question of the day......

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got a call this evening from a guy who had gotten a new model 200th year (1976) Blackhawk convertible from his brother recently, 357 and a 9mm. AND he claims it has a 380 acp?? cylinder with it, total of 3 cylinders, claims it was made for a guy named 'Waters' ( yes, the wildcatter from some time back),note with the 380 cylinder that it was intended for India or some such ,,,,,,much like the double action guns we know about...I had never heard of a "factory" ,single action gun, with an 'ACP' or a rimmed "short" cartridge......what say yee....I told him to contact Chad, in the meantime.......... :?:
 

steelshooterco

Single-Sixer
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Shawnee, CO
If the guy had a contact at the factory or was "friends" with the factory anything is possible. The big deal is does he have any providence it was shipped that way in terms of correspondence or an invoice from the factory?
 
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thats what I told him word for word, just what you guys point out, been there ,saw that , and NEVER say NEVER....if this guys Dad or whomever was a friend of someone like Waters, and the 'old man' wanted, needed "free press and free testing" guess what they would do...just provide one simple as that,BUT also being the doubting Thomas that I am, every gun has a story, a tale, and maybe "Ruger Lore", with out any documentation, provenance, it is just another "custom" gun , some one had something done to it , or added along the road....... "a sum of the total of the parts" :wink:
 

radicalrod

Hunter
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Jan 9, 2004
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Bowling Green, Oh
Kinda like the 30 carbine I had....came with a 32-20 cylinder....there are some talented guys out there that don't work at the factory....RR
 

44Squatch

Single-Sixer
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NorthCoast, Ohio
Is this one of those new things ... ummm ... sometimes called a "pin gun", or also seen them spoken of with an 'NM' before the model name?

I'm not sure if I've ever seen one of these 'pin' thingies... :p
 

chet15

Hawkeye
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Jan 22, 2001
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Dawson, Iowa
Wasn't there a Ken Waters that edited the Gun Digest for a while also?? He had a subscription number with the factory also.
Wouldn't be surprised if Ruger would have made such an animal, but would have to see it in person or gets some darn good pics of how all the cylinders are marked.
I know of a .45 Convertible with three cylinders (the extra being a .45 Rim) and I also know of a Old Army with three cylinders, the Old Army factory marked on the cylinders "A", "B" and "C", with their electric pencil. Never had a chance to actually look a thte 3-cylinder .45, but I think it was determined that the .45 RIM cylinder couldn't be made from an ACP.
Chet15
 
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....well got a call today from the man, and he was told this morning by the factory, after a check of their records, etc., this gun was shipped in 1976 as just a 357 mag/9mm convertible, nothing else. Once again, a sum of the total of the parts.........he will bring it to me in a couple of weeks to look/see a possible trade?? I have NO need for any 380 acp round, in any single action revolver, so do not get your hopes up....... :roll: :wink:
 

chet15

Hawkeye
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Dawson, Iowa
Will be fun to see how the cylinder looks. You should be able to tell if it looks like something done by the factory.
Chet15
 
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I know, thats what I had told him, when I saw him on Saturday morning at the show, but he didn;t know we would be there and is bringing it to the Medina show in a couple of weeks, so we can SEE the gun, make a proper evaluation, he has NOTHING in the gun, and it is NOT for sale, he just would like to KNOW more......and I;m still on the fence as to it being "customed" , the spare cylinder added at some time, and like the story, the original owner (his brother) had the cylinder made up for some "testing" by this Mr Waters...............
 
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well ,well as we figured, all a 'story" , was ONLY a new model ,200th years short barreled 357, that indeed did ship as a "convertible, 9mm spare cylinder, nice gun, AND there was another 9mm cylinder that happened to have the last 3 digits "3-8-0" and it WAS NOT a .380 ,but a 9mm.......
so I bought it anyway....gotta love it how all these stories ( Ruger lore) just grow and grow.. 8) :roll:

poor guy just could not call his brother a "fibber"....... :)
 

WIL TERRY

Buckeye
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Jun 8, 2003
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Single Chute, SD USA
I just called my ol' pal Ken Waters. He had no idea what I was asking about and told me WBR NEVER ever made such a three-cylinder NEW MODEL BLACKHAWK 357/9MM pistol for him.

Interestingly enough though, an OMFT Single Six is being re-finished, rebored, re-rifled, and re-chambered to a fancy little 9MMKURZ pistol as we speak by the Pistolsmith-To-GOD himself......YYYYYEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAA...!!!
 
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