One of a kind (?) Security Six

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weaselmeatgravy

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SSDG, Same Shipment Different Gun as the W.A. POLICE Speed Six. This one is an early (low back) frame stainless Security Six model GA32. By serial number, this gun ranks among the very earliest of the stainless DA Rugers. It is an unmarked "factory second" in that it shipped twice, once in August 1975 and again in October 2009.

This is so far the only known stainless -Six series DA to have been shipped from the factory with a high polish finish. There is little known about it yet beyond the dual ship dates and the non-standard finish. But my suspicion goes something like this: Ruger shipped this gun out in normal brushed finish as a demo gun, maybe to a magazine for review or an LE agency for evaluation. It was returned to the factory and was at that point a used gun. It sat around for who-knows-how-long (possibly a decade or more) and then became a test subject for a glossy high polish finish. Remember that the first bright stainless guns offered commercially by Ruger were Vaqueros in 1993 and then throughout the 90's, Ruger offered various "GK" prefixed bright stainless Single Sixes, Blackhawks, Super Blackhawks, Old Army's, SP101s, GP100s, and Super Redhawks. Maybe they tried it first on a few old used guns that were laying around? The original white box is long gone. It was stored in a more recent vintage yellow box with the words "High Polish" written on the end. When it was finally shipped, a modern barcode label was put on that same end, partially covering the lower part of that handwriting, confirming that the writing was on it at the factory, substantiating the finish as at least having been on it when it left the factory, and likely done by the factory. To comply with current law, a fired case was included in an envelope.

GA32-150-55384-High-Polish-Right.jpg


GA32-150-55384-High-Polish-Left.jpg


GA32-150-55384-High-Polish-Box.jpg


Of course, the finish may have been done much earlier, even in the 1970's prior to the original shipment. The Aug 1975 ship date is actually a bit late itself, by normal serial number sequencing, this gun should have been made in 1973, so it may have hung around getting the special treatment back in the day. The competition was selling nickel plated guns, and maybe Ruger wanted to try to compete for a piece of that market with a "simulated nickel" finish DA. Something that was less problematic from a production standpoint than actual plating, and the finish would hold up better than plating under use. The fairly heavy cylinder line indicates that the gun saw a reasonable amount of use after being polished.

Whatever the circumstances, it appears to be a prototype finish and a nifty conversation piece that I was happy to add to my stash!
 

weaselmeatgravy

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Found a couple other things to note on this gun.

The last 3 digits of the SN are stamped into the crane and the entire suffix is written on the inside of the grip panels. Neither of those things were standard.

GA32-150-55384-High-Polish-Crane.jpg


GA32-150-55384-High-Polish-Grips.jpg


The thing about the number in the crane tells me that there may have been more than just this one that were polished. Cuz if they were only polishing one gun, they would not have needed to mark the parts to keep track of which gun they came from. Eh? So there may be a few more out there somewhere...
 

G2

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It is apparent that you have been a good boy, SANTA has come early, eah?

Neat Stuff!!!
 

contender

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I think WMG is doing more for the collectors of the Security series guns than anyone. He just keeps on finding rare & unusual pieces. Might nice guns!
 
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