David Bradshaw Photos Vol. 119 - a Ruger S&W

[Lee Martin]

Bill Ruger, Jr., checks out No. 1 .45-70, prior to cleaning. Two bases for a tangent sight, a) replace tang safety, and b) at heel of stock. Rear base for shooting in the reclining Creedmoor position.



Bill Ruger, Jr., asks David to clean his late father's Smith & Wesson Model No. 3 .44 Russian. Some thirty years before this day in 2014, Bill, Sr., told David his worst mistake in business was to not buy Smith & Wesson for 14 or 17 million dollars. David doesn't remember which of those figures is exact. Tag on trigger guard numbers revolver to an appraiser's list.



Invoice shows S&W replated nickel finish on Model No. 3 .44 Russian.



This tip-open single actions are sideplate guns, with sideplate on left side and clockwise cylinder indexing. S&W started early in placing stop notches close to rear cylinder face.



Extractor starts to rise as barrel tips, providing simultaneous extraction & ejection. Rack & pinion gear arrangement times extraction to tilt of barrel. In the late 1970's, S&W considered reintroducing the tip-open revolver. Intricacy of machine work in the 1870's was considered impossible to replicate in the 1970's. Seems Italian machinists figured it out. Knurled thumbwheel in topstrap is loosened to remove cylinder for cleaning out black powder fouling. Notch in hammer face prevents frame latch opening when hammer is forward. Hammer is pulled to "safety notch" to open latch.



.44 Russian gave birth to the .44 Special gave birth to the .44 Magnum. The short Russian case doesn't require a long-stroke extractor.




Easy to see the Model 29 didn't fall too far from the tree. Forged frame and components, including leaf mainspring. Strain screw in toe of front strap to ease assembly/disassembly, and tension mainspring. Lanyard ring held by crosspin. Hump on backstrap indexes grip. Spur on trigger guard provides leverage for middle finger while thumb-cocking. Twist of 1:20" continues to this day as standard for .44 Special and .44 Mag. Topstrap flange over cylinder may act to deflect combustion particles away from shooter's face. Barrel lug houses pinion for automatic extraction/ejection.



Cocked.... ready for the squeeze.



The Smith has a stiff cocking stroke, with upturned hammer spur to match. Thumb doesn't cam over the spur the way it can for leatherwork with the Peacemaker family, including Rugers.



Classic beauty.



-Lee
www.singleactions.com
"Chasing perfection five shots at a time"

[shphntr]

The wood on that No. 1 is awesome.

[ezekiel38]

Thank you David, nice pictorial, thanks for sharing a nice slice of history, several ways.

[bradshaw]

Feb 26, 2021 0:10:31 GMT -5 shphntr said:

The wood on that No. 1 is awesome.

*****

shphntr.... the half octagon Number 1 was finished just in time to become the cover gun for John T. Amber’s Gun Digest. Don’t remember the year, perhaps 1969 or so.

ezekiel38.... yes, this is a beauty,
David Bradshaw

[contender]

I truly enjoy the pics & the history.
The No 1, with that sight set-up,, combined with Bill Jr holding it,, sweet.
Then the S&W,, a classic,, and another great piece. Great details there.

Thanks for sharing.

[shphntr]

Thanks for the information on the No. 1 David. Your wealth of knowledge is priceless and I thank you for sharing it with all of us. There is a cost associated with your writings and that is the lightening of my wallet. I was thinking about adding a 22 double action revolver to my gun safe and after reading your comments on the S&W 17 I purchased one. It is a 17-2 and much more accurate than I am. It's also an inexpensive training tool, low recoil makes it easy to see the result poor trigger pull and follow through. Thanks again for sharing.

[bradshaw]

Tyrone.... and appreciation to shphntr for the kind words.... Bill Ruger spanned the tooling business from before World War II, through the war and its race to more efficient manufacturing, to throw his shoe in the door of established American gun makers mid-20th Century via the LOST WAX casting process invented in China 6,000 years ago. Now more commonly known as INVESTMENT CASTING. Whereas the Chinese perfected lost wax, rendering COPPER in great detail through the wax 3-dimensional object, Ruger helped instigate the process in high grade steel, suitable for the strongest handguns. Bill’s car collecting rubbed off on his first child, Bill, Jr., who continued his father’s study of automotive innovations. Thus, the two could bury you on detail of automotive design and manufacturing.

The Rugers had huge respect for the quality of Smith & Wesson manufacturing. Bill, Sr., knew he could not compete through drop forging. And for the new cartridges he had to make stronger. Colt’s manufacturing equalled S&W until the close of WW II. At which conclusion, as auto makers switched from tanks back to cars, Colt management decided to suck the government tit to the exclusion of civilian----and law enforcement----sales. Colt never regained its timing. Ossified management styles soon froze Winchester and Colt in their tracks, further enabling Bill Ruger to expand into the rifle field.

Bill Ruger possessed an eye for the AESTHETIC, a quality which I suggest one possesses deep down. Or not. This gave us qualities of conversation this shooter otherwise would not have had. Same goes for Bill, Jr. Although Bill, Jr., did not share his father’s interest in art, he said as much, it factored in his decisions. With both men gone, questions to ask each continually arise.

Handling the old S&W Model No. 3 .44 Russian, I held the grip where the Old Man held it. A reach to antiquity. As Bill, Sr., aged, progressive rheumatoid arthritis made holding a gun more difficult.... to where shooting was about impossible. I don’t know what guns he may have shot after the sunny afternoon in his back yard, 1981, when I asked if he’d like to try prototype .357 Maximum SRM-2. It brought a kid’s smile to Bill Ruger’s face. He sat the picnic table, draped SRM-2 on the sandbags, and stitched 6x6 into 6-inches @ 100 yards. Should have saved the target, an IHMSA pig I’d painted on cardboard, but we were nonchalant about memorabilia, with me the world’s worst archivist.

The smile on Bill, Sr.’s face after shooting his .357 Maximum was broader then the smile he brough to the bench.
David Bradshaw

[contender]

I truly enjoy the history you share,, even if you didn't save targets & such. At least you have given us a little peek into Bill's mind,, and such. I've studied Bill & his company for many years,, and you pop in a few jewels of info that add to things all the time.

I was out today burning a few rounds in the .357 Maxi myself. Dern wind & my eyes made me stop as I wasn't happy with my results.
I shot about 30 rounds between my Ruger & my T/C Contender.
The scoped Contender makes it easier to tighten my groups. My eyes are not happy with certain conditions, and the wrong glasses. (I forgot my prescription shooting glasses.)

[potatojudge]

Falling blocks look great with half octagon barrels. A Browning 1885 Low Wall sits in the safe wearing one. They look great with any barrel truthfully, and the No 1 up there with any of them.

I wonder if it was cost alone that kept the octagon from production. Browning produced quite a few B78 and 1885 with octagon barrels, but I don't know how retail of these two guns stacked up back then.

[bradshaw]

Feb 28, 2021 22:52:54 GMT -5 potatojudge said:

Falling blocks look great with half octagon barrels. A Browning 1885 Low Wall sits in the safe wearing one. They look great with any barrel truthfully, and the No 1 up there with any of them.

I wonder if it was cost alone that kept the octagon from production. Browning produced quite a few B78 and 1885 with octagon barrels, but I don't know how retail of these two guns stacked up back then.

*****

A history of the octagon barrel could fill a book. I’d like to know if the octagon was strictly a matter of style, or there was a PROCESS reason. Warren Center told me the tapered octagon barrels for his early Contenders were labor intensive. During discussions of various guns with the Rugers, the process used to make a receiver, barrel, etc., comes down to the manufacturers tooling. I suspect the barrel of Sam Colt’s Paterson revolver of 1836 began as a forging. The barrel and lug area which attaches to the frame is one piece, flat on both sides. The sides of the lug continue as flats on the octagon barrel. Is it possible the flats stabilized the hot metal in the dies as the hammer dropped to form the basic shape? Did flats on the barrel help clamp the part for machine operations?

Whether Bill Ruger ever considered offering an octagon I don’t know. He certainly had an eye for the classic.
David Bradshaw

[princeout]

Feb 26, 2021 21:57:26 GMT -5 bradshaw said:

Feb 26, 2021 0:10:31 GMT -5 shphntr said:

The wood on that No. 1 is awesome.

*****

shphntr.... the half octagon Number 1 was finished just in time to become the cover gun for John T. Amber’s Gun Digest. Don’t remember the year, perhaps 1969 or so.

ezekiel38.... yes, this is a beauty,
David Bradshaw

Good memory!



Found this at an antique store a few months back. Lots of interesting reading. Bought my GD first one in '73 so I missed this one.

Tim