victorio1sw
Bearcat
I like low serial numbers, and just bought this one. It seems to have the early features 1. Flat Gate, 2. non-serrated front sight, and 3. the small serrated button on the ejector rod.
These earliest production guns had a number of quality issues. One or more prototypes were made, and during early production other corrections would be identified.
1. One was that the frame blue often "blushed", as seen on the left side of this frame.
2. Another fault that I noticed was the small ejector head, coupled with a tight coil spring, is difficult to work backwards in ejecting shells. Oil had to be applied to make it work at all.
3. in ejecting shells, it was also noticed that the rod head can hang up in the backward position. A rod head installation slot is causing this.
4. The flat gate is very difficult to open, and consumers demanded that gates be profiled like the Colts.
5. When pulling the hammer to the safety or half cock position, the trigger slams forward and hits the trigger guard slot. it has done that enough times to roll some aluminum forward at that location (see picture #10).
However on the positive side, it appears that Ruger managed to get their tolerances tight enough, so that assembly numbers were not required. That includes the barrel, cylinder, and housing.
The ejector housing on this gun is made of Steel. I thought that these later were made of aluminum, but maybe not.
The grips are actually black hard rubber, and not some plastic! One can see on this example, that the butt areas are turning brown, as real hard rubber will.
This one was made in 1953 or 1954. Can I find out when it was made or shipped?
Were any frames (and serial numbers) scrapped during early production?
These earliest production guns had a number of quality issues. One or more prototypes were made, and during early production other corrections would be identified.
1. One was that the frame blue often "blushed", as seen on the left side of this frame.
2. Another fault that I noticed was the small ejector head, coupled with a tight coil spring, is difficult to work backwards in ejecting shells. Oil had to be applied to make it work at all.
3. in ejecting shells, it was also noticed that the rod head can hang up in the backward position. A rod head installation slot is causing this.
4. The flat gate is very difficult to open, and consumers demanded that gates be profiled like the Colts.
5. When pulling the hammer to the safety or half cock position, the trigger slams forward and hits the trigger guard slot. it has done that enough times to roll some aluminum forward at that location (see picture #10).
However on the positive side, it appears that Ruger managed to get their tolerances tight enough, so that assembly numbers were not required. That includes the barrel, cylinder, and housing.
The ejector housing on this gun is made of Steel. I thought that these later were made of aluminum, but maybe not.
The grips are actually black hard rubber, and not some plastic! One can see on this example, that the butt areas are turning brown, as real hard rubber will.
This one was made in 1953 or 1954. Can I find out when it was made or shipped?
Were any frames (and serial numbers) scrapped during early production?
