Ruger Speed Six

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I carry my 2 3/4 in SS Ruger as my ccw. I am in the opinion that this is one of the very best revolvers for ccw. The balance and weight of the weapon is perfect, the point of aim is correct. Do any of you fellow shooters carry or shoot a Speed Six?
I will never part with this gun. Bought it ten years ago for $245.00
 
The Speed Six is an excellent revolver and another one in a long list of Rugers that I should have held on to. My tastes in short barreled revolvers usually gravitated more toward Colt Detective Specials and S&W J frames. If I were looking for a .357 for CCW I would be more inclined to try and find a Colt Lawman Mk.III instead.
 
For years they were seen as the sort of bargain versions of better S&W or Colt pieces. But with the growth in CCW, a lot of folks have really taken a shine to them. The Colts have gotten very expensive, and the S&W's tend to wear out. But these Ruger Sixes keep going. In fact the triggers tend to get better with age.

I have two of the short barrel variety with T-Grips attached and would never part with them. But I am looking to get an SP-101 because of the sheer number of rounds I've been putting through the Rugers. used to be you could find a Six for $250 or $300. Not any more!
 
Speed Six

I would love to have a short barrel speed six with fixed sights in 357. I had a four inch and didn't apretiate what I had until it was gone. You snooze you loose.
 
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Speed Six, Security Six, GP-100, and SP-101 in this picture. I pack a Glock but I sure love snubs.

Deaf
 
My packin'/trail/general all-around gun is my 2 3/4 inch Speed Six. Bought it new thirty years ago. It is one sweet gun, but my CCW gun is a S&W 442.
 
I bought two stainless .38 Spc models years ago for almost nothing. Then I had a local gun smith who reamed out the chambers to take .357s, and he did such a precise job that the guns shot perfectly. With Pachmayr round butt grips the actions of both guns smoothed out all by themselves. One of them is my all time favorite gun, equal to my Security-Six.

The gun should still be in production, but they tended to be very expensive to make. I have an SP-101 I'm very fond of, but it doesn't touch the Speed-Six.


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Round butt Security-Six. Feels much better than the GP-100!


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Regular square butt Security-Six.


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I open carry so I pack my 4" Security or Service Six. The SS makes a great all around carry weapon.
 
Years ago I had a Speed-Six and I foolishly sold it.
I recently aquired another one. It shoots great. Just waiting on the leather I ordered to begin to carry it. :)
 
I have one and still carry it sometimes when out riding my horse and working the back area of my farm. It used to be my every day carry years ago but now prefer the lighter Colt magnum carry that I bought in 2000. The Ruger speed six is a great gun along with many others I have. It is a keeper.
 
I picked up my speed six at a pawn shop sometime around 2002 or so.

I bought it because it was cheap and I've always been a fan of the .357 revolvers.

It has since become a favorite of mine.

IM000338.jpg

It's the right size, it fits my hand, I trust it to fire every time, I trust it to NOT fire when it's not supposed to, it shoots to the point of aim way better than those little sights suggest it would, it has enough power to actually stop the bad guys, the trigger is great, and it's not prone to rusting.

What more could I ask?

Some folks want more bullets in the gun, but I'm not being hunted by any ninja attack squads.

For your average mugger or crackhead six rounds of .357 hollowpoints should be sufficient.

I'm going to keep mine! :D
 
I have a bugout bag in the event of an emergency and don't know whether to pack my SP-101 or my Speed-Six. What do you think?

One of my favorite handguns is the S&W 66 with a 2.5-inch barrel and a 4-inch barrel, pinned of course, with counterbored chambers. Although they aren't nearly as strong as the Rugers, they too were great survival, camping and hiking guns. Alas, the only 4-inch 66 I have is a cheap (or even free some places) Android program called IRevolver. You can load the gun, cock it and shoot it DA or SA but that's it. It's sure purty. Here are some screen shots:

IRevolver_1.png

IRevolver_2.png

The point is, .357 revolvers are incredible, and as far as I'm concerned Ruger and S&W screwed the product by increasing the weight and balance of their current production guns. The SP-101 and the LCD are fine guns, but the barrel on the latter is too short and the current line of "medium framed" guns really aren't. They're clearly heavy framed guns in comparison with the previous Model 13, 65, 19, 66 and Security-, Service- and Speed-Six pistols. I loved the older guns and I do have an affinity for the Smith 686 -- but the current Rugers are losers, in my opinion, except the SP-101 and LCD. The GP-100s are too heavy to carry on hikes or take hiking. They're almost strictly range guns.

I'd love to see the Speed-Six and 6-inch Security-Six brought back into production. Back in the 70s, two of the most celebrated .357 hunting and outdoor guns were the S&W 66 6-inch and the Security-Six 6-inch revolvers. Since their demise, however, these types of articles have virtually ceased. No one wants to haul around a 686 6-inch or GP-100 6-inch for hunting or casual hunting in the out of doors.

The Speed-Six, on the other hand, were great trail guns, camp guns and self defense guns for hikers, bikers and CCW. Pound for pound, ounce for ounce, you can't get a better, more powerful gun.

I don't know what Smith and Ruger were thinking about when they dropped their medium framed guns.

.
 
I have a bugout bag in the event of an emergency and don't know whether to pack my SP-101 or my Speed-Six. What do you think?

One of my favorite handguns is the S&W 66 with a 2.5-inch barrel and a 4-inch barrel, pinned of course, with counterbored chambers. Although they aren't nearly as strong as the Rugers, they too were great survival, camping and hiking guns. Alas, the only 4-inch 66 I have is a cheap (or even free some places) Android program called IRevolver. You can load the gun, cock it and shoot it DA or SA but that's it. It's sure purty. Here are some screen shots:

IRevolver_1.png

IRevolver_2.png

The point is, .357 revolvers are incredible, and as far as I'm concerned Ruger and S&W screwed the product by increasing the weight and balance of their current production guns. The SP-101 and the LCD are fine guns, but the barrel on the latter is too short and the current line of "medium framed" guns really aren't. They're clearly heavy framed guns in comparison with the previous Model 13, 65, 19, 66 and Security-, Service- and Speed-Six pistols. I loved the older guns and I do have an affinity for the Smith 686 -- but the current Rugers are losers, in my opinion, except the SP-101 and LCD. The GP-100s are too heavy to carry on hikes or take hiking. They're almost strictly range guns.

I'd love to see the Speed-Six and 6-inch Security-Six brought back into production. Back in the 70s, two of the most celebrated .357 hunting and outdoor guns were the S&W 66 6-inch and the Security-Six 6-inch revolvers. Since their demise, however, these types of articles have virtually ceased. No one wants to haul around a 686 6-inch or GP-100 6-inch for hunting or casual hunting in the out of doors.

The Speed-Six, on the other hand, were great trail guns, camp guns and self defense guns for hikers, bikers and CCW. Pound for pound, ounce for ounce, you can't get a better, more powerful gun.

I don't know what Smith and Ruger were thinking about when they dropped their medium framed guns.

.
I agree. Ruger made a huge mistake dropping the Security Six line. The GP100 is a good revolver but too heavy for folks like me. My Police Service Six is the right size and will hold up well shooting 140 gr or heavier 357 magnum loads.
Howard
 
It was smart for Ruger to can the Six line- revolvers are out for LE contracts, and Ruger never made any money on the Sixes.

Now, it's still a tragedy that they realized this so soon...

I missed a grail gun last year- a 3" Speed Six, NIB, with postal inspector serial number, manual, and box. Minty.
 
Ruger

I bought a Security-Six for myself and a Speed- Six for my BIL just after I got out of the Navy in '75 for about $165 each. I will forever regret that I traded mine in '82. They are great revolvers.
 
It was smart for Ruger to can the Six line- revolvers are out for LE contracts, and Ruger never made any money on the Sixes. Now, it's still a tragedy that they realized this so soon...
Ruger definitely cut corners on the GP-100, but while it picked up a whole new clientele, it was doomed to lose the police market. And the police market was the primary reason Bill Ruger kept the price of the Six-line down. The S&W 66 was always difficult to find even at inflated prices, and this, I think, was because of their beauty and balance. It was one sexy gun and, meanwhile, Bill Ruger and his successors obstinately refused to take that ugly warning message off the sides of the barrels.

And because Ruger kept the price of the Six-line at low prices, people refused to pay more. It was one of the best bargains available, and if Ruger decided to come out with newer models, they should have let people decide which barrel type they wanted most. This underlug preoccupation on the part of manufacturers is ridiculous. Light weight .357s is optimal for outdoor carry and shooting. For range and competition, where weight isn't an issue, the underlug barrels are fine.
 
2-3/4 service six here. It's a range gun. For carry or completion I go with a m&p 9mm or j-frame (which I've used in BUG matches).
 
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