VERY EARLY RUGER SINGLE SIX FLAT GATE #93

[victorio1sw]

The table in the book (highly recommended purchase for all serious Ruger collectors) is only for the 1953 guns, which of course were only built in the last half of December. #92 is not on the list. #'s 89, 90, & 91 were made Dec 29th. #'s 96 & 99 were Dec 18. No other 9x guns were finished in 1953.

Single Sixes were only completed on Dec 15, 16, 18, 20, 28, 29, & 30.

The 29th was the best day with 39 completed, followed by the 18th with 22, then the 15th had the 14 listed above.

That is truly an amazing calendar of Ruger Single Six events that you have constructed! One has to wonder why the ONE gun was completed on a Sunday before Christmas. Perhaps a gift for someone on the 25th?

 

[victorio1sw]

Because they needed the space........to throw away generations of records. Disgusting.

Can you only imagine the destinations that were tossed? The Win 1873 SRC's that went to Texas Rangers, guns shipped to Bill Cody, special orders for Maximilian?

I mentioned the Texas Ranger shipments, because George Madis had seen these records in 1968, and planned to add those serial numbers in his 1971 book. But they were gone!

 

[Star43]

Some fantastic first day production! Thanks for sharing.

Well 92 was not on the first day according to WMG. The book, and it was also mentioned earlier in this thread about the same book having real good info. YOURS was on the first day. But I think 92 could not have been much farther down the road.....Man, can You believe you own a SS made in the Very First day of production. The Blue Bird of Happiness must have pooped real close to you !! Unbelievable!!

 

[Star43]

That is truly an amazing calendar of Ruger Single Six events that you have constructed! One has to wonder why the ONE gun was completed on a Sunday before Christmas. Perhaps a gift for someone on the 25th?

I think you are right on that as it makes sense.

 

[Star43]

Can you only imagine the destinations that were tossed? The Win 1873 SRC's that went to Texas Rangers, guns shipped to Bill Cody, special orders for Maximilian?

I mentioned the Texas Ranger shipments, because George Madis had seen these records in 1968, and planned to add those serial numbers in his 1971 book. But they were gone!

How could a so called CEO be that stupid....

 

[victorio1sw]

How could a so called CEO be that stupid....

Just one reason that Winchester no longer exists?

At Colt something similar happened. A CEO there ordered many old records to be tossed, including the Special Order records, but one employee (surname: Hintlian) took them home -- to make them "disappear". Mercy, what nearly got destroyed! These records date 1889-1912. The Hintlian family later sold them to a gun collector who likes history.

 

[JAYDAWG]

Here is a graphic I just made:

WMG,
Thank you for the visual. Very nice.
I have the book (of Course!)but this is a cool way to look at it.

Cheers,
JAYDAWG

 

[JAYDAWG]

This one has been shot a lot, but the bore remains bright and shiny. I don't really plan to shoot this early gun. I do have another 6-1/2" barrel that was made in 1966, that would be more suitable for shooting. It has a matching 22 Mag cylinder, but the cheaper 22 RF's are all I need for fun shooting!

Shoot it !!!!
You can't hurt it , or the value.
If you don't, you will be the first person that owned it, NOT to shoot it......

I'm not talking every time you go out, but at least run a couple cylinder's through her
before it sits in the safe

Cheers,
JaydaWg

 

[Star43]

Well maybe it would be good to shoot a couple of cylinders through it before you clean it up real good for long storage or whatever. But that way, at least you can say "It shoots real good,". Why not, just don't over tighten the grips. . But only a couple of cylinders, that's it....

 

[Star43]

And put a spacer in the grips !!!!

 

[JAYDAWG]

My only concern with this thread is............
Now there will be a few more bidding against me next time a type 1 comes up

Fun stuff,
Cheers,
JAYDAWG

 

[JAYDAWG]

The comment was made about the early "subscription" guns. In the very early years,, there wasn't 93 subscribers. So, for this gun to be shipped as a normal production gun,, would be correct.

Contender,

Not sure when the subscription's were started, but now that I think about it, I am sure you are correct.
Appreciate your experience and input.
With the RSS being only the second model Ruger produced, the idea of putting together the same #'s of each
new production gun had not been considered yet.

So, anyone know when/how the idea of one person having all new offerings with same serial got started?

JaydaWg

 

[victorio1sw]

Well maybe it would be good to shoot a couple of cylinders through it before you clean it up real good for long storage or whatever. But that way, at least you can say "It shoots real good,". Why not, just don't over tighten the grips. . But only a couple of cylinders, that's it....

I know that someone here put a fancy long-name on this grip material. But to me it looks like simple hard rubber, introduced about 1860.

Hard rubber comes in two colors, black and brick red. Merwin & Hulbert attempted to mix black & red for grips, but experienced problems with duplicating the results, and scrapped the idea.

Hard rubber retains its shape, unless force and heat are applied. Black hard rubber tends to turn brown if wet and warm (like with sweaty hands). I have made black hard rubber turn brown by placing it in boiling water for a few seconds. What is lost is the black pigment at the surface.

As long as the grip screw is not tightened any more, these grips should remain as flat as they are after 71 years.

As for shooting this #93, I have no problem with that on a mere 22rf. If it was a 45 Colt, then especially on a very early production gun, the pressure and jarring might cause a problem. I know that on some very early Colt models, the factory found it necessarily to add a few 1000th to the cylinder walls. One prime example was the Colt M1877 DA, when during the 1st year 0.030" was added to the cylinder diameter.

 

[JAYDAWG]

As for shooting this #93, I have no problem with that on a mere 22rf. If it was a 45 Colt, then especially on a very early production gun, the pressure and jarring might cause a problem. I know that on some very early Colt models, the factory found it necessarily to add a few 1000th to the cylinder walls. One prime example was the Colt M1877 DA, when during the 1st year 0.030" was added to the cylinder diameter.

Not up on Colts, but wouldn't those be black powder guns, and not safe to shoot smokeless?
I don't know.
What I do know is, you are correct........putting 20 rounds of rimfire through that RSS is just what it wants/needs!
And, ENJOY every shot

Cheers,
JAYDAWG

 

[GRAMPS 51]

I have two factory letters on the #92 single six the first one states December 1953 and the second one states January 1954 i got the letters a few years apart #92 has a perfect blued finish just mint no plum at all it lives here with the #92 bearcat and #92 long frame super
Gramps

 

[Star43]

Funny how you have 2 letters for the same gun. Perhaps it was one of those started in Dec. 53 and then it was finished in Jan. 54 ?? That makes your gun pretty special too.....and mint.

 

[hittman]

The people looking up the info and typing the letters are human too.
I know of a letter saying a gun was made 10 YEARS before that model was introduced. Obviously just a typo.

A rifle I know of has a letter saying carbine stock but; years later new owner asked for another letter and it says sporter stock.

It happens.

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

@victorio1sw, I suspect that if you wrote back to Ruger with the info from the Dougan book showing it was assembled on Dec 15, they would be willing to re-do your letter with that first-day date. They are aware that John was given unprecedented access to the factory records, so they trust the data in his book.