greencobra
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- Jul 2, 2011
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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.
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.