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catalog numbers for six series

9K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  rollin thunder 
#1 ·
I just got off the phone with Ruger getting the catalog numbers for my series six revolvers.

My question is: are the catalog numbers published anywhere?

I did ask one question, one of my cat.#'s had an "H" at the end. She said that meant, heavy barrel???

Help!:eek:

Thanks RT
 
#2 ·
rollin thunder, The Red Eagle News Exchange has the list of catalog codes and yes, there is a "H" and it does mean heavy barrel. There were more variations with the Six-Series DA revolvers than any other gun Ruger has ever made .... way to numerous to type here. If you can give me the catalog numbers, I'll look them up for you and provide the meanings.
 
#4 ·
Iowegan, I sure appreciate what your doing! Let me thank you in advance.
Here we go:
Security Six 4" Blued RDA-34 manufactured 3/74
Security Six 4" S.S. GA-34 manufactured 9/80
Speed Six 2 3/4 Blued SS-32 manufactured 2/80
Police Service 4" Blued SDA- 34 manufactured 8/74
Speed Six 4" S.S. SS-34H manufactured 5/85
 
#5 ·
rollin thunder, Here you go:
RDA=Blue Security-Six w/adjustible sights. 3=357 Mag. 4=4" barrel
GA=Stainless Security-Six with adjustible sights. 3=357 Mag. 4=4" barrel
SS=Blue Speed-Six with fixed sights. 3=357 Mag. 2= 2 3/4" barrel.
SDA=Blue Service-Six with fixed sights. 3=357 Mag. 4=4" barrel
SS=Blue Speed-Six with fixed sights. 3=357 Mag. 4H=4" heavy barrel.

davemu, A Service-Six would either be SDA for Blue or GF for stainless. The next number is the caliber:
3=357 Mag
8=38 Special
9=9mm
The last number is the barrel length:
2=2 3/4"
3=3"
4=4"
5=5"
6=6"
If you have a heavy barrel (only in 4") the catalog code will end in H.
 
#6 ·
Iowegan, Thanks for the info.
Your answers brings more questions,
my speed six SS-34h is Stainless Steelyou have it listed as blue??? When I called Ruger with the serial # they said it was Stainless Steel. With what little I know about these models, I have found that there seems to be all kinds of variations. For example, I understand that there are Security Sixes out there with fixed sights.

This brings me to my question, could it be miss cataloged? If it in fact was blued at one point and Ruger themselves have it listed as Stainless..... Did they change it?

Thanks again!
RT
 
#7 ·
davemu, A Service-Six would either be SDA for Blue or GF for stainless. The next number is the caliber:
3=357 Mag
8=38 Special
9=9mm
The last number is the barrel length:
2=2 3/4"
3=3"
4=4"
5=5"
6=6"
If you have a heavy barrel (only in 4") the catalog code will end in H.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the help, but I do have one more question.

Mine is a stainless 357mag 4"
So this would be GF-34 or GF-34H if it has a heavy barrel.

Are all 4" Heavy barrels?
The real question I have is how to tell if mine is a Heavy barrel or not.
 
#8 ·
rollin thunder, RENE says SS is a blue Speed-Six and GS is a stainless Speed-Six and this is consistent with other references. The first models made were the Security-Sixes. Ruger cataloged a fixed sight blued version of the Security-Six as an SDA, rollmarked "Security-Six". Later, the Service-Six was announced and the same catalog number (SDA) was used. Some collectors consider this a mistake but it really wasn't because the fixed sight Security-Six was released before Ruger made the Service-Six a separate model. Ruger also rollmarked some of the Service-Sixes with "Police Service-Six". Same gun just a different rollmark.

All Security-Sixes have a square butt and so do the Service-Sixes. The only thing different were the sights (adjustable for the Security and fixed for the Service). Speed-Sixes had fixed sights with a round butt. One of the confusion factors was .... Ruger used the same exact prefixes (150-162) and the same serial number sequence for all S-Six models in the 17 years of production ('72-'88). So ... one serial number difference could mean totally different models. It was not unusual for Ruger to ship guns with the wrong end label ... in fact that still happens once in a while. The data base kept by Ruger is based on the end label so it's easy to see how a stainless model got mixed in with blued models and was labeled wrong, thus entered wrong in the data base. Ruger never kept statistics on how many of each model were made because BATF did not require it. Ruger does not serial number their guns in the order they were made. They even state this on the serial number history page on their web site. There were 80 different cataloged models in the S-Six revolver plus many special runs for foreign countries or law enforcement agencies that were not cataloged. In total, it is estimated Ruger made at least 150 different configurations of the S-Six revolvers. 4 calibers, 5 barrel lengths, stainless and blue, fixed or adjustable sights, round butt or square, standard or target or Pachmayer grips, standard barrel or heavy barrel or machined heavy barrel, not to mention red insert front sights or black sights, white outline rear sights or black, plus some unique rollmark configurations such as US, USPO, N.I.S, and a host of commemorative rollmarks.

davemu, No, the most popular 4" barrel was the standard weight and measures about .675" diameter at the muzzle. Ruger made the heavy barrel (H) and a machined heavy barrel (MB) too but I don't know their diameters ..... no doubt larger.
 
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