Like the GP100, the Blackhawk will handle both .327 Magnum and .32 Magnum rounds. And while the single actions are notoriously slow to reload, 8 rounds of 1,500+ fps ammo can handle whatever problem you were trying so resolve, allowing you a very leisurely reload.
rounds generated right at 1,600 fps from the Blackhawk’s 5-1/2" barrel and just more than 1,580 fps in the GP100’s 4" barrel. At 25 yards, with my wrists resting on the bed cover of my pickup truck, groups ran slight- ly over 2" from the Blackhawk and over 3" in the GP100. Having only one box of Federal’s 115-gr. jacketed hollow points and wanting this load for a javelina hunt, I tested them in the Blackhawk only. Velocities were around 1,530 fps and groups ran around 1-1/2" at 25. Black Hills jacketed 85-gr.
.32 H&R Magnum
gave 1,158 fps in the Blackhawk and 990 fps in the GP100. Groups were just over 2" in the Blackhawk and just under 2" in the GP100. Unfortu- nately, Arizona’s weather was very uncooperative for three days of our hunt, and all I saw were tracks.
Handgun Hunting My real pleasure in seeing the
two larger frame Rugers cham- bered in Federal’s .327 Magnum is due to my interest in the cartridge and guns for small game hunting. I mentioned the Arizona javelina hunt earlier, an event I did annu- ally for several years with friends while living in Colorado. It was our yearly winter escape from the snow, and while there is no snow here at my current residence in Southern California, I plan to re-instate the
WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM
event. Unfortunately for me, (or for- tunately for the javelin) Arizona’s weather was very uncooperative for the three days of our hunt this year, and all I saw were tracks. Hope has not departed, as I have scheduled a follow-up trip to Arizona to include one of my favorite hunting pas- times, chasing rabbits with hand- guns. And yes, the new Blackhawk .327 will be a featured participant. This new Ruger looks like a perfect small-game gun (with self-defense capabilities included) for bumming about Arizona’s high country and game-rich deserts. Relative to small-game hunting, a
comment on the two Ruger sights is in order. Both guns have black front blades and black adjustable rear sights. The only difference is that the GP100 has a white line around the rear sight notch. It’s easier to see the rear sight in dim light or against a dark target, but it’s not the rear sight that should be in focus. For daylight hunting, I like plain black sights simply because they seem to work the best. But for defen- sive shooting, particularly up close, it’s the front sight that warrants enhance- ment if that’s what it takes to make it visible. In a small-game-hunting scenario, both guns should be fine as equipped, unless the sun angle is such that the white outline catches the glare and washes out your sight picture. If your vision is better than mine, you
might have a different preference.
One More Gun So, do we have a winner in these
new Rugers chambered for the .327 Magnum? As always,
that will be
determined in the market place, but perhaps being something less than totally objective, I can make room for one in my gun cabinet. Admit- tedly the gun/cartridge combination doesn’t really do much more than the .32-20 or .30 Carbine round in a medium to large size handgun, but the .327 is a more compact, efficient cartridge and will work in a small frame revolver. It’s also available with a greater variety of high perfor- mance ammo than either the .32-20 or .30 Carbine, and will prove easier to reload than the tapered .32-20 case or rimless .30 Carbine. In any case, several gun manufacturers and large ammunition companies are sinking some resources into the new caliber. Fellow shooters, it’s now up to us! *
FOR MORE INFO:
STURM, RUGER & CO.
www.ruger.com
(603) 865-2442
FEDERAL PREMIUM AMMUNITION
www.federalpremium.com (800) 831-0850
77
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180