Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

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T.A. Workman
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Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by T.A. Workman »

I recently won a mint Ruger Service-Six .357 Mag. Serial #154-11152 on Gun Broker with some very interesting features.

First of all the revolver is a 1978 model marked Ruger Service Six not Ruger Police Service Six which came later, and has a beautiful high polished finish for that period in time. It also features the smaller font size serial number that is associated with the Ruger Red label shotguns. RENE lists the serial number ranges for Security-Six, Service-Six and Speed-Six revolvers with the smaller sized serial numbers as, 154-04916 - 154-36577 & 154-58068 - 155-01064.

The revolver was re-imported back to the US by 1 EIN Inc. Vera Beach Fl. from Austria and bears a total of seven German Proof Mark Stamps!! Police trade in when they went to Glocks?? I don't know but would make sense. The Importers stamp is on the bottom of the barrel near the front.

On left side of the gun the at the rear of the barrel it is Proof Marked with an Eagle sitting on top of the letter N which stands for, Definitive Nitro Proof (Smokeless Powder) used on all guns since 1952. On the cylinder frame next to it is the same Eagle Proof Mark followed by a cross hatched Shield Proof Mark, which stands for Munich used since 1968 forward. The last Proof Mark on the Cylinder frame is a Shield with the number (78) which represents the year the gun was Proofed which coincides with the revolvers year of manufacture. The rear face of the cylinder also has miniature Proof Marks of the Nitro Eagle & the Munich Shield.

On the right front side of the cylinder frame is an interesting stamping, the letter F sitting on top of what appears to be two letter W's (?) one on top of the other. I have not been able to identify this stamping. It's not a Proof Mark so I presume that it would either be an Armor's or Departmental stamping. Which leads me to believe that the revolver was a German Police Department gun rather than a civilian owned. I have sent to Ruger for a letter to see if it was part of a Foreign Govt. Contract. If anyone can share any info on it I would appreciate your help. Note- Pictures show lint & fuzz not scratch's.
Terry

Note } I forgot that WMG aka Bob Livingston also has a Ruger Security-Six ser.#158-34599 (1982) with German Proof Marks also. They are the same as mine except all are hidden inside the cylinder frame with the exception of the Nitro Eagle on the back of the barrel. Also worth noting is the 7 with two WW's is stamped inside the cylinder frame rather then on the outside the frame like mine. That would mean that my theory on it being an Armor's or Departmental mark would be incorrect. There is NO re-import mark on his gun!!!

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Importers Stamp
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Last edited by T.A. Workman on Sat Sep 17, 2022 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by RoninPA »

What a great find/buy Terry. It will be interesting to see what Ruger says about it.

I have a 6" Security Six (blue) with the small numbers (154-71664) and 4" Police Service Six (stainless) with small numbers (154-10177)
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by gunman42782 »

Another nice one Terry!
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by flattop44 »

That's a good find Terry, I always find the foriegn proof marked Rugers interesting. Let us know if you find out anymore about this one.
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by 67stingray »

Terry, great addition to the collection, that's a lot of proof marks on an American gun. Also curious about what information Ruger has on it. I feel we'll be learning more about the Ruger Double-Actions and new findings for years to come. Thanks for sharing, did you take the pics with your new phone?
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by T.A. Workman »

Thanks guy's.

Bennett I agree there is a lot more info coming out on the D/A's. As to the phone yes I did... :D ;) Did you note I added in the description above?
Another question came up on the Ruger Forum as to the word POLICE being removed from SDA- revolvers that were for a Foreign Govt. Contract guns.

hittman said: Congratulations.
Seems I may have heard a story that when Ruger shipped these to foreign governments, they always left the word POLICE out of the rollmark. Think somebody had one of the Bolivian 380 guns also marked only as Ruger Service Six ….. missing the “Police”.

Reply--
The revolver you refer to belongs to WMG and was originally owned by Steve Vogel, it is pictured in the post "Info on the .380 D/A's".
To back up the theory that the word POLICE was removed from the SDA revolvers made for Foreign Govt. contracts. Note that RENE states that by at least Ser. #150-94446 all the Hi-Back framed SDA revolvers were marked RUGER POLICE SERVICE-SIX.
WMG's SDA-380 Bolivian revolver is marked SERVICE-SIX Ser. #154-01284, my SDA-34 German Proofed revolver is also marked SERVICE-SIX Ser. #154-11152, a span of 9,868 guns.
I own several other SDA- revolvers inside that span and ALL are marked RUGER POLICE SERVICE-SIX, so it would seem the the word POLICE was removed for foreign contract guns.
Terry
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by 67stingray »

My SDA-384 is another Service-Six marked high back Government/Foreign but falls in a much later serial number range 159-95784, there has to be some more out there, here's another pic of it.
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by T.A. Workman »

Bennett,
You are correct, remember it's been awhile since the last update to the RENE. That's why it is important to keep reporting
data to Chad so that he can record it. Also if there are over run guns from a Foreign Govt. Contract, or a US Govt. Contract
those guns would bear the same roll mark. IMO
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by RoninPA »

Terry, I just checked my India .380 Rim and it is roll marked Ruger Police Service Six and on the barrel CAL .380 Rim . My LOA from Ruger was done in 2016 and really doesn't say much other than model number and caliber and shipped date. So I wonder if I need to resubmit and see if I can get more info.
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T.A. Workman
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Re: Unusual SDA-34 SERVICE-SIX

Post by T.A. Workman »

Ron,
A few weeks ago I sent in for ten letter upgrades and one was for my India .380 gun like yours. When I got the letter back on it.
they had it being a Police Service-Six SDA-384 chambered in .38 Special which is wrong. I am sending it back this week with a copy of each wrong letter to get a correct one.

The original letter dated 2/14/2000 that came with the gun when I bought it stated it was a Security Six model SDA-380 in .380 Ball rimmed caliber. "This was a special production model for a foreign government contract". The original owner was stationed at an AFB in SD.

I would recommend that you put a note in with your request & be specific in your description of the gun as to model & caliber
and request that the letter states it was part of a foreign contract.

Terry
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