Marushin Super Blackhawk

[r.ocelot]

Quick review, with a handful of pictures:

 

Scored a Blackhawk from hkssr20det recently, and to sum it up, it's pretty much how a Western Arms revolver would have turned out.

 

The box it self was very sturdy, the Styrofoam holds the gun very well, without room for any movement. It came with some papers, scope mount, some 8mm BBs, and a reloading tool.

 

 

Barrel:

 

The barrel is made from HW plastic, similar to WA's slides and frames. The inside of the barrel is grooved, and seems to have a very slight right hand twist. The front sight is mounted by a pin through its sides, and under the front sight is a set/grub screw that keeps the outer barrel from rotating.

 

On the barrel, the nicely (better than WA) engraved trademarks reads:

BEFORE USING GUN-READ WARNINGS IN INSTRUCTION MANUAL AVAILABLE FREE FROM

-----------------MADE IN JAPAN BY MARUSHIN INDUSTRY CO. LTD ---------------------------------

 

The metal shell ejector mech is also mounted on the barrel. It is secured by a single screw, a rather large one at that.

 

 

Frame:

 

The main frame is made from HW plastic as well. It features the following words:

Ruger .44 MAGNUM

NEW MODEL SUPER BLACKHAWK

 

These trades are more shallow, and not as nicely engraved as those on the barrel (still better than WA ones).

The frame houses the adjustable rear sight, which is in the BOMAR style (though more akin to the Hardballer sights).

 

 

Cylinder:

 

The cylinder is of the unfluted type. It's made from HW plastic, but it has the inner shell holders made from brass.

 

The cylinder door is made from metal, and the cylinder will only freely rotate if the door is open, and the hammer is uncocked. It does not click into reloading position like the Tanaka SAA, though the RS may be like this as well.

 

You can remove the cylinder from the frame by depressing a pin on the frame, and pulling out the cylinder retention rod. The cylinder gate needs to be open for you to roll it out.

 

 

Grips:

 

The stock grips look halfway decent, but if you're look at it from closer than 3 ft away, you can immediately tell that it's plastic. The medallions on it are nice, though. The grips seen in these pictures are the Marushin Wooden grips that hkssr20det installed, and I think it's a great investment for this gun (since you can't really do anything else to it.....).

 

The grip housing is made from metal, and it houses the gas mech. Pretty chilly to hold after filling it with gas.

 

Rest of the gun:

 

The hammer is made from metal, and feels a lot easier to cock than the Tanaka SAA's hammer. Nicely made from hammer, and looks the part too. Unlike the Tanaka SAA, it is possible to decock the hammer without releasing any gas. You pull back on the hammer, pull the trigger, and slowly let the hammer down. Once it stops moving, let go of the trigger, and it will click into the resting position.

 

The trigger is also made from metal, and I'd like to note that the pull is pretty heavy, it's almost as heavy as a double action pull on a Tanaka. However, I do like the fact that the pull is VERY smooth, more so than WA 1911s. One issue some people might have with it is that there's no breaking point. You can't tell when the hammer is about to fall.

 

Performance:

 

I only have 134a, and if you shoot it as is, the performance is meh at best. From 20 ft away, the accuracy is pretty good, achieving a 2 inch grouping. However, between the sound of the hammer release, and the sound of the BB hitting the target, you can hear a 1.5 second break. I'm sure a stronger hammer spring, Green Gas, and Summer will be increase the performance to field usable levels.

 

Finish:

 

The finish looks absolutely amazing. The HW ABS looks very matte, while the metal parts matches it very well, though they are a tiny bit shinier. However, the finish on the ABS parts are not very durable, as I'm already starting to see wear on the cylinder, the top of the frame where the scope rail was mounted, and the part where the open cylinder gate contacts the ABS frame.

 

Can someone here do a quick grammar/spelling check for me?

Edited February 16, 2008 by r.ocelot