Ruger's 41 Magnum Blackhawk Part II

I did not post accuracy data because the Blackhawk was shot with open sight and my eyeballs. Subsequently, targets were standard 2.5″x3.5″ playing cards placed at 25 yards. Shooting from a rest, and taking my time, the Ruger put 5 shots comfortably on the targets with any of the loads presented. There are scopes and red dot sights that can be easily mounted on the Blackhawk, but  my tendency is to go with the factory sights to keep its use as intended, simple.

It’s times like this I remember writers like Elmer Keith and his remarkable hunting and shooting skills, as well has his many contributions to the firearms industry and hunting. There are no writers of that type in the industry anymore. They have been replaced by gas bags and peacocks, that mostly write ad copy and press releases before moving on to some other industry.

Me? No way. I’m not a writer, and I certainly do not live the firearm informative lifestyle of constant hunters, CAD workstation wielding industry engineers, or experienced law enforcement. Nope, I am just a guy who spends time with firearms, lives in the boonies, and writes about related experiences.

The 41 Remington Magnum with performance handloads, to me, shares a personality with the 44 Mag when shot from a 40+ oz Blackhawk. I frequently shoot a GP100 357 Magnum, and I can say, that is a considerably softer shooting revolver. No, the 41 mag, and 44 mag, are not difficult to shoot with control, but they will get your attention with each trigger pull.

Where I did encounter a little discomfort while shooting the Blackhawk,  was with the sharp checkering on the polymer grips. How much discomfort? Enough so that I broke out my ancient, moldy shooting glove after the first twenty rounds.

Removing that irritation clearly improved my shooting and I went on the rest of the day without further whining. The last time I wore that glove was when I was tasked to shoot many rounds from a 454 Casull chambered Super Blackhawk. It is all in the grip surfaces, not the recoil. Ruger sells smooth hardwood replacement grips and both Hogue and Pachmayr offer soft grip versions.

Funny, I have been shooting Blackhawks for many years and never noticed this issue. However, I started wearing work gloves so my callouses went away. Before that, my hands would quickly wear sharply checkered grips smooth. Problem solved.

I would not recommend #9 or Blue Dot. They performed OK, but they produced clouds of smoke, spit powder and, weirdly, smelled like paraffin. H110 did well across the board, but there are more economical, faster powders for the 200 grain cast bullet loads. The lot of Lil’ Gun I am working with is pressure soft and require heavier charges, which is one of the reasons handload recipes don’t hold up forever and require testing.

All handloads presented ejected casings without a problem, primers remained in place and with a normal indentation. Velocity produced was consistent with manufacturers and SAAMI standard velocity by bullet weight. There is no magical way to achieve higher than standard velocity, but maximum standard velocity can be obtained with optimal powder selection. In this case, that would be H110, Lil’ Gun and Win 296 powders that do not increase peak pressure, but persist with a higher average pressure. Other than by optimal powder selection, any other significant velocity increases are the result of excessive pressure.

Anomalies… I love that word

As pictured below, the 265 grain loads tended to fill up a chamber. The pictured bullet nose is actually 0.012″ in from the face of the cylinder and the roll crimp held those bullets fast. If I were going to use the Blackhawk as a primary hunting firearm with the 265 grain cast bullet, I would probably trim the case back an additional 0.010″ for greater clearance in the revolver and adjust powder charges as required.

How in the world could a heavier bullet take a larger powder charge than a lighter bullet? The 265 grain bullet is assembled with a longer cartridge overall length than the 250 grain bullet. Subsequently, the 265 grain net case capacity, as noted on the table, is greater than that of the 250 grain bullet.

The increase in capacity, with a constant powder charge, causes a relative reduction in pressure, which creates a demand for more powder to sustain original pressure. No, not my theory, just what I have seen with transducer and strain pressure checking gear and the pressure/volume relationships established Boyle’s Law (1662, Charles’ Law (1787) and  Avogadro’s Law (1811).

The 200 grain bullet loads on the table are detuned a bit and used for target practice and personal protection. The bullets are not gas checked and traditionally lubed, but they are coated with Clear Slick Coat Bullet Lube and, according to Hunters Supply, good for 2,000 fps MV without leading or shedding. They are listed with a Brinell hardness of 21, stated as due to the use of this lube.

I was not certain regarding their advertised hardness, as core hardness, not surface hardness, determines bullet expansion on impact and surface hardness determines resistance to leading. So I ran the bullet through the hardness tester, after filing a flat below lube groove depth, and that yielded a Brinell hardness reading of 20.9. Pure lead has a Brinell hardness of 4, with hard cast starting at a Brinell of 11. Subsequently, the Hunter Supply bullet is a non expanding, hard cast bullet, with or without the clear anti friction coating.

Velocity alone does not kill, but big holes do…

The purpose of a magnum cartridge is to drive bullets of the same weight and caliber, to a higher velocity than the standard version of the cartridge; 44 Magnum Vs 44 Special, 357 Magnum Vs 38 Special, 300 Winchester Magnum Vs 30-06 Springfield. Yes, there is a 41 Special, however, it came 20 years after the 41 Remington Magnum.

Hamilton Bowen felt 41 Magnum users might want a lesser recoil/muzzle blast round to shoot in their revolvers. An interesting concept that can be side stepped with reduced load 41 Remington Magnum ammunition. However, it would make a heck of a shorter cartridge case for use with heavy 0.410″ bullets. Anyway…

That said, heavy bullets for bore are only moderately slower, retain velocity better, shoot as flat, and will penetrate like crazy on game.

And the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em award goes to…