I have a 1970's era Blackhawk that shoots like a dream. The trigger is smooth and crisp as glass, the throats are perfect for cast bullets, I just love the thing.

It is getting a bit worn in the bluing, and I understand it can be sent back the the Ruger factory for a complete cleaning and rebluing for a very reasonable cost. My questions is will they fool around with the trigger or anything while it is there ? It is not at all unsafe, but I do believe the previous owner had a trigger job done on it.

Any real life experience with this Ruger service ?

For what it is worth, I went round and round with them on a rifle that would not feed. The end result was that they told me, and I quote, "We will not perform work on any Ruger firearm that has been altered in anyway after leaving the factory without first putting it back to factory specifications."
They were serious, since they said that adding a recoil pad was the cause of the feeding problems and since the stock had been cut to add the pad, they would first have to REPLACE the stock at my expense. To give you an idea of the intelligence level of the person I talked to, she first asked if I was using an aftermarket magazine. Since it was a M-77 I said that there was no such thing. She then proceeded to tell me that, "There are aftermarket magazines made for every single Ruger firearm manufactured."
Still looking for one of those for my NO. 1...no luck yet!
Anyway, sarcasm aside, I would call and get the names of everyone you talk to before I would send any altered firearm to them. I honestly feel that Bill is turning over in his grave at this time.

Personally, I would never send a used firearm back to the respective manufacturer when I could get the same work done locally, even if for a few dollars more.

What is more, they will convert it to the new style transfer bar system. Still colt-click, but new hammer and transfer bar p l u s the trigger will be lawyer proof.

Send it to some one who can compentently rust blue it for you.

I agree that I would NEVER send a Ruger to the factory if it was as nice as you claim. I like Rugers and have several, but if you send it in they will probably re- tune the action before they send it back.

I know a fellow who sent in a MKII .22 auto with some expensive aftermarket parts on it for a broken ejector replacement and got the gun back with all factory parts in it. Ruger would not return the after market parts until he threatened them with lawyers (I'm not sure if they ever returned the parts).

I kind of understand where Ruger is comming from, so I keep all the parts I remove from them, so if they ever have to be returned I can install the original parts before shipment. If someone got hurt in this litigous society and could get a buck or three out of Ruger for not putting a gun back to factory specs when they serviced it, they would be in deep poo poo. And that situation is mostly our fault for letting lawyers go this route in the first place.

I sent my #1 45-70 back for a new barrel. It had a Moyers trigger and a recoil pad that I installed. It came back with the Moyers trigger in a bag, and a new factory trigger installed. Funny thing is the factory trigger was tuned better than the Moyers so I left it as is. It's a great shooter now.