I own just one Ruger, a Police Security Six .357mag that I inherited from my father-in-law, Wild Bill, when he passed about 10 years ago. This is really his story but since he's not here to tell it, I'll do it for him ...
Bill was a HUNTER. Living in Michigan (the lower peninsula) his entire life (besides a tour flying combat missions in the Pacific in the Navy in WW2), naturally his main focus was white tail deer. But one of his brothers got a job as a grounds keeper at the Huron Mountain Club near Big Bay in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, so Bill got the chance to do some black bear hunting, too. And he was very successful. There are two or three rugs made from his bears in the family, and his last bear is a 7-foot tall, full-body mount now displayed at the Madison Heights (MI) Nature Center.
Bill called his Sec-6 "Uncle George", but don't ask me why. He probably bought it used. (Let's just say he was very careful with his money... The only rifle he ever owned, that I know of, was a WW1 surplus M1917 Enfield in 30-06 that he sporterized and checkered himself. I have that piece, too.) He bought the Ruger to use as a "back-up" gun to carry on his bear hunts. (He might have been cheap, but was not dumb.) He would put three or four .357mag rounds in the cylinder and the rest bird-shot rounds, to deal with any snakes that he might run across.
On one of his hunts near Big Bay, he found what he thought was an ideal spot to sit over his bait. He had his back to rocky ledge that he could lean back against and be very comfy but still have a good field of view and fire over his bait. The forest floor was dense ferns about two feet tall.
I don't remember how long Bill waited in this spot, but the first clue he had that his bait was working was when bear head popped up out of the ferns about 15 yards in front of him. He says he did not hear ANYTHING before this. Either that was the stealthiest, belly-crawling bear ever, or Bill had dozed off for a few minutes.
Bill was VERY surprised to see this bear appear so close to him, but kept his cool and stayed still. Bill was upwind and the bear hadn't seen or smelled him, so Bill decided to wait and see if the bear moved to the bait. But just in case, he leaned slowly left and drew the Ruger out of the holster on his right hip.
The bear did exactly what Bill was hoping for, going down to the bait and Bill took an easy 50 yard shot. I'm not sure which of his daughters or grandkids has that rug now.
Here's the part I like ... Back at camp, when Bill unloaded his revolver he noticed that he had unintentionally left the cylinder indexed so that the first three chambers to come under the hammer would be the bird-shot. So if the bear had spotted him and charged, the first three shots to come out of "Uncle George" would not have been .357mag "bear-stoppers" but little puffs of shot that wouldn't have slowed the bear down a bit.
I've never carried "Uncle George" in the woods or for self-defense, but every time I load it at the range I chuckle to myself at the lesson Bill learned that day.
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