Here is a gun some folks might not take a second glance at. Pretty decent shape, XR3-RED, 5.5" barrel Single Six, only an LR cylinder. Box is no prize, barely holding together with a lot of red duct tape. Well-stained 1959 manual.
But scratch the surface and it turns out to be a real neat piece. In the XR3 days, the "W" in model RSS5W designated Walnut grips. Then when the XR3-RED grip frame came out, all grips were walnut, so the W for that was no longer needed. So Ruger changed the meaning of the W to designate single cylinder models.
This is one of those guns, a "type 1 transition" RSS5W - not a convertible, shipped with only the LR cylinder.
RENE lists the lowest known batch of these in the range 196245 to 196871. This one is 192945 making it a new low by quite a bit.
Then it turns out that this is also now the lowest known number for any XR3-RED Single Six. RENE lists one lower numbered XR3-RED convertible RSS9X at 175448. But I called Ruger to double check that one and it shipped in January 1961 - so it would have originally had an XR3 frame.
This 192945 gun shipped a little on the late side - November 1962 - which explains the XR3-RED frame on a low numbered gun.
But scratch the surface and it turns out to be a real neat piece. In the XR3 days, the "W" in model RSS5W designated Walnut grips. Then when the XR3-RED grip frame came out, all grips were walnut, so the W for that was no longer needed. So Ruger changed the meaning of the W to designate single cylinder models.
This is one of those guns, a "type 1 transition" RSS5W - not a convertible, shipped with only the LR cylinder.
RENE lists the lowest known batch of these in the range 196245 to 196871. This one is 192945 making it a new low by quite a bit.
Then it turns out that this is also now the lowest known number for any XR3-RED Single Six. RENE lists one lower numbered XR3-RED convertible RSS9X at 175448. But I called Ruger to double check that one and it shipped in January 1961 - so it would have originally had an XR3 frame.
This 192945 gun shipped a little on the late side - November 1962 - which explains the XR3-RED frame on a low numbered gun.