Ruger Bisley Blackhawk - Eval and 'Smith

I recently purchased a Ruger 5.5" SS Bisley 45LC Limited Edition, and today I started looking it over and figgerin' what to do to make it run like a scalded dog.

So, first things first, I took some measurements:

• All throats pass a 0.4505 plug gage, do not pass 0.4515
• A 0.4415 plug passes through the bore smoothly
• Ruger Base Pin Diameter: 0.248 - Belt Mountain 0.2495 base pin fits perfectly (as expected)
• Cylinder Gap: 0.005 +/- 0.001 including play and runout

At this point I ran aground because I don't have the 7/64" ball driver I need to remove the Bisley grip frame! So, more to follow after I pick one up tomorrow.

Pic of the gun, Belt Mountain 0.2495 base pin, Brownell's Magna-Tip Screwdriver bits, Caliper and plug gage set:

 

What's to follow?:

• Square and smooth internal parts by stoning
• Reduce trigger pre-travel and creep; Reduce pull to 2 lbs
• Install Hamilton Bowen rear sight
• De-burr forcing cone
• Clean up burrs and re-finish irregularities on grip frame and cylinder frame.

 

Yep, I turned down a very pretty blued 7.5 Bisley for $150 less because I wanted the balance of the 5.5.
Normally I prefer the fluted cylinder, but this gun has the engraved (actually etched) Bisley cylinder, which is kind of neat.
Before I measured the cylinder throats I was imagining all sorts of terrible outcomes. But they are 0.451 all around, so I'm happy!

The finish is overall a little better than Ruger's usual stainless finish. There are still a few rough spots. The bore is very shiny with no
machining marks at all. The gun was a terrific bargain.

The SP101 with the Novak's looks very sturdy - I bet it could handle some heavy lead. It would be fun to polish the action on it and reshape the hammer like a 1911 commander hammer - And some custom grips that fill the space behind the trigger guard...

I'm keeping my eyes peeled for a perfect 4" Security Six. Still a bargain, but not for long.

 

I've never seen a Redhawk in 45, and 4" would be perfect! I would have jumped on it! I am currently selling 5 guns, and somehow have more guns than I did before I started selling...

 

As much as I try to tell myself otherwise...

And, NO, in fact I cannot afford to buy all the guns I buy... But feeding my family is optional

 

Totally jealous of that Model P.

 

Okay, all taken down (tools used shown):

 

Hammer and Sear engagement from factory. Well, okay, the angle isn't right, but you get the idea. I'll be filing the part of the hammer adjacent to the notch flat - Not sure why they can't seem to keep their tooling aligned:

 

Superb (NOT!) factory finish of the hammer nose (This pic is of the effect wrought by some idiot in the factory jamming the hammer nose into a stiff wire brush wheel - And what a charming job he did chamfering that hole - The pic was taken after I tried to hone the hammer flat - At least I have a surface to use as a reference when I recut the nose):

 

Better looking sear (part of trigger casting) - Just need to stone the surfaces flat:

 

All micrographs taken with a toy microscope from Amazon:

 

So, you're saying you don't think it's just Class Z engraving?

 

It gives me a headache to look at it! It looks like it's camouflaged as an issue of Vogue.