When, on the six series, did ruger dish out the recoil shield on the non -opening side of the frame. I've had both for decades and just noticed. Was looking thru all my safe-queens. Any help appreciated.
My earlest s/n is a 159, 2.75" blue, and Ruger shows it as 1982. I have a 160 s/n, blue, 2.75" heavy barrel, Ruger shows as 1984.
http://ruger.com/service/productHistory/RE-SPSSix.html
Chad says the scallop (dished out) frame appears around ser. no. 158-14100 but guns as late as 158-31335 don't have the scallop, so there is some ser. no. over lap.
I've also noticed that fixed sight guns (Service Six and Speed Six) have a thicker top strap and therefore deeper sight groves with the scalloped frame. :shock:
Terry T
I think the reason was all for aesthetics. Most folks probably never gave it a second thought, but the Redhawk came out originally in 1980 with the scalloped frame. The "Six" series just followed suit a couple years later. The scallops do save a little metal, but probably also added another machining operation. Overall, the aesthetics was probably the deal maker.
Chet15
In my opinion (worth what it costs you! :shock: ) the scallop is an effort to maintain the same weight while increasing the strength of the top strap (the small amount of metal saved in the scallop shows up in the thicker top strap). It happened about the time S&W brought out their 'L' frame in response to the wear issues in the .357 mag 'K' frames.
I also believe that the scallop (and thicker top strap) were added to the lost wax casting process and that the scallop is not machined but simply polished.