45 LC factory loads are not the greatest deer round really. I would opt for the .44 mag or a .357 mag. With the .357 you can shoot .38 special and it is really a much hotter round than the long colt. Honestly would shy away from .45 LC for deer man unless you are planning on reloading. even then your case pressures are pretty limited in that cartridge.
Guys - Not really defending my choice of .45, but just some good info for you to review regarding .45 in Ruger Blackhawks and Bisley's. The 45 is a very different critter if you are shooting one of these guns and handload (I do handload). This article reviews some really good info from John Linebaugh. Do a little research on him if you don't know who he is, he arguably builds the nicest revolvers in the world. http://www.customsixguns.com/writings/dissolving_the_myth.htm In short, the Ruger single actions, specifically the Blackhawks and Bisley's were built to handle much hotter loads than anything else out there. Since you can load these guns hotter, and because of the bigger bullet diameter, they are able to safely produce very similar energy levels as the hottest .44's while producing much lower pressure (i.e. less recoil, less muzzle blast, less noise). Buffalo Bore actually makes a "Ruger only" load in 45 colt that sends a 325gr hardcast bullet at 1325fps. To give you a comparison, Hornady's 240gr XTP load for the 44 mag is going 1350fps, and Buffalo Bore's hottest .44 mag load is a 340gr slug going 1478fps. In short, a Blackhawk or Bisley 45 handloaded will safely shoot loads that will kill anything in North America and come within a hair of the hottest loads available for the .44 while producing less recoil and muzzle blast. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to kill deer with mine. Plus when I'm not hunting, I can swap to the 45 ACP cylinder and shoot factory loads for less $$$ than I can reload .45 colts. It was a no brainer considering I wanted a stainless Bisley 5.5" gun and have a couple thousand 45 ACP shells stockpiled.
reloading changes everything! rugar makes the strongest single action available. should serve you well! congrats!
Thought I would provide a quick update.......... Got the gun Friday. Would have been faster but I was traveling all week last week and couldn't get the transfer completed any faster. Fit and finish is great, much better than I would expect from a $550 gun. I pulled one leg of the trigger return spring off the the retention pin (poor boy trigger job) and it's down to just under 3lbs now. A bit creepy, but I'll take it for now, I'll probably get a full trigger job done someday though. Anyhow, first group off a sandbag at 25 yards with 255gr BVAC low test cowboy action rounds produced about a 3" group. After a couple clicks up on the rear sight, at 50 yards, I was keeping them all in a 7" or so black circle on the cheapo walmart pistol targets I had off the bag. This morning I spent a couple hours in the woods and burned up about a hundred rounds just setting up some 8" diameter 12" long logs on stumps behind my inlaws house and knocking them down from various shooting positions and distances up to 50 yards or so. I also ordered a few boxes of Buffalo Bore's 255gr gas checked cast rounds loaded to 1000fps, and they are really easy to manage. I anticipate my hunting handloads will end up being a 270gr cast bullet at around 1000fps, so I'm pretty sure it will handle similarly. I'd say I'm already pretty confident with the pistol in a hunting situation out to 50 yards or so, but I think the pistol has more accuracy in it. I've done a lot of reading on this gun and a lot of guys are sending the cylinders out to get reamed, it seems Ruger sends them out with undersized throats. I measured mine with a micrometer and they were all slightly different between .448 and .449. I'm sending both cylinders out tomorrow to www.cylindersmith.com to have them reamed to .4525. Most guys claim these guns will shoot under 2" at 25 yards after being reamed, so I'm anxious to see what it will do when I get it back. Will post more after I get the cylinders back in a week or so..........
