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older Bearcat pawnshop find

4K views 34 replies 21 participants last post by  JVStalin 
#1 ·
Hey guys, stopped into a local pawn and gun shop I've never been into today and told them I was looking for a Ruger .22 revolver. They only had a couple guns, but one of which was an older blued bearcat.

They have it listed at $199. The cylinder locks up tight and there's some wearing on the barrel. The engraving on the cylinder is there, but somewhat hard to see. Although I've never seen a NIB Bearcat so I don't know how much that stands out. The serial number starts with 91-xxxxxx

I want something for my 8 year old son and myself to shoot, and I think the Bearcat is a little small, perhaps, so I was mainly looking for a single six. But looking at the used prices on gunbroker, $199 seems to be a pretty good price.

Any comments/suggestions you might have? While I'm not rich, I like to get a good deal, but I also don't mind paying for a new firearms if a used one is just a little less. Not sure what to do here. Again, the Bearcat wasn't on my shopping list, but I'm intrigued by the price.
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I was wondering that. It's been a while since I've bought anything in a pawn shop. Are they usually pretty negotiable? I guess it depends how much they ahve into it.

Assuming its at 80% condition, what's a no-brainer price on these?
 
#7 ·
amheck, serial number info:

91-00051 1971
91-25001 1972
91-46701 1973
91-62904 1974

Eight years old is fine IF he is a responsible individual and listens!

I started my grandson off at 7 and I stood real close to him at all times! Never had a problem and I had him out for his first duck hunt on his 10th birthday. We had some greats times together.
 
#8 ·
I think the offer for $150 will probably get you started. I'd say if you could get it for $175 OTD that would be a "no-brainer" buying decision.

Safe and happy shooting! :Blasting_
 
#10 ·
My first gun was a Ruger Bearcat. Bought it when I was 15 or 16 years old from a gun shop in Southern Ca. $16 out the door with a holster. It was used but in great condition. I think I had to have my dad with me when I bought it. No waiting period. No forms to fill out. I'm old.
 
#11 ·
Went in and did the deal today. Started out my offer at $175 OTD and they took it. Got it home and wiped everything down and I'm def pleasantly pleased with the condition. Actually better than I was expecting.

And the serial number matches my year of birth, so that's cool, too.

Tried snapping a few pics but they aren't turning out too good. But I'm very happy with this purchase. Funny how things turn out sometimes. You aren't even planning to get anything (I was actually saving for a Brown 1911) but this will be cool for us.
 
#13 ·
hey guys, took the Bearcat to the range today. I was shooting at 10 yards at a 6" shoot-n-see target. First few shots I didn't see anywhere and I was a little confused. After a few more rounds, I finally found it was shooting high and left.

So I think I finally got it to group ok, but I was aiming at 5 o'clock at the outside of the target ring. Kind of a bummer. I'm not as concerned about the windage, as that doesn't seem as drastic, but its shooting pretty high. I'm not sure if the front sight has been filed down or not.

Are these front sights pretty easy to change out? I did find that midway had a replacement front sight.

After doing some more searching, seems you can get these worked on, but it would be more than what I have into the gun.

Is this pretty par for the course? I am pretty sure when I was reading up on these, I didn't see too many complaints about accuracy. I understand this is more of a plinking gun and not a target gun, but I'm not even sure I want to start to teach my gun to change the POA so drastically on his first pistol.
 
#16 ·
I would try some different ammo - that would be cheaper than working on your gun at least at first. I use cci subsonics and they work really well. Federal standard velocity will group a little right. I find my accuracy problems are sometimes caused by the placement of my finger on the trigger. When I concentrate on the placement for each shot my groups are tighter.
Still have a bunch of different rounds to try in my .22's
 
#18 ·
Thanks guys. I knew .22 ammo was picking about cycling in some of my semi autos but I didn't know it could be responsible for different POI's. I think yesterday I just grabbed a bulk box of federal from Walmart with me to the range. I might head over and buy a bunch of different kinds and test it out next weekend. Hopefully that'll do the trick.
 
#20 ·
Looking in my range bag (I had 2 bulk packs with me) I think I was using the CCI Blazer bulk pack. I think this is HV?

I went to Walmart today and in addition to what I had in my stash, I now have this to try:

wolf match target 40gr
Rem Golden Bullet .22 short (bought these by mistake) - can I still try them?
Remington Golden Bullet HP bulk
Remington Thunderbolt
Winchester Super X HV HP
Remington 22 Target 40gr
CCI MiniMag 22 HP 36gr
CCI bulk pack
Federal bulk pack

Going to try and hit the range soon and try all of these. I'm hopeful that one of them will help out the Bearcat. I really want this thing to come close to where I'm aiming. Again, I'm not expecting a small group, I just want to be able to come close with something. So I guess we'll see.
 
#22 ·
Made it to the range today. I shot indoors and the lighting was a little dim, so I did everything at 7 yards. Although my last target, I got 24 shots at 10 yards and it ended up about the same.

I won't bore you with all of the different targets, but I can tell you they all shot almost exactly the same. 99%+ of the shots were in the upper left quadrant. I think I'm ok with the windage, but the height I would like to see if I can address. Seems I need a taller front sight? Anyone know who might make something like that?

Sorry for the pen smears.......





 
#23 · (Edited)
Hi Amheck, this might nor might not work for you.

My Henry 22 Mare's leg level pistol (like a sawed rifle) always hit high like that even with the rear adjustable site all the way down.

My rough rider 22 single six gun fixed sights fires just like you are talking about and so do all the same ones some friends of mine have.

To fix the Henry, while Henry was shipping me a taller front post, I went to the outfitters, (Bass Pro, Cabelas etc) and purchased the least cost "tru-glow" sight that had a Green Rod (you could use red/orange as well) that had a flat bottom.

here is an example, but in real life they are very small and 1/2" long.
http://www.truglo.com/images/TG948UR.jpg

I then used CA glue from the hobby store and added the rod to the top of the front sight. CA is hobby shop class super glue, used on model airplanes. CA works when cheap dime store Super Glue does not.

That got my POI down to my POA. And I can always "Snap off" the rod and return it to stock when I want. The taller Henry sight came in the mail, but I still am using the "Tru-glow rod" sight for now.

Edit: while I didn't have any in my home shop, if you had a local hobby or train store with "plastistrut", they have round rod for less money and you can paint it black to match the front sight. They also might have square strut as well if you like the square look better.

Art
 
#24 · (Edited)
ArtU, thanks for the idea. That sounds like it'd be exactly what I need to get that little bit of extra height. I'll def add that to my list of ideas.

I talked to Dave Clements and he thinks for around $100 or so, he can get on a new front sight and also work with the barrel to adjust for the windage. He's got a 3-4 month wait though.

I also came across this $40 front sight, although it says it needs to be installed by a smith, too.
http://bowenclassicarms.com/parts_store/front_sights.html

I also want to contact Ruger to see if they have any ideas. Who knows, maybe they have a higher front sight that would work.
 
#27 · (Edited)
I can try out to 25-30 yards and see what happens. What size target should I use for something like that? All I know is that between my eyes, those small sights, and the 6" targets I have on hand, I would have trouble at 25 yards.

Also, FWIW, I called Ruger today to see what they might be able to do. I was told I couldn't have it looked at or any parts for it until I went thru the recall/transfer safety bar work. Then they would look at the POA/POI and go from there and address it. Not sure if that means they'd fix it, or tell me how much it'll be for them to fix it.
 
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