When Sturm, Ruger
introduced their marvelous Bearcat
sixgun in 1958, they created the perfect Single-Action
"Kit Gun". The term "Kit Gun" refers
generically to a lightweight and handy trail, camping,
backpacking, and all-around woods-bumming gun, usually chambered
in the universal and relatively inexpensive 22 Long Rifle
cartridge. The Kit Gun is a gun that can be carried comfortably
unnoticed, and easily put to a variety of uses in the field; no
Single-Action sixgun has fit the definition of Kit Gun more
perfectly than the Ruger Bearcat.
Originally offered with a 4" barrel,
lightweight aluminum alloy frame, and distinctive unfluted
cylinder roll-marked with a "Bear and Cougar" scene
along with the words "Ruger" and "Bearcat",
the diminutive Bearcat was a delight to carry and to shoot. The
aluminum-framed Bearcat was offered from August 1958 to June
1970, and was replaced in June
1971 by the Super Bearcat, which was essentially the same in
all respects except the material used for the frame, with steel
supplanting the aluminum alloy of the original Bearcat, trading
a slight increase in weight (from 17 ounces to 22.5 ounces) for
added strength. The Super Bearcat proved to be very popular,
with Super Bearcat production being extended until January 1974,
while the rest of the "Old Model" Single-Action
revolver line was discontinued in 1973 in favor of Ruger's
"New Model" line with its enhanced safety features.
There were no Bearcats produced after 1974,
leaving a void in Ruger's product line until
the introduction of the New Bearcat in 1993. The New Bearcat
is basically a Super Bearcat with Ruger's automatic
"Transfer Bar" safety, which prevents the hammer from
contacting the firing pin unless the trigger is deliberately
pulled. The Transfer Bar system allows the Bearcat (as well as
all other New Model Ruger Single-Actions) to be safely carried
with the cylinder fully loaded, rather than the old practice of
carrying with the hammer down on an empty chamber to avoid a
blow to the hammer accidentally igniting a cartridge (Please
note that Ruger offers a free conversion of Old Model sixguns to
the New Model safety system; details can be found on Ruger's web
site at https://www.ruger.com/pdf/safetyOfferAd.pdf).
One significant, and welcome, difference between the New
Bearcat's lockwork and that of other New Model Rugers, is that
the New Bearcat's hammer is still pulled to the half-cock
position for loading/unloading; this, to me, is just how a
Single-Action sixgun "should" work. The New Bearcat is
available in either blued carbon steel or stainless steel with a
barrel length of 4.2 inches, as well as blued
or stainless "Shopkeeper" models with 3.5-inch or
3-inch barrels and rounded "Bird's Head" grip,
which are available exclusively from Lipsey's-affiliated
dealers. Another wonderful
Lipsey's exclusive New Bearcat is a model featuring a 4.2-inch
barrel and fully-adjustable sights. To say that the Bearcat
is still alive and kicking, thanks in large part to the folks at
Lipsey's, would be an understatement.
In
June of 2017, Lipsey's announced what was, to me, the coolest
version of a Bearcat to that date: a Lipsey's-Exclusive New
Bearcat with a 6-inch barrel. The longer barrel offers an
extended sight radius, enhancing the potential for practical
accuracy, and shifts the sixgun's balance slightly forward,
which creates less of a "wobble" on target.
The Lipsey's-Exclusive 6-inch New Bearcat
also features a unique cylinder treatment for a Bearcat: rather
than the unfluted and decoratively-marked cylinder used on
Bearcats from 1958 onward, the 6-inch New Bearcat sports a
fluted cylinder, with a bit of a chamfer at the front. Coupled
with the longer barrel, the overall appearance of the 6-inch New
Bearcat is reminiscent of longer-barreled sixguns of the 19th
Century, shrunk down to 22 size. In contrast to the
nicely-executed blue finish, the hammer and trigger are polished
stainless steel, yielding a very pleasing overall appearance.
The 6-inch New Bearcat features the standard
Ruger Bearcat grip frame shape, small with a square butt, and
attractive laminated wood grips sporting Ruger medallions. I
have heard many shooters, most of whom have never actually fired
a Bearcat, deride the Bearcat's grip as "too small for a
man's hand"; I disagree strongly with this, as I have
fairly large hands, and the Bearcat's grip nestles into it
securely, firmly, and comfortably.
Shooting the Lipsey's-Exclusive 6-inch New
Bearcat was a joy. Whether informally plinking at pine cones,
ringing steel, or going after paper targets, the little sixgun
performed flawlessly. The trigger pull on my example was
excellent, breaking smoothly and cleanly at 2 pounds, 5.4 ounces
on my Lyman
Electronic Digital Trigger Pull Gauge. The quality of the
factory trigger, coupled with the extended sight radius offered
by the 6" barrel, was a great aid to accuracy. Group sizes,
fired standing offhand at 15 feet on playing cards, ranged from
1 inch (using CCI Standard Velocity 40-grain roundnose lead) to
1-1/8 inches (using Eley 40-grain roundnose lead) to 1-3/8
inches (using Federal Champion Bulk Pack 36-grain high-velocity
copper-plated hollowpoint). This is about as well as I can shoot
anything with my old eyes, standing on my hind legs; similar
group sizes from a rest at 25 yards is easily achieved, making
the 6-inch New Bearcat up to any task to which one might put a
22 sixgun.
When I received my 6-inch New Bearcat, I knew
it deserved special leather. Therefore, I contacted my friend
Mike "Doc" Barranti of Barranti
Leather for a custom carved "Slim Jim" holster.
Doc Barranti is far more than a skilled leather craftsman; he is
nothing short of an Artist whose chosen medium is leather. His
holsters are thoroughly modern, yet hold to traditional designs
and methods, superbly and meticulously crafted. His Slim Jim
holster for my 6-inch New Bearcat is exemplary of his work:
tough, beautiful, and practical. The entire front of the holster
is expertly hand-carved by Doc Barranti in a floral pattern, but
the holster is as useful as it is gorgeous. The Slim Jim is a
belt holster, but, as I seldom wear a belt with my ever-present
overalls, a chest rig was in order, and my Barranti
"Northwest Hunter" rig is perfect for such an
application. The Northwest Hunter is a simple and comfortable
design, featuring a generous padded shoulder pad, and I use it
often to mount a variety of holsters. The Northwest Hunter rig
comes with a holster that mounts to the rig using D-rings, but
for maximum versatility and cost-effectiveness, Barranti offers
an adapter for a conventional holster, similar to the one he
provides with his Universal
Chest Rig, that allows most conventional belt holsters to be
used with the Northwest Hunter. The adapter basically consists
of a short length of belt that accommodates a belt holster,
doubles and snaps onto itself, and attaches to the Northwest
Hunter's straps; it is a slick, effective, comfortable, and
affordable system, and I highly recommend it.
I make no secret of my affinity for the Ruger
Bearcat; simply put, I consider the Bearcat to be the ultimate
single-action Kit Gun; they are perfectly sized to the 22 Long
Rifle cartridge (or the 22 Magnum, for that matter - I own a
couple of custom 22 Magnum Bearcats converted by Hamilton
Bowen, and for a time Ruger made the New Bearcat with a
second cylinder in 22 Magnum, but these were recalled due to
timing issues, and the few that were not returned to Ruger
change hands at astronomical prices on the collector market). I
consider the 6-inch New Bearcat to be one of the nicest Bearcats
ever produced, and knowing of my love of Bearcats, my pal Jason
Cloessner at Lipsey's saw to it that I received the first
example to leave the factory. Unfortunately, the market did not
respond as positively as I would have thought, and the
introduction of the popular Lipsey's-Exclusive Shopkeeper model,
coupled with the firestorm of economic and political uncertainty
unleashed since 2020, saw to it that the 6-inch New Bearcat did
not thrive. After the initial run of 230 sixguns, no more have
been produced to date, and they are hard to find on the
secondary and used markets; but a bit of perseverance and
patience can still reward the outdoorsman with of one of the
slickest little 22 sixguns ever produced.
Check out the New Bearcat line, along with
other fine Ruger products, at https://ruger.com/.
To find a dealer of Ruger and other firearms
in your area through Lipsey's nationwide network of affiliated
dealers, click on the DEALER FINDER at https://www.lipseys.com/.
To see Lipsey's catalog of Exclusive
products, browse past Exclusives, and view informative and
entertaining videos relating to Lipsey's-Exclusive products, go
to https://lipseysguns.com/.
Check out Mike "Doc" Barranti's
exquisite leather goods at https://barrantileather.com/.
Boge
Quinn


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