The Ruger

Being the youngest of four siblings, by four years, gave me a distinct advantage in growing up in that my parents always treated me older than I was, and I tried not to screw up that illusion. This led to me getting my first handgun when I was about 14 years old.

Legally, I guess it was my mother’s handgun, since she had to register it in her name. But I certainly thought of it as mine. It was a .22 caliber stainless steel Ruger Single Six, with an extra cylinder that would convert it into a .22 magnum. 

Unlike most handguns, this one was hunting tool. I ran hundreds of rounds of cheap ammo through it to get my skills hunting-worthy. I never did become a crack-shot, but I hunted with it enough that I had some success.

The squirrels must have surely appreciated the Ruger. Many owe their lives to the fact that I was shooting at them with a handgun rather than a rifle or shotgun. But there were a lot of opportunities, and sometimes I hit my mark.

The .22 also was instantly my raccoon hunting gun. When I was climbing up and down creek banks, sometimes icy creek banks, in the middle of the night I appreciated having both hands free and my gun securely tucked away in its holster. And the raccoon was never farther away than the top of the tree. I could always make a good shot at that range, eventually.

I also took rabbits with it, and many frogs. I think within the first year or two of owning the Ruger,  I got every type of game you can hunt in Missouri with a .22, except for a coyote, and I’m not interested in trying to eat a coyote.

Back then I spent a lot of time on an ATV, which in those days had three wheels. Carrying the Ruger in a shoulder holster was much easier than putting a long gun in the ATV gun rack and watching the finish get rubbed off as it bounced around.

When it comes to safety, I don’t think a pistol should ever leave its case unless the shooter is wearing a holster. With a holster  on, the barrel is almost always pointing in a safe direction until the shooter draws to fire. In this respect it is safer than a long gun. But when someone takes a pistol to the backyard or the back 40 to do some target shooting and doesn’t bother to wear a holster, he ends up holding the pistol in his hand all the time, and pointing it all kinds of places he didn’t intend to. In this respect, the pistol is much more dangerous than a long gun; in-hand it is easy to unintentionally point it in an unsafe direction.

My father never had any use for pistols, but didn’t argue with me taking mine when we would raccoon hunt. One night the dogs treed in a cedar tree, and we couldn’t see up in it at all. Dad climbed the tree to the top, and saw the coon, and it was a big one. My friend Troy had climbed part way up, so I climbed up to meet Troy, passed him the Ruger, and he passed it to my Dad, who was taken aback at having to use a pistol. But he was in the top of the tree, what could he do? So he pointed and fired, knocking the raccoon out of the tree. Troy reported feeling it brush down his back on the way down.

When I got old enough to buy a handgun on my own I did; a Smith and Wesson 2206, stainless steel semi-automatic. And I gave it to my Dad. He doesn’t take it hunting, but has employed it several times in the chicken house to take out a nuisance predator.

Since I got warmed up with the .22 at the range last week, maybe I’ll put it to use soon for some small game hunting soon. And I learned yesterday that next year’s muzzle-loading deer season is being opened up to include other weapons, including handguns.  I couldn’t use the .22 for deer, of course, but I do have a .44 that is just waiting for such an opportunity.