My Favorite Single Action Revolvers

A Ruger O/M 357 B/H
I bought it about 15+yrs ago as a project, never got around to it till I 'retired'. It had a scope mt hole in the top strap. Other than that it was a standard 357 OM w/a 6.5" (?) bbl. I think I paid $129 for it at the time.
Probably too much!

N/M 45cal bbl. Tapered and trimmed to remove the Warning
Ruger Old Army steel grip frame
Ruger steel ejector rod housing. Old style 'Donut' ejector rod head.
Custom made pinned blade & base front sight as on the Colt FT Target SAA's
Orig Ruger adj rear sight assembly removed. Slot in frame filled with steel insert.
Top strap then shaped to match S&W N Frame fixed sight profile.
357 cylinder rechambered to 45Colt
Set of custom grips made (American Walnut).
Ruger hammer replaced with Power custom Bisley style hammer for OM Ruger
Custom trigger made to look a bit like the Webley revolver style and to move the trigger return plunger & spring out of sight and up inside the mechanism. The latter purely cosmetic, Well actually both are.

Shoots very well.very accurate with the soft ball loads I've used so far.
Red Dot and Grn Dot.
Just put another 50rds through it last Thursday w/no issues.

Still needs a little tuning so the the hammer drops into the loading notch a bit quicker.
Then a final polishing, screw heads fixed up and then the engraving and most likely a rust blue finish.
But it'll have to wait to finish a Win61 engraving and bluing first.
Still undecided about checkering those grips.
I thought about a lanyard loop on the butt earlier on in the project but then never put one on. Still might do that.

I've got a couple orig Colt Bisley SAA's. One in 44-40 rough bore, another badly reblued in parts that can become anything. Another standard SAA in 32-20 with a bad bore. A repro Opentop 44spcl. That's my SAA round up.
So this Ruger is the better of the bunch right now for usin' though the repro is nice too.








Some great looking revolvers posted here..

I've got a few SAs in the safe:

Cimarron Model P Jr 4 ¾” .32-20/.32 Mag blue
Ruger New Model Blackhawk 4 5/8” .45 ACP Colt blue
Ruger Bisley 4 5/8” .44 Magnum blue
Ruger Old Model .44 Special 4 5/8” (conversion) blue
Ruger Flat top .357 4 5/8” blue
Ruger New Model Bearcat 4” .22 LR/Magnum Stainless
S&W Model 1 ½ .32 nickel
USFA SAA 4 ¾” .44 Special blue
Ruger Old Army 7 ½” .44 Stainless with .45 Colt conversion

I also have six black powder revolvers.

Also a big fan of Ruger SA.


Right now I have 3 Vaqueros , all in .45 Colt


Bright with factory gold on the cylinder.


Bright with Birdshead grips.


Full custom Bob Valade cattle branding engraved.


Just sold a SBH Hunter in .41 magnum to a buddy of mine.

I love going to the Ruger sites...and bragging/showing off my S&Ws.....










but I do have 5 Blackhawks.....

I have a Bisley .45 Colt , but to me , it's a niche gun . Yes , it's more forgiving for really, really heavy loads . But the regular grip feels more natural , and points naturally , but a Bisley I have to deliberately think about .

The 3 Screw XR3 is the best , with the XR3 RED and SAA clone just behind

I like them ALL.... Bisley or plow-handle...
Here's a favorite of mine:



J.

When in my teens I was a Ruger cheerleader, for basically everything they made. They lost me on SAs when they went New Model. One at a time the Bean Counters have destroyed the model lines.

quikdraw67 said:

My favorite single action revolvers by far are Ruger Bisleys.

I love the grip angle and the look of the gun.

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I have to agree.

It is one of my bigger regrets that I passed on a Single Six Bisley years ago, I didn't realize its glory at the time.

Later I was able to buy something on auction which has smoothed over any regrets I have with passing on guns, although the only reason I own this is because of a mistake the auction house made:





When I bought it the auction listed it as a Bisley Model that D.W. King had added target sights to. It had two small pictures, and for some reason was a Wednesday morning auction. I was the only bidder. The modification to the grip was not mentioned...

It's arrival was a mild disappointment to me (as a huge King Fan), as King clearly had nothing to do with it. But I had stolen a vintage Keith No. 5 of some stripe, and I was over the moon with the absurdly nice feel of the gun. With that SAA front strap, and the wonderful angle of the custom made backstrap, coupled with a nice wide trigger set forward, and a truly lovely action... it was an immediate favorite of mine. I didn't mind at all that I would never know who made the modifications.

Months later, this arrived:



Which was quite the document. I mean, Colt did this? In 1920? And who is CM McCutcheon? Turns out C.M. is the dude in the upper right in this picture:



He was a very large man apparently, and an excellent shooter. At one time held the world record for speed shooting.

The gun lettered to having gone out to Montgomery Ward originally in .45, where it looks like CM bought it, and then later had Colt modify it to .38spl, along with the rest of the mods.


So whenever I see people appreciating the wonderful Ruger Bisley I can't help but think that they must owe some thanks to CM McCutcheon. I don't know if the mods were all his idea, were Croft's idea, were someone else's idea entirely and Croft only copied it later. But based on what I have read about McCutcheon I have little doubt that his input went into what we now enjoy today as the Ruger Bisley.

Not that anyone really seems to know that. Whoever owned this Colt before me apparently took the secret of the "Keith No. 5" to his grave. I'm super appreciative that Cowan's auction is enough of a class act to send me the documentation that I didn't even know existed when I purchased the gun.

I enjoy shooting Ruger Single Actions. This Stainless Super Blackhawk goes afield with me often:

Steel targets at 20 yards"



On paper at 25 yards, standing two handed hold:



And, a fun shooting 1983 vintage Single Six:

My only single action is a Ruger Single Six.

HOUSTON RICK said:

My only single action is a Ruger Single Six.

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Nice 3 screw.

The bluing on this pic came out extra blue? Original in the box, factory ivory grips. My favorite SA Ruger.


My favorite Colt SAA. 1881 frontier six shooter.

I'm particularly fond of single action revolvers in .22LR and have several including a Colt's Frontier Scout, an Uberti Stallion, and three Rugers. I have to admit the Ruger Bearcat is my favorite.

YOWZA.......

J.

Count me in the Bisley fan club as well! Here is my first gun purchased for me on my 21st birthday by my college girlfriend. A rare drift adjustable 22 with stainless gripframe. Pictured with my most recent 22 revolver, a stainless bisley 22, my wife bought for me 28 years later, wearing Rob Rowen grips.


A few other favorites!

Mike 454, I like your choice in women!

Ivan

I have quite a few single action revolvers. I have a pair of reproduction Colt Walkers. with 55 to 60 grains of Goex FFFg they shoot to the sights at 25 yards. (I think originals were sighted for 100 yards!) I have Colt Army's and Remington Old Army's (repros) and they are OK/Fine, I have a stack of 1873 clones, and by and large the to are OK/Fine. I have a pair of 5.5" blue Ruger Bisley Vaqueros in 45 Colt and a pair of Stainless 4" Vaqueros, and all 4 are better than OK! But the guns that are a joy to use are the pair of Uberti No 3 Russian copies. At 50 yards they both clover leaf 5 shots! While no where near "Magnum" power, those bullets just seem to destroy whatever they hit! There is one problem! These guns were made to use single handed, using the recoil to lift the barrel to the 12 O'clock position and the guns weight to drop back down with your thumb on the Hammer to cock it. It is incredibly fast. But it is a safety violation in SASS rules!

I have a number of single action derringers, but they are a story for a different thread!

Ivan

This is my full-custom Ruger SBH--Ron Power internals and his #5 Keith grip frame, custom grips, Bowen rear sight, barrel-band front sight, charcoal blue and real case-hardening, trigger right at 3#. A shooter, too!


A very late Second-Generation Colt SAA, pictured in Wilkerson's book, "Colt Single Action Revolver Handbook 1955-1975"


Tim

I don't like grips that are bigger at the bottom, even though my favorite gun of all time, my S&W Model 15, has those kind.
Nobody's perfect.

Best looking revolver ever made IMHO.