Anyone wore out a Security-Six?

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VictorLouis

New member
Much is known about how light-bullet .357 loads can take a toll on the K-frame Smiths. The Ruger has a 'thicker' topstrap, and offset cylinder-stop(bolt) notches. Theoretically, it should be stronger.

Has anyone ever witnessed a Sec-6/Speed-6 with a similar problem(s)?
 
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Skip-2

New member
If you have enough money to wear out a Ruger or a Smith & Wesson you have enough money to get another one. ;)

I have used both extensively and have not been able to "wear out" either. Yes they both will need minor repairs from time to time but I have not seen either get totally wreaked.

What you are referring to is gun-mag BS.
 
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Kevinch

New member
A diferent point of view...

A good friend of mine has been with the Pennsylvania State Police since the mid-70's. Way back when, they replaced their Colt revolvers with the Ruger Security 6 .357 mag in, I believe, SS.

From what I can remember, they didn't have them too long. The guns did not hold up well to extended shooting with magnum loads. I seem to recall him specifically telling me of instances where the ejection rod would get hot and bend or warp, locking up the gun.

I can also remember this occuring right around the time, or shortly before Ruger came out with the SP line. The deal offered was to cost very little, because of the relatively low selling price of the Security 6 & the high price offered for the old Colts (my friend bought his Colt & still has it).

This is most definetly not a knock on Ruger as a manufacturer - I own 2 handguns produced by them & one of their semi-auto rifles and have no complaints. Just the story as I remember it was told to me. While I may be off on a detail here or there, I know the police were not happy with the gun's performance.
 
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VictorLouis

New member
I was aware of the PSP issuing them.

Are they the only state agency to do so? IIRC, didn't Customs or Marshall's issue them, also?
 
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Dave T

New member
I have a good friend who is retired INS Agent. Before that he spent 15 years in the Border Patrol. The BP issued Ruger SS's for a time and my friend (who is a factory trained armorer for Ruger, Colt, S&W, Remington, Glock, SIG, Baretta, and probably a couple others) told me on several occasions the BP had a good deal of trouble with the Rugers and were not pleased with them. He did say you couldn't break the damn things but there were other problems. Timing would go bad, problems with the trigger pull, a speck of dirt in the wrong place would bind them up tight, things like that.
 
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Don Randall

New member
I bought my (Security Six) twenty years ago, and it is still going
strong. I have no idea how many rounds have been through it, but the number would have a bunch of zeros in it!

A year ago, I had a smith go through it and give it a thorough inspection, and told him that if it needed anything, to just go ahead and do it. When I went back to pick it up, he told me that he had taken it apart and cleaned everything up, but nothing was needed - nothing at all.

This gun has fired multiple thousands of rounds, some of which were rather stout hand loads - and it still shows no signs of being tired. It shoots to point of aim, and groups very nicely.

The only time it ever failed to send a round downrange, was when I had a box of cheap "whitebox" target ammo from a major mfr. Several defective rounds refused to ignite. My shooting buddy with his Colt Python tried some of this batch, and had the same result - just defective ammo.

I have others, for concealed carry, or just because they appealed to me one day when I was in the mood to spend some money, but my Security Six is the one I always keep ready to go when at home. Sturdy, reliable, accurate, entirely worthy of every bit of the confidence I place in it.

-Don-
 
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Robert Foote

New member
Breaking Ruger 'Sixes'

I am familiar with the BP having some problems with the very early 'Sixes'. The barrels were overtorqued and some actually broke loose at the frame/barrel joint under stress. This was fixed. My office had many of them in the Speed Six configuration, and they were used long and hard. Only once did I have one break on the range, and that was a thumb latch screw loosening. Nada mas. Ejector rods may unscrew (as on any DA revolver), and the cure for that is to keep them loc-tited. Binding can be caused by gunk under the ejector, and the cure for that is to eject cleanly downward and keep the area CLEAN.

As an instructor I put--literally--cases of w/c and .357s through two of my own Sixes. The only adverse effect was forcing cone erosion from .357s after many, many rounds. The guns continued to work fine, but the spitting gets to you. No effect to the frame or anything else on the gun. I sent both guns into the factory for rebuilds and had new barrels fitted. I used one or the other for work from 1981-94 and still use one for CCW today. I suppose you could consider that an endorsement of sorts.

I took the Ruger armorer's course circa 1990. The GP-100s were better engineered from a production standpoint, but probably a step backward in terms of handiness. They should have re-engineered the Sixes and adopted the GP's grip materials. Dropping them was a mistake, IMHO.

The only guns that I would have equal faith in would be a basic 1911 or Glock.
 
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