Sixguns, Slugs and Such

I think the Ruger Bisley Hunter is the perfect factory gun for handgun hunters. Be it a beginner or a grizzled greybeard, the Bisley Hunter has much to offer at a reasonable price.  I consider it to be a top contender for usefulness in the field. It is also a sentimental favorite of mine for several reasons and here’s the story of how I came to this conclusion.

My preference for single actions is simple. You just can’t beat their toughness, reliability and ease to work on one. They have strength and beauty all their own with functional simplicity. This makes them perfect for the rough and rugged adventurous hunters who carry them. Weight-wise, single actions are usually lighter than their double-action counterparts, yet deliver the same strength. 

With fewer moving parts, single actions are less prone to breakage or malfunction, which is useful when miles from the nearest gunsmith. Romance-wise, nothing is more nostalgic than cocking a single action hammer, only to drop it while the sights are zeroed in on wild game. Making meat the old-fashioned way calls for vintage-styled arms. Plus, I’ve always been a fan of Ruger firearms.

My single action trek started with a 71⁄2-inch 45 Colt stainless Ruger Blackhawk. This old warhorse of a cartridge is my favorite, having traits I love, as it oozes character. This includes history, a proven track record and versatility. It has an unsurpassed ability to be loaded from mild to wild, especially in a large-framed Ruger. Most loading manuals address this with “Ruger Only” loads. 

If ever a cartridge were made for cast bullets, the 45 Colt is it, especially with slugs heavier than 300+ grains. While its cavernous case capacity was initially needed for charges of black powder, with today’s more efficient smokeless powders, less powder space is needed, leaving room for heavier bullets to be seated. The Lyman 454424 260-grain Keith slug works wonderfully, too, and is my sentimental favorite cast slug. 

A few years after the Blackhawk, a Ruger Bisley found its way home. It was a blued 45 Colt, with 71⁄2-inch barrel. The funny grip remedied the knuckle bashing I experienced when shooting heavy loads with the Blackhawk. Bill Ruger’s version of the Bisley is slightly different than Colt’s, being more like the famous Keith No. 5 grip frame, consisting of a Colt Bisley backstrap mated with an SAA trigger guard and front strap. Ruger’s version has a longer grip.

This gun taught me a lot as I administered some DIY gun doctoring, rectifying a few accuracy issues. First, I installed a Bowen rear sight, which improved the sight picture. This was followed by polishing cylinder throats to .452 inch with a split steel rod, some emery cloth and a hand drill. What could go wrong? As crude as it was, it worked beautifully. 

You’d probably be better off sending your cylinder to a pro like Fermin C. Garza for this chore with his designated reamers. I also installed a Wolff Gunsprings trigger return spring and polished the Bisley’s main hammer strut and innards, which lightens and smooths cocking and trigger pull. Next came a Belt Mountain oversized No. 5 base pin to address any cylinder wobble. Skinner Sights recently purchased the company and is now making these fine base pins. The whole DIY process was successful, but something was still missing.

Always thinking ahead, I wanted a sixgun with scope mounting capabilities without having to alter the gun. Better yet, I wanted a gun capable of removing and remounting the scope while maintaining zero. I know as I get older, my eyes will appreciate the scope as the struggle with open sights becomes a reality. Plus, a scoped sixgun is great for load development, removing any human sighting errors, to see how accurate handloads really are.

While reading a Ruger catalog years ago, I saw the ultimate hunting sixgun in the Ruger Bisley Hunter (BH). The standard BH comes chambered in 44 Magnum. But Lipsey’s, a large distributor of Ruger firearms, occasionally orders “Lipsey Exclusives” of BH chambered in 41 Magnum and 45 Colt. 

Patience is a virtue, and luck plays its seldom-seen hand, at least for me. While waiting for the 45 Colt Bisley Hunter to land in Baton Rouge, a 41 Magnum arrives. One in the hand beats two in the bush, and I’ve learned over the years to never look a gift horse in the mouth. I do what any self-respecting gun hound would do and buy the 41 Magnum BH. I’ve never regretted it. 

The Bisley Hunter’s heavily ribbed, beefy barrel is what separates it from other Bisleys. The heavier barrel contour has an integral rib allowing for scope ring cut-outs. This added weight makes holding the gun steadier much easier, while giving the gun’s profile a classic look. The extra weight also absorbs recoil. 

Iron sight shooters will appreciate the glare-eating grooves milled on top of the rib, along with the orange, front-sight insert for target contrast while hunting. I still hunt with open sights, saving the scope for load development. One would be hard-pressed to find a better combination. 

Eventually, a 45 Colt Bisley Hunter found its way to my home. Now I had the perfect configuration and cartridge for a handgun hunter. This 45 Colt Bisley Hunter was the gun I used for my first handgun kill – a cow elk in Idaho. The distance was 121 yards. After the shot, the elk took three wobbly steps before falling over. It made for a special and magical moment, uniting gun, slug and load in the “Land of Elmer,” witnessed by a good friend, Dick Thompson. 

My new 45 Colt Bisley Hunter was christened. Over the next decade, we took several deer together using a load consisting of Lyman’s 454424 .45 caliber Keith bullets, loaded over 20 grains of Alliant 2400, ignited with large pistol primers, going over 1,200 feet per second (fps). The load works for me. I later obtained a 44 Magnum Bisley Hunter, giving me the perfect trifecta for handgun hunting. 

The Ruger Bisley Hunter is hard to beat for a handgun hunter. Admittedly, I’m a die-hard fan, but if wishes were fishes, the lunker I’d like to land from Ruger would be a Bisley Hunter chambered in 480 Ruger. It would seem appropriate. Ruger, are you listening?