Need help - value of a Service Six .38 spl - 5" blue

I need some help from the experts. I have a Police Service Six .38 special with a 5" blued barrell. I believe it was mfg in 1984. There is a letter with the gun (see pics) but I am not sure if it means anything. This was one of my Dad's guns that has been in my closet for the past 12 years. I need to get an idea of what this gun is worth. I have looked on a bunch of sites but I can't find one like this.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

.

Let me know if it is for sale.


.

I have never seen, nor heard of, a 5" Ruger Police Service Six. Although I do not doubt the letter I would still take my tape and measure the barrel from just in front of the cylinder to the muzzle. Just to make sure. You have, to me, a very interesting item for collectors. Value? I couldn't begin to say.

Very nice piece.....

Hopefully I measured it correctly. If so, then it looks like it is 5"

Hugh":38eqp83y said:

I have never seen, nor heard of, a 5" Ruger Police Service Six.

Click to expand...

Well, now you have. Apparently there are only about 15 in existence. I am not a collector and not an authority on such matters, but it seems to me that the rare nature of this particular configuration, coupled with the letter of explanation and this specimen's excellent condition would all increase the value considerably.

ronhgolf, other guns similar to this usually fetch between 400 and 500 dollars. Yours is probably worth more that that. If you were selling, I would not expect to get anything like 800, but perhaps 600 if you can find an interested collector. If you decide to hold onto it (that's what I'd do), be sure to store it carefully so it will be preserved and thus retain its value. It's certainly an interesting piece.

If it was my Dad's I wouldn't take a million bucks for it. It would be a family heirloom handed down to children or grand children. Gather all the information you can from other family members and write it down. Good luck with it.

Yep, 5 inches. That is terrific.

Mine is a 3" stainless .357.

I have one that didn't make that list of 10. It was snagged by Stan Terhune, a Ruger exec who subscribed to the SN 30 guns, so naturally he grabbed the oddball 5" Service Six with -00030.





The 5 consec guns in the left column of that letter are known to have been retained together by a collector.

For value, I would think the $600 figure quoted would be an easy sell, since I myself would pay that for another one.

That distributor letter says "SDA85 HCM" but it is really "SDA85H CM". The SDA means blue Service Six, the 8 means .38 Special, the 5 means 5" barrel, the H means Heavy barrel. The CM after that is not part of the catalog number but stands for Canadian Mounted (Police) as an indication of the contract for which they were made.

Welcome to the Forum ~ that's a nice rare Ruger item you have there!

Thanks for posting the pics.

Great Gun!!!!
If you ever decide to sell or trade it you won't have a problem!
Terry

Wow! I think that's the first time I've ever seen a letter on those from the orig. distributor/dealer of those guns.
I wonder if the gun listed as 161-97988 is really 160-97988.

An interesting side story to this post is that the concept model provided to the RCMP for this special run was actually a stainless version, GF-85H. There were only five of those made.
Chad

Chet,
Were the five GF-85H retained by the RCMP, returned to Ruger, or unkown?
Terry

The one I have is the 161-00330 from the letter. It does seem odd how on the one side the numbers go in order but the other 5 are way out. The letter states that this distributor was only able to 10 of the 15 over run. Thanks for all the info. It get's more and more interesting.

Great looking Police Service Six. I have never heard or seen a 5 inch barrel 38 special. Your letter shows the limited amounts produced. I would not sell the revolver. Its a family heirloom. Plus it was your fathers revolver.

Enjoy the revolver,
roaddog28

T.A. WORKMAN":2060rmnb said:

Chet,
Were the five GF-85H retained by the RCMP, returned to Ruger, or unkown?
Terry

Click to expand...

Only knew of the whereabouts of one of these. Not sure of the whereabouts of the others, but possibly returned to Ruger...don't know.
The one I saw was in 1994 when I went to check out the SJ collection in Yazoo City.
Sadly...heard that one may not exist any longer either...sn 157-21052.
Long story.
Chet15

ronhgolf":2391dle7 said:

It does seem odd how on the one side the numbers go in order but the other 5 are way out.

Click to expand...

Yup...a normal manufacturing process at Ruger. The only thing standard about their process is serial numbering the frames...of course, all in consecutive order. After that the guns can be built any number of ways in any different model cataloged or uncataloged, and then not leave the factory until 2 or 3 decades after the numbers are put on. Keeps it interesting for us collectors!
Chet15

Ok - here's another question. I am not a collector and have never sold a gun before. Should I decide to sell it, how should I go about it? What are the laws/rules etc.

This gun does have some sentimental value to me but I do have quite a few things of my Dad's that mean far more than this piece. I know this would be a great gun to start a collection with but I am not sure I would ever do so. It may be that this gun would be better offer in someones collection that would truly appreciate it. I think if I kept it, it would just go back in the closet.

Anyway, I'm not sure what to do yet and there are a few other guns I may need to sell as well.

Sir,
You have several options.#1 You could advertise and sell them locally FTF.
#2 Establish a price that you want along with your pictures and post here on the Forum in the classifieds. #3 You can list them on one of the Auction sites.

Selling or buying a gun off the internet is not that complicated; example,
You advertise your gun for sale, a buyer agrees to buy your gun, he then sends you your payment and a copy of his dealers FFL, you take the gun and FFl to your dealer pay him his fee and he ships the gun to the buyers dealer. If I have left anything out someone else will jump in and correct me.
If you decide to go the Auction route please post the Auction link here
on the forum in the section for that.
Best of luck to you.
Terry

As a "CYA", insist that shipping is done from your FFL to the buyers FFL. Have a relationship with a local FFL and know in advance how he ships (US Postal Service, FedEx, etc.), the cost of shipping, his FFL fee to you and whether he ships to certain states with more restrictive laws like California.