Vintage gun of the week: The Ruger Single Six Lightweight / Tri Color

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In 1956 Ruger introduced a “Lightweight” version of its Single-Six revolver. The first Lightweights had an alloy cylinder frame, alloy cylinder, alloy grip frame, and steel barrel. All Lightweights had a standard 4-5/8 inch barrel. The first guns weighed 23 ounces versus the 35 ounce weight of the standard 5-1/2 inch barrel Single-Six. The guns are roll-marked on the cylinder frame just like the standard Single-Six model, the word Lightweight does not appear in the roll-mark. The first production guns had a silver/gray anodized cylinder frame, black anodized grip frame, flat cartridge loading gate, blued barrel, and Black checkered hard rubber grips. They also had a coating on the alloy cylinder, the coating was known as “Martin Hard Coat”. It was a brown or dark golden color (sometimes appears greenish or another color). These first guns became known to collectors as the “Tri-color” Lightweight.

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The original Single-Six outsold the new Light Weight by eight to one, so Ruger looked for ways to make the Light Weight more appealing to potential buyers. In particular, a larger ejector rod head replaced the small-serrated head, and the flat loading gate was replaced by a rounded gate, which fit the contour of the frame. Not long after those changes were implemented, the natural anodized finish gave way to an all blue-black version of the same gun, and all aluminum parts were anodized black. The cylinder was still protected by the Martin Hard Coat process, but was anodized black. By early 1957, Ruger offered the Light Weight with a choice of aluminum or steel cylinders, still at the low price of $63.25. Both variations shipped simultaneously.

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