Recent purchase of a Factory plated SC6

Looks fine. What is the rest of the story? 8)

NICE!

flatgate

A great find Bob!!
Let me know if the front of the cylinder has large stamped numbers on the front and if it has any other numbers "X"d out.
Chet15

WAY to go --only seen one for sell years ago :!: that is a feat to find one or even get someone to sell one of those JEWELS 8) thanks for giving us a look --if you want to tell more I AM ALL EARS

Great Gun Bob! Thanks for sharing!

The story is I was looking at Gun Broker.com just over a week ago and stumbled accrossed this up for auction..I check the serial number against the list of known / verified plated SC6's and there it was.

Won the auction and just pick it up yesterday afternoon from my local shop.

The History of 505129.... called Ruger and got the factory letter stating it is factory plated... invoice stated it is a Chrome plated convertible and left the factory in Aug of 1965. I am not challenging it is chrome but when I put it next to a couple of chrome plated guns, 505129 has a slight yellow color to it, which I have seen in the past as as very well aged Nickle plating..... I am trying to get a copy of the factory invoice right now but....

Story from the person I purchased this from is it belonged to a long time Ruger employeee. Still trying to verify that.

In the mean time I check with a couple of Ruger collector / historians and this gun was shipped in Aug of 1965 as one of 20 guns to a Kentucky distributor. Don't know if that means it was one of 20 plated SC6's, or one of 20 different Rugers...

Thats what I know so far.

Bob

Bob

Who was the Kentucky distributor it was shipped to? If you do not mind me asking.

collectormzornes

Ruger won't share that with me. Through other sources I was told the distributor was in Louisville, KY as of Aug of 1965.

Bob

This one was mine for quite sometime. Desire for something better forced me to relinquish it to a good friend. Drat the luck, the "up-grade" deal fell though.........

flatgate

Very nice snag.....

goodrich289 said:

Ruger won't share that with me. Through other sources I was told the distributor was in Louisville, KY as of Aug of 1965.

Bob

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My files say that the Kentucky Distributor was most likely one of Ruger's major Distributors of that time frame. Would bet a small wager that it was the Sutcliffe Company located in Louisville, Ky. See if that assists in some manner......... 8)

Also where most of the S guns were "DUMPED" I believe.....RR.

Good find, Bob. Those are quite scarce.

I have a few notes on these plated guns from back when I was doing research on my plated guns.

505129 shipped to Sutcliffe Company, Louisville, KY, on August 20, 1965. It was part of a 20-gun "special" order of "SC6 (nickel)"

BB45C

flatgate said:

This one was mine for quite sometime. Desire for something better forced me to relinquish it to a good friend. Drat the luck, the "up-grade" deal fell though.........

Click to expand...

I'm still feeding, watering, and walking her for you flatgate, she's in good hands.

Ohh, my heart..........

flatgate

collectormzornes said:

Bob

Who was the Kentucky distributor it was shipped to? If you do not mind me asking.

collectormzornes

Click to expand...

It was Sutcliffe Company. I think they closed up about 1971 but there was a real interesting Ruger company relationship with that distributor.
The proprietor of that entity for many years would make a once a year trip to the factory to make a mass purchase of all the wierd stuff that Ruger wanted to blow out of there. The wierd stuff includes SC4's, all blue Jerred Engraved Single-Sixes, blackguard Bearcats, plated Super Single-Sixes, "milestone" serial number Rugers, and a whole host of "S" guns including Lightweights...the reason why so many "S" Lightweights are found in the Ohio/Kentucky area.
Chet15

bigbore45colt said:

Good find, Bob. Those are quite scarce.

I have a few notes on these plated guns from back when I was doing research on my plated guns.

505129 shipped to Sutcliffe Company, Louisville, KY, on August 20, 1965. It was part of a 20-gun "special" order of "SC6 (nickel)"

BB45C

Click to expand...

I concur...the Super single-Sixes are nickel (not that it matters...plated is plated), but nickle has a distinctive yellow color to it and nickle plating also appears very thick on a surface. Chrome is generally bright white, highly reflective and appears to have a very "thin" look to it...like a car bumper.
You know, some of the Super Single-Sixes I've seen have a label on the end that says chrome. To me it doesn't mean they were chrome, maybe somebody at the factory didn't know either and just figured they were chrome, and anyway....if the factory is trying to rid themselves of something - would they market it as "nickel plated" or "chrome plated". The industry standard is usually "chrome", which I would think would be easier for Ruger to "dump" onto the market...more attractive to the distributor.
I have a letter here somewhere from Ed Nolan who stated that they had considered a regular production run of plated Super Single-Sixes, but that they had issues with the mechanics of the guns once they were plated. The nickel went on so thick that there were other machining/polishing operations that had to be done prior to them being plated in order for them to function properly. Maybe if Ruger had used chrome they wouldn't have had those issues and they wouldn't be so rare today? And you'd think if there were issues with chrome platiing, Ruger wouldn't have chromed as many guns as they did in the '50's, or even considered the thought of plating a group of "purple framed" Super Single-Sixes in 1964.
Chet15

chet15 said:

.... they had issues with the mechanics of the guns once they were plated. The nickel went on so thick that there were other machining/polishing operations that had to be done prior to them being plated in order for them to function properly.
Chet15

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I totally agree! I found this one on a table in Riverton, WY many, many years ago. It had a plated grip frame, as well, but I traded it off and replaced it with a "original appearing" grip frame. While doing the swap I "played" with the action and it definitely needs some "fitting" to make the gun functional.



flatgate

More free education from the Big Dawgs.

Thanks, guys.

:mrgreen: