Just bought a Ruger Wrangler

I wanted one when they first came out. Even went and looked at a couple. I thought it was a nice gun for the price. Better than the the HRR have looked at. I have a couple of Ruger Single Sixes and thats probably why I haven't bought one of the Wranglers yet. A range report would be appreciated.

They are very tempting!

I love mine... Now. When I bought mine back in August, I liked it well enough. The trigger wasn't much to write home about, and accuracy was meh. So, I set to work on it. I bought a Wolff trigger spring, and trimmed 2 coils from the hammer spring. I also polished the internals, replaced the plastic-headed ejector rod with a metal one from a Single Six, and some nice wood Ruger grips. Now I had a gun with a 2lb trigger and smooth action.



However, accuracy was still not the best. It also keyholed certain ammo. So, I re-crowned the barrel and polished all the chambers. After doing that my groups shrank to 1.5 to 2 inches at 15 yards. It really likes CCI and Federal HV stuff. Standard vel stuff isn't bad either.

After the mods, I have a gun that I'd say is on par with any Single Six at half the cost. It fits my hand well, and is light and easy to carry. The free spin cylinder takes some getting used to, as does the lack of a half cock notch. The cera-kote finish isn't the prettiest, either. But, all that aside, its become my favorite gun for use on the farm. Its claimed its share of varmints, tin cans, and shotgun hulls. I'm even contemplating a silver one for my wife, with the same mods and perhaps some black pearlite grips.

So in short... Buy it! You won't regret it.

Mac

I bought my black/black Wrangler back around Thanksgiving 2019. I didn’t like the thin original grips so I added some Altamont checkered grips that I got on Black Friday for 20 bucks, and it’s been a fun little plinker.

I keep the .22 mag cylinder on my 6.5” Single Six so the 4 5/8” Wrangler complements it nicely.

My 15 year old son likes to shoot “the cowboy gun”, so this gun may be headed his way when he’s a bit older.

Stay safe.

The Wrangler is a good revolver at a great price.
I am currently doing a head to head comparison between a Wrangler and HRR both NIB. There are definitely some differences between the two but both are so far great values for their perspective price points. I'm sure you will be happy with your Wrangler.

xring3 said:

Purchased a .22 Ruger Wrangler last week. Haven’t had a chance yet to take it to the range. I’m not upset with it not having a magnum cylinder like a Heritage as I doubt I would ever use it. Anyone else have one or have comments on it?

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Have one, really like it except how the cylinder isn't 'indexed', so lining it up perfectly to load it is a bit tiresome but it shoots really well, lotsa fun.

I bought one a few weeks back, didn't really intend to buy one that day but they had all the colors and I chose the silver one. It's a blast to shoot, it's a very basic gun and the loading gate is a bit stiff but I love it, definitely worth $200.

Bought two, one each for my wife and I. Both shoot to poa at 20 yards and she likes hers as do I mine. Win win as they were only $179 each. BTW, single six magnums cylinders will fit but won't function.

Question for Wrangler owners...anyone have the silver model? I ordered one and saw it at my LGS today to start the transfer paperwork. I noticed that the hammer looks discolored almost like the Cerakote didn’t take. It didn’t come off with a finger, might come off with more serious cleaning, not sure. Any thoughts? Pics below.

The only way I can see any color at all in your pic is to tilt my laptop to reduce the glare of your image. Is that what you are referring to? Sorta like a gold tint?

It’s more obvious in real life, hard to tell if it’s dried oil or the underlying color of the metal without cerakote.

The hammers aren't coated, best I can tell. Have you tried scrubbing it?

Mac

I have a silver one. The hammer and trigger are steel and have no Cerakote. Hence the color difference compared to the cylinder and grip frame which are alloy and do have Cerakote applied.


I like mine a lot so far. Seems like a great value to me for what it is.

cluttonfred said:

It’s more obvious in real life, hard to tell if it’s dried oil or the underlying color of the metal without cerakote.

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I don't own one.

It looks to me the hammer isn't cerakoted as a couple others have mentioned.... and it looks like dried oil to me.... as if it never got cleaned property after machining/manufacturing of the hammer.

Thanks, all. I don’t have the revolver yet because of the waiting period in FL, but you’ve reassured me that it’s not a flaw just something to clean after I pick it up next week. Cheers, Matthew

Mine shot consistently 4" low and to the left @ 10'. Sent it back to Ruger, said it was 'within specs'.

Their test target patterned low and to the left.

Traded it off (with the test target).

Bought a Bearcat.

Conelrad

Conelrad said:

Mine shot consistently 4" low and to the left @ 10'. Sent it back to Ruger, said it was 'within specs'.

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Do you mean 10 feet or 10 yards? Either way that really sucks.
At 20-25 yards it might be the maximum that you might expect for a budget-priced revolver.
It seems hardly possible that the barrel could be that misaligned, so perhaps the crown was not square to the bore.

I have a special love for the Browning Nomad. It was our club pistol at my high school basement range.
New members of our club all started with it as a trainer before being allowed to bring their own .22 pistols.
The funny thing is that the actual owner had simply left it behind with the club when he moved away and so nobody really owned it after that.
So it lived alone as an orphan in a locked cupboard at the range six days a week, and came out on Sunday mornings (our time slot).

cluttonfred said:

Question for Wrangler owners...anyone have the silver model? I ordered one and saw it at my LGS today to start the transfer paperwork. I noticed that the hammer looks discolored almost like the Cerakote didn’t take. It didn’t come off with a finger, might come off with more serious cleaning, not sure. Any thoughts?

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Never really noticed before but my hammer is kind of discolored too. I don't think its cerakote as it doesnt really match the rest. Looks like its some other coating maybe? I'm not sure, but I haven't had any issues with it

10 feet to my target.

Conelrad

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Conelrad said:

10 feet to my target.

Conelrad

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I find it very hard to believe that any production firearm could be so inaccurate that it would shoot 4 inches low and 4 inches to the left at such a very, very short distance.

I find it impossible to believe that Ruger would tell you that this was "in spec".

MacAR said:

So, I re-crowned the barrel and polished all the chambers.

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What procedure did you use to polish the chambers?