My Arrow (or small house) Ruger Single Six

[Star43]

In 1986, I bought my first Ruger Single Six. The prefix is "261". I had saved up for it and checked at a couple of local gun shops and ordered one. I had to wait 15 days to get it and picked it up at the shop, looked quickly at it and went home. At home I took it out again & while looking at it, I noticed on the manual that it said it was shipped with only 1 cylinder. It was then that I thought, what's going on here ?? There was supposed to be a 22 magnum cylinder in the box!! The next day I be went back to the shop and the owner whom I had dealt with was off that day. His manager was there and I explained the problem that I didn't get my 22 mag cylinder. He acted like he didn't know what happened, but he is said I got what they sent them....I didn't know what to say other than I was disappointed. The guy turned around and on a small shelf there was a small leather pouch. He picked it up and said: Here, this is a 22 mag cylinder in good shape. Here, take this one. So I took the little pouch home. That cylinder has remained in that leather pouch all these years unused. I keep it on my shelf and take it out and wipe it down every once in a great while and put it back on my shelf. It still looks great...... Afterwards, a few years later, I found out that this gun, prefix 261, never came with a mag cylinder. It is/was a 22LR only. I have never fired a mag round in it. This gun today, still looks as good as the day I first brought it home..it has the little arrow or a small house by the trigger guard. It seems Ruger only made them during a 3 month period near the summer of 1986. Then they stopped making the arrow gun and went back to making the 22LR/22mag combo. I have been told my gun can fire a mag round as it has the modern bore measurement. The gun is very accurate and is as tight today as it was on day 1.
My question is how many of you guys out there hava an arrow gun/house gun from 1986 ??

 

[contender]

You got lucky in getting your gun. Many collectors don't have one. (Myself included.) They are desirable guns.

And yes,, you could fire .22 mag ammo in it with a proper cylinder.

 

[JAYDAWG]

Hey,
How about a pic of the arrow/house, so I know what you are talking about?

Cheers,
JaydaWg

 

[Star43]

Maybe somebody can do a photo of the little "house" and post it. I have to learn how to do that. I guess I'm not that technologically advanced yet. Yes I should learn to do that to show stuff. Thx.

 

[Star43]

You got lucky in getting your gun. Many collectors don't have one. (Myself included.) They are desirable guns.

And yes,, you could fire .22 mag ammo in it with a proper cylinder.

Guess what...and I had no idea at the time. God knows....Right around 1993 I think, I was at a good size GS in Modesto. They had a promotion going with Ruger. 2 guys from Ruger were there showing guns and there were some great deals. I really was not prepared but the prices were like being a kid in Candy Land. I bought a new P89 and also being the kid I still am, I was looking at a Single Six. The Ruger guy was at the counter near the salesman and he was friendly but didn't say too much. The SS was of course brand new and was nice. I asked if I was going to get another gun as this may be just a sample to show ?? The Ruger guy spoke then and said that the gun in my hand would be the one I would get. (after the waiting period of course). The box and paper-work were there but no 22 Mag cylinder. They both kind of said then, that gun doesn't come with a 2nd cylinder. So my immediate reaction was well, that's why it is a real good deal. I said ok and picked up the gun afterwards. Took it home and wiped it down, put it back in the box. That gun stayed in the box as is many years. I took it and wiped it down a couple of times and put it away. I bought that gun for my little son then thinking I would give it to him when he grew up. Well he is an adult now but after college he went to Texas and now is in Georgia. When he comes home (hopefully) he will get it, amongst the others too, and we will go shooting together. Only about 18 months ago or less I noticed while wiping it down again that it was an Arrow gun. And the serial number is a bit lower than the one I bought in 1986 !!! Still new in the box. I still wonder how that happened that I buy a new gun in 93, heck could have been '94, and it was made in '86...True story and the Ruger guys were there. What's the odds of that ??

 

[contender]

Stranger things have happened with Ruger stuff. Kudos on getting "arrow" guns.

As for posting pictures.
If you have a picture loaded in the computer,, you can go to the bottom of a post,, (before hitting post reply) and you will see;
"Attach files"
Click on that, go to the picture & click on the picture,, and it will insert it here. If you say "insert,", or "Insert full Image" it'll do a small picture or a full sized one. A full sized one is easier to see the details.
Done.

 

[Star43]

How about doing that on my phone ?? That is what I use. We have a computer at home which my wife uses. Me, I use my phone !! I do appreciate the tip though. Yes, I imagine you have seen some strange stuff happening over the years with Ruger. The crazy part is when some thing weird happens, it usually makes the gun more valuable. Such is life....

 

[Star43]

It was strictly just luck, Twice I guess. It's funny though that for years I thought I was just unlucky and missed out on the mag cylinder twice with those guns. That's what I thought. Now I know I was a bit fortunate those 2 times, and I had no idea at the time......by the way, I saw on another thread that you call your wife: Miss Penny.....I have always called my wife: Miss Peggy. For close to 40 years now I've been calling her that.

 

[Uncle Howie]

Edit- I THOUGHT I knew what the arrow looks like… but I was wrong.

Therefore, I deleted my (inaccurate) attempt to show what it looks like.
——
The arrow is on the bottom of the frame, right in front of the grip frame, pointing toward the muzzle.

The arrow is in the same location as the star, on the "star model" Single-Six. (If you're familiar with them.)

 

[contender]

As for posting pictures using a phone,, I'm clueless. miss Penny says I should not have a "smphart phone" as I can screw up anything that's "modern, digital, and has buttons!" I refer to myself as being "computer stupid" and it's worse with trying to figure out a phone.

As for calling her Miss Penny,, it's a funny quirk I have. Long ago,, as a kid,, I had an older gentleman doing the same thing with his wife. I was raised,, knowing a single woman was called "Miss" and was always treated like a lady. And I was taught that a married woman was called "Mrs." But this gentleman said; "I call her Miss for a couple of reasons. One,, she is, always has been & will be a true, to me,, a "lady" and the change to "Mrs" if often associated with "OLD ladies." In my eyes,, she'll always be that young, vibrant lady I fell for!"
I always liked that.

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

For years I did not have one of the "arrow" guns. I have a pile of the single cylinder "star" guns that were made much earlier. Both the star and arrow guns were Ruger testing the market to see if making a slightly cheaper single cylinder gun would be a good seller, knowing that most folks didn't ever both shooting WMR. It didn't really catch on. Either time. Ruger never stopped making the convertibles, they just added the cheaper LR-only option for those two short periods in the 1970's (star) and again in the 1980's (arrow).

Recently, thanks to a forum member, I was able to pick up NIB w/shipper examples of two of the arrow guns, the 4-5/8" barrel SSR4 and the 5.5" barrel SSR5. There were also models SSR6 and SSR9 with 6.5" and 9.5" barrels respectively. The star guns had the same four barrel lengths and were offered in either blue or stainless. The arrow guns were only blue.

I don't have any pics but since I only got them a couple months ago, they are not buried too deep, so maybe I can post an arrow pic later.

EDIT: OK, they were easy to find, so here are some pics...

 

[Star43]

View attachment 46283

The mark looks -somewhat- like this.

Imagine it's pointing straight up… it might look like a "house."

Pointing any other direction, it looks more like an "arrow."

It's on the bottom of the frame, right in front of the grip frame, pointing toward the muzzle.

The arrow is in the same location as the star, on the "star model" Single-Six. (If you're familiar with them.)

Thanks Uncle Howie, but the "walls" of the house are much much shorter so it looks like a little house. The location you pointed out is right on.

 

[Star43]

For years I did not have one of the "arrow" guns. I have a pile of the single cylinder "star" guns that were made much earlier. Both the star and arrow guns were Ruger testing the market to see if making a slightly cheaper single cylinder gun would be a good seller, knowing that most folks didn't ever both shooting WMR. It didn't really catch one. Either time.

Thanks WMG !!! Looks like you have a couple of them too !! The ones I have are both the 5.5 inch. Thanks for showing the picture!

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

The rarest of all the single cylinder NM star/arrow guns is the star marked model S4, a blue gun with the 4-5/8" barrel. RENE notes it as "extremely rare" with only about 15 known.

 

[Star43]

As for posting pictures using a phone,, I'm clueless. miss Penny says I should not have a "smphart phone" as I can screw up anything that's "modern, digital, and has buttons!" I refer to myself as being "computer stupid" and it's worse with trying to figure out a phone.

As for calling her Miss Penny,, it's a funny quirk I have. Long ago,, as a kid,, I had an older gentleman doing the same thing with his wife. I was raised,, knowing a single woman was called "Miss" and was always treated like a lady.

Yes, I was brought up the same way on how to respectfully refer to a woman. We are probably close in age. That older gentleman gave you very good advice. Excellent advice. I feel the same way about my "girl". She will never age in my eyes. How I started on the Miss Peggy, it came real quick on our first date. I casually mentioned to her: "So your first name is really Margaret, right?".....She said my name is Peggy. I then said well everyone must call you Peggy but your real name must be Margaret. She looked at me with beautiful blue eyes Very Firmly, and said My Name is Peggy!! That's what my parents named me !!.....I said: "Ok, Miss Peggy, now I know". That was in about mid 1984, and we got married here in CA in June of 86. She dragged me away from Mass. She said it was too cold. She was from CA and wanted to come home. Just about a half hour ago as she was making my coffee, I said to her: Good morning Miss Peggy !!

 

[Star43]

The rarest of all the single cylinder NM star/arrow guns is the star marked model S4, a blue gun with the 4-5/8" barrel. RENE notes it as "extremely rare" with only about 15 known.

View attachment 46306

View attachment 46307

I had heard that the 4 5/8 version was the lowest number made but didn't know there were only 15 of them made. You did real good there!!

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

Well, I paid far more than $69.95 for it! But that is the old receipt I found in the box with it.

I paid over 10X that price, about 11 years ago. Still did OK though.

 

[Star43]

Well, I paid far more than $69.95 for it! But that is the old receipt I found in the box with it.

I paid over 10X that price, about 11 years ago. Still did OK though.

Wow, $69.95.......Wouldn't it be nice if we could go back in time for a short time and go visit a bunch of gun shops and buy the guns that we treasure now for that type of $69.95 type price. That would be true paradise.......

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

Yes, I was brought up the same way on how to respectfully refer to a woman.
...
"So your first name is really Margaret, right?"

My ex-wife was Margaret but she went by Margo.

One time, we were walking through Englishtown Flea Market in New Jersey where she was from, and we stopped at a vendor's table when she saw something she liked. She asked the man how much he was asking, and he said he didn't know because it was his wife's.

Then he yells out, "Hey Cabbage Head! How much for this?"

Margo and I looked at each other in amusement and she said to me, "That's a term of endearment in New Jersey".

 

[Star43]

So that means if someone calls us "Cabbage Head" , we should take that in a good way. A term of endearment. You know, it's amazing what we can learn from this Forum.....