Ruger Police Service Six- Durability?
- Thread starter Model12Win
- Start date
Model12Win
Moderator
Thanks gang. You are all making me feel a bit better.
I picked up a new-to-me beautiful stainless steel 4" one. It was supposed to have been someone's safe queen - and indeed had only the faintest of drag lines on the cylinder indicating it had been shot very little. I took it to the range and after the first shot the cylinder was a little hard to rotate. I noticed the forcing cone gap was tight and just figured it was something I needed to fix. After the 2nd shot, it was getting really hard to turn. Forcing cone gap was now gone. I knew something was wrong. I decided to shoot once more. On that shot, the barrel flew out and landed about 10 ft in front of me.
It had broken through the barrel threads about 1/3 back down inside the frame. It looks like it was a flaw in the original barrel forging that finally just gave way.
Ruger did me right though. They don't stock many spare parts for those old guns so they gave me a brand new 4" SP101 instead. I only had to pay for a FFL transfer fee.
Cold Steel
New member
If you pass on any of the old "Six" revolvers, you're making a dreadful mistake. As early as 1971, NRA technical editor M.D. Waite reviewed the Security-Six. He wrote: "To the gun wise observer, the most significant physical characteristic of the new Ruger Security-Six revolver is it's lean businesslike appearance. It does not appear to have an ounce of excesss weight in it's makeup." And yet it was made specifically to handle hot magnum rounds. Today, that gun's replacement, the GP-100 had just the opposite philosophy. Not only does it have an ounce of excess weight, it's got quite a few ounces of excess weight!
In the 80s or early 90s, famed gun writer Skeeter Skelton wrote that he knew of three Security-Six revolvers, each of which has in excess of 30,000 full throttle rounds. Each, he wrote, we're still functioning fine. One was just slightly out of time but was still fully operational. That many rounds would decimate a S&W 19/66. (And I'm a big fan of the 66!)
I'm not worried about my Security-Sixes wearing out parts. When the U.S. blocked sales to South Africa years ago, the South Africans, many of them, went out and bought Rugers. The reason is, they wanted guns that wouldn't need parts.
So don't worry about parts or the fact that Ruger discontinued them. They're strong as Gibraltar and easy to carry. The GP-100s are great if you have a boat and need an anchor our if you're saving up to make a manhole cover. Ruger stuck a mainspring strut onto the GPs and added way too much weight to the barrel. Thus the balance of the gun was horribly altered and the new guns can't touch the older ones for quality and innovation. Of course, more people carried their guns back then. Hiking, camping, hunting -- the S&W 66s and the Security- and Speed-Sixes were the guns to take.
Now the present Rugers are the guns to lug!
In the 80s or early 90s, famed gun writer Skeeter Skelton wrote that he knew of three Security-Six revolvers, each of which has in excess of 30,000 full throttle rounds. Each, he wrote, we're still functioning fine. One was just slightly out of time but was still fully operational. That many rounds would decimate a S&W 19/66. (And I'm a big fan of the 66!)
I'm not worried about my Security-Sixes wearing out parts. When the U.S. blocked sales to South Africa years ago, the South Africans, many of them, went out and bought Rugers. The reason is, they wanted guns that wouldn't need parts.
So don't worry about parts or the fact that Ruger discontinued them. They're strong as Gibraltar and easy to carry. The GP-100s are great if you have a boat and need an anchor our if you're saving up to make a manhole cover. Ruger stuck a mainspring strut onto the GPs and added way too much weight to the barrel. Thus the balance of the gun was horribly altered and the new guns can't touch the older ones for quality and innovation. Of course, more people carried their guns back then. Hiking, camping, hunting -- the S&W 66s and the Security- and Speed-Sixes were the guns to take.
Now the present Rugers are the guns to lug!
Cold Steel
New member
On a stainless gun, removing the cylinder stop marks is easy. You just buff them out with a buffing pad, then polish with a creme like Flitz or Semichrome. It's one reason I like stainless steel so much. The chromium content of the 400-type stainless steel also keeps fast burning powders and heat from leeching away the carbon and leaving a brittle forcing cone.Doyle said:
It's too bad your gun wasn't a Speed-Six or Service-Six. I have a 4-inch stainless barrel with an 11-degree forcing cone that's been in my drawer for years. I was going to put it in one of my snubs but couldn't figure out how to do it.
With mine at the gunsmiths now for light strikes, probably gone too far with his action job, it occurred to me that this gun, on its third time in, has spent about as much time in queue with the gunsmith as it has with me. I guess I'll put it on the sell list in good conscience, but the interest in it is gone.