Ruger Bearcat

[Rye Miles #13621]

Anyone else like these little .22’s? Just picked this up yesterday. It’s an old one , great shape!

 

 

[The Original Lumpy Gritz]

Owned one for over 30+ years.

Great shooter.

[Cowtown Scout, SASS #53540 L]

Was my first firearm purchased for me by my Dad when I was in Elementary School.  Still have it., photos from 5 years ago.

 

 

 

[Stump Water]

I wanted a Shopkeeper when they came out, never pulled the trigger.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I bought one for my wife when we got married (60 years ago in July).  My daughter has it now and carries it around their property in NC to discourage "critters".  She still uses the original Hunter holster and cartridge belt.

 

Before I met my wife I bought and sold maybe a dozen.  They were cheap and very handy, but I had a date coming up  or needed a tire for my car, or whatever.

 

I'd like to find a good one again....and I'm still looking for a Colt Scout, too.

[DeaconKC]

I never bought one because my hand was too big to feel comfortable with one. Then last year one came through the shop with genuine stag grips that were large enough for me to hold on to! It came home with me!

[DeaconKC]

[Alpo]

I bought one for my granddaughter. And then I had a custom holster made.

 

 

I told the guy it was for a Bearcat - the smaller Ruger single action.

 

Apparently he was unaware that the Bearcat existed. He made it for a five and a half inch single six.

 

So I bought her a five and a half inch single six, and I kept the Bearcat.

 

 

That makes sense to everybody, doesn't it?

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Sweet, sweet li'l revolvers.

 

Here's mine, 1970 vintage.  My late, dear friend "Doxna" bought it new, put less than a box of shells through it.  She packed it on a few deer hunting trips, but never fired it again.  When she passed about ten years ago, she left it to me.  Although I've never shot it, I did have my son pull the bullet from a cartridge and pop the primer with it.  So... why on Earth do such a thing?  Well, the turn signal brush in his old Toyota pickup steering wheel was worn; the empty .22 case fit over it perfectly and function was restored.  That was the only time the hammer was dropped in fifty-five years.  

 

Somewhere I have the original receipt.  She bought it from a sporting goods store on Clement St, in San Francisco, and as I recall the price with the Hunter holster was something like sixty bucks.

 

 

 

Edit:  I just remembered... my old pard Half-Breed Pete had one.  "Had."  Back in the early 70's he was on a multi-day hunting trip on horseback in the Los Padres National Forest.  At some point, he reached to adjust his Bearcat holster, and discovered it empty.  Oh, NO!  He retraced many miles of trail, searching for the missing revolver.  No joy.  So, unless some fortunate soul just happened along and spotted it, somewhere out in the woods a lump o' rust resides alongside an overgrown trail.  

 

 

[Henry T Harrison]

16 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I bought one for my wife when we got married (60 years ago in July).  My daughter has it now and carries it around their property in NC to discourage "critters".  She still uses the original Hunter holster and cartridge belt.

 

Before I met my wife I bought and sold maybe a dozen.  They were cheap and very handy, but I had a date coming up  or needed a tire for my car, or whatever.

 

I'd like to find a good one again....and I'm still looking for a Colt Scout, too.

I’ve had my bearcat since 1999 Ruger and I share a birthday and my wife bought me several different Rugers. The bearcat is still unfired. I had a nice Colt. Scout until my son decided he needed it more and I did 

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

14 hours ago, Alpo said:

I bought one for my granddaughter. And then I had a custom holster made.

I told the guy it was for a Bearcat - the smaller Ruger single action.

Apparently he was unaware that the Bearcat existed. He made it for a five and a half inch single six.

So I bought her a five and a half inch single six, and I kept the Bearcat.

That makes sense to everybody, doesn't it?

Coming from you, yeah.

[tacobill]

Alpo, that is a super bearcat you have. It has the steel trigger guard

[Alpo]

Actually that is a "New Bearcat", as you can see if you blow the picture up. Plainly marked right there above the trigger.

 

Bearcat 2nd issue
 

The Bearcat 2nd issue was marketed in 1971 as an improved version of the original Bearcat, and renamed the Super Bearcat; it featured an all-steel frame rather than an alloy frame.

Bearcat 3rd issue
 

The Bearcat 3rd issue, also known as the New Bearcat, is Ruger's reintroduced model which came out in 1993. It features smooth rosewood grips with a Ruger medallion embedded. The New Bearcat also incorporated Ruger's new transfer bar safety system.

[Alpo]

 

Interestingly, although it has the transfer bar like all the other New Model guns, you can't load it by just opening the loading gate. You have to put it on halfcock.

[Rip Snorter]

Attractive little gun, but I thought it a Kid gun when it came out.  When I had kids a lot of years on, there were other options.

[Rooster Ron Wayne]

I got one I have had for about 30 years or so now .

I Pops always called them Kit guns ?

I never really understood that nick name for them .

But they are sweet little guns .

Quite a time back I have seen a few converted to 32 caliber. 

That was a sweet little setup .

 

[Alpo]

1 hour ago, Rooster Ron Wayne said:

Pops always called them Kit guns ?

I never really understood that nick name for them

The English used the term kit, or kit bag, for your knapsack or your haversack. There was a song, long about World War I. PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES IN YOUR OLD KIT BAG, AND SMILE SMILE SMILE.

 

Have an hour boys (ding dang it, otto, I said WHEN OUR BOYS. Quit changing my words) came home from "over there", that was a bit of British slang they brought with them.

 

So if they were going off into the woods fishing or hiking instead of getting their backpack or their knapsack, they would get their kit bag.

 

Smith & Wesson started making a pistol - a 22 long rifle on a 32 Smith & Wesson long frame. They called it the 22/32 kit gun. Because it was small and easy to stash in your kit bag.

 

In reality that is the only "kit gun" because they own the trade name. But lots of people refer to small easily carried, normally 22, revolvers as kit guns.

[watab kid]

yes i do - ive wanted a specific bearcat for a long time , i want the birdshead in a a shorter barrel , 3-4" would be nice , ive got a couple single sixes but this one has alluded me so far - ill admit i dont look hard but im always looking passively for a lot of things , this one ill sw9oop up when i find it ....so dont hesitate or it will be gone - just sayin