"stainless single-six..."

[exile]

I have a stainless Ruger single-six with a 5 1/2" barrel that I purchased in 1999. It has always felt heavier to me than other single-six's that I have handled, but I never gave it much thought. Just now, on a whim, I got out a magnet and was surprised to find that both the grip frame and ejector housing are STEEL!

I was under the impression that most Blackhawks (except the 50th Anniversary models) and all single-six's had an aluminum grip frame and ejector housing.

Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Thanks!

exile

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Keeping track of all the different models and what they are made out of does get confusing, especially seeing as Ruger can make good guns but is very unoriginal when it comes to names… Anyways as far as I know (someone please set me straight if wrong), all the stainless steel Rugers are all steel. It is only the blued guns that have aluminum grips, and not even all the blued guns have aluminum grips.

[exile]

Good to know, thanks, I thought I had a fluke or something.

exile

[Dave Bulla]

Not to mention that stainless is heavier than regular steel anyway.....

[exile]

I had always had that impression, but did not know for sure. Why is stainless heavier than carbon steel?



exile

[high standard 40]

Blued single action Ruger revolvers used alloy grip frames except for the Super Blackhawk. I am unsure about the Bisley models though.

The stainless models were always stainless throughout.

[Dave Bulla]

I don't know the physics of why stainless is heavier, I just know that it is. I'm sure it has to do with the physical weights of the various alloying metals.

I do industrial maintenance and used to work in the food industry so we dealt with a LOT of stainless. It's heavy and a bugger to drill if using a hand drill. My Dad has a Marlin 17HMR stainless laminated rifle that has got to be one of the heaviest rifles I've ever toted around. Sure does shoot though.

[Lee]

And, there are some stainless steels that are magnetic, and some that are not. All depending on the composition and percentages of components in the steel. So the magnet test won't always tell you if you are dealing with regular or stainless.
Aluminum/alloys, and the zinc /alloys are non-magnetic as far as I know.
And then, there is a class of materials that are diamagnetic. IIRC it means they are slightly magnetic/influenced by a magnetic field, but that is from a long ago, far away physics class....