Ruger Old Model Single Six Serial Number History Guide
Ruger Single Six Serial Dates
Old Model Single Six Value
Ruger New Model Single Six Serial Number History

Ruger Single Six Standard Serial Number History The above chart shows the approximate first serial number shipped for the indicated year. This number should be used as a point of reference only. It is not necessarily the very first serial number shipped, but it can be used to determine the approximate year your Ruger firearm was shipped. Rare Duplicate “D” Prefix Ruger Old Model Single Six Convertible, Mfgr’d 1968 This auction is for a Ruger Old Model Single Six Convertible.22 Cal., Mfgr’d 1968 and has a rare Duplicate (“D” Prefix) serial number (SR # D504957). The Old Model Single Six was manufactured from 1962 to. The Ruger Single Six was inspired by the popularity of TV and movie Westerns in the 1950s. Given Colt discontinuing the SAA, the revolver gained a foothold. Originally the.22 LR had a 5 1/2-inch barrel, and 4 5/8, 6½ and 9½-inch models were later added. The main difference between the ‘Old' and ‘New' model Ruger Single Six was only safe. Your 5 1/2 Single-Six was probably shipped as RSS5-X and the primary.22LR cylinder was misplaced somewhere along the line. This can be a complex subject with respect to the serial numbering sequences of the Single-Six during the 1962-63 era, it is explained better in Ruger.

1953 TOPRESENT

byBill Hamm

photographyby Bill Hamm & Boge Quinn

March18, 2003

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I have had many questions over the yearsfrom folks about which “grip panel” goes on which single action Ruger.Especially about the difference in the early Single-Sixes andBlackhawk “Flattops” when compared to the later Blackhawks and Single-Sixes,short barreled New Model Super Blackhawks, and on into the New Model Blackhawks,Vaqueros, and Bisley Vaqueros.Itcan be quite confusing unless you are a student of the subject.These questions are primarily generated by someone attempting to purchasereplacement grips or custom grips for their Ruger single action revolver.Also it may beabout a gripframe on an old collectible Ruger that someone is about to lay out a goodly sumof dollars to purchase and they want to make sure the gun is “right”.

Severalmonths ago a Gunblast reader requested that I provide some information onthe different type grip frames that Ruger installed on their single actionhandguns.I thought thiswould probably be an interesting subject for others as well and have compliedwhat I believe is a complete listing of the different types used since 1953.I have included the year the specific type was introduced, type ofmaterial and finish, grip panel information, and the current production statusof each of the grip frames.

During the research of the different types Iwas surprised to find out that Ruger has produced fourteen differenttypes of frames since 1953, more than I had first thought.

Ihope this helps you identify and answer questions that you may have about thesegrip frames.If anyone has anydifferent observations or comments they will certainly be welcome.

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Post subject:History of the old model Single Six revolver!

Single-Sixer

Joined: Tue Oct 30, 2007 1:39 pm
Posts: 117
Location: Arizona

This is an advance peek at a future article on this historic revolver. Hope you enjoy it.
John
Back in the late 1940s the United States, freshly recovered from World War Two, had a renewed and apparently insatiable love affair with the “old West.” The movies featured “westerns” with John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Roy Rogers, William Boyd, Gene Autry and many others in roles that glorified the days of the western frontier. In nearly all of these movies, and in similar portrayals on TV, the heroes wielded Colt single action revolvers. The public loved those cowboy sagas, and they loved those old cowboy guns. But strangely, in 1947, Colt’s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company announced that it would not be resuming manufacture of its classic Single Action Army revolver. The machinery to make it had been dismantled and scrapped as Colt’s attended to the manufacture of other guns during WWII. Bill Ruger, president and CEO of the fledgling Sturm, Ruger & Company, saw this as an opportunity to step in and provide folks with the ability to purchase a Single Action Army look-alike revolver at a great price, and it could be chambered for the economical .22 Long Rifle cartridge.
Ruger broached the subject of a Colt look-alike .22 revolver with his patent attorneys, and they agreed that Colt no longer had patent rights on their classic single action. Thus, Ruger had a green light to begin development of a similar revolver. The nickname of the SAA was the “Peacemaker,” and it was realized that name was pretty much off limits. The name “Single Six” was chosen, and the resulting new gun accelerated the expansion of the Ruger firm.
While working as an engineer earlier at the Auto Ordnance company, Bill Ruger was introduced to the concept of investment casting, essentially a modern application of the ancient “lost wax” process used in jewelry making and in dental work. He initially worked with a jewelry company called Arwood, located in Brooklyn NY, to adapt that process to making the trigger and the hammer of the Single Six. At first that company told Ruger that making an investment cast frame for the new gun would be too much of a gamble. Then they relented to Ruger’s demands and attempted it. The first results were awful, with much of the production having to be scrapped. Finally getting things straightened out, Arwood successfully began the casting of the Single Six frame in Groton CT under the leadership of a man named Stan Terhune, who was rapidly becoming an expert in the technique. Terhune eventually came to work directly for Ruger and set up a Ruger investment casting shop in Newport, New Hampshire, where operations continue today. Arwood management continued to work amicably with Ruger and provided personnel to act as consultants.
Bill Ruger began to hint to the press that a .22 single action revolver was under development, and he and his engineers worked overtime to bring it to fruition. They designed the revolver with unbreakable coil springs to power the action, dispensing with the Colt system which used more fragile leaf springs. It was slightly reduced in size from the Colt product, but it used very similar lockwork and an “XR3” grip frame that was identical in size and shape to the time-honored grip of the Single Action Army. This grip frame was black anodized aluminum, and topped with black checkered hard rubber grips. The similarity to the Colt product was reflected in the “three screw” configuration. The aluminum grip frame was economically cast in one piece, unlike the Colt frame which was in two forged steel pieces. The barrel

Ruger Old Model Single Six Serial Number History