Security/Speed Six vs. K-Frames

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Blade37db

New member
There's been some good information on this board about both, but I'm looking for some direct comparisons and pros/cons. I'm interested in either a 2.75' Security/Speed Six or 3' K (13, 19 or 66). Only plan on shooting .38s (occasional +P) but like the idea of having .357 capability and 6 shots. Would shoot about 100 rounds a month and its main use is a nightstand gun and occasional IWB carry. It seems like the Ruger's can be had for less money (about 100-200 less). My hands are on the smaller size so I need to take that into consideration.
I would appreciate the feedback of those who own or have experience with both.
Thanks.
 
IMO, the Smith is definitely a finer gun. It is hard to beat a solid Model 19 or 66 for anything under the sun. This is the quintessential fighting revolver.

However, the Security/Speed Six guns do give the Smiths a run for their money. The Ruger is a slick gun with a good trigger, and nice ergonomics. I do not think you could go wrong either way here.

My personal prefereance lies with the Smith, but if I ran across a slick Ruger Six, I sure wouldnt pass it up.
 
Although the older modek S&W K-frames do have a better trigger than the Ruger Security/Service/Speed-Sixes, these Ruger's are much stronger and can withstand the constant pounding of firing the .357 magnum rounds(Longer)than can the K-frames(Before shooting loose)! In this respect, the Ruger's are definately better! However, if you aren't going to shoot a constant diet of the .357's-then, this would be less important! History has proven the superior strength of these Ruger's over the S&W K-frames(Despite the fact that the K-frames were the more "Popular" revolvers!)under adverse conditions! However, all of these guns will do what they were intended to do, with no problems(If they are properly maintained-and, are not abused!)! Just pick the gun that pleases you the most and go shooting and enjoy it! :eek:
 
numerous SS's, one S&W

I preferred the S&W (M67 stainless) for its accuracy and trigger; I loved the Rugers (4" stainless) for their strength.

I lost them all many years ago.

I'd buy the (gasp!) S&W.

I currently own eight revolvers (not including my wife's S&W); all but one are Rugers LOL.
 
blade37db: What yolu are seeing here is : It all comes down to personal preference. Both the Smith and Rugers are fine revolvers. THe Smiths can be had slightly lighter, if that makes any difference.
I'd recommend finding examples of each and handling them, before making your decision.
I have been a fan of S&W for over 30 years, but recently have changed to Ruger Six series for my carry revolvers. IMHO, they cannot be beat.

Look at some of both in person.

Mark
 
I had the same problem you did so I bought both. Heck they were both $200 or under. A model 19-3, 4" and a fixed sight Police service six. I loved the Single action look and feel of the fixed sight Ruger.. I honestly can not tell you if one is better that the other. The M19 is more pretty and slimmer. BTW My 19 has had a steady diet of the same .357s I shoot in my Rugers as long as it aint the 125 grain JHP loads cuz they do punish the shooter and the M19 more but the 158s are fine.
I favor the Six cuz the grips fit my hand better than any revolver I've ever shot. :) I put a light spring in the Ruger and the trigger is actualy smoother and lighter than the M19.
Oh and the Ruger is a breeze to strip and clean. The Smith well....Is a real PIA!
 
I own a Speed-Six (Stainless .357 bought new 28 years ago) and some S&W K frame .38's. In my opinion they are equally good. You can't go wrong with either brand and both factories continue to service the guns, sometimes without charging. If you are going to buy used then you will likely have more of a selection of S&Ws (in 2" or 4") because so many of them were made. The 3" may be a little more expensive and harder to find.

If you go with S&W you will have more options for grip replacements. I shoot my Ruger with the original grips and I have not found any replacements which I prefer to the originals.

Bill
 
Well, you're not going to wear either out at 100 rounds a month in your life time.
I do have both guns. A Security Six, and a SW M66. Both are out of production. On the used market you can buy a Security Six for $200 to 300. The M66 runs around $300 to $350.
I bought this Security Six for $179.00 and this M66 for $325.00. The Ruger was all beat up, and the M66 came as shown.
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The M66 is the better of the two guns... ;) Oh, I dremeled the maunal of arms off the Rugers barrel... :D
 
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S&W all the way, I also have both.

Strength is not an issue unless you intend to intentionally overload the gun and hammer it, otherwise it is just extra weight. I also don't buy that the Ruger is in fact stronger than the Smith when comparing the _____ Six series to the K-frame, I have shot both loose and the Ruger was loose first by at least 15K rounds. Step up to a GP and it will be stronger than a K, but again it doesn't matter unless you like to venture past the top of the reloading data regularly.

The S&W action with a little tuning is far and away better than the Ruger with similar treatments, when both guns are stock you can find either to feel the smoothest though in general the Smith will be smoother across a couple dozen guns.

If you want to see which guns hold up and are the nicest to shoot take a look at PPC and other action shooters. Lots of PPC guns get upteen thousand rounds through them in just a couple years. You will see mostly S&W and probably won't see any Rugers on the line. The balance will probably be a Python or two, maybe a trooper, and maybe a Dan Wesson or two. There is good reason that over the last couple decades ++ S&W has ruled the roost in competitive revolver shooting.
 
Maybe just me, but I sure do like my PC shop M-13. It is bobbed, thus DAO, has a really nice trigger, and a ported 3" barrel. With 38+Ps it is a pleasure to shoot, but even with really hot 357s she is very easy to control.
One change I made: that PC model comes with a very short (3 finger) grip, which I replaced with a full 4 finger Rosewood grip. This gave me the control I wanted without increasing the size all that much.
 
One major reason for the S&W K-frames having a tendency to shoot loose much sooner than any Ruger Six-Series revolvers, is because of the fact that the bearing surface area at the end of the crane barrel, is approximately five times larger than it is on the S&W K-frames! And, this bearing surface area takes a major pounding during firing!

Another reason is that the Ruger Six-Series revolvers, were designed from the ground up to withstand the pounding of the .357 magnum's! However, the S&W K-frames(Although beefed up and heat treated, to enable the occasional shooting of the .357 magnum's)was only mean't to fire mostly, the .38 special round for target practice and therefore, to reserve the .357 magnum loads for business use! There were no such "Usage" clause indicated by Ruger, for their Six-Series revolvers! Again, history has shown(With over one million Six-Series revolvers being sold!)that not much tends to ever go wrong with these revolvers!

HS SMITH:

There is a "Lemon" in every gun manufacturers crop of guns-and, I suspect, that your Six-Series revolver, must have been a lemon- nor, "Representative" of the majority of these guns that were put into service! Maybe yours was just a mis-fitted revolver from the Ruger factory? :eek:

Despite the above, you are correct, that for the intended purpose, this extra strength isn't required! Although the trigger can be made pretty good on the Six-Series revolvers, the trigger, is the major advantage of the older S&W K-frame revolvers(And, their classic good looks)! I love both of these manufacturer's guns(But, for different reasons!)and, both of them have advantages and disadvanages over the other! We all have our "Favorites"! Although I have several Ruger Six-Series revolvers, I own more S&W's than I do Ruger's! And, I don't particularly care for the larger and, bulkier GP100(But, that's just me!)because I know that the GP100's are even stronger than the already strong(Older, Six-Series revolvers)! It's best to try them out and just pick the revolver that you might like the best(As they are both excellent guns-and, will last a long time, in normal usage!)? :p
 
Boa2,
Yesterday I bought a Ruger Speed Six. I will be selling my S&W 65 K-frame. I only want to shoot .357s all the time, not .38s, and I don't want to have to worry about it. Strength matters more to me than the other differences.

You say S&W recommended 10% usage of .357s on the K-frames. What about the N-frames?

I have three S&W model 29 .44 magnums.

I don't have to shoot .44 specials through those do I? I've only ever shot .44 mags, and I like the kick. It feels like I'm shooting a powerful gun.

I know there's much bigger out there, but I haven't been able to afford the Freedom Arms I want yet. :D

The .357s are for carry, that's why I want them to be smaller in size. But I also want to practice with them and have fun, like with the .44 mags!
 
Actually, the Model 29/629 (until recently) have problems handling a steady diet of full-power .44 Magnum. You'd better start looking for a Redhawk or an Anaconda.
 
Buy both!

I love my Smith Models 19 and also 65 3".
But my last purchase was a Security Six. I am planning on swapping the barrel with a 4" Python. Also known as a Cruger or Rolt.
 
Boa, I have two Six series guns now and have owned several more, and a small pile of Smiths still in stock. It hasn't been my experience that the Ruger will last any longer but I have only worn a couple of each to the point that they needed repair. I suppose it could go either way with both being well made and much stronger than necessary.

shanewormer, how much do you shoot? Unless you shoot several hundred magnums a month I wouldn't worry about either your K or N-frames wearing out. The 29's that have been thrashed have either had a LOT of miles on them or super hot handloads that tore them up. As gun junkies tend to do there will probably be a new princess to shoot long before any of the ones you have now are in jeapordy of wearing out.

I figure it this way, if I am fortunate enough to have the time and money to wear a gun to the point that it needs repair I send it out and have it repaired, and PRAY that I am fortunate enough to do it again. Like any mechanical device revolvers have limits to how much operation they can withstand, and I am absolutely thrilled to be able to find out just how many rounds that is. On a quality revolver such as those in discussion here the threshold is many tens of thousands of rounds.

My high mileage revolver without repair right now is a M19 that is closing in on 50K rounds, yes FIFTY THOUSAND ROUNDS!!! Of those over 8000 have been magnums, and of the magnums it has seen less than a couple boxes of 158's with the balance made up of VERY hot handloaded 125's and 110's. According to most internet experts this isn't possible, yet I have done it with a couple K-frames now.

How long will it take you to shoot 8000 magnums and 40K plus 38's? I think it is a lot of worry about nothing.
 
How long will it take you to shoot 8000 magnums and 40K plus 38's? I think it is a lot of worry about nothing.
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Wow, I guess I am worrying for nothing. That's nice to know.

But still, I'm happy getting the small Rugers for .357 carry, and keeping my N-frames for .44 mags.

I appreciate everyone's input on this subject. These forums are great.
 
I love the design of the Security Six. And the S&W M19 just feels wonderful in my hand. Seriously, any real gun collection has to have both. IMO, the major advantage of the Ruger over the Smith hasn't even been mentioned. The Ruger has a solid frame. You take the grips off, cock and insert a pin, removed the mainspring, pop out the hammer pin, pull off the hammer, catch the little cylinder locking piece and remove the cylinder. You can do it every time you clean it. It is SO solid and so nice to be able to really clean the gun from one end to the other. I rarely remove the sideplate from a Smith. Don't want to take a chance on messing it up or loosening it. So I always wonder what is really going on in there that I'm not noticing!

Not picking on the basic Smith design. Like I said, the M19/66, 13/65 series is beyond reproach. But the Ruger is a more modern design. I'm still sad over what they did to the Security Six when it became the GP100 but that's a different topic!

Gregg
 
Well, another thing that should be considered about the S&W Model 19, is that the barrels are no longer available from the factory, if you ever need a replacement! The second thing is the problem that the K-frames have experienced, is the thin flat section of the forcing cone cracking from shooting too many "Hot" .357 magnum loads! This flat, is located at the six-o'clock position(At the very bottom of the forcing cone)!

I own a beautiful 1974 vintage(4")Model 19 that looks as new as the day that it was built-yet, it already has been shot looser than .002" end shake(Without having very many rounds put through it!)!

HS Smith: I'm astounded by the luck that you have encountered with your K-frame(50,000 rounds being fired and still being in great shape!)however, I don't believe that this is common for a K-frame! I also have a Model 64(.38 special)stainless(3")K-frame that shot itself loose without being fired a great deal either!)! Regardless of how long any given gun might hold up, it is a given fact, that the Ruger Six-Series revolvers were built stronger by design(And, by virtue of having the solid frame construction!)! "Strength" was one of the major design factors that Bill Ruger had incorporated into the construction of his newly introduced Six-Series revolvers, in the early 1970's! The difference was that the S&W K-frames were originally never designed for the .357 magnum round(Wheras, the Six-Series Ruger's were, from the ground up!)! And, the side plate design of the K-frames definately make these guns weaker than the solid frame design of the Ruger's! Of course, there are other factors-such as whether any given brand of gun had been set-up too loose from the factory-and this alone, would contribute to a gun shooting loose(Before it's time)! This is not to say that the K-frames are weak(They are not)but only that overall, the Six-Series Ruger revolvers are known to be stronger! This was one of the reasons that these guns appealed to the world wide Police market(Compared to the S&W K-frames)and, Ruger practically took over this market with his Six-Series revolvers(Up until the Police eventually changed over from revolvers to autoloaders)! The rest, is just a matter of luck(You either get a good gun or a bad gun or an in-between gun)! I prefer the extra strength of the Ruger's-but, I do appreciate the classic beauty of the older S&W's! This is why I "Fansy" both of these Brands of revolvers! They are both excellent guns in many ways! And, if treated as they were designed-then, both of these guns should live a very long life! :)
 
boa2, or anyone,
I have a pair of grips that I really like, on my square butt K-frame, and I'm selling that gun now.

I already bought a Speed Six, and I plan on buying a Service Six very soon.

The Service Six has a square butt handle. Will my square butt K-frame grips fit on the Service Six?
 
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