RugerSociety.com

Good afternoon,

I requested 6 letters the first week of June. They arrived mid August, which was much quicker than I was expecting. Very nicely done I might add.

The question that I have is that I had two LIghtweight Single Sixes lettered. #200345 which is a Tri Color and #205678 which is a Lightweight Steel Cylinder. According to RENE the earliest LWSC was #206225. So this one would be earlier. I email Chad about it and he said the only way to know would be a factory letter.

I have attached both letters and neither mention being a LWAC or a LWSC. I can understand the Tri Color not being specified but I was hoping the letter would have specified the all blue as being a LWSC from the factory, or as a LWAC that I would assume has been converted. Is there a way to get this information ? Or is there anything that I should look for as to it being returned to the factory for the steel cylinder.

Thank you,
Tim

The all blue gun will be a tough one to verify as LWSC. March 1957 was also when Ruger changed their catalog number nomenclature to LWSC for the steel cylinder model and LWAC for the alloy cylinder, from just "Single-Six Lightweight" earlier.
Ruger may have shipped your gun with a steel cylinder, but somebody may have changed it to steel later on in its history too.
Regarding Ruger's catalog numbers, the info you see on the letter comes out of the day book record. So this might also be a case of the employee doing the notetaking in that ledger not being up to speed on the new revised catalog numbers at the time your gun was entered.
Chet15

Thank you for the reply and explanation.

Tim

The front of the cylinder doesn't have the last three digits of the serial number stamped on it in large numbers does it?
Chet15

tt66 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 18, 2021 3:41 pm
.... I was hoping the letter would have specified the all blue as being a LWSC from the factory, or as a LWAC that I would assume has been converted.
Is there a way to get this information ?

When I request letters, I often include a very polite cover letter outlining what I suspect the gun is or, what I'm hoping to find. I offer to pay for additional time required and provide my cell number.

I've NEVER had an additional charge but every time I got the "extra" information I was hoping for. There's been times when they did call me. Once I was lettering a Security Six with an "S" at the end of the serial number. That one got me a phone call and TWO letters. The call was to verify they understood what I wanted. One letter was the "standard" showing when it was shipped and what model. The second letter (from a Supervisor and on different colored letterhead) explained that the "S" is NOT a part of the serial number as reported by them to the ATF but an internal marking to indicate factory second. It went on to explain the possible scenarios that may have led to the "S" marking even though the particulars on my gun were not in their records. To me, that was pretty in-depth and worth way more than the $10 charged.

Hope the same works out for you and others.

chet15 wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 6:54 am The front of the cylinder doesn't have the last three digits of the serial number stamped on it in large numbers does it?
Chet15

I apologize for the delay.

No, there are no numbers on the cylinder.

Thank you for your reply,
Tim Thomas