Ruger's Single-Action Bearcat

Colt had pronounced the single action dead in 1940. Enter Bill Ruger. His desire was to produce a single action which anyone could afford to own and shoot, while still maintaining the look and feel of the original. The result was the .22 Single-Six. Ruger wisely maintained the original grip frame of the Colt Single Action, downsized the mainframe to reduce weight when using the little rimfire cartridge, and he totally improved the standard single action by replacing flat springs with virtually unbreakable coil springs. That was 1953, and the Single-Six has been an excellent seller ever since. It was my first handgun after I graduated high school in 1956.

A few lightweight Single-Sixes with alloy cylinders and frames had been offered, however now Ruger decided to come forth with a true pocket pistol. In the 1840s, both Colt and Remington had offered .31 percussion pistols, such as the Wells Fargo, Baby Dragoon and the New Model Police. These were all very easy to conceal pocket pistols. Today we have a large proliferation of pocket pistols, however this was certainly not the case in 1958, and especially not in .22 caliber. Once again Ruger sensed the market and brought forth his little Bearcat revolver.

The original Bearcat had a non-fluted 6-shot cylinder with a role engraving of both a bear and a mountain lion, a black anodized aluminum mainframe with integral grip frame, and an alloy trigger guard anodized to appear to be brass. The first serial numbers were from 1-999 and then a letter prefix was added such as A001-A999, B001-B999, and so on for 25 letters of the alphabet excluding the “O” which could be mistaken for a zero.

By 1960 the “alphabet” Bearcats gave way to a normal numbering system and a prefix number was added in 1969. The original Bearcats weighed just over 16 ounces and were discontinued in 1970, to be replaced one year later by the steel-frame Super Bearcat. Today’s Bearcat is all stainless steel with a transfer bar safety, while still maintaining the half cock position for loading and unloading.

A Real Sixgun

There are some sixgunners who can shoot everything equally well (and some equally bad!), however I’m not one of them. The easiest sixgun for me to shoot is an adjustable-sighted 71/2″ single action, such as the Colt New Frontier or original Ruger Flat-Top Blackhawk. The most difficult sixgun, single action or double action, for me, is the little Ruger Bearcat. Everything about it is small and lightweight, with a very tiny grip frame. However, I keep reminding myself this is not a target pistol but a pocket pistol or kit gun, which easily stows in a backpack or tackle box. When the going is rough and every ounce counts, a Bearcat and a box of .22 ammunition is definitely priceless.

I ignored the Bearcat when it first appeared, and in fact did not buy one until my son’s 10th birthday. He saved up half the money and I paid the other half and he was on his way to becoming a single-action sixgunner. He told me in recent years how envious all his friends were of him as he had a real pistol, while they all had cap pistols.

“I remember how excited I was, nearly trembling, when we went to the gun shop run by the short man with black horn-rimmed glasses and a noticeable limp to pick out my first handgun,” he told me. “I was 10 years old, and as I invested my life savings, which was equally matched by you, probably pulled from the black leather wallet chained to your belt, to meet the price tag of the Ruger Bearcat, I was in awe of my new purchase. Imagine how I felt when the gun shop owner leaned over, and with a wink, dropped a 50-count box of .22 shells in my hand and lifted a finger to his lips in a gesture that I knew meant I wasn’t to tell anyone of his generosity.

“Later, when you made the belt and holster, I voted myself the coolest kid in the world. And why wouldn’t I be? I had a dad who could shoot better than anyone I knew, let me carry my sidearm like a real cowboy, molded his own bullets, and reloaded his own ammo. My gun was real, the bullets real, and the holster was real leather stitched by hand. Having my name carved in my belt truly completed the ensemble.” Nothing like priceless family memories!

Customized

Alan recently sent me a totally custom Bearcat, which is about the neatest little single-action pocket pistol I have ever seen. A few decades ago Harrington & Richardson introduced the .32 Magnum in their line of double action revolvers, and this same cartridge was picked up by both Ruger and Smith & Wesson for their sixguns. The .32 Magnum is a great little cartridge that does not quite replace the old .32-20. What H&R did not do, Federal has now accomplished by extending the length of the .32 Magnum to give us the .327 Federal Magnum, which definitely challenges the old .32-20. It is, in fact, basically a straight cartridge case replacement for the bottlenecked .32-20.

Would you believe Alan Harton has come up with a 5-shot Bearcat chambered in .327 Federal Magnum? And would you also believe the American Eagle 100-gr. .327 Federal Magnum hollowpoints clock out at over 1,400 fps from this short-barreled little pistol? That is a lot of power in such a small package. It’s also quite a handful, and the 85-gr. Hornadys at 1,235 fps are much more pleasant to shoot.

The original Bearcat is too small to handle the .327, and also six holes would remove too much metal. So Alan enlarges the cylinder frame window to accept a longer and thicker custom cylinder. This allows a 5-shot cylinder which provides extra wall thickness. And the cylinder, which is 4140 steel, also has to be longer to accept the extra length of the .327 Federal Magnum.

A new barrel was fabricated from a Douglas .32 blank, which is free-bored, or Taylor Throated if you prefer, to allow the bullet to totally enter the barrel before encountering the rifling. Alan also milled the top of the mainframe flat and removed the ejector housing boss altogether, welding up the frame where it had been. Of course the firing pin had to be changed from rimfire to centerfire.

The base pin is made extra long, with a knurled head for easy removal since it’s used to punch out the empties. The hammer spur has been reshaped to a Bisley-style configuration and the gun finished in a beautifully dark bright blue, topped off with exquisite ivory grips. It’s almost, but only almost, too pretty to shoot.

A Shooter

But shoot it does! My four .327 Federal Magnum loads, two factory and two handloads averaged 3/4″ for four shots at 7 yards. This is basically a pocket pistol, however Alan also sent a crossdraw holster, made by our mutual friend, Mike Barranti. Whether carried in Barranti’s excellent leather or in a pocket, or even in a daypack or backpack, no matter how one is traveling, this .327 Bearcat is a powerful little piece of insurance to have along.

Read More Sixgunner Articles

Subscribe To American Handgunner

RELATED ARTICLES