Ruger Single-Six

About the Ruger Single-Six

The Ruger Single-Six is a single-action rimfire revolver chambered in .22 Long Rifle, introduced by Sturm, Ruger & Co. in 1953. Inspired by the Colt Single Action Army that Colt had dropped from production, Bill Ruger designed an affordable Old West-style six-gun built with modern investment-cast steel and an aluminum-alloy grip frame. It feeds from a fixed six-round cylinder loaded one round at a time through a side gate, and is cocked manually for each shot. Wildly popular from its launch, the original "Old Model" three-screw design ran until 1973, when it was replaced by the transfer-bar-equipped New Model Single-Six.

Bill Ruger bet that nostalgia for the Old West, fueled by 1950s film and television Westerns, would create demand for an affordable single-action six-gun after Colt halted Single Action Army production. The Single-Six launched in 1953 at $57.50 and immediately sold faster than Ruger could build them, helping establish the company as a major American firearms maker.

Ruger Single-Six specifications

Pre-1973 "Old Model" guns lack a transfer-bar safety and should be carried with the hammer over an empty chamber; Ruger offered free factory retrofits of the transfer bar to owners after 1973. A .22 WMR cylinder option appeared in 1959 and convertible models with interchangeable .22 LR / .22 WMR cylinders followed in 1962.