Just curious, Since the Single Six and Wrangler are the same gun, other than some minor scaling down of the cylinder,no blueing etc. Then it would be safe to assume all the parts of the Single Six and Wrangler are interchangeable. And that would go for any after market parts like springs etc. So would you say that this is a bonus?
Howdy Again
I can tell you from what I have seen in the Ruger photos the Wrangler hammer is not the same as a Single Six hammer. Here is a photo of a Single Six hammer. Notice it is flat on the side. If you look at the photos of the Wrangler on the Ruger website you will see there is a relief cut into the sides of the hammer. There is also a groove cut into the rear of the Wrangler hammer which does not exist on the rear of a Single Six hammer. I have never seen a rear groove like that on any Ruger hammer. Not having personally examined a Wrangler, I cannot comment any further on whether or not the rest of the internal parts are the same, but the hammers are not.
https://www.ruger.com/products/wrangler/specSheets/2002.html
A few other comments:
Somebody said the Wrangler was aimed at the Cowboy Crowd, or some such wording. Legal calibers in the Single Action Shooting Society must be at least .32 and non larger than .45. The only 22 rimfires allowed are for the Buckaroo Category only, for children 13 years old and younger. There will not be very many Wranglers sold to Buckaroos, the great majority of SASS shooters are adults.
Somebody said something to the affect that Vaqueros are more expensive than Blackhawks because they have more fitting done to them. I have been inside lots of Vaqueros. I have never seen any sign of hand fitting inside them. Ruger internal parts are made by the Investment Casting technique (not MIM). They are designed so the parts can be assembled with no fitting at all. Neither Blackhawks nor Vaqueros have any fitting done to them at all, they just go together with a screw driver. Vaqueros have a steel grip frame while Blackhawks have an aluminum grip frame, that may account for part of the higher price of a Vaquero. Other than that, I would say the higher price is reflected by that is what Ruger has decided they can sell them for.
The Wrangler is not approved for sale in MASS, so I will not be able to buy one anyway. I suspect this may be because of the aluminum frame, but I do not know for sure.
Regarding good values in used Single Sixes, I just went through some old receipts and I paid $250 for a blued Three Screw Single Six in 2000. It was made in 1961 and is still going strong. In 2013 I paid $450 for another one made in 1963. It is still going strong too.
Special Note: I will never, ever say anything derogatory about Ruger or any of their products. Ruger was the
ONLY revolver company that stood up to the MASS Attorney General back in 1998 when his rules regarding firearms that could be sold in Mass were released. Ruger went to bat for all gun owners in Mass, sending a letter to the AG stating their revolvers could meet the requirements of the AG's list, ie.: drop safe, and no pot metal frames, and I don't remember what all else. Furthermore Ruger told the AG they would foot the legal bills of any dealer the AG tried to go after. Ruger was the
ONLY company to do so, Colt, Uberti, and all the others simply wrote off the state and decided they would not attempt to sell any revolvers in MASS. The AG's rules for determining which firearms are legal to sell in MASS are very strict, a sample of every single model must be subjected to destructive testing. Every model means every SKU. Each barrel length is a separate SKU.