Friday, March 16, 2007

Scenes from the Safe

Okay. I'm gonna try to make this a permanent Friday fixture.

Today's Scene from the Safe is the first firearm I ever purchased:

This is a Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum revolver with a 6" barrel. The 4" barreled versions were stalwart police sidearms until the 1980s and the advent of the wünder-nines, joining the Colt Troopers and Smith & Wesson model 66s.

I have put easily 5,000 rounds through this gun, and it still shoots as good today as the day I bought it. This is one of my top five favorite guns, and it's the second gun I have new shooters try out - with low-powered .38 special wadcutters, the recoil is almost negligible. (First gun is the Smith & Wesson model 17 .22LR).

9 comments:

Bruce said...

You forgot to mention that the action is "Smooth like buttah!".

Anonymous said...

Even a novice like me could put full-house magnum rounds through that piece . . . all day . . . and not break a sweat. Silky smoooooth . . . like Macallan Scotch.

BobG said...

An excellent and very strong gun. I have a GP100 with a 6" underlug barrel that I bought when they first came out because I couldn't find a Security Six at the time.

Anonymous said...

That brings back memories. It was also the first handgun I purchased about 25 years ago. It got ripped off in a home burglary and I still miss it.

-Mike

Anonymous said...

I have a 1976 Bicentenial Service Six Ruger in .357. Awesome gun!

Anonymous said...

I remember that gun very well ... so well, in fact, that one became my BAG Day purchase this year. Two weeks late 'cause that's when the local ILGS was, but BAG Day nonetheless.

It's a Bicentennial Model ("Made in the 200th Year of American Liberty"), 4", blued, w/ the original walnut grips. Been shot a bit and carried even more, but extremely well cared for. Great SA trigger, DA is for emergencies only.

Got home from the show in weather too bad to go shooting, and I spent the evening searching online for grips and speedloaders. When I got it out to the range the next weekend, I was surprised to discover I like the walnut grips! So they stay.

Mine doesn't have the red inlaid front sight or white outlined rear, but the parts are available from Ruger for like $5 and look easy enough to change out. Us old guys need those contrasting colors "put the red blur between the white blurs under the target" :)

Git yer butt up here some Sat or Sun and you can try it out.

TheOtherBill


PS - just discovered the new blog, Congrats!

Anonymous said...

Love your blog. Just stumbled upon it on a google search (#2 ON THE LIST, WOW!), and I am about to get one of these bicentennial Security Six's myself. I like the fact that it's a limited production, and a good strong shooter (from what I hear). I found a guy with the box, OEM Manual, and firearm in mint condition for $300!! What a bargain! Hopefully he'll still be holding it for me. Just curious...He told me over the phone his was a full lug. Did they even make a full lug? Serial # jives and dates to '76, but wasn't sure about the bbl length or the fact that it was a full lug. I think he claimed it was approx. 4" with a full lug. I'm a "nut" myself, and have a nice collection of rarities and custom builds. One of my fav's is an israeli version of the Heavy Barrel FAL built for me by Frontline Armory and finished off with Gunkote by my favorite guy in the finishing biz, Joe at KG Coatings in WI. If you ever want a gun finish that can take abuse and hold up to a nuke, check out KG. They're the best in the biz as far as I'm concerned...
Keep the Blogs coming. I've just added you to my fav's... I might even have some pics you'd like of my safe. I have a mixed bag, mostly tactical & military type weapons, along with a couple of NFA Firearms. I'd sooner part with my wife...
ANDY
("SOMEWHAT" RW Conservative in a very gun-friendly midwestern city/state)

Rick Foster said...

I got one of those wih 4 inch barrel a few weeks ago. Very smooth shooting
photo on my blog at hobbygunning.blogspot You have a interesting blog

Anonymous said...

I just turned twenty-one this month, and my dad gave me a Security-Six for Christmas (the 6" barrel). I've already gotten my field strip/reassembly time down to under five minutes. This gun is a breeze!
I've been shooting my entire life (grew up in a swamp, moved to a ranch...), and I think this is about the best gun around. It's DA has a lot of play, which makes it save to carry around- and the SA is a hair trigger, which helps to make it more accurate when you can calculate your shots (we hunt deer with .357's down south).
It's my first real gun, that's really mine, other than my Marlin 336C lever action, my Rossi 22 pump, and my 20 gauge pump. I love it!
I haven't put it down since yesterday morning... I'm going to shop for a holster tomorrow, and I'm going shooting!
-Til

PS: Love the blog!