My dad’s gun

No Wisdom of the Duke today – I think that plenty has been said in the blogsphere about responsibility, ethics, and gun control in the last few days. Today’s Friday Special is about one of my Dad’s guns, and one that every time I go visit I try to con him into letting it leave with me.

My dad first joined the LA County Sheriff’s Department during the days when cops still carried wheelguns. I’m not entirely sure what that the lineage on this particular revolver is, but here is what I do know about it. It’s a .357 Magnum with a 6 inch barrel, custom trigger job, etc. That in itself isn’t weird, but this is. It’s a Ruger Security-Six with a Colt barrel. That’s weird. I’ve never been able to extract exactly where (or who) he got it from, but every time I’m in Washington I try to come up with a new way to have this gun land in my hands.

You see, it’s the finest shooting .357 I’ve ever held. It balances well, points well, the trigger is crisp and smooth in double action, and it breaks like a glass rod in single action. Did I mention that it shoots like there’s no tomorrow? Because it does. I fired my very first full house magnum rounds through this gun – it was solely responsible for getting me Hooked on Magnums, usually of the .357 variety. That was fun. We were at the range, and had been shooting some .38 Specials through it, but we ran out of ammo. So I went and grabbed up a box of PMC 158 grain .357 rounds. My first shot went ka-BOOM and the gun torqued in my hand. I was two things, 1) rather surprised and 2) happier than a swine in shit. Dad then had me do some rapid fire drills on a “charging” target with the magnum. With a 6 inch barrel, great grips and an awesome trigger, shooting rapid fire was pleasant.

One of these days, I’m going to get this gun from him…just you wait. Actually, I’m flying out there for Christmas this year, I’ll try to get out to the range with it and get some pictures so you can see precisely what I’m talking about. If anyone knows anything about Ruger Security Six with a 6 inch Colt barrel made in California sometime in the late 70’s early 80’s, let me know.

Man, that is a cool gun.