ayoob files: dueling rifles - Jeffersonian's Home Page

onus when it shoots well.
I have previously covered the Ruger
Single-Ten so here I’ll just point out
I decided to swap out the 3-dot fiber
optic sights, so I ordered regular
Single-Six black sights. It took less
than two minutes to install them and
I was rewarded with groups 30 to 40
percent smaller with the new sights.
I’ve been shooting Single-Sixes for
more than 50 years and I like them
all, and in fact have put back three
51/2" Super Single-Sixes for my three
grandsons. However this one is fast
becoming a favorite. What’s not to
like with all steel construction and a
10-shot cylinder? That’s double the
capacity of my first Single-Six in 1956
(loading it correctly with 5+ an empty
chamber). At 36 ounces it’s definitely
quite a bit heavier than the other three
here, however I can put up with the
weight to carry such a fine single
action .22.
The most accurate loads with the
new sights installed proved to be American
Eagle and Federal Classic HPs,
which are also easily available locally,
both at under 1" for nine shots, while
CCI Mini-Mag HPs, CCI Stingers and
Remington Yellow Jacket HPs were just
over 1". It’s not always easy to find .22s
that with shoot these latter two hypervelocity
rounds well.
A Long Barrel
I will close by mentioning one other
Ruger .22 Trail Gun, the 91/2" Single-Six
with two cylinders, in .22 Long Rifle
and .22 Magnum. With its long barrel
it certainly is not as easy to pack as any
of the others however it fits nicely into a
backpack or rides well in a half-flap belt
holster I made up several decades ago
for long-barreled single actions. I mention
this sixgun for the simple reason
it’s the closest to a rifle while still being
relatively easy to carry.
Using the .22 Magnum cylinder
gives a muzzle velocity increase of 600
fps or more over .22 Long Rifle rounds.
This not only gives flatter trajectory but
significantly increased killing power
on varmints up to and including coyotes
in size. In testing this brand-new
production gun I used 13 different .22
long rifle loads and nine .22 Magnum
loads. The long barrel Rugers are the
easiest for me to shoot, however results
were quite astounding, as both loads
with both cylinders averaged 7/8".
The smallest for the Long Rifles was
5/8" while the smallest Magnum load
grouped at 3/4". The largest loads measured
out at 11/4" and 1" respectively. At
my age these are most joyful groups.
I hope Ruger sees fit to bring out the
stainless steel Single-Ten with
this longer barrel.
*
For more info: www.americanhandgunner.
com/sturm-ruger-co, (603) 865-2442
WWW.AMERICANHANDGUNNER.COM 101