Need a little help here

[cruzerlou]

Hey folks,
I have a bit of a problem here .i have a New Model S.B.H. that I believe was built in 1973,but the serial # doesn't jib with the ruger website .
This gun had a old model cylinder in it and the serial# is 81-05XXX which puts it in the 1973 run of guns .I've been told that a few S.B.H.'s got out of the factory this way[old model cylinder in a new model frame] when they were changing over to the new model frame .
According to Ruger the 1973 guns starting serial# was 81-12401. 1973 was the first year of the new model ,and the serial# of the 1973 old model was 80-57651.
I spoke with Ruger and they don't have this gun on record as ether an old or new model ,but according to them it has to be a 1973 gun .It has the new model 2 pin frame,but it had the old model cylinder until I sent it back to Ruger for light firing pin strikes and they rebuilt the gun on the inside and put a new model cylinder in the gun and kept my old one.I don't believe the cylinder had anything to do with the light strikes ,as this gun had fired thousand's of rounds with out a hiccup.

Here'a the thing ,if this gun was one of the very few new model's that got out of the factory with the old model cylinder in it that makes it quite a rare gun .
My plan was to install a hunter grip frame, color case harden the frame and loading gate and re blue the bbl,cyl, and E.R.H. .Mill down the front sight to the sight base and dovetail the base to accept a Marble type brass bead front sight like on the 10/22's and install a v-notch rear blade off a MK II pistol.The bbl on the gun was Mag-Na-ported when I bought the gun in 1984 .
So here's my question,should I buy an old model cylinder and a stock[pre warning ] 7 1/2 " bbl and put this gun back to original condition because it's a very rare factory gun? Buy another pre warning S.B.H. and do the bbl swap with it and just find an old model cyl. and do the mods to the other gun ?.
I'd hate to mess up a rare gun that is something of a factory frankingun .
What should I do ? Please help me with this .
Thanks,
Your Friend,
Lou

 

[k22fan]

Collector guns that had major parts replaced loose more value for that reason than transitional guns gain value on account of having been assembled from parts manufactured before and after a manufacturing change. I doubt you could recover the cost of restoring your transitional SBH even if you did the work yourself and didn’t disclose the replaced parts.

I’d customize the SBH to the way I’d enjoy it the most over my lifetime and not spend too much time worrying about what a mythical collector might pay my heirs for it.

 

[Hondo44]

Lou,
Don't understand the need for the barrel change; did it come with a pre warning barrel or how did it get a barrel with the warning??? Or does it also have an OM 6 1/2" barrel?

If you want a 7 1/2", it will be a lot easier and cheaper to find with warning; just polish it off when you get it reblued.

Think about a Ruger Hunter front bead sight as long as you plan to have the sight base milled anyway. Mill it for the Ruger factory sight parts and you can have replaceable Ruger sight blades.

Re: the collectibility: that bullet is downrange and can't be brought back. Just do as k22fan suggests.

 

[street]

RENE list serial numbers for 1973 as follows:
81-00001 to 81-12400 and D81-08606 to D81-08783.

As for the Old Model cylinder, the one with the firing pin groove in the rear of the cylinder, they went up to serial number 81-42228. which means there were over 40,000 made.

 

[cruzerlou]

Hondo it has a 7 1/2 " bbl that's been Mag-Na-Ported and it doesn't have the "warning" on it .My thinking was that if the gun was truly a rare gun ,I'd put the correct bbl on it ,I.E. a 7 1/2' w/o the warning and an old mod . cylinder on it so it would be like it was when it left he factory .
Since it's not a super rare gun I'll just go on and do the mods to this gun and I'll have a SBH that I like the look of and that won't bite my hand with heavy loads like the dragoon style grip frame does.Also I really like the tri color the S.S. grip frame, the color case hardend frame,loading gate and the blued bbl, cyl, and E.R.H. will give me .I have a super nice set of Buffalo horn grips for it ,I'm going to jewel the sides of the hammer and trigger and add the sights I mentioned so that I can see them better .Then I'll have a hunting hand gun that I think will look good and will be easier on my eyes as far as sighting the gun goes.
lou

 

[Joe S.]

IMO, the person that magnaported it killed the collectibility of the gun. If you put it back to stock with old parts it's still a modified gun because it isnt original. If you want it original cause you like it, put it back original. Otherwise, at this point i dont think you will be doing any harm by making it your own.

I bought a 58 flattop 357 that had a boogered grip frame. Its at Ruger now getting a reblue and Im getting another grip frame cause i want it back original. Not for the collector value but because i want it original.

 

[Hondo44]

Hondo it has a 7 1/2 " bbl that's been Mag-Na-Ported and it doesn't have the "warning" on it .My thinking was that if the gun was truly a rare gun ,I'd put the correct bbl on it ,I.E. a 7 1/2' w/o the warning and an old mod . cylinder on it so it would be like it was when it left he factory .
Since it's not a super rare gun I'll just go on and do the mods to this gun and I'll have a SBH that I like the look of and that won't bite my hand with heavy loads like the dragoon style grip frame does.Also I really like the tri color the S.S. grip frame, the color case hardend frame,loading gate and the blued bbl, cyl, and E.R.H. will give me .I have a super nice set of Buffalo horn grips for it ,I'm going to jewel the sides of the hammer and trigger and add the sights I mentioned so that I can see them better .Then I'll have a hunting hand gun that I think will look good and will be easier on my eyes as far as sighting the gun goes.
lou

I used the Ruger Hunter front bead and V notch rear blade for the same reason. The Hunter grip frame is a big improvement. The dragoon grip always rapped my knuckles too.

 

[cruzerlou]

Yea hondo, my pet load of a 300 gr XPT over 18.7gr's of H-110 is a right stout load ,but very accurate out of this gun,but it will smack the snot out of your middle finger with that Dragoon style grip.That's one reason I'm going to install the hunter grip frame .the other as I said is to get that tri color look on the gun .I can't wait to get started on it .I've got a few projects to finish up first ,but I'm hoping on getting started in this gun in a couple months .It won't take me long to get it done I just need to clear my plate so to speak first .
Lou