Ruger Speed Six 4 Inch

This was Dad's first personally owned handgun. He'd shot M1911A1s in service (and maybe others) but he'd never thought there was utility to one until I irritated the crap out of him with ideas he'd never come up with. You see, I'd go over to hang out at Jon Ridenour's Homestead Gun Shop in Harrisonburg, VA and he had the gun in the display cabinet. Of course I told Dad all about it.

The "Six Series" guns were Ruger's competition for the Colt and S&W .38 Special/.357 Magnum police revolvers. Yep, once upon a time the police most often carried revolvers. Ruger was able to bring these onto the market for substantially less than even an S&W. This sort of excited me and in early 1973 Dad bought one and we shot it when I got home from basic training. Duke Denny had us over to his mother's place and those of us there shot the .38s and my Lyman .44 cap'n'ball. Had a great time.

Now Dad didn't shoot this gun much and I'm not sure what he used it for but he had a Hunter holster for it and he saved the box. He also shot a couple of hundred of reloads somebody (Duke?) made up for him. He let me carry it a couple of times but I had a Stainless Security Six and didn't really need to.

I've used this gun mostly for home defense duties. Nana understands how to operate it and it is of the correct size to suit her. This makes it a winner for that purpose. Speed loaders are the standard size for the S&W model 10s and such. Bianchi speed strips work a treat. I've got an Uncle Mike's paddle holster for those times it accompanies me to the field in memory of Dad. A good gun that makes me wish I hadn't sold my stainless Security Six 4" .357 Mag with the big stocks (I have a new one now).

I have also replaced the Pachmayr rubber with the factory grips and a Tyler-T grip adapter. This gives one enough to hold on to so that you can handle the .357 Magnum loads but minimizes the grip for concealed carry. The truth is that I use either Remington's 125 gr. Golden Saber .357 Mag load (a reduced velocity round) or the 158 gr. .38 Special "FBI" load. The full-effort 125 gr. .357 Magnum loads are simply too loud for me, particularly indoors. Nana absolutely hates them.