Ruger Super Single Six Accuracy

[Graybeard]

Some while back we had a thread on Accurizing the Single Six and bottom line of that thread seemed to be you really couldn't and what you get is what you get. OK I can live with that it's good enough or it hits the road.

But as a bottom line what the heck kinda accuracy are you getting from them in the real world?

Reason I ask is I picked one up last week and if it ever cools down enough I might actually take it out and shoot it. Yeah I know I should have just bought an FA .22LR revolver but rat now I really can't drop the bucks for one and what I really really really want is another S&W Model 17 with 8-3/8" barrel and this is just sorta something to tide me over until I can locate one. Like a fool I sold mine some time back. Yeah I do dumb things like that from time to time.

Mine is the longest Ruger makes at I think 9.5" cuz I need that front sight WAAAY out there to be able to see it. Understand I'll have to figure out what ammo it shoots best. Back before my best friend Billy Doss died he used to use one just like this to shoot competition and it was always a toss up whether he'd win or me in the local matches so I know his shot darn well in his hands but then that rascal had a way of making junk guns look good where as I seem to need a real accurate gun to help make me look good (OK make me shoot good - nothing will make ME look good). Billy used nothing but Winchester Wildcats in his.

What size groups are you guys getting from your Ruger SSS guns? I'm mostly interested in the .22LR accuracy as I'll use the magnum cylinder darn little if any. I'm just looking at something to plink cans and metal swingers on my back yard range but might take it squirrel hunting if I decide to get out this fall after them.

[2 dogs]

Being as I spent the money to have a custom Single Six built, and being as I own several other SS's, I can say a few things. First, you are right. You never know. I bought a single six bisley the other day with the intention of converting it and I just so happened to shoot it and it shot like a house on fire! I had to buy a second one and had it sent directly to Alan Harton for conversion. I also had him fit a 22 mag. cylinder to the first one I bought.

Alot depends on the ammunition. Sometimes, firelapping may help as well. Some Single Sixes shoot everything pretty well. Some are pretty particular!

On the subject of 22 mags, I have been buying and testing alot of different types lately and I see quite a bit of variation between my sixguns and my brothers sixguns with the same ammunition. Get you calipers out and do some measuring on 22LR's and 22 mags and see what you find....

Whatever you do, dont give up. As to an accuracy expectation, I am looking for at least one inch groups at 50 feet.

[Ken ONeill]

Bill,
I've only owned 5 Single-Sixes, but have shot several others. I own 2 now. One, a 9 1/2" Stainless " Star" model, built in 1973, was campaigned hard in IHMSA competition in the early to mid 80's and shot several 38X40's, including the first ever shot with a revolver in IHMSA .22 competition (1980). It loved Federal Lightning ( of all things) and Federal Champion. It's been several years since I shot it, but I believe it would stay @ about an inch @ 25 yds. back when I could do so.
My other S.S. is a 5 1/2" version. The day I bought it, it would put a .22 LR cylinder full in 3/4" @ 25 yds. After using it for several years, I had Gordon Logan craft a custom scope base for it, and mounted a red dot, subsequently changing it a couple of years ago to a 2X Leupold. I couldn't do it with irons any more, but with the Loopy it's still a 3/4" gun with either Federal Champion or Winchester 37 gr. hollowpoints. I believe that this particular gun, though, is an exceptional Single-Six, shooting more like an excellent Mdl. 17 Smith.

[Jerry Lester]

Like the others said, some of them shoot great with nearly any ammo, some shoot great with only certain select ammo(not always the expensive stuff either), and some only shoot good enough with "any" ammo to barely hit a pop can at 30+ yards no matter how hard you try.

With that said, I've owned at least a dozen or more of them, and shot a whole bunch more over the years, and on average, they'll be at worst a 2" at 25 yards gun with "some" kind of ammo. Most I've shot would do 1.5" or better at 25 yards, and some(like Ken's) are as accurate as a high dollar target gun. My current 5.5" stainless will shoot the cheap 36g Federal bulk HP's from Wal-Mart into 1" or less at 25 yards very consistently off a good rest. It'll shoot a few other high priced loads into groups that look like a rifle shot them, but honestly, if I can hit a squirrel head at 25 yards, I'm tickled to death, so I'm not wasting my money shooting up high priced ammo in it. These Federal Wal-Mart specials are less than $10 for 550 rounds, and perform on small game very well to boot.

If I was you, I'd pick up a box of these Federals right off. Just about every Single Six I've ever seen shoots this ammo as good or better than any other, and in most of them, it's more than good enough for any small game hunting you'll be doing. Make sure to get the 36g HP 550 bulk packs because some of the other low priced Federal loads are no where near as good.

[Lloyd Smale]

1.5-2 inch at 25 yards if you pick and choose your ammo. Its a rare one that shoots an inch.  ONe of mine shoots into an inch but does it with the mag cyl. but im to cheap to buy mag ammo.

[Stuart C.]

Hi,
Not to hijack the thread, but wouldn't a bisley bored specifically for the 22lr (and not opened up to accommodate the 22mag) be a safer bet in terms of accuracy?  I'm in the same spot and I don't want to buy and then have to sell a ss that doesn't shoot.
Thanks.

[Graybeard]

Thanks Guys. Ken's comment about "back when I could do so" is likely to be the real limiting factor in my shooting of this one. My eyes are not what they were back when I was shooting competition and my hands are not nearly as steady as in those days either. Age and my declining health has put a lot of shake in my hands so free hand shooting these days is rather poor but really is what I plan to do most with this gun. I'll bench it to see what shoots best and to get it sighted in but free hand is the way I really want to shoot it.

I've got something between 5000-6000 rounds of the Federal bulk pack 36 grain HPs left and those shot from them so far were quite accurate. They've been kept in proper storage in the house with minimal temperature change so should be as good as when bought years ago. I've got most of a case of 5000 Winchester rounds left also and what of those I've shot were quite accurate in my S&W and Remington 541-T as well so those will be where I begin the quest to see how it will shoot. Not sure what all else I might have on hand but I'm sure there is a decent supply of others laying around to try as well before I have to run out and start buying others. I'm not particularly low on .22LR ammo as I did in the past mostly buy in lots of 5000 when I bought.

I got the longest barrel they make to get that front sight out there where I can maybe still see it but I find that the more I age the further it has to be from my eyes to focus on it. I really should use a scope but the die hard iron sight shooter in me wants to still do it as still did well even 15 or so years ago when I gave up competition. It's just more fun that way.

I've still got a pile of various type swingers and somewhere a bucket with my NRA specification silhouettes that I plan to shoot with this gun.

I know that old one like it my friend used was sure enough an accurate gun in his hands as we shot together in NRA SBHP matches here in Bama and over in GA a lot of years and we sure enough brought a boat load of trophies home from those matches and he won a fair share of them with his Ruger and I with my S&W 17. We did finally give in and use the TCs with rifle scopes toward the end but we began with iron sights and revolvers the way it's supposed to be done.

From your comments it should be accurate enough to outshoot me. I find it hard to keep them much under 2" at 25 with my eyes and shaky hands these days and it's rare when I turn in a group of an inch or less anymore. Dang it used to be so much easier to do.  When it cools down a bit I'll get out and give it a try and see what this one will do. The heat works on me badly these days and I have to be finished by about 8:30 AM on these hot summer days or it really wilts me. I don't really like to start shooting on my range before 8:00 to give the neighbors a bit to wake up and get moving before I begin making loud noises. That really limits me in the heat of summer so I mostly stick to skeet shooting this time of year as I can begin at 6:30 there and get in 2-3 rounds before it gets so hot I have to head for home. I had a particularly good day at it yesterday as me and the Browning 28 gauge turned in a 74 of 75 before the heat drove me away. Those kinda scores too used to be a lot easier to come by than they are these days for me.

[2 dogs]

Stuart, I had a match grade barrel installed on a SS with a Bisley conversion and it shoots great. If you care to send me an email to fcgarza0640@hotmail.com I will send you a pic of it.

[Sverre A.]

Out of my 6,5 Single Six - I get 1,5" at (6 shots) with CCI Mini Mag.

With Winchester Super X in 22 mag I get 1,7" (6 shots).

The groups are shot beyond a sandbag at 25 yds./open sights.

With a scope - I think I would reduce the groups with 30-40%.

And from a Ransom?  I don`t know - because I have never shot anything from a "mechanic bench".

All of my testing (22 LR - 454 Casull) is done in "a little practical way".

[hunman55]

GB, I picked up an old model single six at a pawn shop a few years ago at a good price. It was beat-up and someone had messed with both front and rear sights. This gun was the one before the adjustable sights with the black checked grips. A friend that knows guns and has a machine shop fitted a 12 in. barrel and new front and rear sights to it. I haven't had the time to really sit down and see what kind of ammo it likes and have only played with it a little, but it looks like it will be a one inch 25 yd gun and plinking from a rest will keep most shots on a four-inch fence post at a hundred yards. I will try different ammo from a rest at 25 yds when I have time. More later. Hunman55

[poncaguy]

I have a red dot on my SS, my 66 year old eyes require it. Around 2" at 25 -30 yards........

[Steve P]

Lots of good replies here GB.  Hope they help.  I have a couple of suggestions to help you out also.  Hogue makes a real nice finger groove grip for the single six.  It fits my hand better and calms the shake.  Cut my groups way down.  You can also get the patridge style front sight blade from Ruger.  It is made for the Mark II semi autos, but also fits the single six.  You get better sight picture on your front blade.  You can also remove the grip panels and remove one leg of the trigger spring from it's perch.  Make's suprising difference.  (There are lots more trigger mods available on these, but not for the inexperienced.)

Like lots of the other posters above, I have found different ammo shoots better in one of my .22s than another.  Winchester wildcats and T22 shoot well.  CCI target pistol and green tag shoot well.  My dad's gun is unbelievable with CCI Hollow points.  I have seen him hit a shotgun shell 18 times in a row.  Starting about 10-15 yards out and flipping it further out with each shot.  A buddy swore by PMC Zappers in his.  The old Federal Champions shoot well in my 4 5/8" gun.  My 9" gun likes CCI target pistol and most of the Eley stuff.  Will also shoot CCI HP really well, but not quite like the Eley.

With the exception of my DW .22, all of my .22 pistols (contenders, high standards, ruger semi's and single six, etc) will shoot groups under 1" at 25 yards with their favorite ammo.  Sometimes it just takes time to find out what that ammo is.  My DW is just finicky.  One day it will shoot 1/4" group and the next day with same ammo it is 2".  Nothing loose (except maybe me!!)

Good luck and enjoy that 9" Ruger.  They are SHOOTERS!!

Steve