Missing the Security-Six?

I sometimes think I'm the only one who misses the Ruger Security-Six.

Or who still thinks of the GP-100 as being the new double action .357 offered by Ruger.

I remember standing at a gun counter years ago and hefting a GP-100 and thinking it felt awfully awkward and front heavy; and wondering why Ruger would replace a brilliant, robust .357 revolver with a boat anchor like the GP-100. I was stumped. Then a few minutes ago I actually saw a guy on YouTube praising the Ruger Security-Six and saying the reason Ruger put out the GP-100 was because some of the Security-Sixes were “shooting loose.”

Shooting loose??

Yeah, like after about five billion times!

So I dug out some of my Security-Six photos and I hope you'll post photos of your own. I could never figure out which barrel length to get, so I did what anyone in my situation would do. I got some in each barrel length.



One reason the Security-Six isn't likely to shoot loose is because of its modular construction and oversized pieces. It also could be broken down into those modular components in minutes:





Years ago, Smith & Wesson took out ads in gun magazines arguing that its forged steel was stronger than Ruger's investment cast steel:



Needless to say it didn't work, because it's not. All it did was make people hungry. (it sold the steak and the sizzle!) It still makes me hungry!

If you have a Ruger Security-Six and want to post it, feel free. I'd especially like to see some comparison photos of the Security-Six and the GP-100.

CajunBass said:

I guess my ex-wife still has the one she claimed when we split up (It was "her" gun, so I couldn't gripe). I tried to buy it from her a couple of times, but that girl always did know a good gun.

Click to expand...

As long as they don't find it next to your body with your fingerprints all over it!





Yes, the S&W model 19 has one thing the Ruger doesn't. Class. But I put Wolff springs in my guns and did what an NRA techie told me. Rent a good Western and put a few thousand dry fires through it. I did that and more. You should feel it now! It won't knock the socks off a tuned S&W 19, but it will beat a factory 19 all day long. This guy with the NRA technical department had a M19 and put hot magnum rounds through it that he loaded himself.


Ruger Speed-Six

After about 2,000 rounds he had to have it retimed and he noted some frame stretching. He shot another 2,000+ hot rounds through it and tried to retime it. Alas, the gun had some problems and took it to a smith for repair. The smith got it working again, but warned him the forcing cone showed wear and that further firing of magnum loads would warp the frame and they'd be back to Square 1. So he retired the gun from shooting magnum loads and fired .38Spc from then on.


The forcing cone of a Security-Six is about the same size as that of a S&W 66, but for
some reason they just don't wear the same. The forcing cone of the Security-Six seems
to wear better, for some reason, to the S&W 66.Why? Who knows?

That's when here got (drum role, please) a stainless Ruger Security-Six 4-incher. He immediately began shooting hot magnum loads through it and after 2,000 rounds, he inspected it. Nothing. Then another, and another, and another. Still, nothing. Even though the forcing cones were about the same size, the Ruger didn't show the same wear that the S&W did. The last I heard he had passed more than 11,000 hot rounds through it and it looked like the day he bought it. Several years later, I read where Skeeter Skelton (remember him?) wrote that he knew of three Security-Sixes, each of which had more than 30,000 hot magnum rounds through them, not to mention the countless .38Spc as well, and all three of them were still going strong. (Actually, it was significantly more than that, but I don't want to be called a liar.) One was spitting just a little, he said, but it was still fully functional.




The S&W 66 was a gorgeous revolver, but though it was about the same size and weight
as the Security-Six, the latter would still be shooting long after the former had been recycled
and turned into a manhole cover!

I also learned how to round the corners, which I did on two of my 4-inchers (above) and one 2.75-inchers. I don't think I'd like them on a 6-inch, but if I change my mind I know where to find it!