I love old model Rugers

[Scott Tschirhart]

And my favorite is a short .45. The aluminum grip frame makes these feel better in my hand than any other sixgun.

What’s your favorite handgun?

[JimT]

That's a hard choice my friend.
I love the feel of the Colt SAA.
The Old Model Rugers have the same feel.
Either does it for me.

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[GunnyMack]

Do I really have to say?
As you guys know my choice is my Single Six 44 special!
Followed by my 41 BH.

[Bearskinner]

I used to have a vaquero in the PPP pile, but passed it along due to my eyes and the sights. Not it’s two Blackhawks. A 5 shot 4 3/4 an early build by John, and 5” stainless octagon with aluminum RW bearskinner Bisley grip frame, which is a dandy carry piece. Both balance wonderfully in hand.

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[marlinman93]

I really like SAA type revolvers, and of course older S&W DA revolvers. My favorite is my American Western Arms .45 Colt SAA with 4.75" barrel, and stag grips. I've owned quite a few maker's SAA pistols, and none have had an action as smooth as the AWA or a trigger as nice. Wish the company had survived and was still making them.

[ollogger]

My favorite 6 gun is hands down my old 3 screw Ruger in 357, 2nd is a older Vaquero in 45 colt & then
a little Vaquero in 32 H&R, i have others but these are the 3 i like the best



Brad

[Sixgun]

Flattops from the fifties….both calibers in all barrel lengths…except a 10” 357……my policy on buying guns is simple…Colt, Ruger, or Smith…I can use them for a lifetime and get back 4x what I paid for them.

[Walt]

My guns are like my children; there's no way I can choose a favorite. There are several Colts and Freedom Arms in the mix with the Rugers.

[Sixgun]

Dang Walt…YOU are the boards new “Sixgun”……..never knew you like single actions so much…….

Which one can I have?

[Walt]

Thanks, Dr. Six. Your pictures are waaay sexier than mine. Thanks!

Actually, I have more Smiths than Rugers but I prefer shooting single actions.

Come visit us in NM and pick one.

[44shooter]

My own favorite is my Kimber CDP Custom. My favorite revolver is my S&W Thunder Ranch Model 22 in 45 ACP. Both are accurate, handy, shoot big bullets and don’t beat me up.

[trapper45]

Only have two Old Models: a '61 Bearcat I picked up in a Fairbanks pawn shop in '93, and my original dependable 6-1/2" Single-Six convertible, bought new in June '68 (at list price-- $69.95!), of which I'm the original and sole owner.

[Walt]

On second thought it was probably unwise to post pictures of a bunch of guns on a public forum so I am deleting them. I don't want to needlessly make a target of myself.

[veeman]

[Grizz]

I've never owned an old model Ruger. I made meat with a 10 inch New Model Super Blackhawk 44, and picked up a 5-1/2 inch RedHawk because I reckoned that in certain situations, with a bear sitting on me, I might really need a double-action trigger! I have a couple of stainless smiths, the one I started hand gun hunting with is a Model 66 with the best single-action trigger I have ever experienced. That's it. I can pick up and carry my entire battery of hand guns single-handed. Not counting AR versions, they travel in their own caissons.

That's why I really enjoy seeing these photos of the ones that got away! Thanks for posting them!

But to the point of Scott's question, right now my favorite is a Philippine-built 1911 Government that I am tinkering with these days . . .

grizz

[2ndovc]

I didn't care for the OM Flat top that I had, but my three screw SBH is my all time favorite. That along with my National Match, go with me as much as possible.



jb

[Bill in Oregon]

Some really lovely handguns in this thread!
Can't beat the timeless beauty of Colts, though, can we?

[Rube Burrows]

Oh man, those are some beautiful guns there.

[Rexster]

My favorite individual, specific handgun is my first early-Nineties GP100, 172-series serial number, bought new, soon after it was made. In factory trim, with the original-pattern grip, nothing fits my hand better, and nothing points better. The trigger is in the just-right place, throughout the DA trigger stroke. I have accumulated several GP100 revolvers, since then, but my first one was in my hands, one night in 1993, when I very much NEEDED an immediately-effective defensive handgun. My opponent had a knife in one hand, and a heavy SL20 flashlight in his other hand. (The SL20 had just been snatched, from another officer.) I could not dance/dodge-about, or, God forbid, run, because I had others to protect, and because I had sworn an oath of office. Evil is not defeated by evading or running from it. My opponent had locked his eyes on my eyes. I needed the best handgun weapon in the world, at that moment in time. Though I had intended my GP100 to be an interim duty handgun, between my old-school SIG P220, and my next duty autoloader, my “sport/utility” GP100 was in my duty holster, that night. My GP100 did not fail me. (My shotgun was several yards away, in the patrol car.)

Trivia tidbit: While my GP100 was at the Firearms examiner’s office, for the routine ballistic testing that is done after a shooting incident, my Stainless Python served as an interim duty sixgun. I had never really warmed-up to the Python, for double-action shooting; its squared-off trigger face did not allow the surface of my index finger to proceed smoothly across the face of the trigger. I was glad to get my GP100 back, from the Firearms Examiner!

Actually, rather than transition soon, to the next duty autoloader, I carried that GP100 for about two more years, then transitioned to the lighter weight of an S&W Model 66. Finally, in about May of 1997, I transitioned to a autoloader for the duty rig.

Other handguns, not all of them revolvers, and not all of them Rugers, point as well, and fit me as well, but this one is my favorite. Other cartridges are more-favored than .357 Magnum, but this specific handgun happens to be chambered for .357 Magnum, and the .357 will usually get the job done, so is favored, if not the favorite.

Long after I had transitioned back to using auto-loaders as duty pistols, some felons still got to look at the muzzle end of this specific GP100, when it was, technically, a “back-up” weapon, but selected for the particular moment in time, relegating the duty pistol to temporarily being the secondary weapon.

[Bill in Oregon]

Rexter, glad you had that GP100!
I had the preceding Security Six and considered it a bank vault of a .357.

[Walt]

I suppose I do have a few favorites that I enjoy shooting the most.

top left to right; Colt NF in .44 spl, FA m97 in .45 Colt, both 5 1/2"

bottom left to right: Ruger Bisley in .44 spl, 5 1/2", Smith Mountain Gun in .45 Colt, 4"

[Rexster]

Rexter, glad you had that GP100!
I had the preceding Security Six and considered it a bank vault of a .357.

The Security Six is, indeed, a wonderful sixgun! The GP100 is not a better-quality revolver, but is less-expensive for Ruger for manufacture, than the double-action Sixes.

[Bill in Oregon]

Walt, you are well fixed!

[Walt]

Thanks, Bill

[Sixgun]

That’s quality stuff there Walt………behind every man who has a well rounded collection of quality guns is a library…….00

[Walt]

Thanks, Six! I have shelves of books and I'm almost as proud of them as I am of my guns.

[Scott Tschirhart]

Shoots like an old friend. Just had to center the rear sight and screw it down into the top strap.

[Ysabel Kid]

Flattops from the fifties….both calibers in all barrel lengths…except a 10” 357……my policy on buying guns is simple…Colt, Ruger, or Smith…I can use them for a lifetime and get back 4x what I paid for them.

Like this one, Six?



It was my Dad's. Low (very low) 1,000's (4 digit) SN.

[Sixgun]

Sure thing Kid…..those flattops rival later Colts in the “soul moving” category. Can I have it?

[Walt]

Hey, Six, is that a triple lock at the front of your picture of Smiths?

[Ysabel Kid]

Sure thing Kid…..those flattops rival later Colts in the “soul moving” category. Can I have it?

Y2K already beat you to the punch, Six!

[Ysabel Kid]

Beautiful Rugers - and STUNNING grips!!!

[veeman]

Thank you! I love stags.

[Old No7]

Thank you! I love stags.

Love Stags?! Me too!! ("Elk Stag", but it's book-matched)

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What’s your favorite handgun?

Well, it's gotta be this one -- but it's not a revolver, or a Ruger...

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Old No7

[OldWin]

For single actions, I'm mostly a Colt guy. I have SAAs in all 3 generations, chambered in .45 and .357, with 5.5" and 4.75" barrels. I also have several of the .22s, and much prefer them to the Single Six (a Ruger I just cannot like). I do like the Blackhaws and SBs, but prefer the old models. The only NM I have left is a 6.5" .41 magnum my dad bought used back in the early 80s. My first Ruger was a NM 4.625" 45 I bought around the same time. It's the only NM I miss.
Now I have a 1960 Flat Top 4.625 .357 I got from Six, and an old 3 screw SB. I keep threatening to send it out to have it done up like Jason's SB ( The only Ruger envy I'm guilty of ).
For double actions I always preferred Smith's. I have a few Js, Ks, and Ns from the 70s and 80s. Never got an L, so I splurged and bought a new Python a couple years ago. I find myself using it more and more. I have also moved from the Js to a Detective Special I've had for some time.
While the Ruger double actions are fine guns, I just never warmed up to them. When the GP100 was introduced, I was very excited. I bought a 4" blued model and just couldn't like it. It languished for a few years on my nightstand, then I gave it to my dad. He loves it, and has it to this day.

[Sixgun]

Hey, Six, is that a triple lock at the front of your picture of Smiths?

Yep…..sure is…and it’s one of the rare target versions. On top of that it was Captain Nate’s gun from Herroshoff Americas Cup yacht fame.

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[2ndovc]

Thank you! I love stags.

Love Stags?! Me too!! ("Elk Stag", but it's book-matched)

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What’s your favorite handgun?

I've been looking at those P210s. It's nice to know that they're are worth the admission price!

jb
Well, it's gotta be this one -- but it's not a revolver, or a Ruger...

SIG P210 Tgt 00 Target.jpg


Old No7

[Old No7]

I've been looking at those P210s. It's nice to know that they're are worth the admission price!

And it's even better when you get one for the SIG Employee price!!!

Old No7

[Walt]

Well, Captain Six, that's definitely a holy grail gun and you're a classy gent for owning and showing it.

Thanks!

[Sixgun]

Thanks Walt but if short distance was class, I’d be on the other side of Pluto….

Two of the hardest flattops to find…the 44 10” and the even rarer 44 7.5”

[Walt]

Sorry, Six. Didn't mean to tarnish your image!

[Sixgun]

Sorry, Six. Didn't mean to tarnish your image!

Walt,
My image is beyond tarnished, it’s decayed into Fe2 o3. (I never have worried about image, I am who I am.

Pre war Model 61 Winchester and a pair of Ruger Flatgates….all pretty much new.



Serial number 843 …44 Flattop with carved (both sides) elephant ivories.



Colt SAA’s….unfired….38-40 and a 45 L.C…..back when I had these connections……first person since 1873 to think of these serial numbers.

[Bill in Oregon]

I had a rust-mottled and careworn flatgate years ago, and homely as she was, the darned thing shot great.

[Walt]

The only thing I have that's even close to your beautiful collector's dream guns is a model 61 made in the late 50s or early 60s. It's a nice gun. I have a couple of flat tops but they're relatively new. I have an old model SBH; I've never owned a single action in .22lr. They're all shooters.

Thanks for the pictures, Six.

[Sixgun]

They do Bill. ….the old models had a tighter bore diameter before the advent of the magnum cartridge……I keep a well worn old model single six hanging on a nail out in the barn and that baby will pop a fox (or whatever needs to be dispatched) out to 100+.

Always with target velocity ammo……there’s no need for hi-vel .22 ammo.

Thanks Walt….if you do decide on a single action .22 go for the old models made before around 1961…..can’t remember the exact time frame but I have it in my books…….also, the XR3 grip frame is as close to a Colt SAA as they come which most people prefer. Jim T will tell you that….in his day old models were all over the place and he’d buy em, switch grips frames and resell what he just bought...maybe he will see this.

In the last couple of years I’ve been selling my high condition investment guns……I sold the one flatgate and still have one more. Still have the 61……it’s a pre war transitional which means it was put together after the war with pre war parts….live shot it and it shoots like a target gun with target ammo…not the cheap loose stuff with crooked bullets which people tend to buy….Stay tuned to the classified.

[JimT]

Yessir! I put the XR3 gripframe on all my Rugers that had the redesigned gripframe. As you know, I put some Colt stocks on my old single six.

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[OldWin]

Yessir! I put the XR3 gripframe on all my Rugers that had the redesigned gripframe. As you know, I put some Colt stocks on my old single six.

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Now THAT is a good looking Ruger. 22! That's not something I usually say either.

Can I have it?

[JimT]

Now THAT is a good looking Ruger. 22! That's not something I usually say either.
Can I have it?

You will have to ask my kids after I am gone.
PS - don't get your hopes up too high ....

[OldWin]

Now THAT is a good looking Ruger. 22! That's not something I usually say either.
Can I have it?

You will have to ask my kids after I am gone.
PS - don't get your hopes up too high ....

Haha yeah I get it Jim! I have the feeling my boys are plotting my death.
In reality, the last thing I need is another .22. That is a really great looking revolver Jim. Nice work.

[JimT]

Haha yeah I get it Jim! I have the feeling my boys are plotting my death.
In reality, the last thing I need is another .22. That is a really great looking revolver Jim. Nice work.

Thanks. I shoot it as much as I shoot any of the other calibers ... probably more. It was a 6 1/2" and I had problems seeing the small front sight, so I had Gary Reeder cut the barrel to 4 5/8" and put a Super Single Six front sight on it. I opened up the rear notch and now I can see the sights! I also ordered a steel ejector rod housing from Borchardt Rifle Works and installed that.

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Aquila seems to be among the most accurate ammo out of this gun.

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