silkpurse

When I first saw it lying on the gun show table, I couldn’t believe that someone actually had the huevos to try and sell a gun in that condition. It was a Ruger Old Model Blackhawk in .357 Magnum that had been rode hard and put away wet. I walked by it once, but went back to look at it later.

At first glance, it looked rough… real rough. The left grip panel was split and half of it was missing. The ejector rod housing and rod were missing. The finish on the barrel was mostly gone and the barrel was pitted pretty badly. Someone had thoughtfully "polished" the grip frame to bare aluminum and filed three notches in it. I had no idea what the notches stood for, and probably didn’t WANT to know. Out of morbid curiosity more than anything else, I picked it up for a closer look. Cylinder lock-up wasn’t bad. Not great, mind you, but not bad. Someone had taken a file to the rear sight. The notch was almost a quarter of an inch wide and nowhere near square. I drew the hammer to half-cock and pulled the base pin for a look down the bore. The base pin was so worn that it practically fell out of the gun. I would like to say that the lands and grooves were as sharp as the day it left the factory, but I can’t. I can’t because the barrel was leaded so badly that I couldn’t SEE the lands and grooves. I don’t know what kind of ammo the previous owner had been shooting out of this little gem, but I’d have to guess that it consisted of very soft bullets at very high velocities.

I put the Ruger back together and stood there turning it over in my hands, wondering what kind of a knucklehead would do that to a fine piece of machinery and would be stupid enough to try and sell it in that condition. I didn’t have to wonder long as the owner of the table sauntered up. "She’s a beauty, ain’t she? I bought her new and she never let me down. I need to sell her though. I’m savin’ up to buy me one of them .475 Linebaughs."

Looking at the owner, I fully expected to see drool running out the side of his mouth. I have to say that the thought of this character with a .475 scared me … a lot. I looked back at the Ruger and knew right then that I would have to buy it. It deserved better than this guy as an owner. I asked him his selling price and he said that he would have to get what he had paid for it: $175.00. SOLD!!!! As I was walking away, I looked at the receipt for the guy’s name. Surprise, surprise; it WASN’T Jug Johnson…….

Even at that price, I had been taken to the cleaners. The gun was an absolute dog and I knew it. My Dad thought I was nuts, but I knew something he didn’t. Sure, this abused little Ruger was just this side of butt-ugly, but I knew there was a custom .44 Special in there just waiting to get out.

When I got the Ruger home, I stripped it down and got a better look. The internals were in good shape and it hadn’t made the trip back to Ruger for the transfer bar conversion. The best news was a trigger pull that broke crisply at a bit less than 3 pounds. The first problem to address was the leaded bore. I corked the forcing cone, filled the bore with solvent, and sat it at the back of the bench for a good soaking. In the mean time, I took stock of the parts I was going to have to order. I dug out the Brownell’s catalogue and went to work. First off, the missing ejector rod assembly would have to be replaced. Since I wasn’t fond of aluminum parts in the first place, I ordered a Qualite cam-cut ejector rod housing and Colt-style ejector. While I was at it, I ordered a Ruger steel gripframe to replace the much-abused aluminum part. While I was waiting for the Brownell’s order to arrive, I posted a note to Belt Mountain and ordered a #5-style base pin.

I dug around in my parts box and came up with a set of factory Ruger grips and a friend and fellow Ruger aficionado was able to supply a rear sight blade to replace the hog wallow that came on the gun. I ruminated on these parts for a while and decided that they didn’t fit into the picture of what this sixgun had the potential to be. They were eventually replaced with a Bowen rear sight and a set of fancy walnut grips from Lett.

The first part to arrive was the #5 basepin from Belt Mountain. The machining and finish were superb, and with a little bit of oil, slid right into place. It vastly reduced the amount of play in the cylinder and gave it that "custom gun" feel. There was only one problem; I couldn’t get it out! After a semi-panicked exchange of e-mails with Kelye at Belt Mountain, I was able to get the base pin out and polish it down a bit. (MENTAL NOTE TO SELF: Read the directions!!)

Fitting the steel gripframe was an interesting experience. I had fitted one before, so there were no surprises. The surprise was just HOW oversized this one was compared to the last one I did. It took quite a bit longer that I was expecting, but the result was worth it as it improved the handling and balance of my Ruger immensely. Fitting the ejector rod and housing wasn’t a real problem, but don’t let anyone tell you that they are drop in parts; they aren’t. Among other things, I had to shorten up the rod a few thousandths of an inch because it was just long enough that I couldn’t get the cylinder out with the ejector rod housing in place. It didn’t prevent the cylinder from turning during normal operation though. Strange.

The bore finally came clean after several hours of scrubbing and three worn out bore brushes. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t bad. The forcing cone was a little rough, but I didn’t let that bother me. When all was said and done, the barrel would be replaced and the cylinder would be rechambered to .44 Special. I didn’t let that stop me from shooting it as a .357 Magnum though. Replacing the aluminum parts with steel gave this little beast a good heft and soaked up the recoil very well. I tried some 180 grain Federal .357 Magnum loads, but I wasn’t impressed. Accuracy was pretty good, but they seemed a bit wimpy. Oh, my kingdom for a chronograph! I doubt they were doing much over 1000 fps out of the 4 5/8" barrel of my little Ruger. That range session cemented my decision to turn this sow’s ear into a .44 Special.

After doing some research on custom gunsmiths, I came to the conclusion that, cost-wise, they were all pretty close to each other for the conversion and that they all turned out quality work. Based on recommendations from other members of the Sixgunner Message Board, I decided to let Dave Clements do the carving on my gun. I wasn’t looking for a showpiece, but I wanted it to live up to it’s potential. My instructions to Mr. Clements were actually pretty simple. Rebarrel and rechamber to .44 Special, "black-powder bevel" the face of the cylinder, install a Patridge-style front sight and give it a premium polish and blue. One other thing: install a lanyard ring. A lanyard ring? You betcha. I thought it would add a bit of individualism and panache. Besides, General Patton had one on his Colt and it worked out pretty well for him!

So, on a bright August day, I packaged up my Ruger with a letter of instruction and a deposit check and shipped it of to Mississippi and the capable hands of Dave Clements. In a phone call, Mr. Clements told me that it would probably be November before he would be able to get to my Ruger. I settled down to wait and re-read what Messrs. Keith, Skelton and Taffin had to say on the subject. It turned out that I would have longer to wait than I thought, through no fault of Mr. Clements. Let’s just say that, for some silly reason, my child-bride thought that replacing the blown engine in her Mustang was more important than gunsmithing expenses. Go figure…..

After taking care of my wife’s misbehaving Mustang, I was able to scrape up enough dinero to get my new sixgun out of hock with Mr. Clements. He was very understanding about the delay and bent over backwards to deal with a new deadline I pressed upon him. My favorite uncle (Uncle Sam) decided that my services were needed in the garden country of Bosnia. Again. I called Dave Clements and told him I was outbound right after the first of the year and he promised to get it to me before I left. He was as good as his word. My new Ruger .44 showed up a scant three days before I shipped out. That gave me time to really get a good look at this beauty and see what she was capable of. And SUCH a beauty she was!!

I have to admit to being absolutely stunned when I opened the shipping box. I had heard that Dave Clements did good work, but "good work" was an understatement. The first thing I noticed was the beautiful styling and execution of his Patridge front sight. It was a slightly angled front as opposed to a "pure" Patridge. No matter. In conjunction with the Bowen rear, it provided a very clear, sharp sight picture. In hindsight, I think I should have had him add a Keith horizontal gold bar to assist with long-range shooting.

The cylinder rechambering was very well executed. In fact, due to some dimensional problems in the original .357 Magnum cylinder, he line bored it to ensure everything lined up properly. That level of attention to detail was carried throughout the entire project. In addition to correcting the cylinder dimension problem, he also noted that the loading gate hole in the frame was wallowed out. To correct this, he cut the post off of the loading gate and welded a new, better fitting one in place. What was the total charge to correct these problems? Nada. He did it for free!

I don’t know what brand of barrel Dave uses, but the bore is very smooth and uniform from front to back. Slugging the barrel resulted in what appears to be a perfect .429 bore. I don’t have a stock Ruger .357 barrel on hand, but I think the barrel Dave used might be a bit larger in diameter. Regardless, in conjunction with the steel grip frame, the balance is as good as any sixgun I have ever hefted.

His cosmetic touches elevated this simple sixgun to a work of art. The polish and blue job is very well executed, and the lanyard ring I requested added just the touch of panache I was looking for. Where his craftsmanship really shines, however, is in the small details. When I shipped the gun to him, I included a set of Lett fancy walnut grips. Dave fitted and contoured those chunks of walnut to absolute perfection. They are the most comfortable single action grips I have ever handled; no sharp edges, and rounded and thinned in all of the right places. The combination of these details added up to the single best sixgun I have ever owned.

Just 24 hours before I shipped out for Bosnia, I had a chance to take my new baby to the range. Digging through my ammo locker yielded four different handloads, all built around tried and true components to include Keith bullets, Unique, 2400, and IMR 4227. This last powder isn’t one you see associated with the .44 Special very often. This is a shame as it resulted in one of the better .44 Special loads I have fired to date. Another .44 Special load that is a bit out of the ordinary consists of a 200 grain wadcutter over 5 grains of Bullseye. This is a very mild-shooting load that is very accurate. The results of my visit to the range are contained in the table shown below.

LOAD	ACCURACY ( 5 shots @ 25 yds)
250 Grain Keith SWC, 7.5 Grains Unique, Federal Cases, WLP Primers	2.25"
250 Grain Keith SWC, 17 Grains 2400, Federal Cases, WLP Primers	1.5"
250 Grain Keith SWC, 17 Grains IMR 4227, Federal Cases, WLP Primers	2.0"
200 Grain Wadcutter, 5 Grains Bullseye, Federal Cases, WLP Primers	1.75"

Since this was a traditional .44 single action, I decided to try a traditional load. The first load I tested was Mr. Keith’s 2400 load over his 250 bullet. After firing my first three rounds at 25 yards, I almost quit for the day. The resulting group measured an astounding 5/8" center to center! Was this a fluke? Probably. Will I take a 5/8" fluke? You betcha!!

I cannot speak highly enough of Mr. Clements’ work. He is a superb craftsman and I intend to send him my cobbled together 5.5" Stainless .45 Bisley as soon as I am able. I am sure that after he gets done cleaning up my mess, I will have a .45 Stainless Bisley to equal my .44 Special. I can think of no higher recommendation.