OT - The strangest Ruger Bearcat you've ever seen

[awp101]

A couple of months back, I got the hots for a Ruger Bearcat. I did some looking online and locally and decided I wanted a new stainless one from a local pusher. The $500+ tariff was steep but I felt it was worth it so I started moving a few items that had become excess to the accumulation...I mean collection.

As I was waiting for the funds, etc I remembered I needed to get the firing pin bushed on my .357 Martini Cadet. Just for giggles I decided to see what small frame Martinis were out there right now. I get that itch a couple of times a year but it rarely coincides with my funds. Well, to make a long story short (too late! ) this is part of what my Bearcat fund funded:

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It's a 12/15 that's missing the PH 7 or 7a rear sight. A .22 Martini has been one of my "Holy Grail" firearms and the price was right so I bit. It's not pristine externally but it's no dog either. I need to decide if I want to d&t it though. I'm pretty sure I will and will probably use some bases from Steve Earle (IIRC) that look pretty period.

After seeing the auction for that 12/15, I hit RFC to brush up on my .22 Martinis and see if I could figure out the correct rear sight. While there I hit the classifieds to see if there were any listed there. What I found was this:

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It's a Winchester 75 Sporter that someone put into a Mannlicher stock. It's had what looks like two poor attempts at a d&t and is missing the bolt but again, the price was right. As a bonus it came with an original mag which means I can use it for my Win 75 Target as well. The pics simply do not do the stock justice.

I tested it last night and my 75 bolt fits and works. I put three rounds of .22S into my home made bullet trap (a plastic dirty clothes hamper full of old towels and other things I use as cleaning rags which will stop a .22S after a foot or so with the muzzle just above the top ) and there were no signs of bulged cases so I'm pretty sure the headspace is good using this bolt in both rifles.

So, I started out looking for a Bearcat and wound up with a Holy Grail and a fine woods bumming rifle. I figure I can buy a Bearcat any day since they still make them....

[AkRay]

Your collecting style matches mine pretty closely, which is why you won't find multiple variants of the same model in my accumulation. I find accumulations to be much more interesting than collections anyway. I want to find, own and experience as many guns as my location and bank account allow. Forgot to add, nice Winchester 75! I would have put off the quest for the Bearcat to another day too in order to own that rifle.

[Jeff H]

Your collecting style matches mine pretty closely,............

And MINE!!!

I drove an hour and a half after a Glock 21 one time.
Gave the clerk the the stock number and he returned with a Bisley Vaquero in .44 mag.
Seems the stock number in th ad was wrong, but the price and picture was right.

Long story short - after handling the Vaquero, I told him not to bother digging out the Glock.

My wife was the first one to notice that I had brought home a VERY unique Glock that day.

Nice score. I have a SS NM Bearcat and it is indeed a gem, but I would have been swayed myself had I been presented with the same choice.

[awp101]

Your collecting style matches mine pretty closely, which is why you won't find multiple variants of the same model in my accumulation. I find accumulations to be much more interesting than collections anyway. I want to find, own and experience as many guns as my location and bank account allow.

I've discovered over the years, there's more platforms and calibers that I'm interested in trying out and playing with than actually owning.

I finally got around to getting the rest of the pics of that 75.

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Here's some of the extra holes:

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There's 4 just ahead of the chamber and 2 on the bridge. I found out the screws that came with the see through sights on my Marlin 1894 (don't panic, they were on there when I bought it and have been replaced with an XS scout mount ) fit so I just need to source some more of them. I'll screw them in, cut off the heads, file flush then cold blue. That should take care of the holes then I can worry about a proper d&t.

[model55]

Gotta say I admire your taste in bearcats!Kinda how things come home around here as well.

[2ndovc]

Kinda how it works here too. Start out looking for this or that and Bam! the thing you didn't know you
wanted pops up right in front of your nose!

jb

[earlmck]

And it seems to me these great finds seem to come in "threes" with me sitting on a "one at a time, occasionally" bank account.

Congrats on the nice "new" rifles, awp.

[awp101]

And it seems to me these great finds seem to come in "threes" with me sitting on a "one at a time, occasionally" bank account.

Friend, you ain't just whistling Dixie!

I picked them up at the same time from the FFL (only one xfer fee) and they had a small frame Rem Rolling Block in .32rf. It needed some TLC and work to get the trigger and hammer to work properly (and a longer stock if I planned to shoot it ) but would have been a dandy to reline to .22LR. I could have had it for $150 OTD at a time I didn't even have $15 extra bucks...

[model55]

Handloader magazine just had an article on how to make reloads for those,skipped one a long time back with a broken main spring but it had me thinking.