Yesterday I picked up the stainless flat top BH convertible in 357/9mm.  It looks great and is my first stainless Ruger BH since I sold my first Super BH from the 80's (which I sold after college when I was broke, sadly).



When I had it out for its photo shoot, I also tried loading some 9mm in the cylinder (it had that one installed from the factory).  They drop in fine, but the cylinder won't rotate to load the next.  The case rim is hitting the recoil shield.  I pushed the rounds in firmly and there is no extra "give" to seat deeper.  The only ammo I have tried so far is Federal Premium HST (pictured).  I will try some others but don't have any in my hand at this second.

Looking forward to shooting it.  Hope it doesn't have to go back to Ruger for repair.

Rob

Nice looking Blackhawk.

Since the 9mm headspaces on the case mouth those chambers may be cut a little shallow.  Does the 38/357 cylinder turn ok when loaded?  If so you may be able to get away with just sending the 9mm cylinder in.

The 9mm cylinder is installed in the photo above and you can see there is a gap behind it.  The cases are intended to stick out about the depth of the rim to the start of the extractor groove, I think.  I don't feel any fore/aft play and there really shouldn't be any to speak of.

Rob

I tried some different ammo and it seems that there are two chambers that are an issue.  With the other ammo (Geco ball), those two chambers dragged the case past the loading gate but one by, they were fine and I could turn the full cylinder without any real extra effort.  I went back to the Federal HST and it was the same two chambers, but with the HST I could not get it to rotate past with a level of effort I was comfortable with.

On the one hand, I would say it is that the loading gate is a little proud of the recoil shield when open.  BUT...on the other, 4 out of 6 chambers don't seem to have the problem.

I also looked the revolver over carefully and found a few issues that I'm not happy about in a $700 gun.  Two of the three bottom trigger guard screws are a little buggered (hard to see in the photo).  And the left grip panel (on the right when showing the bottom) is not fitting against the frame.  Seems it just missed a bit a proper final fitting or something.  Not too pleased.  I'll take the grip off and see it is a trivial placement issue.  I think I'll call Ruger tomorrow to see what they say about these things.





Rob

I checked the 9mm cylinder again and while I didn't see anything foul or afoot in the "short" chambers, I cleaned it again using a bronze brush.  After that, the Federal ammo went in just a hair more and I was able to rotate past the loading gate with a little drag.  After that I was able to cycle in a whole box of ammo and rotate the cylinder freely.  So it seems there either was a very little burr or some debris in those 2 chambers that is now gone.

I have not yet decided what to do about the trigger frame screws or miss-fit grip panel.

rob