New-to-Me Heavy Bbl Security Six

I came across this 1985-vintage stainless Security Six, yesterday. It is in pristine condition, showing no signs of regular use. In fact, it needed a complete tear down and light oiling. I love the simplicity of the design of the Six series... so easy to disassemble. Thank you Harry Sefreid! -& Bill Ruger.

Well, as I compared it's features to my 1979 blued example, the obvious differences were clear: smooth vs. serrated trigger face, red front sight insert vs. none, scalloped recoil shield vs. round, etc. Unseen, but clearly evident: my older blued example has buttery smooth action compared to the stiffer action of the stainless model (it needs to be shot!). Ive been dry firing it some, today.

But, what ultimately jumped out at me is the differences in barrels. Initially subtle, I can't help but see it now:
THE STAINLESS IS THE HEAVY BARREL VARIETY! I like it!

In the past, I had wondered if my blued example had a "bull" barrel. Now that I have a second example for comparison, I see that it has the standard barrel.

Note Longer "Half" Underlug on Stainless Model

Nice pair. My first Security Six was a 4" stainless heavy barrel. Sure miss her.

Yea, it looks brand new. A fine looking gun, you got lucky, congrats!

Tip , if you want a lighter DA on your security sixes , you can replace the mainspring 16# with a GP100 mainspring 14#'s. Both of mine have that mod and so far I have hot had any failure to fires with that change. I shoot CCI primers, pretty hard primer, and I shot some CCI magnum primed rounds and still 100% fires. Now all guns are different but that mod worked for me.

JStacy said:

Tip , if you want a lighter DA on your security sixes , you can replace the mainspring 16# with a GP100 mainspring 14#'s...that mod worked for me.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that, JStacy.
Did you change out the trigger spring, too?

Tip, what an excellent pair you have now. Excellent purchase.

Bear Paw Jack said:

Tip, what an excellent pair you have now. Excellent purchase.

Click to expand...

Thank you, Bear Paw Jack
-and to BDM1 and Rumrunner, too!

I appreciate any advice on smoothing up / easing up the harsh trigger pull, everyone. This one's going to be shot by my 83 year old dad on Father's Day weekend.

Regarding trigger pull Wolff makes a kit with a 14 lb mainspring and a reduced power trigger return spring. If one wanted to reduce the pull further the mainspring for a Ruger GP100/SP101 fits. Wolff has these in 9 lb, 10 lb, 11 lb and 12 lb varieties. I put an 11 lb one in my Speed Six.

Bill I only changed the main spring and could not find a trigger return spring in a kit. I see Wolf has one. You will see a big difference by just changing the mainspring and lubing the hammer notch and trigger contact points.
That is a good looking revolver, checkering on grips sharp enough to scratch you !!

Thank you gents. I appreciate the good info.
I've got a spring pack on order.

What a beauty! It looks brand new.

That is a sweet pair of solid Rugers,, very nice pair!

Tip said:

Thank you gents. I appreciate the good info.
I've got a spring pack on order.

Click to expand...

Nice Sixes. :mrgreen:

Speaking of springs...I've changed a few. Never found a benefit to changing the trigger return spring. A lighter mainspring, after a little polishing of the bearing surfaces with crocus cloth will make for tremendous smoothness.

But ya know what? I've not done this to any of mine for a bunch of years, as I decided the factory supplied action is really not all that bad. :wink:

Very nice! I just got a very nice 6" security six about a month ago to go with my stubby speed six 38 special. Super nice. Your pictures have me jonesing for a 4" .

Quattroclick said:

Very nice! Super nice. Your pictures have me jonesing for a 4" .

Click to expand...

I was just thinking the same thing.

That is a great looking pair of Rugers!

My heavy barrel is a blued 4" You are going to love it. Congrats.
rmc

My blue shortie and stainless 4" both have the standard barrel. I don't recall ever seeing a heavy barrel in person, but now I know what to look for---THANKS for the lesson!

Mike Armstrong said:

My blue shortie and stainless 4" both have the standard barrel. I don't recall ever seeing a heavy barrel in person, but now I know what to look for---THANKS for the lesson!

Click to expand...

Mike,
I'm glad it helped. Before I found this second example, I too was wondering how to differentiate between the standard and heavy barrels.

And, thank you all for the kind words. I'm going to the range this weekend with my dad... can't wait to shoot it!

Here's a view from above, showing how the barrels meet the frame. On the left, the stainless heavy barrel shows an obvious outward taper, nearing the width of the frame. The blued standard barrel, if you can see it, runs into the frame at near-right angles.

Why is barrel abbreviated "bbl" when it only has one "b" in it?