ruger single six

[hesco]

what year was the ruger single six first offered with the 22lr 22mag cyl. i presume the early ones will have a .223 bore and are not suited for the 22. mag.

[Bill O. Rights]

I'm actually looking at the full-page ad in the June 1959 American Rifleman magazine in which Sturm, Ruger & Co. announces its Single-Six Revolver in .22 WMR (magnum). Of note, on the back cover of the same magazine, Winchester-Western announces the all-new cartridge.

The June 1959 introduction date is substantiated in the somewhat obscure but excellent book, "A Blacksmith Guide to... Ruger Rimfire Revolvers 1953-1973", by J.C. Munnell. 1961 was the first year of the dual-cylinder (.22wmr /.22s-l-lr.) models. Again, this information is coroborated in yet another fine publication, "Ruger Automatic Pistols and Single Action Revolvers Book III", by Hugo A. Lueders.

The serial number range for these early 'magnums' began at 300,000 and ran through approx. 319,500 ( again, 1961 ), at which time the dual-cylinder guns were introduced.

I hope this helps, Hesco. Enjoy your early Rugers. I'm blessed to own #667 (very early 1954), and what a masterpiece it is !! Indeed, my first personally-owned handgun was presented to my at Christmas 1966 by my now-long-departed parents--- a 6 1/2" Super Single Six Convertible ( very foolishly loaned and long-gone, but I still have the extra cylinder in its red flannel pouch and cardboard box ). (^_^)

[Pete44ru]

When Ruger introduced the .22WRM Single-Six in 1959, they made a few, uncataloged, convertibles by adding a LR cylinder - which got it's first advertizement in 1961 (in the May AR) made it to the catalog in 1963, IIRC.
The WRM-based version started at about serial # 319,500, until approx #340,000.

The convertibles were then (1963) changed from .22 WRM's (marked on the frame) w/LR extra cylinders to standard .22LR's (no WRM frame mark) w/WRM extra cylinders.

The earliest standard SS convertibles were introduced into Ruger's lineup at approx serial # 169,000; the post 1963 models started at #340,000, running up to the 700,000 range before the 1969 serial nember prefixing system went in (20-xxx, 21-xxx).

There were many different collectible changes over those years - including the adjustable sight Super SS - right up to the switch to the transfer-bar New Models in 1973.

Some Single-Six's, mostly those with a serial # below 150,000, were fitted with an extra WRM cylinder by someone - which gave accuracy problems related to bore size.
Ruger refused to do the conversion, on revolvers sent in for work, below that serial #, but did so on revolvers with higher serial numbers - so one could presume Ruger made a change to the bore size about then.

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