When did Ruger put an internal lock on a single action?

[john lee]

Picked up a new Single Six with the black grips this morning. Took it to the woods and shot it. But when I got home and started looking in the box I found a couple of keys that looked like they went with an internal lock. That's what they are! Locks the hammer down. When did that happen? An internal lock for a single action? I must have slept through that one. But at least you have to take off a grip to use it so there's nothing to distract from the gun's appearance.

 

[BlkHawk73]

Started a couple years ago. You can tell which have them by the "L" is the catalog number. Not really a big deal IMO. It simply allows the gun to be marketed and sold in some areas which require such features. Wanna use it, fine; don't want to, that's fine too.

 

[45flattop]

I found it first on my 50th Anniversary .357 Blackhawk and I also
found that a common handcuff key can be used to activate or deactivate
the lock. :mrgreen:

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

The internal lock first appeared on the New Vaquero, probably about five years ago. Don't sweat it. It's not like on a S&W with a hole in the side of the frame. If you choose not to use it, you'll never even know it's there.

 

[Leucoandro]

It simply allows the gun to be marketed and sold in some areas which require such features.

No state requires such features. The closest is Maryland. You must either have an internal lock in all handguns, or a bore lock such as one from Omega Safety

http://www.omegagunlock.com/productline.htm

Here is another that is allowed
http://www.visualock.com/

Seems like you can get a bore lock for every caliber of handgun Ruger sells, so no internal lock is required for any Ruger to be sold in Maryland.


Charlie

 

[29 Wheelgunner]

Howdy

The internal lock first appeared on the New Vaquero, probably about five years ago. Don't sweat it. It's not like on a S&W with a hole in the side of the frame. If you choose not to use it, you'll never even know it's there.

And what an ugly hole it is.
At least if you are going to put an internal lock on a firearm, Ruger did it right.

 

[flatgate]

flatgate

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

Thanks for the photo Flatgate.

A few years ago I bought a matched pair of 357 New Vaqueros for my wife to shoot in Cowboy Action Shooting. I bought some lighter springs for them from Wolff and one day I sat down to install the new springs. After I was done I found this part sitting on the bench:

I had no idea what it was, didn't even know for sure if it came out of the Rugers. They both seemed to be working fine. I took off the grips and did a close inspection. Took a while before I noticed that this part appeard to be some sort of spacer between the bottom of the internal lock and the grip frame. If you look real close at Flatgate's photo you can just see it between the lock and the frame. I put it back in, but I have no idea why Ruger spent the money for that extra little part. Doesn't really seem to do anything.

 

[two bit okie]

with the legendary reliability of ruger single actions, has any body that doesnt use the lock ever had one go south on them. or heard of one.

 

[Chance]

My "never go to the desert without it" gun is a 2 year old NM 45LC Blackhawk with the internal lock. The keys have been stapled to the guns file folder since day one. This gun has a few thousand rounds through it without a single problem, lock or otherwise.

Don't mess with it and don't worry about it.

 

[freakindawgen]

I know of these locks and they are not a bother.But now upon reading this thread,I got thinkin about my new 4" Redhawk 45LC.I dont think there is an internal lock.This sound right?

 

[JimMarch1]

This lock first shipped in 2004 with the NewVaq. My fairly early vintage NewVaq357 (sn in the 5xxx range) is my daily carry CCW piece and the best gun I've ever owned...so I've been watching for ANY reports of Ruger lock failures.

There have been none to date...and I monitor a lot of forums.

I strongly doubt it's in the Redhawk. It's not been seen in the GP100 or SP101 yet either. The new Ruger LCR has it, and surprisingly it's exactly the same mechanism found in the SAs.

It appears Ruger "beta tested" the lock in lower-powered SAs on the assumption that most aren't used for personal defense, and the CAS/SASS crowd would "test" the bejeezus out of them with high round counts. After over four years with no failures, they finally in 2009 put it in an obvious self defense piece (LCR). By giving the LCR the exact same lock, the signal to those paying attention is "this thing has been heavily tested and you can trust it".

I think that was damned smart, myself.

(Note: by "lower power" SAs I mean less horsepower than the 44Mag/SBH, or the large-frame 45LCs. Those DO get used for personal defense now and again - against critters. And to my knowledge the Hunters and SBHs haven't seen the lock yet...the large-frame 45s might be shipping with the lock now but that's a recent development.)