Steve H said:
I've often wondered why the S marked Lightweights ( Tricolor or Duo Tone ) has any correlation with having a Steel Cyl. I don't recall seeing any s marked (seconds) Lightweights in the all blue configuration and surely there would have been some. And if there could have been a different designation as to where the S was located ie.
on the bottom of the frame or in the serial number, designating second or steel .
Just Wondering
Steve
What turned out to be the "S" marked Lightweights were guns that had issues with the silver colored finish (inconsistent color), casting pits in the aluminum frame or for other reasons. We also know of one that doesn't have a rear sight tightening screw installed and another that has a color case type finish on the side of the front sight where cutting the front sight extrusion got too hot, so it showed up in the bluing.
All the guns with visiual defects or other issues were set aside in 1956/1957 and finally reworked or whatever still needed done in the 1964/1965 time period where they were shipped out. That is also when the "S" would have been stamped on them. Most of the "S" Lightweights are of the dual tone variety, that with the silver anodized cylinder frame. But there were also seven guns after that period that are known to have been shipped as factory second, and are all blue, 205254S to 206523S. Because these were shipped at the same time (1964 I believe) along with the dual tone "S" guns, we believe all of them have the "S" stamped as a serial number suffix. Only one of these all blue "seconds" is known...205924S. "S" Lightweights with the "S" stamped on the bottom of the frame I believe were the ones shipped in the second batch, in 1965...so the type of "S" and where it is located is really a matter of what era it occurred.
In 1964/1965, the LWAC with martin hard coated aluminum cylinder was long gone and the LWSC was the last model offered into 1958. So when the seconds were finally shipped, Ruger wouldn't have put aluminum cylinders with them anyway, for a couple reasons...the vast majority preferred the steel cylinder, and Ruger may not have had any aluminum cylinders left anyway. These guns were probably also sold at a discount just to get them out of Ruger's warehouse, so Ruger would have wanted them out of there with whatever was there to assemble them.
Surprisingly, most of the "S" Lightweights that are out there were actually shipped in silver Lightweight Single-Six boxes, so these guns for the most part must have been fully assembled and stored in their boxes until somebody could figure out what to do with those "unsightly" guns. "S" Lightweights can be found with a variety of different parts on them, flatgate or roundgate (although most are roundgate), all have steel cylinders, most have alloy ejector housings, and I believe there are a few out there with XR3 grip frames.
One "S" Lightweight is also known to have a gold anodized grip frame. Some may question whether the grip frame was on the gun originally or not, but the story is that a collector by the name of Alan Welsheimer was perusing the Columbus, Ohio gun show one year sometime in the 1970's and had already picked four "S" Lightweights up at this show (back when the good stuff could still be found!!!). One of the four had the gold grip frame and that is the one that is known today. A fifth "S" Lightweight was also at the show and Alan told a budding collector by the name of Jeff Munnell that he better grab that one as it will probably be really good property some day.
Chet15
