Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Single-Six Barrels

I've been reading on the Internet that Ruger Single-Six revolvers are flawed and accuracy is poor because of a supposed larger bore diameter to accommodate .22 WMRs on the convertibles. I've read elsewhere on the same trusty Internet that Ruger doesn't differentiate between convertibles and other .22s and screws the same barrels on each. I'm not sure because I've never slugged one.

What I do know is every Single-Six I've owned has been incredibly accurate and has given up little if anything to the Mark series of pistols in that regard.

My first handgun was a 1982 5.5" stainless convertible Single-Six, bought for me new by my father. Not sure when I received it but the price tag on the box had a 1982 date, which will give an idea as to production. I shot that gun at least 100,000 rounds but however many rounds, it eventually went out of time from wear. It had accuracy that would rival decent .22 rifles. My dad shot some groups at 50 yards that are hard to believe in hindsight. I got rid of it long ago. I wished I would've sent it to Ruger for a rebuild and kept it.

Yesterday, I was shooting a stainless Ruger Bisley (.22 LR only), a Wrangler and a blued 4 5/8" Single-Six. Not sure if the blued gun is convertible or not. I would have to find the box and see if it has an extra cylinder. I shot a series of offhand groups at a silhouette steel gong at 25 long paces (around 25 yards for me but could've been 23 or 24). My aiming point was a bullet mark right in the middle of the gong. I would repaint the gong, except for the bullet mark, every group or two. I was using an older lot of Federal AutoMatch. Discounting an occasional flyer in that a front was blowing in and I was getting some wind gusts occasionally that result in a called flyer, all the groups were between 1" to 2" for six shots over about 100 rounds with 5-6 flyers over the entire session thrown out.

The Wrangler shoots low and left and is the bronze finish. The bronze was difficult to see at times because the rocks on the back stop are about the same color. The other two have adjustable sights and shot to point of aim.

Removing a single flyer from each, the two best groups of the day were from the Wrangler and Bisley with five shots in 3/4" and a flyer opening the groups up to 2". Multiple groups from all three were under 2" for all six shots and some smaller than that.

Out of the handful I've owned, I've yet to find an inaccurate Single-Six. And given my results yesterday from the above two Single-Sixes and Wrangler, they are at least as accurate as me because I was shooting really well yesterday and don't think I can shoot any better than what the guns were doing.

I'm curious if anyone on here has had an inaccurate Ruger SS or if it's just Internet rumor.

Forgot to mention: Stainless Bisley is 6.5" and has custom grips and a modified approximately 2.5-pound trigger. The other two guns are 100% factory.

I've got a couple Single six revolvers as well as Mark 1, 2, 3 autos. They all shoot very well and I've never noticed any accuracy problems with the revolvers as long as I did my part

back in the day, I had one of those single six convertibles. It was simply awful with regards to accuracy.

I have 4 5/8” barreled convertible. I have no issues with its accuracy

I don't know if there's a difference, but my Single Six convertible is an old 3-screw model. I really haven't shot the 22 mag. cylinder enough to comment on that (and it was so long ago I can't remember), but the .22lr ammo flies as accurately as I can shoot it. I am very happy with it.

I have a 1973 SS convertible. It is very accurate with both .22 RF and .22 Mag.

The people complaining about the accuracy of the single six are usually trying to talk down somebody so they can get one cheaper

My stainless 6.5" Bisley is a very good shooter.

6 1/2" convertible I have shoots quite well. Right along with my K22. So well, I even scoped it to have fun hitting clay birds at a hundred yards, regularly (from a rest, birds stationary). Have never targeted the WMR cylinder in it. The original cylinder was counter bored too deep for the rim and wouldn't fire. A $25 replacement from eBay works fine.

I bought a fixed sight .22 lr only Single Six in 1965. I wasn't a pro but could shoot pretty well. That revolver keyholed a lot when I first got it. After some use it quit. I sold it and in '70 I bought a dual cylinder SS with adjustable sights. I have no idea how many rounds have gone through that revolver and still do without issue. (A lot) The magnum cylinder still has 2 or 3 virgin chambers. I don't have any bragging targets but dandelions at reasonable ranges were dead. Until I sent it to Ruger for the trigger fix. The modification itself did not affect accuracy but I can't replicate the old trigger pull.

In my Ruger SS stainless 5.5 convertible I mostly shoot 22 mags since it is my backup gun to a savage 22 mag rifle when hunting G-hogs. I use it for the close shots that do come up now and then. It is a hammer compared to the 22lr.

I have a Stainless SS 6.5” barrel with both cylinders. Aside from the blocky grips which I have ordered some Magna-tusk replacements for, I love it. Recently bought a Fermin Garza front sight to replace the factory front sight.

It has always shot exceptionally, especially with the .22 LR cylinder. The magnum doesn’t shoot as tight of groups but still good enough for field use.

Everyone I know of that has a Single Six simply dotes on it. They are pleasant to carry and shoot great.

A thousandth in the diameter is nothing. Soft lead long rifles shoot fine out of every single six I've had (probably ten).
People need to find real handgun issues to worry about. Like why people buy self loaders. Or how often on should I clean my 22.

For the style gun it is it's pretty light & especially on the front end. Also, the triggers usually aren't great, & the lock time is slow along with a heavy hammer hit.

All the above contribute to poor shooting 5 times over than a thou or 2 of bore dia. Good trigger work along with very good follow through, & consistent grip will get some great results in most cases. I had to prove that to my non shooting self with a Ransome rest. It showed me my gun would shoot well & I had to try harder.

All very true. I have had almost a dozen of them over the years down to 3 now but a fun gun to shoot.

Yeah, the Ruger trigger springs are ridiculously heavy, making for a trigger pull that is WAAAAAY heavier than a single action trigger pull should be. I have gotten a Wolff light spring to put in one of mine, but haven't gotten around to doing it. That heavy pull does make it more difficult to put the shots where they need to be.

If you think the factory barrel is oversized, you can always replace it with a 10/22 barrel.

The first year of production Single 6 had a 0.222" barrel spec for rimfires. After that they all have been 0.224" the same as a centerfire 22 cal. Some can still be accurate if it is a little tighter. But most are ok at best. The new Wranglers and Super Wrangler are an example of this. I have both. Both are ok at best for a 22 handgun. Nothing like a 25yo Browning Buckmark I have. It shoots circles around both of the Rugers.

Many, unfortunately. It is not rumor, it is fact. I have owned 12-15 best guess, lost count. Along the way I've owned 3 that shot well in general, 1 that was truly good with one specific load but otherwise dog sh*t, and the rest were awful. The very first was a blued gun with a 4-5/8" barrel I bought near the end of college in the mid '80s. It was a great shooter and got me hooked on them. I went into a trade for something or other which is also long gone. I currently have 2 good ones, another 4-5/8" blued gun that shoots everything well and some things damned well .. 3/4 inch 25 yard groups with the CCI subsonic segmented HP stuff for instance, and inchish with a couple .22 magnum loads, and a hunter model my GF got me when we first started dating which, fortunately, shoots quite well with a few loads (it is FOOKING scary accurate, like under half inch, with the Federal 50 grain .22 mag stuff) and does fairly ok with most others as well. In the middle, though, I had horrible results. The one that shot well with only one load was a 9-1/2" blued gun which really liked the Federal .22 mag with the 30 grain Sierra bullet. Inch at 25 yards. Everything else .. 3 inches or more.

The two I currently have are not going anywhere. Learned my lesson .. sorta slow, but I got there.

On the flip side, I've owned perhaps 6-7 Ruger "mark" .22 semi autos and all have been inch and a half or better at 25 yards with some load or other. The previous one I had was a Mk III 5.5" blued gun which was scary good. Traided it for a 10" Mk IV which I'd been waiting for for several years .. disappointing. I got a threaded Mk IV 5.5" target and it's pretty good, worth keeping as well, so I'm back where I was only with a threaded muzzle and a lighter wallet.

So I love the single sixes but I expect to struggle to find accuracy if I buy one. I like the Ruger "mark" guns BUT I've had several that came off safe in the holster so I don't trust them carried with the chamber loaded. No perfect answers unfortunately.