Range Report: daily plinking

[North Country Gal]

Good for you on the Single Six, Gene, I remember when you bought it. Oh, there are more accurate 22 revolvers and fancier 22 revolvers, but I doubt there are more durable or reliable 22 revolvers than a Single Six, plus the Single Six is plenty accurate enough for just about any use. If I had to start a 22 handgun collection all over again, I'd start with another Single Six.

Yours being a stainless makes it even more durable, bit the blued Single Sixes are plenty durable enough. I once knew a trapper who used a blued Single Six he bought used as his trapline gun. He'd get it dunked in the stream fairly often while wading in a stream to set traps, but he'd dry it out when he got home and used it for years. He'd then carry it at night when hunting coons with his hounds. He wore the blue completely off it and it still shot fine.

As for me, my first ever handgun was an OM standard Single Six with fixed sights and it came with the extra magnum cylinder. I used that Single Six to learn how to shoot a handgun and then used it to hunt squirrels and rabbits. That was back in the day when using handguns for hunting was the big thing in the hunting and shooting world.

I eventually sold that first Single Six to a friend to pay some bills. He carried that Single Six for many years in the bottom of his tackle box when he went fishing and camping. I tried to buy it back from him a couple of times, but he wouldn't part with it.

I've had many, many Single Sixes since then and I'm, still shooting them. I'll never be without one.

[Sir Henry]

Good for you on the Single Six, Gene, I remember when you bought it. Oh, there are more accurate 22 revolvers and fancier 22 revolvers, but I doubt there are more durable or reliable 22 revolvers than a Single Six, plus the Single Six is plenty accurate enough for just about any use. If I had to start a 22 handgun collection all over again, I'd start with another Single Six.

Yours being a stainless makes it even more durable, bit the blued Single Sixes are plenty durable enough. I once knew a trapper who used a blued Single Six he bought used as his trapline gun. He'd get it dunked in the stream fairly often while wading in a stream to set traps, but he'd dry it out when he got home and used it for years. He'd then carry it at night when hunting coons with his hounds. He wore the blue completely off it and it still shot fine.

As for me, my first ever handgun was an OM standard Single Six with fixed sights and it came with the extra magnum cylinder. I used that Single Six to learn how to shoot a handgun and then used it to hunt squirrels and rabbits. That was back in the day when using handguns for hunting was the big thing in the hunting and shooting world.

I eventually sold that first Single Six to a friend to pay some bills. He carried that Single Six for many years in the bottom of his tackle box when he went fishing and camping. I tried to buy it back from him a couple of times, but he wouldn't part with it.

I've had many, many Single Sixes since then and I'm, still shooting them. I'll never be without one.

That was a fun day seeing you and Bill again. Mine is the convertible but I haven’t shot it 22 mag.

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[North Country Gal]

I've rarely bothered to shoot 22 mag in my Single Sixes, either. Just never had the need. I like the 22 mag better as a rifle cartridge.

[Sir Henry]

I've rarely bothered to shoot 22 mag in my Single Sixes, either. Just never had the need. I like the 22 mag better as a rifle cartridge.

I suspect there would be a lot of unburnt powder in a 5.5” barrel. Might be fun to shoot at night.

[North Country Gal]

In my early years of using a Single Six for squirrel hunting, I did try hunting with the 22 mags. I actually found the 22 mags to be less lethal than 22 LRs, though. The mags would often just punch a clean hole in a squirrel and not kill them, instantly. Sometimes one would crawl away and die in a nest. Made me sick when that happened, so I went back to 22 LRs and problem solved. Even used 22 Short HPs and they also did very well.

I suspect the 22 mag would have been just right for something much larger like a coon or a coyote, though I never tried the 22 mags on those. Grandma wouldn't cook those, anyway. Her favorite was rabbit, because they ate a lot of rabbit back in the Depression days.

[Travlin]

Very nice single six I would like to find one with the 9 inch barrel .I understand they made them in stainless for a few years. Until then my 8 3/8" K-22 will suffice.

[Sir Henry]

Todays range report is on the cylinder gas leaks on two different SA pistols. I held a 35# weight paper about an inch to the right of the cylinder and fired. I was shooting Federal 40gr HV .22LR.

First up was the Ruger and it ripped the paper in one shot.

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The Uberti didn’t rip the paper in six shots.

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I’ve done this before with 20# weight and it really shreds the paper into small pieces. There would be a four inch hole.

[North Country Gal]

PJM, glad you got out for a range session, but very sorry to hear about not being able to use irons sights, now. E-bay gets a lot of posts for TC muzzleloader stuff. I browse there mostly for my TC Contender and Encore accessories. How are you with peep sights? I see some of the TC Hawken peeps on e-bay, now and then, even some of the TC Hawken scope mounts.

Looks like a difference in cylinder gap, Gene. Ruger is a bit more generous in their specs on cylinder gap allowance. Not surprised that Uberti is tighter. Not a big deal on a rimfire, unless you also have other issues such as excessive end shake or mis-alignmnet of the cylinder. Are you getting a lot of spitting with the Ruger when you shoot or a lot of lead buildup in the forcing cone area? The good news with Ruger, of course, is that you can always send it back for a fix. Great CS, like Henry.

[Sir Henry]

PJM, glad you got out for a range session, but very sorry to hear about not being able to use irons sights, now. E-bay gets a lot of posts for TC muzzleloader stuff. I browse there mostly for my TC Contender and Encore accessories. How are you with peep sights? I see some of the TC Hawken peeps on e-bay, now and then, even some of the TC Hawken scope mounts.

Looks like a difference in cylinder gap, Gene. Ruger is a bit more generous in their specs on cylinder gap allowance. Not surprised that Uberti is tighter. Not a big deal on a rimfire, unless you also have other issues such as excessive end shake or mis-alignmnet of the cylinder. Are you getting a lot of spitting with the Ruger when you shoot or a lot of lead buildup in the forcing cone area? The good news with Ruger, of course, is that you can always send it back for a fix. Great CS, like Henry.

I’m not sure about the forcing cone or the gap although the Uberti does have a tighter headspace and the cylinder is tapered from .225 to .223. The Ruger cylinder is .225 all the way through. This picture shows how the Uberti accepts only the bullet and not the case when inserted backwards.

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When loading the Uberti the cylinders are tighter and it takes slightly more force to load, especially the rim. If it’s not all the way in the cylinder will not rotate. With the Ruger the bullets easily fall into place.

[North Country Gal]

You're welcome, PJM. Hope you find a solution.

Gene, no doubt about the Uberti being the more traditional gun as far as specs. It's one of the things I like about Uberti 45 Colts. Unlike Ruger, Uberti makes 45 Colt cylinder throats the right size for shooting lead bullets.