Ruger's Single-Six.17 - Out Of The Box

Okay guys, here's a quiz: Name a rugged, workhorse rimfire single-action revolver you've owned and enjoyed. For countless numbers of American shooters, that answer must be the Ruger Single-Six. Manufacture commenced in 1953, with a major redesign in 1973 to incorporate the transfer bar system of the "New Model" lockwork.

Old model Rugers are much sought after by shooters and collectors, but there's no denying that the new drop-safe design, which permits safe carry of a round under the hammer, is a safer firearm. The Single-Six is usually seen chambered as a convertible .22 Long Rifle and .22 Magnum, but we have a new option now in the form of the Single-Six .17 Hornady Rimfire Magnum.

Carrying the catalog designation NR-617, the revolver sports a 6.5" barrel, weighs 35 ounces, and boasts a nice blued finish with well-fitted rosewood stocks. Sights are a click adjustable rear and a sturdy serrated Patridge front ramped for holster carry. The cylinder is roll marked with the designation "17 HMR CAL."

To The Range, Jeeves

We took the little Ruger to the range to let it strut its stuff. All shooting was done at 25 yards offhand. First firing was with Remington's Premiere Magnum Rimfire ammunition featuring the 17-grain V-Max bullet. This loading apparently wasn't to the Ruger's taste, as groups registered in the 3.25" to 3.5" range. Nor was this the case of a good core group with occasional fliers, instead we saw random, shotgun-like patterns. This Remington ammunition is good, but it wasn't good in this particular little Ruger.

Luckily we had access to a supply of Hornady ammunition which interestingly also features the 17-grain V-Max projectile. With this loading, the pistol immediately settled down. The worst groups measured roughly 2.25" inches, but showed three or four holes tightly clustered together. A couple of maximum efforts produced very satisfying clusters of around 1.5 inches, with four shots much tighter and easily covered by a quarter dollar. Now this was what we expected, and is more than satisfactory for the plinking, varminting and trail use this revolver is likely to see.

Okay, So We're Picky

Doubtless the revolver will shout much better, but this brings us to the fly in the ointment. The trigger pull of the sample on hand weighed 4.75 pounds, which is about right, but there was a huge amount of creep. Upon pressing the trigger you would feel an initial resistance, followed by significant trigger movement to the rear which then stopped and finally released cleanly.

Current MSRP of the Ruger .17 caliber Single-Six is $399. In today's dollars, that's not a huge sum, and so perhaps we can't expect a "glass rod" release, but it is difficult to shoot well with such a trigger. Maybe this is a worse than average sample, and possibly we're too demanding in regards to clean breaking triggers of acceptable pull weight, but for our uses this revolver would require the services of a good gunsmith to be able to make the most of it.

Enough nit picking. Function was 100 percent. We originally wondered if ejection would be troublesome given the tiny chamber throats, but the ejector rod is well tapered and aligns easily. Fired brass was clean as a whistle, showing the chambers to be very well finished. Ignition was perfectly uniform, something not always seen in rimfires Initial groups were low, but it was a simple matter to bring them right to the point of aim with a few clicks of the rear sight.

As to the caliber itself, why should you consider a .17-caliber Single-Six? The answer is obvious if you already have or are planning to buy a rifle chambered in .17 HMR. But there may be another good reason. The tiny, 17-grain bullets are far more likely to break up and not travel far in the event of a shot that misses or penetrates your target. With our world growing more settled all the time, this may be a safer option for plinking and varminting.

And of course there's one more good reason. The lil' bugger is fun to shoot, as evidenced by the fact we didn't leave the range until we were completely out of .17 ammo!