Talking Guns

The .45 Colt stainless Ruger BH led Tank to the Ruger Bisley.

My first single-action sixgun was a 7.5″ stainless Ruger Blackhawk, chambered in .45 Colt. Proud as punch, the gun lit the fire for my love of the .45 Colt cartridge and Ruger single actions, with long, 7.5″ barrels, for field use. It wasn’t much longer I bought a blued 7.5″ Ruger with a funny-looking grip-frame. It was a Bisley. This gun influenced me more than any other sixgun I own. Let me explain why.

Character Flaws?

First off, the funny Bisley grip-frame provided a bigger handle for me to hold on to, compared to the traditional plow handle. Also, the angle made shooting my heavy “Ruger Only” .45 Colt handloads more comfortable, meaning my middle knuckle wasn’t getting bashed like when shooting the Blackhawk.

As much as I loved the Bisley, it needed some work. Work I decided I’d do myself. First off, the cylinder had undersized throats, meaning accuracy wasn’t the greatest. Also, the trigger pull was heavy, and the base pin sometimes jumped from the heavy recoil of my handloads.

Here’s the DIY way of honing your cylinder throats. Don’t laugh, it works!

DIY Perfection

Back in the late ’80s I didn’t have much money. Still don’t, nothing’s changed since then, only there was even less of it. So, I did the next best thing and decided to do the work myself, figuring it would be a great learning experience, while making my gun shoot better, hopefully ...

I read about opening the cylinder throats by using a hand drill, split rod and emery cloth. I won’t go into detail, but with these simple tools, I did it and it worked beautifully. Groups tightened substantially, tuning the Bisley into a very accurate shooter.

The base pin was simple enough to fix. I order an oversized base pin from Belt Mountain. The locking screw secures the pin, stopping the “jump” while removing any cylinder wobble with its oversized diameter.

I also change out the trigger spring with a Wolff reduced spring, substantially lowering the trigger pull. I also polish the main spring strut, which smoothed things out when cocking the hammer.

Lastly, I replace the Ruger rear sight with a much nicer Bowen target rear sight. It improves sight picture substantially. I shot my first one-hole, ragged group at 25 yards so many years ago with that gun. The load was a 330-grain LBT LFNGC, loaded over 22 grains of H110 and CCI 350 magnum pistol primer, proving DIY can work. I’ve done several other guns the same way, all gaining accuracy.

A belt Mountain oversized locking base-pin stops base pin jump and will tighten cylinder play.

Feeling Good

Admittedly, these are the tinkerings of a mere amateur, but they will make your single action sixgun more accurate, giving it a certain amount of a custom feel. Not full-blown custom, but enough of one for you to notice. By doing it yourself, you’ll learn the intricate workings of your gun, giving you better understanding, while gaining confidence to investigate further tinkering. Plus, it will make your gun seem more yours because of the personal attention you’ve given it.

It’s fun working on guns, especially your own. And if all else fails, you can always have a gunsmith fix your errors. By taking things slow, it’s hard to screw up these basic fixes. By doing things yourself, you’ll gain a new independence — you’ll enjoy every step of the way. If something happens to your gun, you just may know how to fix it.

The Bowen rear sight will greatly improve sight picture and is easy to install.

Pathways

It’s funny how guns lead us down the many pathways of our interests. This blued Ruger .45 Bisley taught me its grip-frame is more comfortable with my heavy handloads, while instilling the confidence to tinker on my guns, improving performance. Lastly, it has led me to what I think is the perfect hunting handgun, the Ruger Bisley Hunter.

While I prefer the .45 Colt, I have Bisley Hunters in .41 and .44 Magnum, as well. A good sixgun has the means of influencing you, if you’d only learn to listen to it.

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Character Flaws?

DIY Perfection

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Pathways

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