Number of 6" stainless .38 Sec. 6 made v. other variations?

How uncommon are 6" .38 special stainless Security Six revolvers? I saw my first one today. I've seen several 9 MM Speed Six revolvers over the years so I presume those are more common. Maybe the 6" adjustable sight .38 Specials are more common in California where large police departments famously issued them? I vaguely remember some discussion of these .38s a long time ago. Please refresh my memory. Despite already having the same Security Six in .357 a dedicated .38 Special appeals to an old target shooter.

Info is likely in your RENE.

I'd seriously consider buying one if you pass on it.

I've never seen one and I've been looking all over Socal for 14 years now. Buy it.

It was made relatively recently as evidenced by its red ramp front sight and the roll stamp on its barrel that writes William Ruger warns that shooting your toe with this gun will smart or something similar. I do not know if its larger size factory walnut grips are original but they fit me much better than the small grips that came on most Six series revolvers.

Judging by the response here at least two die hard Ruger collectors will approve. I've never thought of myself as a Ruger collector. I do not even know want RENE abbreviates except that it is a book. I just like to shoot Rugers and nearly all of them have shot well enough to encourage me to sample others. The result has built an accumulation. Does this one make me a collector? I hope not. That could get expensive.

I bought it for about $100 more than the .357 version was selling for here before the market panic started. That was about 3 years ago. I can justify it by thinking it's $100 for scarcity or if I'd waited until they dropped the price $100 it would have been worth a $100 to not have to make another trip there. Maybe not having the patience to wait for the market bubble to completely fizzle out cost me $100. Either way it's an excellent condition odd ball that I'll enjoy shooting. I like being the only one at the range with an oddball gun.

Well, Security Sixes haven't been made since 1984, so these days it is a pretty old gun.
The red insert front sight began to be used not long after the Redhawk came out in 1979 and will be found on the Security-Six beginning at the 157- prefix.
There were supposedly 500 GA-86HT's made for the California Highway Patrol with 159- prefixes. Some have the CHP rollmark and some don't.
Chet15

Thank-you for posting the quantity made, 500. While that does not make it scarce it's still not a lot. Its prefix is 159. I do not remember a CHP stamp or the over stamp that I've read some of the equivalent S&W Model 68s have. I do not remember for sure but the over stamp applied before CHP sold them might have been OHB. It's my understanding that when a manufacturer makes a special order run they retain some extras in case they have to replace a few under warranty or replacing one is easier than repairing it. Then after an unknown period of years they sell the over run. It shows minimal signs of use so it might be a CHP .38 or not. In a few weeks when I can fetch it I'll look for the CHP stamp.

For common handgun distances there is no easier cartridge to assemble accurate reloads for than .38 Special. I look forward to firing it.

A high condition boxed one with CHP marking sold yesterday (7/17) at a live auction for $977.50 including buyer's premium. I have both CHP and non-CHP marked examples so I didn't really need it and I backed down at $650, which would be around $775 after premium and shipping, and I figured the value to be about $800. Clearly a couple other guys figured more. There seems to be a whole new bunch of folks taking interest in the -Six series DA's for collectability. Had I snagged it, I would have kept it and sold mine since mine has no box and is only around 95%. I gave $450 for mine a few years back.

chet15 said:

Well, Security Sixes haven't been made since 1984, so these days it is a pretty old gun.
Chet15

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I find myself in the unique position of correcting Chad on this one. :shock:
When I attended the Armourer's course in Newport in October of '85 the syllabus was to assemble a stainless
Speed Six. The entire Six series line was still in production. We did see a new and, as yet, unannounced DA in
various stages of production. We were sworn to secrecy as to the existence of the GP-100 which was to be unveiled at the '86 SHOT show.

On my next visit to Newport in the Fall of '87 the GP had fully taken the Six series' place, however we did witness production of a special run of bead blasted Speed Sixes in .357 with 3" bbls. As we now know these were the USPS cotract guns.
So, in some form at least, the Sixes were still being produced late into '87.

I considered correcting Chet myself but did not want to appear unappreciative of the valuable details that he got right.

chet15 said:

Well, Security Sixes haven't been made since 1984, so these days it is a pretty old gun.
[...] Chet15

Click to expand...

"pretty old" Really? It is one of those modern breach loaders, is it not? One of the regulars at the range where I used to live made a career out of making custom flintlocks in the general pattern of Kentucky long rifles. That did not fund fine housing in an upscale neighborhood. One night he had to hold a couple of teenage burglars for the sheriff's deputies. He used his new modern breach loader, an old model BH.

weaselmeatgravy said:

[...] I gave $450 for mine a few years back.

Click to expand...

Depending on how literally we should read "a few years," that's the 3 year old value I was putting on the standard .357 variation. I paid $550 plus tax. I think that was fair.

I ignore the highest extremes of prices that can found in national auction sites. Some of them are pretend auction scams dealers do to raise the prices they get out of their inventory and some are drunk fools or who knows what. I'm pretty damn sure that I'd never get $900 plus for it if I had to sell it.

It was not my intention to sound unappreciative of the wealth of info that Chad provides here.
I apologize if it came across that way.

I picked up my 6" .38 Security Six. It has no stamps left from police department ownership. That's good. I prefer civilian owned guns. Holster wear and dings from banging into car doors only benefit me when the wear lowers the price I have to pay.

I look forward to target shooting with it. Thank-you all for the help and information. I hope no one got offended reading this thread. Some times humor posted on the internet is successful but some times it is interpreted wrong.