A single six mystery

speedingpickle

speedingpickle

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2022
Messages
38
Well it's a mystery to me anyway, but I'm sure most of you will know instantly what this is.
My favorite (and last) uncle passed away a little over a month ago. This is the guy who gave me my first motorcycle, my first shot of whiskey, and my first go behind the trigger-all before the tender age of 10. Bikes booze and guns! Heckuva role model! Mom, his sister, didn't approve, but all three have stuck with me my entire life. He only had one child, a son who has no interest in firearms. So, they all came to me. He'd been paring down for years but it still amounted to over 30 guns all of which needed serious cleaning and none of which were particularly babied. This filled several holes in my collection and I am beyond thrilled to get the gun in question.

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It came with the original box and manual, and the receipt-he purchased it Dec 1967 while stationed in Guam during his stint with the Air Force.

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$48! Hard to wrap my head around that!

It also came with a spare cylinder, hammer, trigger, cylinder latch and spring, pawl, and base pin. I did a little poking around and from what I can tell this is a Single Six Conversion, enabling the use of .22 mag ammunition.

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Here's where the mystery comes in. Except for the cylinder the spare parts were in a plastic bag with this warning:

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That strike me as odd for a couple reasons. First, isn't it reasonable to assume these were sold new, with the gun, and therefore couldn't possibly be "abused" or "unsafe"? And second, why leave them for "collector's purposes" only? The parts have obviously been installed/used but there's nothing wrong with them. I don't shoot a lot of .22 mag but it'd be nice to have the option. And why would the hammer and other small parts need to be changed? They look like stock parts to me, the only difference being with the base pin. The installed unit has a thingy (technical term) sticking out of it, the spare doesn't.

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Other than some surface damage to the .22lr cylinder the gun is in good shape and I'm looking forward to warmer weather so I can go find out for myself if everything I've heard about these is true or not.

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I'd appreciate any info you might have regarding the spare parts and warning.
Thanks guys and hope your new year is better than the last!
 
I think it may have been sent back to Ruger for the transfer bar up grade. Some time in the early 80s I think, Ruger had a program going on that you could send your old model in and they would up grade it to the new model with the transfer bar for safety. The marking on the package would be because Ruger pulled them out and didn't inspect them just sent them back with the pistol. The warning was legal cover for Ruger in case someone using them as repair parts in another gun. So they are the old parts that came out of the old model.

My dad has one that he never sent in.

Just my guess on it.
WB
 
I am sorry about the loss of your uncle, and it was very nice of him to bequeath you a nice collection like that.

This S6 is old enough to be an "Old Model" - the new lockwork didn't come about until late '72/early '73, if I'm not mistaken. My best guess it that maybe Ruger offered to send the New Model parts to collectors at a point if requested.

Many prefer the feel and behavior of the "Old Model" lockwork.


Instead of sending a gun in for service/repair and getting it converted (desired or not), this would provide the best of both worlds. It is my most educated guess on it. Maybe someone else can confirm.
 
Yeah. I'm not knowledgeable to recognize the exact parts right away, but if you have a transfer bar safety, those are the original trigger parts. If you don't have a transfer bar safety on the revolver, those were probably safety parts installed during a factory visit and replaced with originals by the owner.

I'd expect one of the cylinders to be 22 magnum. There'd be no reason I know of for switching 22lr cylinders.
 
As has been stated those are the original trigger parts. This was converted to the transfer bar system. These parts have nothing to do with the ability to shoot 22 magnum. The trigger and lock parts remain the same whether long rifle , or, magnum.

From the picture , it appears , you have a long rifle and magnum cylinder. The one one the right appears to have larger rim counterbores indicating it is the magnum cylinder.

Just a bit of a warning. Magnums are LOUD in a handgun! Startled me the first time!
 
Give "Bonny" a call at Ruger. She can give you a little detail's on MFC. date. The historian / records dept people can give you even more info but they are swamped right now. Yes, the SS was returned for conversion either willfully or during repair of something; forced conversion by Ruger. look at the electro-pencil scribed number of the cylinder face. Are they matching or differing in script. If same, then there is a good chance the mag cylinder was part of the overall "Production firearm package" and not and after add-on. We have a pristine 6.5 inch in the store right now getting info. though unconverted. 1969 was a good year.
 
That would be $448 in today's dollars.

Yes, it has obviously been sent back to Ruger for the transfer bar conversion. Those are the old parts, hang onto them.

You have the original receipt. I see no reason to bug Ruger about it.

Technically a "convertible", not a conversion. "Conversion" implies other things.
 
I think the conversion kit referred to is the parts kit to convert it to a transfer bar safety; not a caliber conversion.
Click to expand...
Uh, no.

"...from what I can tell this is a Single Six Conversion, enabling the use of .22 mag ammunition."
 
CraigC said:
Uh, no.
"...from what I can tell this is a Single Six Conversion, enabling the use of .22 mag ammunition."
Click to expand...
I was referring to the statement on the plastic bag in the 6th picture. You're absolutely right that "conversion", with reference to caliber in this case, is not the proper term.
 
Old_Grouch said:
I was referring to the statement on the plastic bag in the 6th picture. You're absolutely right that "conversion", with reference to caliber in this case, is not the proper term.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that's the legal boilerplate that came with the transfer bar conversion.

My translation would be:

These original parts came from a used gun, not a new one from our factory. We don't know what the last guy did to it or with them -- we've just installed the new parts.
 
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I don't know about this vintage, but with later Single Six Convertibles the .22 Magnum cylinder was unfluted.

One way to check is to remove the cylinder from the gun, insert one .22 LR round into a chamber, shake and listen closely for a rattle. .22 WMR is a bit larger in diameter, so a .22 LR round should also sit a bit off-center in the chamber.

I goofed one time and fired a cylinder full of LR in a Single Six WMR cylinder. Nothing catastrophic happened to me or the gun, but all the spent cases were split and accuracy wasn't so hot. I'm not recommending this, BTW.
 
your uncle bought a “3 screw” ruger single-action revolver, i.e. no transfer bar safety, “load one, skip one, load four” so the hammer safely rests on an empty chamber. otherwise, if all six chambers are loaded an original “3 screw” can discharge if dropped on its hammer. ruger adds a transfer bar safety to, and in the process completely tunes up, any “3 screw” gratis, even now. 22wmr barrels are slightly wider than needed for 22lr so this revolver came with both barrels. receipt states “.2 l and w” which i take to mean “22 lr and wmr.”

one time, inadvertently, i fired off several cylinders of 22lr in a 22wmr cylinder of a ruger “2 screw” single six. nothing bad happened at all, not even split empty cases. nice knowledge to file away for an emergency but not a normal practice.

i sent in all my ruger 3 screw revolvers for the transfer bar safety because they are shooters, not lookers. enjoy it!
 
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Gentlemen first off thank you all very much for your replies. I knew I could count on THR to help out. And I do apologize for getting the nomenclature wrong. You are right about the transfer bar, it's there and I probably should have noticed it....I guess I'm so used to seeing those things it didn't even register. I installed the magnum cylinder to check for function and it locks up just as tight as the .22lr cylinder with absolutely no play at all. After he retired unc shot daily so I imagine there's many rounds through this gun, but if it weren't for the little nicks and dings here and there you'd never know it was used!
Thank you all again for solving the mystery!!
 
Being the curious type I googled that $48 dollar price and found one site that gave it as equaling $433.01 at the start of 2023 and another that shows it as $455.13 now. With either it is an obvious example of what inflation has done to our dollar's value despite the politicians that insist it makes no matter. That would be true only if wages kept up with the inflation rate if you are still working. It definately matters if you are retired and on a fixed income
.
Sorry for running off the track of the OP but inflation is not a good thing. I do agree that it is a transfer bar conversion.
 
Sorry your Uncle passed away, but every range trip with that gun (or others he left you) is a chance to make new memories in his honor. :thumbup:

Cool little single six! Those are some of my favorite handguns.

Stay safe.
 
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