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Ruger Speed Six question
I just bought a SS Ruger Speed Six, but it has not arrived yet. So, no need to try and talk me out of it. My experience with Smith and Wesson and Colt DA sixguns is long and deep, but I have never owned or even fired a Ruger DA sixgun.
Any tips or opinions about this gizmo. It is a 357 Mag though I doubt is will see many, if any, full snort magnum loads. In these my later years, I have come to greatly appreciate a solid base full wadcutter over 10/2400 or 7.5/AA5. They will hold up accuracy as far as I can hit anything with a handgun and are not bad on my arthritic hands.
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I like my Service Six. They 're much of a sameness with a Model 19. Generally about the same weight, though the late models tended to plump up, and smaller and lighter than the GP-100, Most folks seem to like them a bit better in the hand. The Security Six action tends to be a bit rougher than a Smith, but the off set is that they are tougher. A 6" stainless Model of my acquaintance was still going bang after more than 200,000 rounds, mostly range load 38's, but still, that's a lot of rounds. I was a bit of a Smith snob back in the day, but I have come to know the error of my presumption, especially given the stuff that comes out of S&W these days.Attachment 223676Attachment 223677
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Your +P full charge wadcutters will be great.
In my 2-3/4" Speed Six I load Saeco #348 double-end, bevel- based wadcutter in .357 brass, crimped in the normal crimp groove, with 5 grains of Bullseye. Very accurate and effective field load, 1050 fps in 2-3/4" barrel.
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I've owned several over the years, but currently none reside with me. I need to remedy this. At any rate, a spring replacement set would be a good start. The square stock trigger return springs are heavy enough to use on a small car. Beware the flying plungers and springs in the fire control assembly. They have minds of their own. Other than that, fire away. You'll not wear one out in several lifetimes.
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I have a ss security six mase in 76 I bought used in 77 it was my go to gun for over 30 years. then a browning h-p became my carry gun. but the ruger was still my main shooter until I replaced it with a ss security-six. made in the last year of production. the other is retired to night stand duty. I also have a blued 6 inch security-six.
the first has ate around 100,000 358429 with 3.6 gr. red dot in .38spl cases. then a bunch more skeeter loads. it is as tight as the day I bought it.
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A long time friend I went to the police academy with had a stainless with the short barrel it was a very accurate gun . And had a buttery smooth DA trigger as he shot it a lot .
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Back in the 80's I had a FFL & Gil Hebard had a special on the SS Speed Sixes. They had 2 3/4" bbl. & Pachmyer (sp?) grips (round butt) for $159.
I bought 3 & gave one to each of my 2 daughters. The 3rd one went to a friend for exactly what I paid for it. I should have bought a 4th. one for myself.
They are easy to smooth-up. I modified the OEM square section trigger return spring: the original has 2 full coils. I un-wound 1 coil & cut it off to original length & configuration. I also slightly beveled & polished both ends @ contact points. My daughters' guns pre-time like a dream.
I started them off with "pansy" loads, but the youngest (married to a Baptist preacher) quickly wanted more power (we shoot IHMSA chickens @ 10-12 yds.......we call it "combat chickens"). She likes to body slam them. She's never satisfied with 5 out of 6. She will not stop until she gets 6 for 6.
The other daughter (retired school teacher now) has progressed to mid powered loads. They don't shoot .357 loads: only .38 spec..
They love those guns.
If I have a chance to buy one, I'll snap it up.
Henry
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The Six Series DA Rugers were some of the best DA 38/357 revolvers ever made, in my not so humble opinion.
Attachment 223753Attachment 223754
They have the strength of a S&W L-frame in the size of a S&W K-frame.
My standard load is now 3.5 grains of Bullseye under a SAECO #382.
For wadcutter loads I'm using 3.1 grains of Bullseye under the RCBS 38-148-WC but you could go hotter on that without problems. Both of those are in 38 Special casings.
I don't have the SAECO #348 double ended WC mold that Outpost talks about but I've never heard anything bad about that bullet. It's on my list to acquire.
In the above photos you can see some of the grip options. The Pachmayr Gripper is my preferred grip on the Square butt Service-Six. I have that grip on all of my Square Butt Service-Six guns and on my GP-100's.
I still like the old Tyler T-grip adaptor on the round butt Speed-Six frames.
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I bought a Tyler grip adapter and it now rides on my service six.
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As you can tell,,, almost without fail,,, all the above posts sing the praises of the Ruger "Six" series of DA revolvers.
Due to the differences in action design,,, many say the Ruger isn't as smooth as a S&W. But at the same time,,, most humbly agree that the Ruger is a much tougher design.
When Bill Ruger built the DA's,, he was trying to compete with S&W,,, and as such,,, the costs to make & sell them was a bit higher than he wanted, as he had to price them to be competitive. He often groused about that,,, until finally the engineers were able to design the GP series,, in a manner to make it more cost effective, and to make money for the Ruger company.
That's the only reason they dropped the Six series in favor of the GP series.
The GP series is STILL an excellent design but many lament the loss of the Six series.
I own several Six series DA's and some of the GP series, as well as the SP series. NONE have ever given me any issues. In fact,,, I just added the GP Match Champion to be used in competition. Many say a S&W has a smoother & faster lockwork. Most of us can not operate it fast enough to realize the speed difference. But the feel,,, can & will smooth up the longer you use it.
I'm sure you will see & feel the differences,, but you will appreciate that Speed-Six as well.
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William Ruger may have occasionally said he lost money on the Six series but I serious doubt that he actually lost money. The DA Six series guns were in production for 16 years with a total production of approximately 1.5 million units; Ruger was too good of a businessman to lose money that long and on that scale. I strongly suspect he didn't make as much money as he would have liked on the Six series. We can't ask him and I'm not sure that's a question he would answer even if he was alive.
Ruger did compete with S&W for law enforcement sales and often won contracts by undercutting S&W's prices. He may have taken a loss on a contract here and there to win a bid but over that 16 year span Ruger made far more money than he lost.
I do think the GP-100 and SP101 may be more efficient to produce and they certainly are fine guns. There may be a larger profit margin in the GP and SP lines than there was in the Six series but there's no evidence that the Six series was unprofitable.
There was a little bit of overlap between the DA Six series and the GP-100 (1986 to 1988). I think one of the major reasons the Six series was discontinued in 1988 was that William Ruger had absolutely NO intention of competing with himself.
Another possible issue that is worthy of some consideration deals with the historical context of the time.
S&W addressed the shortcomings of the magnum K-frames with the introduction of the L-frames in 1981. I suspect the GP-100 was already in development in 1981 but the introduction of the L-frame Smiths certainly would have influenced someone as competitive as Bill Ruger.
The GP-100 shares the same speedloaders as an L-frame and generally fits in the same holsters as the L-frame. If you were looking to take market share away from the S&W L-frames - the GP-100 is clearly a candidate for that fight. Unfortunately the era of the revolver in American law enforcement was in its twilight in the mid 1980's.
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I consider the GP and the SP to be heavy pigs compared to the Security, Speed and Service Six series. But that's just me. The .44 Special GP100 is a step in the right direction, though.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
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I really wish Ruger would put the GP-100 on a diet. The first place to start would be to get rid of that full underlug heavy barrel. (the Match Campion is a step in the right direction)
Full underlugs are great on the firing range but a PITA when carrying the gun.
But the GP-100 is a strong gun and roughly the same size as a S&W L-frame.
On paper, the Security/Service/Speed Six's aren't that much lighter than the average configuration of the GP-100 but they sure feel trimmer.
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Found a cheap speed six a few weeks ago. First for me. As a Smith accumulator, it was not my normal kind of purchase but this one just fit good in hand and I was looking for a short barrel utility (tool) revolver. The Speed Six seems like it will fill the bill perfectly. It's stainless, handy, old enough to be interesting (Bicentennial edition), nice trigger and cheap. What's not to like. Now i just need to go shoot it.
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Here is my Speed Six which is on the way. It wears Elk Stag grips and comes with original wood grips and some Pachy rubber grips, plus a Bianchi holster.
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That's a beautiful gun Char-Gar.
The scalloped cut on the right recoil shield shows that it's a later production model. From memory, that change was sometime in the early 1980's.
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Looks mighty fine!!
I have had mine since the late 1980's too. Its a favorite for sure. I had a 9MM too... foolishly sold it.
I converted the 357 to a DAO. Completely removing the hammer and SA Notch on the hammer. It shoots Winchester 145g Silvertips into 4-5" @ 100 yards!
Won more than a few friendly bets shooting golf balls at 50+ yards when I was daily carrying it too!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...psr9uroao0.jpg
CW
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They are fine revolvers mine has gone through a couple of buckets of cast 148 bbwc and 158 gr keith and it shoots like a house a fire.