I have a special Security Six (special to me, I mean.) I talked about this briefly in my NOT SO BRIEF introductory post, but to rehash and expound here:
Around 1980 I was about 13 years old and was a huge gun buff. We only had three guns in out home-a .22 rifle, a single barrel shotgun, and a tiny .22 handgun (RG/Rohm) which was a piece of junk (looking back). A neighbor (an elderly widow) was burglarized one afternoon and awoke from a nap to find a man standing beside her bed. She ran him out the door and was safe but my mom DEMANDED that my dad buy her a "thirty eight!" THAT DAY.
I went with dad into the store and he was looking at a cheap .38 revolver (if memory serves it was about $120). I started browsing with my Sheldon Cooper-level of gun intelligence and spotted a 4" blued Security Six. I called to dad and told him to come look at it-I think it was maybe $185, which was way more than dad wanted to spend. I started reciting reasons that the Ruger was better than the off-brand .38 would be- A:.357 caliber meant a much better round, but you could still shoot .38's in it if you wanted, B: Ruger had a thicker cast frame which was much stronger, C: Ruger had a transfer bar safety so all six chambers could be carried loaded safely, and D: Ruger had a great warranty repair reputation.
The sales clerk actually told dad that I knew more than he (the clerk) did about the handguns! Dad bought it and we made it the main home defense gun. My mom took a handgun safety class with this handgun that was sponsored by the local Sheriff's Office (where I would later be a deputy/detective/sergeant/lieutenant/senior firearms instructor-ironic isn't is?) and with .38 wadcutters (provided by the college the class was ran through) she scored in the upper range of the class-the Sheriff even telling her she shot better than some of the deputies.
Dad let me carry it when I was with him in the woods, but that extended to long car trips also (think about it...I'm 14-15 years old at that point, carrying a .357 magnum!) One Sunday we were on our way home from a nearby town, and dad and mom both decided to "take the road through the country" and avoid the Interstate as it was still only early afternoon and a postcard day as far as weather. We turned on a back road about 10 miles from home and encountered a car sitting in the roadway in our lane, with several hooligan-looking guys around it. Stopping behind them, my dad (a good and decent but "country" fellow) said "Oh those boys must be having car trouble..." and put the car in park. However, just then I noticed one had a tire iron and was holding it like a weapon, and in my left side peripheral vision I noted movement (my position was left rear passenger sitting behind my dad who was driving) off to the left. Another male came running from the woods toward dad's window drawing back a baseball bat. I had rolled the window down and drew the Ruger and cocked it (having had no formal training that double action is a much superior way to address self-defense situations) and the guy with the ball bat STOPPED IMMEDIATELY and started yelling "Gun! Gun! They have a gun!" At that time, they scattered in all directions, and we all realized this was a carjacking attempt even before the word "carjacking" was coined. We took off and dad drove to a fire department and told the fireman who in turn called the local SO. My dad worked with one of the volunteer firemen, and found out the next day that the guys were from out-of-state, drunk, and one was already "wanted" and the SO had to fight a couple of them to take them int custody.
I have NO DOUBT to this day that the Ruger saved us from harm.
I later carried it as a security officer, and then used in BLET to be an officer, along with a couple other handguns. I later carried it on duty at my first two departments. At some point I read how to do an action job on it and bought a Bullseye spring kit and installed it and did the action job. Dad often told about me talking him into buying it to others when we were on the subject and always said he was glad I did. Dad passed in '02 and mom in '13, and it's at my house ever since.
Oh, and if anyone has (I *believe*) the December 1993 edition of Combat Handguns, this story is in it, in a reader submission area. As I said in that story, I went on to have UNCOUNTABLE experiences in LE where I felt threatened and pulled my gun, but that was the first and maybe most notable!
Nice buy!
