Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a gun accumulator. That's a "collector" with no money. I like almost any variety of gun, but my South African friend says I gravitate toward "pinwheels" (revolvers) These days, I don't shoot them nearly as much as semiautos, but I grew up around revolvers and they're what I carry when wandering the weeds. So when a friend called me with "something interesting" I was pretty certain he'd come across some sort of oddball revolver. He had. After maybe a nanosecond of debate, I became the latest owner of a Ruger New Model Blackhawk -chambered in .38-40 and 10mm Auto. They don't coexist in a single cylinder. But this Blackhawk came with a pair of cylinders, enabling me to shoot the obsolescent .38-40 WCF and the considerably newer 10mm Auto from the same Blackhawk.

The Ruger Blackhawk Convertible Buckeye Special in .38-40/10mm. A limited-edition gun, it combined the old black powder cartridge with the considerably more powerful 10mm. It's a 48-ounce, 6-round revolver that's not only manageable to shoot, it's very accurate.

That interchangeability is based on the fact that both use the .40 bullet- and in the case of the .38-40 rounds I "inherited" with the gun, they're the same weight (180 grains of "Lubaloy") as the Federal Premium 10mms I had left from a hog hunt last fall. But they're about as alike as chalk and cheese otherwise. The .38-40 WCF is a round introduced in 1874 that enabled shooters to have the same rifle and pistol cartridge. It wasn't particularly powerful in a rifle, and downright underpowered when compared to later pistol cartridges. It has fallen out of favor with virtually everyone except cowboy shooters and handloaders, although you can still buy factory ammunition for it, primarily from cowboy action ammo makers. So why was a round that was actually a 40 round labeled .38? No one is exactly certain because the custom at the time the 38-40 was prevalent as a rifle/pistol cartridge the standard labeling was cartridge and powder specific. A more "correct" labeling would actually have been .40/40 (.40 caliber/40 grains of propellant) -but no one's offered an explanation as to why Winchester would have used 38-40 WCF -other than there was no common .40 at the time. After starting to do a little research, my first thought was "why?" Then I came across a December 1990 Shooting Times article by Lane Pearce that cleared up a part of that question. According to Pearce, Bill Ruger was known to take a proven firearm and add his ideas to create a "new" gun. The Colt Single Action Army was thought to be essentially obsolete by the end of World War II. Ruger took the new contemporary design techniques and materials to turn Ruger's revolvers into some of the best hunting handguns available. The first Ruger convertible single action was the Ruger Single-Six Magnum. It was originally introduced for the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire. At the time, many shooters bought a second Single Six chambered in .22 LR. Combining the two, Ruger offered a single Six with two cylinders. Afterwards, Ruger offered combos in .357 Magnum/9mm, .32-20/.32 Magnum, .44-40 WCF/.44 Magnum and the .38-40/10mm. Two of these, the .32-20/.32 Mag and the .38-40/10mm were special distributor runs for Buckeye Sports Supply. Those can be identified by the buckeye roll mark atop the top strap.

The buckeye roll mark identifies my .38-40/10mm as having been part of the 5,000 gun run made for Buckeye Sports Supply in either 1989 or 1990.

According to the information I've been able to collect, 5,000 were produced and first-year guns have the buckeye roll mark. I've not spent a lot of time shooting "my" combination, and have shot more 10mm than .38-40 for the simple fact that I know I can get more factory 10mm. Although I inherited a full complement of loading gear, I'm not going to try my inexperienced hand at reloading a bottleneck case that even experienced handloaders refer to as "finicky". At 25 yards, I've been able to produce 2 1/2 to 3-inch groups -which is more than suitable for the kind of handgun hunting I have planned for it. It's no secret that I like the 10mm, particularly as a depredation round for hogs and other pests in tight cover. In the past I've relied on a Colt Delta Elite and a Smith & Wesson Model 610. The Delta Elite left in a trade about five years ago, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to add another unique 10mm revolver to my working gun "accumulation." When I have the chance to take it hunting, I'll let you know how it performs. —Jim Shepherd Specifications Ruger Blackhawk Convertible Buckeye Special .38-40/10mm Auto, 6 rounds Single Action Revolver Barrel length 6 1/2 inches Overall Length 12 inches Weight, empty 48 ounces Fully adjustable rear sight, ramp blade front Sight Radius 8 3/4 inches Rifling 8 grooves, 1:16, RH twist Goncalo Alves Grip Panels Finish Blued Steel