I bought a used Single six, nothing special and it shoots well. THe grip frame is very scratched.
Can I, or should I, bead blast and blue/duracoat type finish?
Thanks
John,
I'm no smith but I'm restoring an old single six too and the grip frame seems to be some kind of paint as opposed to anodized...anyway, I glass bead blasted mine and painted with Alumihide ll...five coats, using a heat gun between coats and seems to be tough as nails. It has worked for me on several Aluminum gun parts as well as a steel shotgun barrel with great results! good luck.
Hill
Just a quickie photo off my cell phone (since Mr. FlatGate likes to look 8) ) but here is a 'restored' Single-Six by Mr. Hamilton Bowen. Custom barrel, dovetail front sight, refinished grip frame, cased receiver frame and hammer, and HOW ABOUT THOSE STAG GRIPS!?!
Tuned for CCI Stingers . . . scary accurate. What a blast it is - probably my personal favorite sidearm.
John K - I would give it a try. I think you're on the right track. Depending on the depth of scratches may not even need to bead blast - just a little sanding.
JK--you could polish the grip frame to silver & the shroud the same it will look good esp. with a light colored set of stag grips like Sack Peterson makes 8) 8) look on reccuring items below classified section. OVEN-STOVE cleaner will take finish off both parts in mins.
Many folks have rough grip frames like that. Some choose to strip the black off & polish it shiny. Other strip it and recoat it with some form of quality spray coating offered by Brownells. Not a hard job,, just requires time & patience.
The older hard black rubber grips that used to be on Rugers won't fit that frame. Those grips fit the XR3 gripframe,, while you have a much newer gripframe.
That'll be tough since Ruger never made them to fit your grip frame. The early Single-Sixes and Blackhawks used the XR-3 grip frame which emulates the Colt SAA sized and shape. Those black grips were only made for the XR-3.
In June/July of '62 the REDesigned XR3-RED grip frame emerged. It was simply a "truncated" Super Blackhawk grip frame, shortened on both ends to make a "more comfortable" grip. (Many folks lament that change but I'm a big fan of the slightly larger XR3-RED size!)
Now days, the current crop of lock equipped New Model Single-Sixes and New Model Blackhawks do indeed have some black grips that just might work very well for you. I do not have any experience with such a swap but I bet the guys here can offer some valuable information.
Dang, wish I could find a better photo than this, my camera's on the blink, but that's what I did with the FT frame I put on my OM SS6. Gave it just enough fine sandblast to get the old finish off and give it some "tooth". Then painted with an epoxy paint that turned out too "black and shiney" but presentable.....FWIW, Dennis
The new plastic grips from a Single Six or a Blackhawk should fit nicely and give the look of the old hard rubber Ruger Grips. However, the grips from an Ann. Model or a New Vaquero will not work.
If you post a "Want to Buy" add in the classifieds, someone will be able to help you.
I bought an old Single Six a couple of years ago that mechanically was excellent and other than a little holster wear at the tip of the barrel was excellent. The ejector rod housing and grip frame however were very worn. I sent those parts only to Ruger and they refinished them for about $35 if I recall. The bad news is that I was expecting anodizing like the original and they came back with the current powder coating or whatever it is finish. Still, they made the gun look much better and the finish seems very tough. You might look into that before all the labor of sanding or blasting and the cost of AlumaHyde or a similar bake on finish.