Early Ruger Single Six 32 H&R

[dangt]

A problem I did have after the ratchet column modification was the pawl began "digging into" the ratchet at the edge of the milled locations. I broke the edges there but the cylinder was still hard to turn. This did not seem to be noticeable at first after the milling job.

I had to remove the pawl and file and stone the upper right corner. Cylinder rotation is still not as smooth and easy as it was before the modification but is does not seem to be suffering from pawl dig in.

[FergusonTO35]

I would love to see Ruger come out with a Single Six or even a Wrangler as a five shot .38 Special. Perfect do it all wheelgun!

[shooting on a shoestring]

Glad you cut your cylinder to accept ammo. I’m sure you’ll enjoy that revolver. I’ll bet several folks after you will enjoy it as well.

I’m surprised you could feel the difference in the action. I understand your pawl digging description and your breaking and stoning the cut edge. Please post back after you’ve run the gun a while and let us know if it cleared up or how it turned out.

Nice job jigging up and side cutting.
An old saying from our machine shop, “If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing the hard way”.

[shooting on a shoestring]

FergusonTO35, I’ll second your motion.
I’ve followed a few threads over on Single Actions of people converting SSMs to five shot 38 Supers and even 10mm. I’d opt for the 38 Super over 38 Special to save on rim diameter cutting into cylinder ratchet and hand engagement. Still plenty of powder capacity and I doubt boolit slip would be an issue.

But I don’t think I’d ever give up one of 32 H&R SSMz to go custom. They’re getting pretty scarce and they’re darn good in 32.

[Green Frog]

FergusonTO35, I’ll second your motion.
I’ve followed a few threads over on Single Actions of people converting SSMs to five shot 38 Supers and even 10mm. I’d opt for the 38 Super over 38 Special to save on rim diameter cutting into cylinder ratchet and hand engagement. Still plenty of powder capacity and I doubt boolit slip would be an issue.

But I don’t think I’d ever give up one of 32 H&R SSMz to go custom. They’re getting pretty scarce and they’re darn good in 32.

Mr String,

You have nailed my philosophy of choosing donor guns for customization! I will only use a fairly common, easy to find base gun, preferably (but not always) one being currently made. The inherent value of the gun that is “lost” must be calculated against the potential value of its custom derivative. If the gun you’re building is going to be worth the cast and you can’t get it some other way, go for it! Good post!

Froggie

[arlon]

I recently got one of these 32 Single Sixes that was made in 1984. Haven't had time to shoot it but got some Federal ammo with it. No chambering issues with that or Starline 32 SW long. I don't see any issues with it at this point. I doubt I ever shoot anything in but the Starline 32 SW Long and as long as that chambers I guess I'll be ok. I guess it's a random issue or someone already fixed this one.

Love 32s, also have a Lipsey special GP100 in 327.

[gwpercle]

If the rims are over size or out of round or otherwise the problem ... I would chuck them in my drill and turn the rims down untill they fit ... the brass case is the cheapest and easiest thing to modify .
Once you get you brass rims turned down ...keep those for reloading .
Is going for the easy answer allowed or should we complicate it !

Could be the spec's for the early 32's rim has changed with the new and improved 32's / 327's that have come out lately .
Gary

[dangt]

I considered turning all cases I had in stock since so many of them seemed to have rims of maximum diameter and non-concentric to case sides. However, when I marked the supposed high spots of the rims and then mounted them in the lathe with 5C collet, the "high spots" were not the first part of the rim to be cut. These were on fired and sized cases. I could have gone through this procedure with new cases ( which I do have) but at that point returned to the gun's cylinder ratchet column.

It would have been a long process of cutting all 32 Magnum cases I had and lots of turning on and off the lathe to mount each since I do not have the 5C collet attachment that allows opening and closing without turning off the lathe. And then there is the anomaly of how the marked areas on the rim were not the same as the high spots mounted on the lathe (marked from trying to chamber in the most problematic chamber in the one position of interference). I could have spent hours figuring that one out on the couple of thousand cases in stock.