Cold Steel
Active Member
That may be in that many of them are made of forged steel. Rugers are made of investment cast steel, so they would actually have to spend more to change the heat treat to a weaker type of steel. I remember a similar question being raised about the K-frame S&W and whether it would be safe to ream out a .38 S&W to .357. The answer was No! It would not be safe. And yet some people in California did ream one out, arguing that the part numbers were the same in both guns. I would emphatically recommend against doing that in a S&W.I do know the Security-Six series is much missed as it is and was an extremely fine and robust revolver. While Ruger's GP-100 is certainly a fine revolver I believe the Security-Six series was a more practical revolver for its size.
Reaming the chambers on your Speed-Six would concern me unless Ruger could verify the revolver is heat treated for .357 pressures and not .38 Special pressures. Most gun makers heat treat their frames and cylinders for the chambering it's intended for...they won't spend the time and money to heat treat beyond what's needed. Value-wise...I can't say. That's up to a potential buyer.
Investment casting makes guns stronger, by design, than
forged steel overall, at least by Ruger.
The Python is a superb gun, but the pawl (hand) is so small on the original guns that they wasn't out of time quickly. Some people had them hard chromed to keep them from wearing. The cylinder star also can be hard chromed.I have a Python snubby that's more pleasant to shoot but it has a 1/2" longer barrel...but I admit the Lawman will shoot Magnum ammunition without fear of excessive wear compared to the Python...the original Colt V-spring action is a fine action but will suffer from continuous use of magnums due to its closely hand-fitted design. The Mark III and Mark V Colts were designed for nearly unlimited use of full-power magnums.
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