Newbie with questions

[biologicole]

Hi Everybody,

I am looking to buy my first 45 LC and get into cowboy action shooting.  I have a lot of questions and apologize if some of them are old topics.  I have been looking at buying a Ruger or Beretta or Cimarron in the bisley style with a 5.5" barrel.  What are the pros and cons of the bisley and a 5.5" barrel as opposed to a regular grip and a 4.75" barrel ?  Any recommendations or opinions on brands and models.  Any and all suggestions are welcome and I would like to hear anything you can tell me.  By the way, I am not new to guns and shooting -- just trying to break into this sport and want to get started off in the right direction.

[Pancho Peacemaker]

Hi Everybody,

I am looking to buy my first 45 LC and get into cowboy action shooting.  I have a lot of questions and apologize if some of them are old topics.  I have been looking at buying a Ruger or Beretta or Cimarron in the bisley style with a 5.5" barrel.  What are the pros and cons of the bisley and a 5.5" barrel as opposed to a regular grip and a 4.75" barrel ?  Any recommendations or opinions on brands and models.  Any and all suggestions are welcome and I would like to hear anything you can tell me.  By the way, I am not new to guns and shooting -- just trying to break into this sport and want to get started off in the right direction.

A few comments:

1)  The "Bisley" is a relative term.  The original "Bisley" was a Colt SAA product made at the end of the 18th Century.  It was a popular target gun in it's day.  It had a unique grip angle and larger trigger guard.  The only company making a correct reproduction of the Colt Bisley is Uberti (that woud include all the guns imported by Cimmaron, Beretta, EMF, etc...)  The Uberti is a very close reproduction of this revolver.

2)  The Ruger "bisley" is not a reproduction of the Colt design.  The Ruger product is a closer approximation of a revolver made famous by the late Elmer Keith in the 1950's.  All that said, the Ruger "bisley" is a very comforatable gun for shooting the larger caliber, heavy recoiling rounds.  It has NO HISTORIC PROVENANCE to any pre-1900 firearm.

3) Will you like the Bisley Grip?  That is a question only you could answer.  Some folks love the grip, some don't.  I have a pair of Beretta (Uberti) Bisleys and I do like the grip.  Need to handle one before you buy.

4) Barrel length:  For main match guns in Cowboy Action Shooting, I'd recommend staying with barrels that are 5.5" or shorter.  The shorter barrel will clear your leather faster.  The longer barrels can be slower to draw, but do give a longer sight radius.  Again this is something of a personal preference.

Pancho

[biologicole]

Pancho, thanks for the reply.  Since my original post I have purchased a Ruger NMV Bisley 5.5"
and I really like it.  It fits my hand better than the other pistols I tried.  I also bought a Cimarron 1873
replica.  I am currently busy reloading 45's so I can go practice cowboy shooting if it ever warms up.
I don't think the temperature has been over 20 for about a week, so I have had planty of time to get ready to start
my new CAS career in the spring.   I am also waiting on my SASS number.  From now on I will be known as Bull Creek.

[pistolpetie]

Hello,
  I just read your post re: which sixgun to buy.  I realize it's old and you may have made a purchase by now, but I would like to share this with you and fellow members.  I learned to shoot on a 7.5" Ruger Blackhawk 45lc somewhere around 7 years old.  I wanted a Bearcat .22 but my father insisted I learn on a "real gun" and explained that as I grew older I'd be glad to have the Blackhawk instead of a 22.  As usual, he was right.  Anyway, in August of 2005 hurricane Katrina struck my home in New Orleans.  As a New Orleans fireman I didn't have the luxury of evacuating or even sending my guns away for safekeeping; we were ordered to report to work days in advance.  I considered myself fortunate to be able to get my family out in time, so material things were not a big concern.  Predictably, the guns went under water for 10 days.  When I recovered them, they were buried in 2 feet of mud laden with salt water, all courtesy of Lake Pontchartrain a few blocks away.

[pistolpetie]

 A few months later I contacted Ruger, S&W, and H&K to get them repaired/ refinished.  HK flat refused to service their products, which fared the worst of all the guns;  so much for their "hostile environment" finish that they are so proud of.  S&W offered a Katrina special for the sum of $170.00 (same as any other refinishing job, ).  Ruger explained that they are a family business and would like to evaluate them before committing to any promises.  I shipped 6 Ruger single actions to them.  2 weeks later, they phoned me to say that they WERE repairable and would work as quickly as possible to restore them; once again they neglected to mention a price.  Within a few days I got them back, ALL 6 returned to me with the old parts that had been replaced.  I looked for an invoice for the work but only found a letter addressed to me from their service manager.  The letter explained that as a family business they were sorry for the losses of Katrina.  Most importantly, they went on to say that if I sent them 6 Ruger products, I was obviously a loyal Ruger customer and the repairs were done FREE OF CHARGE!!!  They went as far as to pay the shipping to return them to me! Outstanding work, speedy service, and THEY sent ME a thank you.  Now, I am dedicated to telling everyone what a pleasure it is to deal with them.  I've sold my AR15's and bought their SR556 that I can't be happier with.  My last purchase was another Vaquero to match my father's.  I feel that after what they did for me, the least I can do is get the word out on how they think/ operate.  Thank you all at Ruger and thank you members for tahing the time to read this post.  Godspeed!!!