Posted August 11, 2015 12:00 pm by Comments

By Dan Zimmerman

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By Jeff Monks

The Ruger Bearcat has been the scourge of tin cans, pop bottles, and squirrels for 57 years. First introduced in 1958, the Bearcat is a trim little rimfire single-action revolver with more cowboy style than Sam Elliot’s mustache. It was immediately popular when it hit the market for under fifty bucks (the equivalent of about $400 today), and found its way into many a backpack and tacklebox. The Bearcat is styled after the Remington revolvers of the Civil War era, and named for one of Bill Ruger’s favorite cars, the Stutz Bearcat . . .

The original Bearcats were built with an aluminum alloy frame and steel cylinder. These were produced until the first revision in 1971, which replaced the alloy frame with steel and changed the name to “Super Bearcat”. In the mid-70s, Ruger began installing their new transfer-bar safety on their single-action revolver lines, making them safe to carry with a round under the hammer. At that time, it was decided that the Bearcat design wasn’t readily adaptable to the new mechanism, and the Bearcat was dropped from production in 1975.

A couple of decades later, engineers at Ruger decided that it wasn’t impossible …read more

Source:: Truth About Guns

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