A few years ago I became the proud owner of an old, beat-up .357 Ruger. I had traded a couple of horse to a gentleman and he owed me a bit of money on them. One day he came by and asked if I would take a Ruger .357 in trade for part of what he owed me. The gun was basically a junker, missing some parts, rusted badly with deep pits in the frame, hammer and barrel. It also had what best could be described as "dings" on it... since it had ridden in the toolbox of his semi across the country for several years, just laying in loose among the wrenches.
Looking it over I figured I could do something with it and since I would not have much in it, AND it WAS the frame size I prefer, I said, "Sure...I'll take it." And so the old sixgun became a Project Gun. Everyone should have a Project Gun. One that gets worked on from time to time, letting it evolve into something that really becomes a joy to carry and use.
To get the gun back in shooting condition I had to replace the barrel, remove rust, and fix or replace internal parts that were missing or broken. I contacted some friends and eventually got another barrel from John Taffin, an original in 6 1/2" length. I picked up the parts that were needed internally and replaced those. I soaked all the pieces in diesel fuel to loosen the rust, scrubbed, cleaned, sanded and worked to get the rust out of and off of the frame.
To make the barrel fit properly and to tighten up the cylinder gap I turned enough metal off the barrel to set it back 2 full threads, screwed it in and then used a Brownell's Throating Kit to face off the breech end of the barrel and fit the cylinder with a very tight minimal gap. I used the same kit to put an11º throat in the barrel. I had to shorten the ejector rod housing a bit since the barrel now set back further than it did originally. This was accomplished with a little file work one evening.
Sporting a 6 1/2" barrel, I used the gun in that condition for part of the next year. I carried it while working on the tractor putting up hay, wore it on my hip while working the cattle and generally used it for a "working ranch gun". While I like the 6 1/2" barrel length I found it to be somewhat in the way at times. This was especially true while sitting on a tractor. Over the summer I came to the conclusion that it needed a shorter barrel. One rainy day I decided it was a good time to work on it. In my shop I keep a barrel shortener, known to most folks as a hacksaw. With a little preparatory work (measuring and marking) I soon had the barrel cut to 4 1/2" length. Some file work on the muzzle of the barrel along with cutting a muzzle crown and there it sat! Minus the front sight of course.
I had a replacement sight for a .454 Casull in my parts drawer and soon had that silver soldered in place. Note: This is NOT a job for the faint of heart. It does take some work to get the sight generally in the middle of barrel, in line fore and aft, and close to where it needs to be to make the gun hit center. Over the next few weeks in my spare time I remodeled the top strap to somewhat resemble the Colt Single Action Army top strap. That is, with a groove down the center and fixed rear sight. Since the Ruger frame has a large portion of it cut out for the adjustable rear sight, I decided to simply remodel the old aluminum rear sight and make it into a fixed one that filled the space in the frame.
I first used a horseshoe rasp to "mill" the topstrap close to the proper height. Those of you who have shod horses know how well a good horseshoe rasp can eat up metal. It took no time at all to take the topstrap down to where I wanted it.
Then I used a bench grinder with a fine wheel to smooth it off. Using the edge of the wheel I cut the groove into the topstrap until it began to resemble the old Colt SAA topstrap. After the grinding, I used a round file to shape it, and then LOTS of sandpaper, working down in courseness as it took shape. I finished with 600 grit cloth with oil on it to give the finish a fine smooth surface.
The Ruger rear sight had the sight blade removed from the body, then I cut crossways down through the sight with a fine-toothed hacksaw. The sight was finished up by filing and sanding. The sight notch was cut into the aluminum body using jeweler's files. I did the finish work on the range, cutting the notch to get the shots near center at 25 yards.
Once that was done and the rear sight notch cut I spent some time reshaping the grip frame. I removed all the metal that I dared from the bottom of the grip frame, shortening it considerably in the process. By this time I had decided I was going to make a compact carrying gun out of the .357 and I felt the grip was too large for what I wanted. I reshaped the grip frame making it into something of a "round-butt" grip, again removing as much metal from the lower rear part of the frame as I dared. While doing that I undertook to round as many of the sharp edges as possible on the pistol. The front sight was sloped down toward the rear to make it come out of a pocket or holster as easily as possible. The back side of the ejector rod button was rounded off and sloped toward the front. If you leave it square-shaped as originally made, it can cause problems when carrying the gun "Mexican Style" (shoved down into the front of your pants). Drawing the gun quickly, the back of the ejector rod button will sometimes hook on your underwear and pull your shorts up near your armpit. This can be uncomfortable. by rounding it off the gun comes out quickly and smoothly.
The front edges of the cylinder were rounded as were all the corners on the frame. In it's final shape the only sharp place is the hammer spur. I may do something with that, though I have yet to decide exactly what I would want.
The compact gun now carried easily whether I had it on my belt in a holster, tucked under my belt in my pants or in shoulder holster. Carrying it during haying season I used it to shoot at coyotes, foxes, an occasional crow and other targets of opportunity. It worked just fine. But it was UGLY!! The cylinder had sort of an "orange peel" finish, what with all the little rust pits. Places where I had "ground" the frame were "scratchy" in appearance and it just generally was unattractive. But it shot just fine.
This last June I took it with me to the Shootists Holiday where I used it doing rapid-fire single action shooting, playing kick the can and other games. And while it worked well, several of the gunsmiths there commented on it's lack of attractiveness. Now I know that I am NOT a gunsmith. John Linebaugh told me years ago that as far as gunsmithing goes I should stick to shoeing horses. Most of what I had done to the Ruger so far basically amounted to blacksmithing. At the end of the Holiday I left the pistol with Milton Morrison of QUALITE' PISTOL ( http://www.qpr-inc.com/ ). Milton felt he could "finish up" what I had begun. I wished him Good Luck.
Several months passed and one day UPS delivered a package from Qualite' Pistol. I was excited as I opened it. And I was not disappointed. Milton had refinished the .357 and reblued it, making it look like a totally different gun than what I had left him. In a phone conversation he told me it had been a real challenge. He said the old gun was pretty rough. (Which it was) But I was more than satisfied with the work they had done. The pits in the cylinder and frame had been mostly taken care of, yet they had not buffed the lettering or numbers out as you sometimes see happen on older guns. The grip frame had been refinished with a bake-on Teflon process that makes it look better than the original. The blue on the barrel and frame was rich and dark, better than what came on the gun originally. I had replaced the orignal rusted, pitted hammer with one that had the hammer spur welded back on after it had broken off. The blueing did not "take" on the hammer spur where it had been rewelded, but that was OK with me. Milton said we could call it a "ringtail".
The only thing the gun lacked now was a new set of grips. I contacted my old friend Sam Bass and asked him to make me a set of white Micarta grips for the Ruger. Since I had reshaped the grip frame he said I would need to send it to him so he could get them correct. I removed the grip frame from the gun and shipped it to him immediately. A few weeks later I received it back and found a beautiful set of white grips installed on the frame. In a short time I had the grip frame and new grips on the gun and was again very well pleased. The gun now bore absolutely no resemblance to the old, beat-up sixshooter that I originally traded for. In fact, it looks like a new handgun altogether which I guess maybe it is. I have thought about taking it back and showing it to the man I got it from, but he may want it back.
On the range it has proven to be more than adequate. The fixed sights are cut so that it hits slightly above point-of-aim at 25 yards with the 125 gr. loads. In factory ammo I have found the Black Hills 125 gr. loading to be one of the most accurate in this gun. The CCI 125 gr. Gold Dot load is also a very good one. For practice and plinking loads I use a 158 gr. cast semi-wadcutter or else a 148 gr. wadcutter over 3 gr. of Bullseye powder in a .38 Special case. These light loads are great for quick-draw practice, point shooting and rapid fire work. And they hit almost exactly the same place as the hotter 125 gr. loads. I tried factory loads from Winchester, Hornady, CCI and Black Hills in the 158 gr. loadings, but for some reason none of them shot as well as the 125 gr. loadings in this gun. I guess it just prefers the lighter bullet! Both the CCI and Black Hills 125 gr. loads averaged less than 1 1/2" at 25 yards. Those are what I now carry in the .357 when it is "on duty".
For those of you who are looking for someone to do custom pistolsmithing, DO NOT call me! I would encourage you to get in touch with Milton Morrison of Qualite' Pistol. He does fine work. You can reach Mr. Morrison:
http://www.qpr-inc.com/
After carrying the gun with the round-butt for a couple years I decided I did not like it. The "feel" was off as far as my other guns. All my old model Rugers wear the XR-3 grip frame. (If they did not have it originally I changed them to it.) This one was just too different.
One day on the Board I mentioned something about it and Carl Laco contacted me. Seems he had an XR-3 gripframe that someone had nickel plated. Was I interested? You bet! In no time I had the grip frame and began making plans. I asked GripMaker ( http://www.gripmaker.com/ ) to make a set of grips for the frame, which he did. I had them slimmed to my liking and installed the whole new setup on the gun. NOW!! This was what I was after!
I have carried this gun most every day for a number of years now. It is normally within easy reach. For an old wreck it has turned into my "everyday, everywhere" gun.
The round-butted gripframe and grips now reside on another "wreck" with a certain gentleman in Mississippi. Perhaps one day when he finishes his Project Gun he will share the pictures and story of it with us.