Ruger Bearcat Shopkeeper

[jrayborn]

I picked up a Ruger Bearcat Shopkeeper a few months ago and have been enjoying it very much. More accurate than I ever expected. I saw that Alan Harton of Single Action Service can ream these to .22 Magnum so I emailed and asked him about it. For $88 he could do it if I mailed just my cylinder to him.

I had looked for a .22 Mag reamer and they sell for about $75. With the cost being so close I chose to send it to Alan and eight days later I got my cylinder back. Two days after that my check cleared my bank. That's some fast service!

Looks like he did a great job, nice smooth finish in the bore and still good and accurate. Quite a bit more umph to the mag round. I'm glad I did it and Alan was very pleasant to deal with.

I just may have some other projects for him!

Jon

[Smithy]

Boy I sure wish I could have the very same thing. My local dealer has been in its current location for just over two years and they have (from day one mind you) an all stainless bearcat that's been doing nothing but collecting dust. I don't know how much longer it will stay as I'd of thought that it would have been picked up long before now. The dealer's asking five and a half for it and that's before tax and registration so out the door it's just around six hundred. I don't know if that's a good price or not or how much I could talk him down since it's been aging so gracefully since opening day.

Now I've made plenty of birdshead Ruger revolvers out of single actions and the ROA, but all of those I only had to deal with the grip frame. On the bearcat you're cutting on the frame itself (ie. the gun). Any screwups there and the whole kit and kaboodle goes in the trash so I'd be scared to do that job. Would your guy do that type of work? If he can, that might just become my next project? Smithy.

[jrayborn]

I paid about $525 for mine.

http://i798.photobucket.com/albums/yy261/jrayborn32/a361c176-ec0c-4525-8847-7a5bb1c8d500_zpsf5451c05.jpg (http://s798.photobucket.com/user/jrayborn32/media/a361c176-ec0c-4525-8847-7a5bb1c8d500_zpsf5451c05.jpg.html)

I have never met face to face with Mr. Harton, but I suspect he can do anything you may want. If you would like his contact info, feel free to PM me.