The Ruger Bearcat

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I don't know what state you are n, but I cannot remember the last time I saw one here in CA. Hopefully you are in a place where you can find one and or maybe more plentiful. Good luck 🙂
 
Star43 said:
Well now I know what "egg money" is......A saying from the good old days. I hope he earns more egg money so he can get his Bearcat.....As far as Randy's gun, I could be wrong, but I think there is a story behind that gun. The pictures look like it was babied and never shot. I'm thinking a guy writing his name "Twice" kind of shows he likes it ?? Randy should try to find out more about it, if he could. I think he did check but nothing came up. If that guy had a problem, or passed, well to me, I do think Randy will take good care of it. I think that gun is special. 👍
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I guess I'll go back to saving.
Here's the thing with me. I have about a dozen things that I'm interested in at any one time. From a P-232 to a Milwaukee Electric pole saw, to one of those Bearcats, or a nice Ithaca 20ga. I've got a soft spot for Almar folders too. But knowing I can make do without lets me find what I justify as a bargain. The warden doesn't agree as a rule, so I have my "egg money" that isn't on the books.
 
Now that makes Good Sense. Contender did explain the history of the term, as I had never heard it before......Now it makes perfect sense. Yes we all have our Wardens, and God Bless them as we sure need them, BUT YES, we need Egg Money !!! The Egg Money is what makes our little world go round.....that sunshine of Hope !!. Thanks Hertervillain. I Know what you mean...and I think Contender did too. He was just a bit more diplomatic about the explanation.....🙂👍👍
 
Star43 said:
You know Randy, I have seen a lot of photos here and they are all great. All well cared for guns that look just terrific........but I have to say that I think yours is my favorite. It has a special character. To me, I don't know of many guys engraving their name on their guns. Not only did your guy do it on the gun, but he did it twice. I mean, Who does that !!! The only guy I think would do that, would be a guy who loved that gun and it was very special to him. That, also to me, is not the kind of guy who would really want to part with that gun . Who knows if something happened to him or he has passed, who knows? But either way you have it now. I know you will take good care of that gun, and not only for yourself, but maybe for him too. I think it is a special gun.....😊😊👍👍
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I did try and research the name. I did find a "Katherine Karber", she passed in 2005. I guess it's possible. She lived in the same area as I purchased the gun from. That was Southern California. However the gun was initially shipped to a dealer in MN in 1966. So who knows…I could go way down a rabbit hole if I wanted to.

Ya know, I never thought of it that way. That someone loved it so much they put their name on it. The one spot the name was scratched in crudely and then the "engraved" name was done over it. I'm wondering if this wasn't a gun they got when they were young. That might explain the engraving. I always put my name on everything when I was a kid. Thanks for showing me a different way to look at it!
 
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You really need to be careful when storing Bearcats. If left alone in the dark, they multiply!!
Good thing i really like them..
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Gee, I was going to ask you which "one" was your favorite, but in your case, it's more like which half dozen do you like the best........🤔
 
48flyer said:
You really need to be careful when storing Bearcats. If left alone in the dark, they multiply!!
Good thing i really like them..
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You know, if it's ok with you, if you could let me borrow 2 of them and I'll put them in my hallway closet for a couple of nights......Then you could take the parents home & I'll raise the offspring.
 
Randyzzz said:
I did try and research the name. I did find a "Katherine Karber", she passed in 2005. I guess it's possible. She lived in the same area as I purchased the gun from. That was Southern California. However the gun was initially shipped to a dealer in MN in 1966. So who knows…I could go way down a rabbit hole if I wanted to.

Ya know, I never thought of it that way. That someone loved it so much they put their name on it. The one spot the name was scratched in crudely and then the "engraved" name was done over it. I'm wondering if this wasn't a gun they got when they were young. That might explain the engraving. I always put my name on everything when I was a kid. Thanks for showing me a different way to look at it!
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It is a very nice looking little gun. Maybe you should consider calling your little "Cat" there, Katherine? Just a thought ?? 🙂👍
 
Yes, he was the reason I started looking at the Bearcat frames, which actually started the thread. I will be on the lookout now for one, although where I live, I may go blue in the face before I ever see one, but you never know. 👍
 
well I am guilty of jumping to a conclusion and was corrected by my wife , who IS the Bearcat collector and our good friend BIll H ( flatop44) that they did use the letter "I" in their serialization, and I had recalled them talking many years ago about the confusion as to the letter in line with a number ( numeral) and their 'likeness' and she told me the letter versus the number in the case of a numeral one has a small flat at the bottom and the "I" doesn't??? I have never seen one in person or even a picture, so it seems odd or weird to me and had made MORE sense ,not to use it, heck they had issues with the letter "Q" looking like a 'zero', I recall Chad talking about it with Jeff M , years ago. Oh well ,been way TOO long ago for me, so anyone have ANY pictures of the ones in question????
Bottom line, the Bearcats , new ones or the old ones are still a cool gun, and we still like them, and their use of the steel 'built' like with the Super Bearcat, makes more sense in durability and a bit extra weight, they are still a very small gun, I remember my grandson Colin loved to help Grandma with her Bearcat collection and he got the nickname "Little Ruger Dude"..........
 

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Is that a picture of Colin there with the Bearcat box ?? Good looking kid, and it looks like he loves his Ruger's. Smart Kid !! That is a good point about the "Q"....All this talk about letters and looking like a Zero or looking like a "one". It's kind of comical when you think about it......You know just before you posted, I was thinking of the Bearcat (again, Contender's fault), and I was looking them up and found out Ruger dropped production I think in 1974, because the update to the new model was too hard or they weren't easy to do at that time, so they just went & dropped the Bearcat line. I had always kind of thought it was because of low sales, but no, it was because of the "safety" update. Anyway that's what I read.
 
Sorry, I walked away from this thread for quite some time. Mine was done by a local gunsmith. Action jobs on the bearcat can be done by a number of good gunsmiths including Gary Reeder who does quite a bit of work on them.
 
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