By John Markwell | Contributing Editor
Right up front, I have to admit to a limited amount of experience with Ruger handguns.
I’ve had a few single-actions over the years but until recently, the only one that stayed around for very long is our 4-digit, Old Model .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk. Built in March 2004 by Hamilton Bowen, this revolver is a classic example of the custom gun maker’s art and we just can’t bear to part with it.
Well, the lack-of-Rugers situation has been remedied with our discovery of the .32 H&R Magnum cartridge and the handy Single Six revolvers so chambered. Our goal in experimenting with the .32 H&R in the Single Six has been to come up with a configuration that John Taffin would call “the perfect packin’ pistol,” specifically suited to an old guy who still rambles around the wild lands. Compactness, relatively light weight and “shootability” are our prime requirements for this project. The 4 5/8-inch barreled versions of the Single Six solves the compactness requirement and the aluminum grip frame helps in the weight department. However, the plow handle grip is something I’ve never been able manage well. This is where Ronnie Wells and Fermin Garza come into the picture, enhancing the Single Six’s shootability.
The evolution of two of our Single Sixes has been chronicled in two previous GunMag articles.
Ronnie Well’s custom grip frames and Fermin Garza’s front sights are great add-ons for any Ruger single action, and each enhances the revolver’s effectiveness; shootability, if you will. But the biggest enhancement of the revolver’s capability is the recent introduction of Fermin’s and Ronnie’s replacement rear sight blades for the Ruger adjustable rear sight; the RW 2 Dogs Rear sight blade.
Being a long-time practitioner of practical pistol craft, I’m pretty well wedded to the Bomar and similar rear sight profile. I love that big, bold, flat black rear blade and find using anything else to be a challenge; the factory sights on the Single Sixes were challenging to say the least, but they worked well enough. However, the boss of the sight base, that the Ruger sight blade moves laterally in, is smooth (unlike the similar S&W design, which is serrated) and reflects a distracting amount of light under some circumstances.
Fermin and Ronnie have solved this problem with the introduction of the RW 2 Dogs Rear Sight. These replacement rear blades are available in 10-plus variations for both Flat Top and standard Rugers, and come in plain serrated black as well as a few variations of the ever popular “white outline” option. Sight heights are available in; Tall-.440”, Tall-.415”, Standard-.390”, Low Profile-.365”, Low Profile-.340”. The slot/sight notch widths are available in; Standard-.120” and narrow; .110”, .100”, and .090”. Each sight blade comes securely packaged with an Allen wrench and replacement spring. These sight blades will replace the factory blades on most Ruger handguns with adjustable rear sights.
Installation of these precision-made sight blades (they are CNC machined from steel, not stampings) is pretty straight forward. First the factory blade (a stamping) is removed by taking the windage screw completely out of the sight boss (be careful not to lose it). A bit of finagling is required to free up the factory blade and the spring just slides out. After inserting the new spring, the RW 2 Dogs blade is inserted, started at an angle, and then pushed downward. The spring must be compressed in the recess (pushed to the left) to allow the RW 2 Dogs sight’s forward extensions to slip down into the slot in the sight boss. Also, one must be sure to unscrew the set screw that locks the blade in place after zeroing. This screw is in the rear face of the blade.
This all sounds a bit complicated but with the sight blade in hand one can easily see how the whole deal fits together. If one pays attention to how the factory sight blade comes out, it’s pretty obvious how the RW replacement goes in. Lastly, replace the windage screw.
We initially ordered two #3 standard height sight blades from Ronnie. These were .390” high with the .120” wide notch. After installing the first one, it was off to the bench to try out the new sight picture and get a zero on our .32 H&R Single Six #1 that was built by Salmon River Custom. This revolver also had a previously installed 2 Dogs brass bead front sight.
It didn’t take too many shots to realize that the Standard height rear blade was too tall to obtain a zero with the 2 Dogs front. Even when the elevation was cranked all the way down, we were still shooting high at 25 yards. We needed a lower rear blade. After getting the same result on our .32 SS #2, a quick call and conference with Ronnie had two low profile .340-inch-high sight blades in the mail.
By now our installations of the new rear sight blade was pretty much glitch free; it still took a bit of trial and error but the process seemed to be much smoother than it was initially. With the .340-inch blades installed on both our #1 and #2 Single Six revolvers it was back up to the bench.
Shooting our do-all field load for the .32 H&R (125gr. Keith SWC at 995 fps.) on our steel silhouette at 25 yards, it didn’t take long to have both revolvers printing six impacts in the lower part of the head box with a neck hold. Zeroed with the .340-high rear sight blade, there was elevation to spare in both directions and the impacts were nicely centered about 1.5- inches above the front sight. Locking the set screw to secure the zero completed the process. Bingo!
As well as cutting out all glare, the new rear sight blades seemed to allow the shooting of slightly better groups than either of these revolvers had produced before. The standard width of the sight’s notch, .120-inch, is a bit narrow for our liking and requires these old eyes to have to work just a bit harder for a good sight picture. But with the 2 Dogs front bead sights on the revolvers our final shooting results were most gratifying.
As a surprise, Fermin Garza also sent us a prototype of his fixed rear sight designed for the Ruger fixed sight Flat Top single actions as well an all-brass front sight for this gun. Installed on our 6.5-inch .32 H&R Flat Top, this setup has made all the difference in the practical accuracy of this revolver. The brass front 2 Dogs sight in conjunction with the taller/bolder rear blade makes for an impeccably bold and sharp sight picture that is quick to acquire and very precise.
The rear sight required some file and stone work to fit it to the Flat Top’s dovetail and more file work to reduce the height of the sight to obtain a zero. As the height of the rear was reduced the notch was also deepened and widened just a wee bit. Once again up at the bench this revolver was zeroed with a neck hold on our steel IDPA target but with our 115-grain hard cast RNFP-GC load that runs right at 1,220 FPS.
Fermin Garza and Ronie Wells have hit a home run with these after-market rear sight replacement blades. The RW 2 Dogs sights are available from RW Grip Frames for $70 per copy; see the website for options. RWGripframes.com
The 2 Dogs fixed rear sight for the Flat Tops is still in the prototype stage and demand may affect its production and availability. Let Fermin know if you’d be interested. fcgarza0460@gmail.com
