OT Need advice with my Ruger Bisley Stainless conversion

[Mich Hunter]

Well, just a little background on my project. Last year I picked up a slightly used stainless Blackhawk 44 mag 5.5 barrel for pretty cheap ($250). Some though tried to make a (bubba) birds head grip. Now the New Model Blackhawk's have small grip frames compared to the Super's. Seeing this as a project (one of many) I thought I would do the Bisley frame conversion. Ruger never made a 44 mag in the 5.5 Bisley stainless so it would be different. Well, this project is not for me. Once finished, this baby is going to my father for his 60th Birthday next summer. I figured I owe the man allot, so why not?? Won't be the first gun I have purchased for him, but this one will have a personal touch from his boy. Well here is my list of mod's. Some work has been done, but mostly the parts are ordered and sitting on my work bench until I get back home this fall.

Bisley stainless grip frame (still needs fitting)
Bisley hammer
Bisley trigger
Belt Mountain base pin
Bowen Rough Country from and rear sights
Wolf Spring kit
All new springs and screws
Power custom free spin pawl
Jim Downing is going to engrave a inscription on the back strap for me.

Now, I plan on doing this myself. I am no expert on Ruger SAA's but sending it to Bowen for Reeder's is not happening anytime soon. Here is where I am torn. I am trying to settle on a set of grips but cannot make up my mind. I am looking for something unique as hell. Here is a list of possible
Elk stag
Box Elder burl
Burl desert ironwood
amboyna burl (really like this one)
mammoth ivory

I have spent allot of time searching the internet also for grip makers and unique material, but not finding a whole lot of resources. Does anyone have and ideas on grip material, makers or mod's????

[kimwcook]

Elk stag? I don't know what you mean by that. North American Elk aren't called stags, that's an English term. If you're talking about them you should be aware of some things. They have a fairly thin bone outer with a pithy, marrow center. The character of the outer bone has to be carefully worked with or it has a way of disappearing. On hard recoiling guns you may want to have the grips stabilized.

Sambar stag are almost all bone with usually just a small artery hole running down the center. Very tough, fairly spendy and the outer character is a personal choice as well as a monetary one. The more character the higher the price, generally.

Most any of the burls are pretty but depending on the wood should also be stabilized. As with almost all woods. Desert Ironwood, Cocobolo and some others are naturally thick, dense and oily. They have their own natural stabilizer and generally don't take stabilization very well.

Mammoth ivory is always a favorite, tough (if solid and not punky), pretty, to me anyway, in any configuration. They'll set you back a couple coin.

Just my experience and opinion.

[Pete44ru]

IMHO, stainless handguns look best with a dark grip.

I would go for Buffalo Horn, Ebony or Black Micarta - but some of the laminates are very attractive, also.

http://www.ajaxgrips.com/ajax/ajax?set=03

http://www.eaglegrips.com/materials.htm

http://www.buffalobrothers.net/grips/index.htm

[ArcticGoose]

+1 for Mammoth ivory. Pretty hard to beat for "unique as hell"

[CraigC]

Actually Ruger did a couple runs for the distributor Acusport. Like the others, they were 5½", stainless Bisleys like this one.

[DocRob]

Hello, I did a simular conversion on a stainless steel Super Blackhawk with a stainlss steel Bisely grip frame from Brownells. The fitting took a few hours of filing and then sanding with varying grits of emery cloth until the finished project looked like the finish in the rest of the pistol. It was a help to me to be able to look at a few pictures of a Bisely Ruger from different angles. I am by no means a gunsmith but the project turned out quite nicely. While I was at it I replaced the stock springs with Wolff replacement springs to lighten up the trigger pull. As stated earlier be carefull with some of the spalted woods and burls as they can be soft and need to be stablized; even so they don't seem to hold up as well as a dense wood such as Coco bolo. I used stablized buckeye burl but have replaced them with coco bolo because they were chipping quite a bit. Good luck with your project and go slow and check the fit regularly as you go.

[Nate Kiowa Jones]

These folks make some nice stocks.

http://www.klamathriverwoodworks.com/wst_page2.php

[Mich Hunter]

Thanks everyone. DocRob, I just sent you a PM with a couple questions if you have the time