Picked up a used Ruger Bearcat Shopkeeper a few days ago.
Had it out to the range today for its first run.
This is a shamelessly stolen picture from the web but mine looks exactly the same.
To begin with the gun needed the chambers reamed/ironed because the previous owner had dry fired the thin enough to damage the chamber mouths. This is evidently a problem with this model as I've seen several posts on different gun boards about it.
Used a drill and a chamber brush to burnish/polish the chambers thoroughly. This slicks up the chamber walls and eases extraction.
Ordered the Menck Chamber Ironing Tool tool from Midway. Two minutes with the tool to clean the chamber mouths up and things were good to go.
Started out with bulk pack Federal at 10ft just to get an idea of where POI was.
Mistake. This ammo is so fancraptistically erratic I was getting 6 inch patterns! Yarrrrrr! I know I suck as a pistol shot but not THAT bad.
Switched to Hi Velocity Aquila and things got better. Easily shot the 2" bullseye.
The trigger sucks. Needs a tune. The little short barrel doesn't forgive.
At 30ft I could hit a beer can.
Its plenty accurate for a stubby little gun.
Since the thing is single action there were zero malfs. All rounds fired without issues.
Ejection is a bit different than a typical single action. On this model the ejector rod is very short. When ejecting empties you have to position the the rod on the edge/side of the chamber to contact the case mouth to push it out far enough to fall free.
Sounds more complicated than it is. A few tries and it becomes very easy.
Cylinder/barrel gap seems wider than it should so there is somewhat excessive gap blast. Not really an issue but does dirty the gun. The gnarly ammo had a lot to do with this too.
Later while cleaning I noticed very little to no barrel leading.
Overall the gun is a lot of fun to shoot.
Typical Ruger tho. Sucky factory trigger and clanky action but I still like it. It's just sooooooo cute.
Now I hazta findz a holster.
Had it out to the range today for its first run.
This is a shamelessly stolen picture from the web but mine looks exactly the same.
To begin with the gun needed the chambers reamed/ironed because the previous owner had dry fired the thin enough to damage the chamber mouths. This is evidently a problem with this model as I've seen several posts on different gun boards about it.
Used a drill and a chamber brush to burnish/polish the chambers thoroughly. This slicks up the chamber walls and eases extraction.
Ordered the Menck Chamber Ironing Tool tool from Midway. Two minutes with the tool to clean the chamber mouths up and things were good to go.
Started out with bulk pack Federal at 10ft just to get an idea of where POI was.
Mistake. This ammo is so fancraptistically erratic I was getting 6 inch patterns! Yarrrrrr! I know I suck as a pistol shot but not THAT bad.
Switched to Hi Velocity Aquila and things got better. Easily shot the 2" bullseye.
The trigger sucks. Needs a tune. The little short barrel doesn't forgive.
At 30ft I could hit a beer can.
Its plenty accurate for a stubby little gun.
Since the thing is single action there were zero malfs. All rounds fired without issues.
Ejection is a bit different than a typical single action. On this model the ejector rod is very short. When ejecting empties you have to position the the rod on the edge/side of the chamber to contact the case mouth to push it out far enough to fall free.
Sounds more complicated than it is. A few tries and it becomes very easy.
Cylinder/barrel gap seems wider than it should so there is somewhat excessive gap blast. Not really an issue but does dirty the gun. The gnarly ammo had a lot to do with this too.
Later while cleaning I noticed very little to no barrel leading.
Overall the gun is a lot of fun to shoot.
Typical Ruger tho. Sucky factory trigger and clanky action but I still like it. It's just sooooooo cute.
Now I hazta findz a holster.
