession after me will probably with all certainty shoot it. i may as well be the one to have the experience. remember, before the face lift it was a working gun and a tool for the old man. thankfully, it doesn't look like he hammered any nails with it. [laugh]
 
greencobra said:
@mr. enbloc, you're gonna have to put you're contact info on file with my estate, i certainly won't be doing much logging in here at nes after i'm gone to notify you to "come and get it."
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That's all well my friend. I'd rather see you owning it for many, many more years. ~Matt
 
Matt_SERE said:
I love when Rugers bluing turns plum. Is that a reflection on the loading gate or is it turning color?
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy. [thumbsup]
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the gate is plum. ruger used some kind of alloy steel for the gates then that made it look different than the rest of the gun after it was blued resulting in that rich plum color. i forget exactly, it's been 30 years since i've immersed myself in the idiosyncrasies of rugers. but yeah, that look is attractive.
 
greencobra said:
the gate is plum. ruger used some kind of alloy steel for the gates then that made it look different than the rest of the gun after it was blued resulting in that rich plum color. i forget exactly, it's been 30 years since i've immersed myself in the idiosyncrasies of rugers. but yeah, that look is attractive.
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+1, I used to hang with these guys on line. Then ended up gravitating to here. This is a great forum, the .com one, not the .net, and the previous owner Flatgate, RIP, was top notch.
snip
____________
The phenomenon we note in blued Rugers known as “plum” coloration has been the subject of considerable discussion over the years. This is usually explained as being the result of certain elements in the investment-cast steel Ruger uses for certain parts reacting with the bluing bath. We know that Ruger offered to re-blue guns in the early days if the customer wished, but did not guarantee any different results than seen on the original finish. Whether you like this deviant color is pretty much a personal thing, with some liking it almost as a “variation” and others disliking it as a manufacturing failure.

The matter came up on RugerForum dot net, and IOWEGAN addressed it from his position as a gunsmith with considerable experience in re-bluing Rugers as well as other guns with similar “problems”. With his permission, I offer up his commentary for our edification and information . . .

”There are six reasons for guns to turn "plum". First is the temperature of the bluing salts, which must be maintained at exactly 292 deg F. If the temperature is lower, bluing won't take properly. If the temperature is just a few degrees too high, parts will turn plum. Second is the concentration of the salts. Because water boils off, the salts tend to get too concentrated so bluing tanks must be equipped with a water replenishment system to keep the salts to water ratio at 10:1 (10 parts water for one part salts by weight). If the mixture gets too concentrated, parts will turn plum. Next is "time in the tank". If parts are left in the bluing tank too long, they will turn plum (1/2 hour is normal). Bluing salts do "wear out" so they must be replaced fairly often. When salts start aging, gun parts turn plum. Last is the alloy. Some alloys require special additives to the bluing salts or the parts will turn plum no matter how well you maintain the tanks. In most cases, parts will turn plum right out of the bluing tank. When alloys are the cause, it may take several years for the plum color to show up. I can't fault Ruger for alloy issues during the first few years of production but after that, there's no excuse. Several years ago, it was common to see a brand new Ruger SA with plum parts ... so the alloy was not their only problem. I think Ruger was "guilty" of several of the above issues but they are doing much better now (same alloys).

”Back when I had my shop, I had a very nice bluing tank setup. I blued hundreds of guns but always had problems with Ruger SA cylinders, loading gates, sometimes frames, but never barrels turning plum ..... despite my best efforts to maintain temperature and a proper mix ratio. I also had problems with Winchester '94 receivers and any other gun with cast parts. One day I called Brownell's (I used their Oxynate #7 salts) and asked if there was anything I could do to prevent "plum". The answer was a resounding "yes .... buy an additive called Oxynate "S" and your problems will go away." I did just that and my first "test gun" was my own Ruger Liberty Blackhawk. It had a very plum loading gate and cylinder plus the cylinder frame showed some plum too. Besides, I carried this gun while deer hunting so it had considerable holster burn on the barrel. Guess what? When I took the parts out of the tank, they were blacker than a whore's heart. I still have the Liberty and it is still black with no signs of plum and that bluing job was done 30 years ago. For a handgun sized bluing tank (2 gallons), it takes about two ounces of Oxynate "S", which is now about $2/oz. I don't know how this stuff works but it indeed it does work on Rugers, Winchesters, and any other cast gun parts.”

I think this is great information to be added to our treasure trove of Rugerdata, and thank IOWEGAN for his commentary.
 
I picked up a 357 blackhawk about 2 years ago. Not as old as your example mine was made in 1974. The blackhawk in 357 imo is just a great handgun to own they were made solid and are quite accurate. I can ring 8 inch steel at 100 yards with mine 5 out of 6 shots on average.

In your story you mentioned the owner was a working cowboy......I can definitely see how a rancher would consider a 357 blackhawk the right tool to carry in the field.
 
Matt_SERE said:
The phenomenon we note in blued Rugers known as “plum” coloration has been the subject of considerable discussion over the years
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Caspian uses, or at least used to use/own Pine Tree Investment Castings. This could explain the plum color on an old 38 super (single stack with Tasco scope ... yes, that old) built on a Caspian frame.
 
greencobra said:
original sales receipt from 1957 that says the cost was $58 or about
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well now i'm not convinced this is the gun sales receipt. i can't read the writing for what it was for and the imprint on the top says "REXALL", like the drugstore??? probably bought a ton of chew and condoms...we'll never know now.
 
Transfer bar??? Dammit.

It's like the client who was proud that "his 85yo dad decided that guns are unsafe so he turned his hunting rifles into the local PD." It makes absolutely no sense. None.
 
greencobra said:
well now i'm not convinced this is the gun sales receipt. i can't read the writing for what it was for and the imprint on the top says "REXALL", like the drugstore??? probably bought a ton of chew and condoms...we'll never know now.
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Drug store in town had a barrel of M1 Garands when I was a kid. Some chrome ones too. Always wanted one.
 
Dennis in MA said:
Transfer bar??? Dammit.

It's like the client who was proud that "his 85yo dad decided that guns are unsafe so he turned his hunting rifles into the local PD." It makes absolutely no sense. None.
Click to expand...
DF45F4F9-C7B7-470E-A784-6B1A4B589A5D.jpeg


@greencobra that is pretty sweet, beautiful gun. It needs to be shot though so I’m happy you’re taking it out for a spin. That’s an old working gun not a sleek and sexy runway model like a Glock. lol
 

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