# Super Blackhawk Cylinder play



## maximusmagee (Jul 16, 2009)

For those of you familiar with the Super Blackhawk, how much cylinder play does the typical Blackhawk have?

By "cylinder play" I mean side to side rotation in lockup, forward/aft movement and side to side movement.

I have both a Super Blackhawk and Redhawk and it seems to me that the Redhawk is much tighter in this respect.  I was wondering if my Blackhawk is just well worn or if this is the norm.


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## hawgrider1200 (Jul 16, 2009)

*cylinder play?*



maximusmagee said:


> For those of you familiar with the Super Blackhawk, how much cylinder play does the typical Blackhawk have?
> 
> By "cylinder play" I mean side to side rotation in lockup, forward/aft movement and side to side movement.
> 
> I have both a Super Blackhawk and Redhawk and it seems to me that the Redhawk is much tighter in this respect.  I was wondering if my Blackhawk is just well worn or if this is the norm.



I've never noticed any in my Blackhawks. I haven't been looking for it either.


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## tv_racin_fan (Jul 16, 2009)

I dunno really, but my GP100 which honestly hasn't seen all that much action is much tighter than the Ruger Old Army I have that has.


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## bowhntr (Jul 16, 2009)

You might want to take it to a gun smith and see if it is ok . You can have some things done to your pistol to tighten up everything .


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## nickE10mm (Aug 25, 2009)

Take a look here .... 

http://www.chuckhawks.com/wheel_guns.htm


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## Smallgame (Aug 25, 2009)

Ruger single actions will have some play but it shouldn't be too much. If it is moving a lot you should probably take it to have it looked at. If it's not a lot one thing that helps is to get a new base pin. Belt Mountain base pins are great. They are slighlty big than the factory pin and they have a set screw to hold them in place. These pins have taken almost all the play out of my single actions. You can just Google Belt Mountain and find the web sight.


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## nickE10mm (Aug 25, 2009)

Smallgame said:


> Ruger single actions will have some play but it shouldn't be too much. If it is moving a lot you should probably take it to have it looked at. If it's not a lot one thing that helps is to get a new base pin. Belt Mountain base pins are great. They are slighlty big than the factory pin and they have a set screw to hold them in place. These pins have taken almost all the play out of my single actions. You can just Gooble Belt Mountain and find the web sight.




+1 on the Belt Mountain Base Pins.... they are very popular with Wheelgunners I know.  

Also, your cylinder shouldn't be TOO shaky / wobbly normally.... but try this:  Hold down the trigger at the very back and THEN see if your cylinder is loose.  There should be NO play when you do this or you have a big problem.


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## maximusmagee (Aug 26, 2009)

nickE10mm said:


> +1 on the Belt Mountain Base Pins.... they are very popular with Wheelgunners I know.
> 
> Also, your cylinder shouldn't be TOO shaky / wobbly normally.... but try this:  Hold down the trigger at the very back and THEN see if your cylinder is loose.  There should be NO play when you do this or you have a big problem.



I may be mistaken, but I thought the whole 'trigger pull full lockup' thing didn't apply to Ruger Revolvers in general.. especially their single action revolvers.  I can't see what would make the cylinder any tighter when you pull the trigger.. could somebody fill me in?

I've been messing around with the revolver for a few days just trying to get a good understanding as to what's loose and I think a base-pin is a good place for me to start.  The gun is a fairly old Super Blackhawk so it's probably just had plenty of use.  I removed the cylinder and put the base-pin back in it's original position and i can move it just a little bit side-to-side/up-down in the holes that it goes into.


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## GAR (Aug 26, 2009)

*Cylinder play*

No matter which way you are going to go there will always be some extent of cylinder play. The tolerances are just not that tight.

If you have the hammer pulled back, the cylinder latch should fall into place correctly to prevent rotational movement. If this does not occur your latch may be worn and or the exterior of the cylinder [cylinder latch grooves] may be filthy preventing proper lock up. The latch needs to seat fully in the grooves to prevent excessive cylinder rotation.

As far as end shake is concerned it is more prevalent in a double action wheel gun rather than a single action based upon the inherent design of the double action. Shims are available from Brownells. End shake is normally associated with excessive pressure loads and or extreme wear or both.

GAR


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## pemop (Aug 28, 2009)

GAR said:


> No matter which way you are going to go there will always be some extent of cylinder play. The tolerances are just not that tight.
> 
> If you have the hammer pulled back, the cylinder latch should fall into place correctly to prevent rotational movement. If this does not occur your latch may be worn and or the exterior of the cylinder [cylinder latch grooves] may be filthy preventing proper lock up. The latch needs to seat fully in the grooves to prevent excessive cylinder rotation.
> 
> ...



Makes sense... thanks for clearing that out.


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## nickE10mm (Aug 28, 2009)

i agree.... Well said


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