How rare are stainless SS'es in .32 with adjustable sights?

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leelorr

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 3, 2013
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Hello,
I have been doing a lot of reading and thinking about getting my first SA revolver. I have settled on a Single Six in .32 H&R with adjustable sights, and a 4 5/8" barrel in stainless. After looking around on the web it seems like it may be hard to find one of these. Are they rare enough that I would be wasting my time looking? From what I have read it's pretty expensive to have adjustable sights added to a gun that has fixed sights.

Thanks in Advance for you advice,
Lorrin (SA newbie)
 
WHY would you pick something like that in the first place ??
To the best of my recollection SR&INC never made so much as a single one in the configuration. Maybe I am wrong...I was wrong once in '66 and have not heard the end of that one yet..
 
They never made them but it's easy enough to have adjustable sights installed on a fixed sight Vaquerito.
 
Unless it's a custom conversion of a 22. I believe Jim Stroh has an option for that. $$$$$ though.
 
Calling Hondo44! :D Isn't this something you have done already, or did you go with blued steel instead? As long as one were staying with a 32 H&R almost-magnum and not going up to the hotter loads some folks have cooked up or the longer 327 Federal (true) Magnum, the little Single Six platform should work quite well. :)

How's this for a dream prototype... I want a stainless mid-sized flat top frame with the old style adjustable sights and a six shot 327 FM cylinder. Barrel should be 4 1/2 or 5 1/2 inches in length to make this the ideal piece to carry afield. Would I settle for a stainless, adjustable sighted SS in 32 semi-mag? Maybe; but if I'm going to dream, I'm going to dream big! :mrgreen:

Froggie
 
Easier and cheaper to just take the blued 32 Single Six and send it to Mahovskys' Metalife SS for one of Rons 'stainless ' looking finishes, and it will wear better...we have had many of them done over the years through the shop....................
 
I really like the "Metalife SS" coating idea. Seems pretty reasonable and should make finding the right gun much easier since the blued ones seem more plentiful.
I might even shoot a blued one before I send it off to be coated. ;*)
Thanks for all the information and advice!
Lorrin
 
I found this in a local gunshop.
SSM5aLR.jpg


It's one heck of a lot of fun!

flatgate
 
The little .32's are fun. Have 4 here - 2 fixed, 2 adj. I tried gathering interest for a stainless Bisley in .32 a few years back when the rest of the Acusport/Williams' ones were all around but got just 100 +/- "I'd buy one" commitments.
 
Flatgate: I have a .32 H&R mag identical to yours shown in the photo and agree with you it is a lot of fun, especially with reloads. Is your grip frame original? It may just be the photo, but it appears not to match up to the cylinder frame. Black Dog
 
Thanks for the intro Froggie.

A friend wants the same thing as Lorrin. Working on one now. Start with a stainless .22 Super Single Six, it has the adjustable sights. Shop for a used or take-off stainless .32 mag barrel and cylinder from the Ruger Vaquerito, they were made in stainless but only with fixed sights. Either put a brushed finish on the barrel and cyl or polish out the stainless .22 so they match. File the front blade sight off the .32 barrel. Unscrew the .22 front ramp sight from the .22 barrel, drill and tap a hole in the .32 barrel and screw on the sight. The .22 ramp sight is a smidge shorter, so if the adjustable rear sight won't go low enough, order the .32 ramp sight from Brownells or Ruger.

Lower the firing pin in the frame for the center fire .32 thusly:

In the 1st two shots of a converted old model, you can see where I plugged and re-drilled to lower the firing pin and recoil plate for center fire.

medium800.jpg

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There's a firing pin recoil plate retaining pin thru the frame under the rear sight. Remove it by opening the loading gate to drive it out to the left. Now you can drive out the firing pin, spring and recoil plate from the hammer channel. Make a plug .001" larger than the size of the recoil plate with a smaller diameter tip on the firing pin end to fill the hole in the hammer channel. Take dimensions of the firing pin hole because you're going to drill another one just like it. Pull the barrel and drive the 'plug' into the recoil plate hole. Screw the barrel back in hand tight.

Now with a 'range rod' that's a snug fit in the .22 barrel bore and has a sharp point on one end, drop it into the bore pointy end first and center punch a dot on the recoil shield (breechface) at the back of the cyl window.
Pull the barrel and drill a hole the same size as the original for the rear end of the firing pin all the way thru the hammer channel. Now use a Letter 'J' drill to counter bore the firing pin hole for the recoil shield to the depth that you measured the original hole. About a third of the plug will be drilled out as well.

Install the firing pin, then the spring and the recoil plate which is a press fit, and drive into place flush with breechface. Now drill thru the retaining pin hole and reinstall the firing pin/recoil shield retaining pin which will actually retain both the plug and the recoil shield in its new location. Ruger designed the new retaining pin hole location so it would work for rimfire or centerfire recoil shield locations.

Fit and install stainless .32 barrel and cylinder. Had to enlarge the loading gate chute slightly for the larger .32 case rims.

It's a 1 hour job after doing a few of these. Now you have a stainless .32 H&R mag single six. I will also ream the chambers an 1/8" for the .327 Fed Mag like the old model shown above.
 
Any more complicated than that and it's beyond me.

My next project is even easier; I'm starting with a .32 single six and use up some of the left over .22 barrels and cylinders I have laying around. A shortened 25-20 necked down to a .22, sort of a short .218 Bee which is based on the 25-20 case. Can't use .218 Bee brass because there would be no neck left after shortening.

Swap out the .32 barrel for any Ruger .22 barrel (made after s/n 150,000 since it has the .224 bore for .22 Mags) and ream a .22 or .22 mag cylinder with a 218 Bee reamer but not to full depth. Of course cartridges have to be hand loaded with 218 Bee dies. Should be a sweet little .22 Super Mag.
 
That one sounds cool too. Not to hijack a 32 thread cause I really love these, but post up the details when you do that one.
 
I have one of these little .32 H&R mags with the 4 5/8ths barrel. Makes a great carry Single Six when more than the .22 rf might be useful. I handload for it and one can cover lot of uses with it by doing this. I did modify the sights to fiber optic which helps my old eyes. Think they are a real gem, if I want a hotter mag will carry my BH 50 Yr. 357.
 
This is why I wish Hondo44 and I didn't live on opposite sides of the country! Jim, I've got a NOS set of Lyman 310 dies in 218 Bee... the ones that neck size only. Would they be of help when you reload for that proposed project?

Froggie

PS Just so I'm not hijacking too bad, what about turning up the 32 cal barrels from blank stock? Since you will be adding the e-rod housing and sight to a basically cylindrical barrel anyway...
 
That's actually not only a good idea but a necessity if one wanted a longer than 4 5/8" barrel since that's the only length stainless barrel Ruger ever made for the .32 Mag Vaquerito. And not that much more work; besides turning a taper, threading/throating and crowning, one more tapped hole, besides the front sight screw hole, for the ERH screw would be needed.

PS The ten experimental cases I've made so far were actually made with 218 Bee 310 dies because that's all I had on hand. I was amazed at how easy the 25-20 cases necked down to .22 caliber even with those very basic hand tool dies. In fact I'm on the hunt now for an old set of Lyman full size All American black box dies.
 

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