Single Six rescues

Joey

Joey

Buckeye
Gold Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2024
Messages
1,434
City & State/Province
Tennessee
I have always said I am not a true collector of Ruger single actions. More like a gatherer!! I seem to attract, or am attracted to, guns that need a little, or a lot, of TLC!. I just enjoy taking a down-in-the-mouth firearm and
Bringing it back to life. In the last 3 months, I have "rescued" 2 om single sixes and an om SSS. I feel I need to clarify that, one of the ss was in great shape, got it as a barreled action with cylinder, erh, proper base pin and er and loading gate. put the innards in it and gf and grips. Came with a beautiful plum ejector housing, which I had never seen. Thanks to usps (ultra slow parcel service) after 21 days, the seller is still waiting for his check on this one. Got him out another today, I could go on a rant about usps, but that's not what this thread's about. I do want to give him a shout-out, and thank him for his patience.

The first one is the latest, and I call it Rust Bucket. Just got it from GB. Seller said it had been stored in a holster for a while. Came without original grips or the flat gate, I had both, so it is now back to original. This one is going to Ruger for a bath in the bluing tank. I cleaned it up, and taking it to the range just to let it find its voice.

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This is what it looks like after cleaning.
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Note the flat gate and the proper grips, as well as the clean hammer.
 
This is the third one. Notice the bp latch is missing. This one is destined for a cut down barrel worked grip frame and grips. Maybe a home blue treatment, using Mark Lee #1 express blue.
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I replaced the erh, installed a a bp latch and bp and gave it the oil bag treatment.
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Heres what will go on it. I have a barrel to cut down for it.
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It came with a .22 mag cylinder. It will be my driveway gun. The cut down grip and short barrel should make it easier to pocket carry.
I forgot to mention it will lose the front sight. Will be a self-defense gun, point and shoot. The front sight could also inhibit it from being pulled from my pocket.
 
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I was afraid that would be a point of contention. Should have put a disclaimer in it. The grips I cut down had the squashed eagle medallion, grips or medallion not in real good shape. The medallions the cut down grips now sport are skinny feather rescues off a broken set of grips I got in a parts kit. I put them in with a dot of glue so they could be easily removed. I still have the set of neck feather grips pictured. Be still, my racing heart!
 
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Hey, Contender

The grips in pic 1 came with the gun. The pics on the red cloth are grips I put on after the oil bath/cleaning. I knew this guns future, put the original grips in a safe place , put these on it as a temp. The medallions in pic 1 are missing a lot of paint, but as you noted they are hard to find. Possible touch up?
 
Joey said:
This is the third one. Notice the bp latch is missing. This one is destined for a cut down barrel worked grip frame and grips. Maybe a home blue treatment, using Mark Lee #1 express blue.
View attachment 91296
View attachment 91297
View attachment 91298
I replaced the erh, installed a a bp latch and bp and gave it the oil bag treatment.View attachment 91299View attachment 91300View attachment 91301View attachment 91302Heres what will go on it. I have a barrel to cut down for it.View attachment 91304View attachment 91305View attachment 91306It came with a .22 mag cylinder. It will be my driveway gun. The cut down grip and short barrel should make it easier to pocket carry.
I forgot to mention it will lose the front sight. Will be a self-defense gun, point and shoot. The front sight could also inhibit it from being pulled from my pocket.
Click to expand...
Why are you letting rust start on the first gun???
 
I'm not. That is the condition I got the gun in, it was stored in a holster for a long period of time. On receiving it, I tore it down completely, put the small parts in a baggie with oil covering them, put the main frame and cylinder in baggies and let them soak over night. I cleaned them with cotton cloths, then took oil and 0000 steel wool to the large parts, removing any left over surface rust, sprayed it with oil and cleaned it again with a cloth. What you see in the bottom pics is blue loss due to the holster storage. I put it back together to see how it shoots. It will go to Ruger for a re-blue.
Fortunately there is no pitting, the bore looks great! the bore and the cylinder chambers were the only clean parts of this gun, like some one cleaned them and said to hell with the rest of it!
 
I just looked at the pic links, that is actually the third gun. The pics you linked are fron the seller, showing the condition of the gun. I gave this one the same treatment as described above, the last pics are after putting it back together. I will give this gun a re-blue after installing the short barrel. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
 
Awesome thread, Joey! I love seeing stuff like this. To me, posts like this with plenty of pictures, explanations, and progress reports are the main reason I’m here. I can’t wait to see how the reblue comes out- and as we’ve been DM’ing, I will have a couple to follow in its footsteps!

Great job, my friend!
 
Randyzzz said:
Awesome thread, Joey! I love seeing stuff like this. To me, posts like this with plenty of pictures, explanations, and progress reports are the main reason I’m here. I can’t wait to see how the reblue comes out- and as we’ve been DM’ing, I will have a couple to follow in its footsteps!

Great job, my friend!
Click to expand...
Thanks much, Randy. I appreciate it. As you know, I'm kinda new to this, but I really enjoy what I am doing, and appreciate the opportunity to share and learn from like-minded folks. Thank you all.
 
Joey said:
This is the third one. Notice the bp latch is missing. This one is destined for a cut down barrel worked grip frame and grips. Maybe a home blue treatment, using Mark Lee #1 express blue.
View attachment 91296


I replaced the erh, installed a a bp latch and bp and gave it the oil bag treatment. Here's what will go on it. I have a barrel to cut down for it.It came with a .22 mag cylinder. It will be my driveway gun. The cut down grip and short barrel should make it easier to pocket carry.
I forgot to mention it will lose the front sight. Will be a self-defense gun, point and shoot. The front sight could also inhibit it from being pulled from my pocket.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a cool project. You know the new model Super SS has a quick draw ramp front sight that won't inhibit a quick draw. What length barrel do you want to end up with?
Here's a similar project of mine. Before:
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After:
4 1/8" barrel
Flat topped the frame and left it polished in the white
Micro Sight steel rear sight from a New Model Flattop Blackhawk
Shortened Super BH wide spur hammer
Steel XR3 grip frame from a New Model Flattop Blackhawk with wide trigger
Steel ERH
New Model SSS ramp front sight

1767222694556.png
 
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I was thinking 3 .5 to 4". That would eliminate the ejector rod, But it isn't like I will need to load it quickly!!

That's a good looking job, man! Did you do it yourself? I have been wanting a 4.5" SS, Hard to find!
 
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The Ruger short barrel is 4 5/8”. I like the proportion of my 4 1/4” because it has the proportion of my OM FLATTOP MID FRAME.

I made a 3 1/2” with an ejector by using a Colt ejector housing for a 3 1/2” barrel. It works because the ejector rod slot is angled so the rod knob pivots out and around the cylinder pin and provides full ejection for .22 cases. I’ll post photograph when I’m home.

Or you can use a flat tipped cylinder pin like the Vaquero Sheriff’s model with 3 1/2” barrel.
 
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Hondo44 said:
The Ruger short barrel is 4 5/8”. I like the proportion of my 4 1/4”. It has the proportion of my OM FLATTOP MID FRAME. I made a 3 1/2” with ejector by using a Colt ejector housing for a 3 1/2” barrel. It works because the ejector rod slot is angled so the rod knob pivots out and around the cylinder pin and provides full ejection for .22 cases. I’ll post photograph when I’m home.
Click to expand...
Thanks man, that would be great! I really appreciate it!!
 
No, I would give them to you before I did that. And I am not doing anything to this om sss that can't be reversed, if I or someone else so chooses. The barrel, grip frame and original grips will go into a box marked what it is for. The cut barrel is a take-off out of a parts kit. I know how much you hate to see the old models modified! The grips and gf I worked down were not in real good shape. I would never do this to a xr3........
 
MY POCKET SINGLE SIX

Cut barrel to 3 ½”, turned 90 degrees so roll mark is on the side like the large caliber old models and not partially covered by front sight (since the barrel was shortened). New model ramp sight lowered (due to short barrel length).

Bisley hammer to half silver soldered to bottom half of old model hammer.

SBH wide trigger narrowed at the top of the wide part to slip into trigger slot sideways and then turned 90 degrees so I didn't have to modify grip frame trigger slot. XR3 alloy grip frame (replacing original XR3-RED alloy grip frame). The ejector rod housing is steel from a Colt clone because it has the curved rod slot that can be seen in both photos. This allows the ejector rod button to swivel away from the barrel as you push it to the rear and pivot around the cylinder pin to more fully eject cases, especially the .22 magnum cases.


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"I know how much you hate to see the old models modified!"

I don't really "hate" it,, so much as how it saddens me when someone takes a nice OM, or a rarer NM and modifies it in an irreversible manner.
When you consider that the OM era was just 20 years long,, and the NM era is over 50 years & still going,, every OM so modified is another one lost.

Now,, when you find an abused & neglected gun, no matter if it's an OM or a NM,, and lovingly restore it to a better condition,, or even customize that one,, I find that much more acceptable.

There's a limited number of OM's or even limited versions of the NM's that sadly get chopped up beyond the ability to be restored to how they were built.
A good example of a NM being so modified is the popular idea to take a .357 Maximum and have a different caliber made out of one of those.

HOWEVER,, I also accept the fact that it's NOT my gun nor my decision to try & tell someone what to do with their property.

It means fewer & fewer people will get the opportunity to appreciate the fine OM's as they were built.
 
Hondo44 said:
MY POCKET SINGLE SIX

Cut barrel to 3 ½”, turned 90 degrees so roll mark is on the side like the large caliber old models and not partially covered by front sight (since the barrel was shortened). New model ramp sight lowered (due to short barrel length).

Bisley hammer to half silver soldered to bottom half of old model hammer.

SBH wide trigger narrowed at the top of the wide part to slip into trigger slot sideways and then turned 90 degrees so I didn't have to modify grip frame trigger slot. XR3 alloy grip frame (replacing original XR3-RED alloy grip frame). The ejector rod housing is steel from a Colt clone because it has the curved rod slot that can be seen in both photos. This allows the ejector rod button to swivel away from the barrel as you push it to the rear and pivot around the cylinder pin to more fully eject cases, especially the .22 magnum cases.


View attachment 91434



View attachment 91435
Click to expand...
That's cool, man! I have a NM ramped front sight in my parts. I will look for the colt ejector assy. That's a nice looking gun. If mine turns out 1/2 as nice, I will be happy! I will probably sand the roll mark off the barrel. Thanks much!
 
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