Guns of the Old West – August 2019

46 GUNSOFTHEOLDWEST FALL 2019

GUN TEST

ByLINASCERNAUSKAS

ANDY GROSSMAN Photos

Ruger’s new budget-saving

single action is the

perfect trainer

,

caughtcompletelyoffguard.Thecom-
pany’sspecificationsanddescriptionofit
screamed“cowboytrainer,”eventhough
it seemedlikea scaled-downversionof
th e ColtModel 1873 SingleActionArmy,
orPeacemaker,atfirstglance.I knew
thatthisrimfirewouldbetheperfect
six-shootertohelpmeworkonmyfast
drawsand“fan”firing.Andthebestpart
is theprice.TheWranglerhasanMSRP
of$249,soyoucanprobablyfinditoutin
theWildWestforcloserto$200.

The Wrangler is similar and looks and
size to the Ruger Single-Six. The frame
is machined from cast aluminum alloy,
the barrel and cylinder are made from
steel, and the grip frame is made from
a zinc alloy. All of this keeps the Ruger
Wrangler lightweight and affordable.
When I first got my hands on the
Wrangler, I expected it to feel lightand
almost like a toy, but I was pleasantly

surprised by its solid heft and how

comfortable it felt in my hands. Three

finish options are currently avail-

able—black, silver and Burnt Bronze

Cerakote—but all three models come

with un-fluted black cylinders and

matching checkered synthetic grips.

Opening the loading gate on theright

side allows you to load and unload the

cylinder, which can be rotated in either

direction. There’s also no need to half-cock

the stainless steel hammer, but you can’t

even if you wanted to. You’ll be greeted by

two clicks as you pull the hammer back to

the cocked position, and then you’llnotice

the transfer bar that allows the Wrangler

to be safely loaded with six shots. But if

you’re going to use it as a trainer like me, I

would get into the habit of just loading five

rounds and letting the hammer rest on an

empty chamber. And it’s worth noting that

the trigger pull on my silver test gun was

awesome with just a touch of take-up.

The cold-hammer-forged, 4.62-inch

barrel is outfitted with a fixed blade sight

up front, and a notch machined into the

topstrap serves as the rear sight. Sighting

in with my test gun was quick and easy,

and luckily the Wrangler was dead-on

with 36-grain .22 LR rounds. The check-

D