Brought home a Bearcat

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chicharrones said:
I've been jonesing for a Ruger Bearcat for several years now. Today, I picked up a lightly used stainless Bearcat Shopkeeper. It's small, but it has to be the densest feeling 23 oz. of gun I've felt in some time.

The birds head grip shape and width forms to the meaty palm of my hand surprisingly well. The cocking of the action feels more solid than on my Single Six.

This is one sweet little revolver. Time for a Chicharrones' happy dance. :D

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Nice find! I bought a NIB one a year or so ago. I wanted a SA just for fun. The Shopkeeper fit the bill.
I have been tempted to ream the cylinder for 22 mag and let Ruger replace my "lost cylinder".
 
chicharrones said:
I've been jonesing for a Ruger Bearcat for several years now. Today, I picked up a lightly used stainless Bearcat Shopkeeper. It's small, but it has to be the densest feeling 23 oz. of gun I've felt in some time.

The birds head grip shape and width forms to the meaty palm of my hand surprisingly well. The cocking of the action feels more solid than on my Single Six.

This is one sweet little revolver. Time for a Chicharrones' happy dance. :D

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What scope mount are you using on your SSS?
 
I was hoping to do some more shooting with the Shopkeeper today, but rain and family have interceded. :D

I did do a little shooting with the Shopkeeper on Friday afternoon. From that quick shooting session, the gun was shooting about 1" low and 3/4" to the right at 10 yards. Plus, two of the chambers were a bit sticky when trying to eject empties with that short, snub nose grade ejector rod.

Today, I did find the time while family was away to clean and polish the chambers in the cylinder, so I'll see what the round count is before they get sticky again on my next shooting opportunity. :)

One thing is for sure, I'm planning to polish up the gun's internals to see about smoothing up the trigger. The trigger could stand some work, which could be why the gun is shooting a tad to the right for me.
 
chicharrones

Yeah, lucky for you the listing expired! Besides, you already have a very nice Bearcat to play with; you don't need another one just because it has an extra .22 Mag cylinder (though it would be kind of neat too)!
 
This afternoon, I did some mild trigger, hammer, and related items polishing.

Then I did some more shooting at 10 yards. Shooting this little gun two handed makes me pull the shots low. When I shot it one handed "duelist" style, elevation was dead on. I'm still either pulling shots to the right or the gun is shooting to the right. More shooting time will tell for sure.

On another note, when firing .22 LRs in the 3" barreled Shopkeeper, I'm going to rename the ejection rod to extraction rod. The only way this gun clears empties out consistently is by shooting .22 shorts, and by luck of my ol' ammo stash I have a box of CCI CB shorts on hand. I fired a few cylinders of that and the short stroke "extractor" pushes those short empties out perfectly.

Hmmmm. Plinking with .22 shorts. I didn't think I'd ever be doing that again. :D
 
Legionnaire said:
Thanks for the report. I am not "in the hunt" for a shopkeeper, but it is definitely on my "target of opportunity" list.
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That's exactly how it was for me. I knew I wanted a stainless Bearcat, then a used Shopkeeper popped up for a not completely outrageous price. Plus, it's sized like a Pietta "Remington" pocket cap and ball revolver, which had my interest as well. Two birds, one stone, and all that with the simplicity of cartridge ammo. :D

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That is one beauty of a gun! I have always had a fondness for the Ruger Bearcat revolvers. There is just something about them that makes them so cute. I have a Single Six currently but will have a Bearcat one of these days. Consider yourself lucky!
 
How does it shoot for you? My son is turning 5 next year and we will be getting him his first revolver, Was thinking of something in the ruger single six convertible line so he has the option of .22 Mag when he gets comfortable with .22 Longs.
 
The Evangelist Cowboy said:
How does it shoot for you? My son is turning 5 next year and we will be getting him his first revolver, Was thinking of something in the ruger single six convertible line so he has the option of .22 Mag when he gets comfortable with .22 Longs.
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If I were to get a Bearcat for a young new shooter, I'd get them the adjustable sight version so they don't have to learn Kentucky Windage. Then, see about lightening up the trigger if needed or wanted.

If I went the Single Six route for a young new shooter, I'd go with a 4-5/8" barreled version to reduce the muzzle heavy feel and keep weight at a minimum.

My Bearcat had the normal stiff trigger from Ruger. I did a mild trigger job* and it has less creep now, but still a stiff trigger. I could use a lighter trigger spring (but none are available) and perhaps a lighter hammer spring. Also, after a few shooting sessions, it consistently shoots to the right of point of aim by about 1". Elevation is either 2" high or 1" low depending on how I hold the gun. The most consistent elevation results for me is to shoot it one handed. Smaller hands would probably be able to use both hands better.

I can tell you that my Single Six was easier to lighten the trigger since I was able to get a trigger spring from Wolff for it and did a mild trigger job on it while I had it apart. I left the hammer spring alone in the Single Six to keep it "rimfire reliable". My Single Six trigger in its current form is way ahead of the Bearcat trigger. But, the Single Six hammer has a much longer swing which you can feel when you let it go with the trigger.

*It seems Ruger cuts the sear face height on their hammers to just over 0.030". I like to shorten that to about 0.020" or a hair under, without touching the sear surface on the trigger other than stoning it a hair smoother. I don't change any angles. The result is that trigger creep is reduced without the gun becoming too easy to set off, even with a lighter trigger spring.
 
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chicharrones said:
If I were to get a Bearcat for a young new shooter, I'd get them the adjustable sight version so they don't have to learn Kentucky Windage. Then, see about lightening up the trigger if needed or wanted.

If I went the Single Six route for a young new shooter, I'd go with a 4-5/8" barreled version to reduce the muzzle heavy feel and keep weight at a minimum.

My Bearcat had the normal stiff trigger from Ruger. I did a mild trigger job* and it has less creep now, but still a stiff trigger. I could use a lighter trigger spring (but none are available) and perhaps a lighter hammer spring. Also, after a few shooting sessions, it consistently shoots to the right of point of aim by about 1". Elevation is either 2" high or 1" low depending on how I hold the gun. The most consistent elevation results for me is to shoot it one handed. Smaller hands would probably be able to use both hands better.

I can tell you that my Single Six was easier to lighten the trigger since I was able to get a trigger spring from Wolff for it and did a mild trigger job on it while I had it apart. I left the hammer spring alone in the Single Six to keep it "rimfire reliable". My Single Six trigger in its current form is way ahead of the Bearcat trigger. But, the Single Six hammer has a much longer swing which you can feel when you let it go with the trigger.

*It seems Ruger cuts the sear face height on their hammers to just over 0.030". I like to shorten that to about 0.020" or a hair under, without touching the sear surface on the trigger other than stoning it a hair smoother. I don't change any angles. The result is that trigger creep is reduced without the gun becoming too easy to set off, even with a lighter trigger spring.
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Thanks for that. Ill be going with the single six route.
 
Update on the Bearcat Shopkeeper, aka "it's not you it's me". ;)

Over the last week or so, I've been dry firing the little Shopkeeper with plastic wall anchors used as snap caps. I also added a streak of orange paint to the rear of the front sight to help my eyes a bit. It became quite clear that the Shopkeeper's muzzle jumps to the right a smidge when I pull the trigger and the hammer falls.

Yesterday, I took some more fun time with live ammo. I was down to my last 5 shots of CCI Quiet and I wanted to see how the gun would shoot rested at 10 yards. So, I kneeled down behind a tall trash can and put my hands on it for support. The first 3 shots cut the 9 ring. I got out of position to see where those three shots went and then got back into position to fire the final 2. Those 2 dropped down to the 4 and 5 ring, but they are right next to each other. I should have tried all 5 shots before getting out of position. :confused:

Well, it's apparent this particular little Bearcat is shooting to its sights just fine. It's just that the shooter (humble chicharrones) is at fault in my prior assessment in this thread. :oops:

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