I'm Toying With Going Back to .45 Colt - Maybe

 I've pretty well settled on .357 Magnum as my go-to "universal" cartridge for casual duty around the Little Farm. The Marlin 1894 CST is capable of putting deer down quickly. I had wanted to grab a Ruger Blackhawk Convertible in stainless with the 5.5 inch barrel to go with the Marlin. Those are tricky to get and pretty expensive. I have recently been considering looking at going to .44 Magnum and .44 Special to play with for target work and the occasional hunt. 

Previously, I had wanted to focus on .45 Colt in the way I do .357 Magnum now. A universal cartridge I can use in rifles and revolvers. I had the Winchester 94 Trapper but never had a beefy revolver to go with it. I originally considered the Ruger Redhawk but never executed. After I sold the Winchester Trapper, all I had left was the Pietta Cattleman Cabela's special. It's not rated for higher pressure loadings despite the frame also handling the .44 Magnum version. 

With the shortages and current pressures the firearms industry is facing, niche firearms like the Lipsey's edition of the Blackhawk Convertible tend to fall to the wayside in favor of higher demand items. My desire for a big bore revolver hasn't waned though.

I still have all of the dies and many components for reloading .45 Colt that I accumulated. Looking it over, the Blackhawk Blued does have a 5.5 inch .45 Colt version that while it isn't a convertible, it is available. I'm seeing various retailers have it in stock with several being under $700. Given my new financial situation (think IVF/babies) it would be nice to not spend twice that for the .357 Magnum version. 

The only down side I have with this is that I'm wanting a Flat Top style gun like Elmer Keith's Number 5. The Lipsey's Convertible models are Flat Tops from Ruger's factory. The closest I could ever get to a factory Number 5 would be part number 5235 which is a 5.5 inch .44 Special. Those are Lipsey's specials as well and aren't currently available either. 

All that said, the base model .45 Colt Blackhawk can handle the hotter loadings for .45 Colt and it's available. I don't see .45 Colt being my go-to "Universal" cartridge but it would be a good basis to work from for accurizing as a target revolver and could absolutely take a deer.