By the end of that first month of ranch work, I was old enough to legally carry a handgun and had enough money to buy my first handgun, so I went to the local ranch supply store and bought a new Ruger Single Six, a Standard model with fixed sights. I really wanted the deluxe version, a Super Single Six with adjustable sights, but the store didn't have one and I only had the money for the Standard, anyway.
At the end of the work day, my friend and I would spend our summer evenings either fishing for trout or shooting our 22s. She had her uncle's 1964 10/22 Carbine and I, of course, had my Single Six. Yeah, that was the summer I began the long road of learning how to shoot a handgun. Even got good enough to shoot a few prairie dogs with that Ruger, given shooting prairie dogs was one of our assigned ranch duties.
Those early 10/22s were special, too. Hers was one very much like this. My first experience with a 10/22. Loved it.
Hunting with a handgun was the big thing back in the '60s, so I started using that Single Six for my squirrel and rabbit hunting that fall when I got back home to the farm and started college. Little by little, my 22 rifles got left at home and I just carried that Single Six. I did try using the magnum cylinder, too, but magnums were just too much for that kind of hunting.
Years, later, I got hard up for cash and sold that Single Six to a guy I knew, with the promise that he would sell it back to me at some point. He broke that promise, though, and refused to let it go once he started shooting it. Yeah, it was that kind of six gun.
That was some 57 years, ago, and I am still shooting Single Sixes. I'm collecting them, too, and have a fair collection, but my collection has always been missing an exact copy of that first OM Standard (fixed sights) Single Six with it's 6 1/2"barrel. That changed last week, though. This one is a pristine example of that very first Single Six, all those years, ago. Looks to be a mid 60s by the serial number, but close enough.
Talk about going home. When I hold this one, I can barely concentrate enough to shoot with all the memories swirling around in my head. It's a great shooter, though.
And yes, barrel length does make a difference. Here's my collection OM Single Six Standards.
The 4 5/8" is my woods carry gun and it is somewhat special in that it is a pre convertible era 1958 vintage with the true 22 LR bore. It's also a rare barrel length in an OM Single Six, so I was very lucky to find it.
The 5 1/2" has always been my favorite for the sake of balance. It's a favorite plinker.
My newly acquired 6 1/2", as mentioned, was my squirrel and rabbit hunting revolver, back in the day. It does have more of a target revolver feel than the 5 1/2". My sentimental favorite, of course.
The one I'm missing is the rare 9 1/2". That length is even more rare than the 4 5/8", above, so I will be looking. Meanwhile, I'll just keep shooting my OM Single Sixes. Probably be the last gun I shoot before I go to that big ranch in the sky.
And I do now have one of those OM Supers. Lot more expensive, the days.
