VALUE OF A RUGER SPEED SIX

[BB57]

This is one opinion. I prefer the scalloped recoil shield. It makes the gun look more refined and sculptured. I think that's why it was changed.

I agree with you.

What collectors want isn't the same as what shooters want and with about 1.5 million of the Six series DA revolvers made over 16 years, there are not many variants that are considered to be rare or highly sought after collectors items, but they are still very highly sought after by shooters.

For those that do collect them, it's also hard to parse out where the additional perceived value is coming from - the lack of a scallop, earlier production dates in general, or pre-1979 no warning label status. It's hard to separate those three factors.

In my case, my Speed Six still works for a living and on a working gun I don't really care if it has a warning label or not - but I do prefer the scallop.

The scalloped recoil shield looks a lot better (IMHO) and shaves off a bit of un-needed weight in a revolver that is already heavier than a similar K-frame .357.

What is relevant to MY valuation of them, is that I would clearly pay more for one with a scallop than I would for one without (both for weight reasons and for looks). If I were choosing between two of them, with and without the scallop, for the same money in the same condition, the scalloped revolver would go home with me every single time.

Arguing that the scalloped Sixes are "current" production isn't accurate as all of the Security/Service/Speed Six revolvers have been out of production since 1988 - 28 years ago and counting - and they are not the same as the GP100s that replaced them.

 

[Texas Star]

For Erich,
The official sammich of Indiana.
Tenderloin as big as your head.
Nothing better.




Chuck

Is this something like a chicken-fried steak, only it's pork?

Unless you count Spam, I've never eaten much pork. But this looks pretty good.

What do you do? Slice it in two and make a sandwich with one half?

 

[pmosley]

Bicentennial Speed Six, pre-warning, 2.75" barrell and factory spurless hammer - these are great revolvers I think.

Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk

 

[Rpg]

In May this year a friend sold one with box and docs for $475.00

Unfired example.

 

[Mtnfolk325]

About ten years ago i got a Stainless 2 3/4" barrel Service Six(square butt) for $300. I round butted it,did an action job,and replaced the front sight with a XS tritium one. DA pull @ 8 lbs, no FTF with Winchester,Wolf,or any other sp primer i've used. It's not for sale or trade....Mike

Which XS did you get? I have Standard XS's on an LCR and 2.25" SP101. Would like one on my 2.75" Speed Six, looked at the XS website and only found them as front & rear sets for the Security Six.

Thanx,

Also: For the record, the seller placed mine as 1979 production. It has the round recoil shield and the warning on the left side of the barrel.

 

[Zoner]

i used a standard Dot....not a Big Dot.The one i used was actually made for a j frame Smith. The tenon was a hair too wide so i went one stroke on one side,then one on the other side, then test. Used a small file.When it just dropped in(tight) i used the red stuff they sent with the sight(threadlocker?) and clamped the sight in. When it set up i used a cordless drill and appropriate size bit to drill the pin hole. DO NOT try to drill the pin hole clear thru from one side only. In one side a bit,then the other side,back and forth till the holes meet in the middle, then put some red stuff on the pin and drive in your pin.Done deal.

 

[Erich]

Is this something like a chicken-fried steak, only it's pork?

Unless you count Spam, I've never eaten much pork. But this looks pretty good.

What do you do? Slice it in two and make a sandwich with one half?

It's basically a schnitzel: a round of pork loin that's pounded out flat, breaded and fried. Other than the preparation, it doesn't bear any real eating resemblance to a chicken fried steak (the pork become light and crisp, while retaining juiciness - much less "pull and tug" needed to eat than a CFS). Here's an article that might be of interest:

Breaded Pork Tenderloin sandwiches: An Indiana institution - tribunedigital-chicagotribune

Back on topic: pmosley, that Bicentennial you've got has real character. Wow. My snub (now) has a factory spurless hammer, too (mine is the kind with the knurling on top - I'm given to understand some were made without it), and it makes for a really fantastic carry package. Getting to be that time of year, in fact (he says, as he looks out on all the hot air balloons out the window behind him).

 

[Mtnfolk325]

Thanx, Zoner. The one on my SP101 will also fit the S&W J, so I will get another enroute.

Erich, my Factory Spurless Hammer also has the Knurled top. I bought mine off Evil-Bay and changed it out myself, I wanted to keep the original with a spur incase I didn't like the DAO.

 

[Pond Scum 43]

Food revues and guns! Wow what a combination!!

 

[bvd1]

This is one opinion. I prefer the scalloped recoil shield. It makes the gun look more refined and sculptured. I think that's why it was changed.

I agree. I have both the round and scalloped recoil shields on my Rugers and prefer the scalloped.

 

[Texas Star]

Food revues and guns! Wow what a combination!!

Have you not seen the food pics here with a gun included? For food protection, supposedly.

And we have reviews of coffee, tea, wine, etc., and about hamburgers and the like. Not to mention discussions of steakhouses.

It is a presumptuous conceit of the liberal elite that "gun people" are just ignorant rednecks, incapable of enjoying food, wine, and other refinements. It is true that we have members who can't even spell simple words like "knives." Or, distinguish between to, too, and two. But it isn't universal.

 

[kaaskop49]

Have you not seen the food pics here with a gun included? For food protection, supposedly.

And we have reviews of coffee, tea, wine, etc., and about hamburgers and the like. Not to mention discussions of steakhouses.

It is a presumptuous conceit of the liberal elite that "gun people" are just ignorant rednecks, incapable of enjoying food, wine, and other refinements. It is true that we have members who can't even spell simple words like "knives." Or, distinguish between to, too, and two. But it isn't universal.

Not to mention info on Rolex watches and Scotch and bourbon whiskies. Also, those wonderful members who are all too willing to offer health information. The 3 of you, you know who you are and I can never thank you enough.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[jframejoey]

I just recently paid $920.00 OTD for a 2.75" Stainless Speed Six

wow I thought things were bad here in the Commiewealth.

 

[blue71]

If memory serves, folks told me before that my 4" stainless Speed Six was in the $500 range. I looked at it the other day and it's from 1981 and doesn't have the scallop. Now I need to go take artsy photos like everybody else, haha.


When I used to live in Nebraska many places also had a pork tenderloin sandwich that looked similar to the photo posted. It was usually always sold out at a few of the bars in town by dinner time.

 

[BB57]

What was originally posted was that the scalloped shield is "technically worth more" than the round shield. The market will disagree. My post was about market value...period. Nothing about personal value or likes. You like the scallop that is AOK with me. You want to pay more for the scallop that is AOK with me. I could care less.

Reread my post. I said the scalloped blast shield was current production. Nothing about Sixes being current. I'm well aware of when they were made. You seem to be the one who wants to argue ridiculous points. Just so I know, how much weight does that scalloped blast shield save?

Klyde,

Take a heart pill and relax. I'm just saying that you're conflating two things when you say that pre-warning label, round shield Speed Sixes are worth more.

I agree pre-warning label Rugers sell for more than warning label Rugers, and that's pretty much across the board on Rugers. But tell me exactly how you control for the effects of both "pre-warning label" and "round shield" in a single revolver?

You're also lumping the market into a single "collector" category, where older pre-warning Rugers are more highly valued than newer Rugers.

All I'm saying is that Ruger made a boat load of Six series DA revolvers - over 1.5 million of them. Very few configurations rise to what would be considered rare or collectible status, and at heart the Six series were strong, competitively priced, but still basic revolvers that were very popular with shooters and remain very popular a second hand revolvers as shooters. It's going to take another few decades before shooters wear enough of them out for that to happen.

I that regard, their perceived value as daily use guns still has a great deal of impact on the market, and again very, very few of them have true collector appeal.

And there's still the issue of aesthetics. The scallop was adopted and remains on the current GP100 for a reason - it looks nicer in the eyes of most of the potential customers. If an individual is buying a revolver for daily use, it matters more than having an "old" configuration that might have more collector appeal.

So let's just agree to disagree on this one. Eventually in a few decades when the Six series revolver's primary appeal is as an old revolver to collect, you'll no doubt be correct about the round shield configuration. We just aren't there yet.


----


There's actually a great deal of irony in defining value solely by collector status. These same collectors when confronted with a revolver (Ruger, S&W or Colt) that isn't in the desired configuration, has excessive wear on the finish, has been refinished, etc, will state it's worth almost nothing, totally ignoring the $300 or so intrinsic value that same revolver may still have as a shooter to an individual looking for a good shooting revolver.

That's the other flaw in letting collectors be the sole determinant of market value, and then irony is that as much as they like to claim a revolver is worth less or not worth much, those revolvers still bring a pretty fair price as a "shooter", based on the personal preferences and bias of the people who shoot them.

 

[Fishslayer]

Hi Guys,
I know this is a S&W forum and the only forum I belong to but I was hoping one of you might be a Ruger Speed Six fan.

As you can see there is plenty of love for other brands and I never cease to be amazed by the knowlege of the members here re other brands.

As for other websites, don't tell anybody but I actually have an account over at ****talk!

 

[Gary1911A1]

Recently purchased a non scalloped rounded recoil shield Security Six SS with a 6" barrel used in the box. Put a Wolf Spring Kit in it to reduce trigger pull and it's very nice. A Speed Six in 9MM will really set you back. Count me in the camp that feels the "Sixes" were better revolvers than the current GP100 Series as the "Sixes" were lighter and still a heavy duty revolver than their S&W counterpart, the various K Frame .357 Mag Revolvers.

 

[BB57]

Recently purchased a non scalloped rounded recoil shield Security Six SS with a 6" barrel used in the box. Put a Wolf Spring Kit in it to reduce trigger pull and it's very nice. A Speed Six in 9MM will really set you back. Count me in the camp that feels the "Sixes" were better revolvers than the current GP100 Series as the "Sixes" were lighter and still a heavy duty revolver than their S&W counterpart, the various K Frame .357 Mag Revolvers.

Ruger got the Service/Security/Speed Six series right. S&W eventually more or less matched the Colt Python's frame as their solution to durability issues with the .357 Magnum in the K-frame .357 revolvers

Ruger took a much more innovative approach, using a frame that was only slightly heavier than a K-frame, but much stronger, and followed up with comparatively large cast fire control parts that proved to be not only very cost effective but also very durable. You don't hear about push off concerns with the Ruger revolvers.

Weight wise, my 2 3/4" Speed Six is 38 oz, compared to 40 oz for my 686+ and 36 oz for my 2 1/2" Model 66.

 

[Erich]

It's very funny, because when I was selling guns (late Eighties), you'd have a hard time finding anyone who had an aesthetic appreciation for the Six series. People loved the K-frames and the heavy duty guys loved the newly released GPs and L-frames (we all remember the S&W/Ruger marketing wars on those - good times with the burger ad! ), but the Speed/Security/Service Sixes were pretty much relegated to the guys who couldn't afford the "better" guns.

(I'm not talking smack: at the time, I was all enamored of first generation Glock 17s - which made me a full-on weirdo at the time - and TDA S&W 645s. I thought the 586 looked pretty nice, and never could quite see why a Python cost so darned much.)

Nowadays, though, as with so many things, I have an appreciation for how quality is its own aesthetic. And a little bit of distance in time gives a fellow perspective for how some designs have a loveliness, a feel to them that is not appreciated when it's commonplace (I'll note this when I see certain older cars - and its obverse as well). Nowadays, I hold a Speed Six (especially in its snub variant) and just sort of sigh. Nicely done.

 

[Checkman]

ZOMBIE THREAD ALERT!!!

Just an update for anyone interested. I paid $550 for this 2.75" Security Six back in January 2020 at auction. It's a pre-warning model (mfd. 1975) with the rounded blast shield. I got lucky. A couple months later a 4" stainless steel Speed Six came up at the same auction and it went for $700! I was a young guy of twenty when Ruger stopped making the Six series and didn't appreciate the model. Thirty-three years later I do, but finding one for sale is miraculous. I'll be holding onto this one. The target grips are Italian made reproductions (Sile) that I purchased from an on-line company called AR-7. The gun came with the original factory service grips.