Sixty some years of shooting and I've come full circle, right back where I started with my very first handgun, a single action revolver. That one was an Old Model Ruger Single Six 22 LR bought when I was 18 years of age and legally old enough to carry a handgun. Seven or so years, later, I bought my first centerfire handgun to go with it, that one being another single action, also a Ruger, in the Super Blackhawk 44 magnum. That 44 mag knuckle buster was actually my first deer "rifle".
So we've been on the lookout for some nice clean Ruger single actions from the 60s or 70s. Hit a home run this last week when we walked into our LGS and found some collectible, new in the box Ruger New Model single actions from the 1970s. And I do mean new, since I can detect no sign these have ever been fired. They came from a collection and have been stored for all these years.
This is a prime vintage for the New Models, which first appeared in 1973.
Threw in some ammo only for pic purposes to show the chambering.
Better yet, these are called Liberty model Rugers due to Ruger stamping all their 1976 guns with the label "made in the 200th year of American Liberty" (and this was still prior to the awful read the instruction manual stamping that appeared only a couple years later). These Liberty single actions are now sought after vintages for Ruger fans.
So, will I shoot these beauties? Probably not, since I have other Ruger single actions to shoot. Oh, I'm not worried about losing some collectibility value by shooting them, since I won't be parting with them. Nope, these are mostly to keep as is for sentimental vale. This old cowgirl still dreams about those early days afield with these same models. Now I have these reminders just sitting here for me to admire and start me on a trip down memory lane. Can't put a price on that.
