I've owned a few New Model Blackhawks, and while they are perfectly adequate I have always preferred the old original so I have not bought a New Model in quite some time.

Years ago I inherited a Colt New Frontier in .45 Colt. It was a box of parts when I got it, but they were all there. Being an heirloom, I want to preserve its good mechanical condition. Rightly or wrongly, I consider the Colt single-action mechanism to be a bit on the delicate side and since I have gotten all fired up about getting back into handguns, I decided I needed to get a Blackhawk in .45 Colt. I couldn't just lay in a few bullets and brass, you see...I had to go nuts and stock up with enough stuff to wear out that New Frontier twice. If there had been an original Blackhawk available in .45 Colt I'd have sought it out...but they seem to be fairly rare. So I went shopping for a NM Blackhawk in .45 Colt.

What I found (on line) was a blued New Model 4-5/8" gun with the black plastic grips. They're good looking revolvers, I think. This one appeared to be in very fine shape, so I bid on it and ended up getting it for a pretty good price. I have it in hand and have already addressed the horrible trigger pull the New Model is famous for. In the course of handling, cleaning, lubing, and preserving each piece of it I noticed that there is NO finish on the backside of the hammer, nor on the top side of it. I HAVE owned NM Blackhawks in the past and they always had finished hammers, but these were all guns made well before 2000. If Ruger has adopted the practice of leaving hammers bare on blued Blackhawks, it's news to me. Is this common or did I buy a gun that has had the hammer replaced?

All of the ones I see on the Ruger website have a hammer that appears to be in the white.

I am used to the blued guns having no finish on the sides of the hammer and blued on top and back. If they changed it I wasn't aware but I don't deal with new stuff. My New Model is from 1978 and I custom fit a Bisley hammer anyway.

Post a pic. I searched RugerForum.com for pictures or comments/topics and found nothing.

I have a Ruger 44 special Bisley that was built in 2019, it has a SS polished hammer from the factory.

I will make a suggestion for your new purchase, buy a Wolff spring kit and it will make a world of difference in the action. Spring kits are not that hard to do and there are plenty of Youtube installation videos.

That's a feature specific to the Bisley. OP has the regular hammer that goes with the plowhandle grip frame ... unless you put your type hammer in his type frame like I did.

I also have a standard frame New Model Flat Top in 44 special that has a polished SS hammer.

I dug out a New Model Blackhawk in 357 magnum, it has a polished hammer as well.

I have never had a Blackhawk, Vaquero (old or new) or a Single Six for that matter with a blued hammer. If bothers you send it to Turnbull and they can make it pretty.

Here's the Blackhawk. Manufacture date is 2012 or 2013, delivery date 2013. It does not appear to have been shot much at all. Power fouling was minimal.





So, another detail I overlooked was the trigger being left in the white as well. The top and back sides of the hammer are left unfinished. I typed a question about these parts being left in the white on Blackhawks into search and the AI gizmo told me that later model Blackhawks exhibit this feature. It further stated the hammer can be blued if you like, but the trigger itself will not take bluing as it is made of stainless steel. I am not sure where these AI tools look, or how they are supposed to filter out the internet BS...but that's what it tells me.


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So, as far as improving the trigger pull, I think I've got it just about where I want it.

A story about NM Blackhawks and trigger pull characteristics:

Long ago I was invited on a javelina hunt with some college buddies. It was really just an excuse to camp out and party. One of the guy's cousins owned the place we had in our sights. This particular guy had recently won a brand new S&W Model 19 in a raffle, and since I owned no centerfire firearms during that era he loaned me that brand new unfired Model 19 for the "hunt." We did walk around the morning after the big bash (and a bash it WAS!) ostensibly looking for javelina. I was carrying that 19 in a holster which evidently was not a very good one. The gun disappeared from the holster at some point and was never found...at least no one ever owned up to finding it (we had a core group who were tight and all were trustworthy, but we had a few stragglers along who were really just acquaintances). I felt terrible about it, to say the least but I had no resources as a starving college student or any way to replace the gun.

Fast forward about four years...I'm in El Paso and drop in at El Paso Gun Exchange. It was a pretty good gun shop on El Paso's east side and owned by a former racer by the name of Jerry Senior. I knew some of the racing community in those days...but I digress. In the display counter was a New Model Blackhawk which appeared to have been fired maybe six times, and in .41 Magnum. The .41 just doesn't command the attention that either the .357 or .44 Mags do---which makes little sense to me---so it was priced VERY low. This was in 1993 or '94, mind you. The price tag was $210. I asked to see it, looked it over and acted disinterested and asked if they could come down on that price a little...and I was not surprised to be given one of those *you're not serious* looks by the guy behind the counter. Can't blame a guy for tryin', right? I purchased (stole) the gun in the next heartbeat before they could pitch me out the front door and took it home.

The first thing I did is disassemble it completely to detail clean it and make sure it was lubed, while enjoying a nice cold one (I was a real fan of Coors in those days). I also worked the hammer to improve the trigger pull and reassembled it. It seemed pretty good, so I put it in the top of the closet. after another cold one or two, I decided I could make that trigger pull even better, and I did. after another cold one I thought I could improve it further, which I did. A few minutes later I decided I was going to do it ONE MORE time, and it all went south...the hammer would not even stay cocked. I was furious at myself, thinking I'd now have to try to get a hammer for it and would not be able to use the gun until I could get my hands on one, so I tore it down yet again. Having nothing to lose at that point I grabbed a large file and with far more anger in my soul than care, deepened the notch for the trigger to engage. I figured I could at least shoot the SOB while I waited to get a new hammer. When I reassembled the gun and tried the trigger I found that it was perfect. Really. It was the best New Model trigger I had ever pulled, with no perceptible creep and a nice light pull---and it would not push off. Needless to say I did not screw with it after that.

Only a few days later I thought about my friend whose new Model 19 I had lost. I gave him a call down in Presidio and learned he just happened to be in El Paso, and was given a number where I could reach him. I told him to come see me and I had something for him and I gave him the Blackhawk. I admitted to him it wasn't as valuable as that lost Model 19, but hey---check it out. That made him happy. I told him I'd like him to pass it on to his own son with the story behind it and he said he would.

I talked to him again, maybe 10 years ago. He'd sold or traded the gun, and that makes me kind of sad. Another one got away.

Looks to me like the hammer and trigger are stainless. Possibly cheaper for Ruger to make them all the same out of slightly more expensive material than to have two lines with two types of machining plus the blueing.

Nothing on the Blackhawk is blued any more other than the cylinder frame, barrel, and cylinder ... maybe the pin. The grip frame and ERH are anodized aluminum.

Someone said they never saw a Blackhawk with a blued hammer and I never noticed one without a blued hammer. As stated all blued Blackhawks were built with hammers that were blued top and back just not the sides until ... sometime before this one was made.

I'd trade or sell mine in a heartbeat in favor of an Old Model. I have an OMSS in nearly new condition with the box and all. Love to have it's .357 brother.

Here's my 1965 Single Six. You can plainly see the blueing on the top and rear of the hammer but not on the sides. Same as the bigger Blackhawk.

Kinda like this one?





That SS is gorgeous, BTW.

Sure. Wanna make a deal: My slightly customized (all reversible) New Model .357 and some cash for that Old Model?

Nah, don't think so. I have a thing for these old flat tops.

The strangest thing...in my little story above posted on March 21, I mention a fellow by the name of Jerry Senior. I just learned that the man passed away the following day. RIP, Jerry Senior.