Convoluted path to get here, but bought a new (replacement) revolver yesterday. Starting with a conversation about lathing some brass cases (making .32SWL into cases for a 1935A pistol)...the same guy wanting a boat gun, something beat up and hard to break, but cheap enough that it wouldn't beak his heart to have it fall overboard...and lo and behold, with just a little additonal money, have the $ to replace one of my lost .22's.

So i thought about how I use to use my .22's. The target semi-autos hardly ever got out to the field...a standard Ruger .22suto or a Browning Buckmark use to go out pretty often, but many times i'd struggle to feed a CB cap and end up using it as a single shot.

S&W K-22 or Kit Gun were on the list...but I'd prefer one with 6 holes...the modern multi-chambered cylinders just don't do "it" for me. I even liked the new ultra-ites, except for the ****ed plastic sights.

Wandered the few gunshops open in the area ("area" being a cricle of about 60miles) and didn't think too long when i picked up a stainless new bearcat. Had lost my old Super Bearcat, and this seemd like a pretty good duplication.
Ran a box of CB's through it yesterday, and cleaned up the internal parts sharp edges and burrs today (unbelievably, the trigger pull was just fine s issued, except for a little creep..easy cure).

Observations:
1. the transfer bar system is a good idea. Evidently having the hammer hit the bar, and then the bar hit the firing pin, sucks out some energy as the new issue bearcat has a much stiffer/beefier spring running it. looking it over, there is a little spring detent on the end of the cylinder...that spring presses the trasfer bar out...so the force of that outward pushing spring has to be overcome by the mainspring. Not a big deal on a single action. Smoothing the mainspring strut's sharp edges (is a stamped part) helps a bit...but you might need a second set of hands to re-compress that mainspring and get it back on the strut. Will investigate a lighter spring if it bothers me in a week.

2, Sights are like the originals...about "on" at 120yards. IS OK..that's just how the old one was for elevation...is also just about "on" with CB caps or .22shorts at 20yards and that's what I use the most often when woods-loafing. Unlike the original one, this one's windage is just about right.

3. No endshake, rotational play, and the barrel/cylinder gap is .003"..more important, it's the same size when teh cylinder is rotated 1/2 way around and is even top to bottom.


Am pleased...it's like meeting an old friend you thaought you'd lost track of forever.

Good for you Ribbonstone! I am pleased that you are pleased. Is also good to hear a good report on a Ruger product. I don't think the Bearcat was offered in stainless? Kind of surprises me you didn't go for a stainless single-six after your glowing report of Rugers steel.
Good shooting to you,
Cheezywan

I bought one when they first came out. $39.95, boy I wish I had kept that gun. They are a neat little package and the on I had was accurate to boot.

Good for you Ribbonstone! I am pleased that you are pleased. Is also good to hear a good report on a Ruger product. I don't think the Bearcat was offered in stainless? Kind of surprises me you didn't go for a stainless single-six after your glowing report of Rugers steel.
Good shooting to you,
Cheezywan

The only stanless guns that came out of Katrina in shooting shape were 2 Rugers..a 101 and a 77/22AW...and one real old AMT. The S&W and Tarus stainless rusted past repair.

The only blued guns to make it out alive wre a Vietnam Tok. bring back (and I haven't a clue why it didn't rust to junk) and a French 1935A (becasue that one came with a baked paint job over a parked. finish...some kind of enamal that reminds me of the inside of an oven).

They did (and belive still do) make stainless NEW Bearcats. My old one was a Super Bearcat (they stopped making them in the early 1970's) and was all steel. The original Bearcat was Al. framed.

Other than the transfer bar lockwork (but they left a 1/2 cock notch, so it loads like the originals, not free-spinning when theloading gate is opened like the larger framed guns), the beefier main spring, and a little bit longer cylinder, it's basically the same feeling critter as the old Super Bearcat.

Am pleased...the way modern guns are made, didn't expect to have a trigger pull that was this good...plan on this one getting out for some woods-walks and fishing trips. One of the oddities of Louisiana game law is that during archery and BP seasons, are still allowed to have a ".22 revolver loaded with rat shot" (that's a direct quote).

BTW: even with the transfer bar, I seem to be programed to load it the same old way that leaves an empty under the hammer:
1/2 cock,
Load one,
Skip one,
load 4,
full cock and lower hammer.

The only stanless guns that came out of Katrina in shooting shape were 2 Rugers..a 101 and a 77/22AW...and one real old AMT. The S&W and Tarus stainless rusted past repair.

The only blued guns to make it out alive wre a Vietnam Tok. bring back (and I haven't a clue why it didn't rust to junk) and a French 1935A (becasue that one came with a baked paint job over a parked. finish...some kind of enamal that reminds me of the inside of an oven).

They did (and belive still do) make stainless NEW Bearcats. My old one was a Super Bearcat (they stopped making them in the early 1970's) and was all steel. The original Bearcat was Al. framed.

Other than the transfer bar lockwork (but they left a 1/2 cock notch, so it loads like the originals, not free-spinning when theloading gate is opened like the larger framed guns), the beefier main spring, and a little bit longer cylinder, it's basically the same feeling critter as the old Super Bearcat.

Am pleased...the way modern guns are made, didn't expect to have a trigger pull that was this good...plan on this one getting out for some woods-walks and fishing trips. One of the oddities of Louisiana game law is that during archery and BP seasons, are still allowed to have a ".22 revolver loaded with rat shot" (that's a direct quote).

BTW: even with the transfer bar, I seem to be programed to load it the same old way that leaves an empty under the hammer:
1/2 cock,
Load one,
Skip one,
load 4,
full cock and lower hammer.
As your time permits, I would like to hear about the TOK?
I like the CB caps too! They shoot well in my 77/22 and are nice and quiet. Trouble is, I can't afford them for the volume of shooting my son and I do. I remember very well when the cost of lower powered ammo was more proportianal. It must be a volume thing?
I live in the county so it is not a big deal other than needing hearing protection.
You need to change your loading habbits! You could throw that new Bearcat across a parking lot "fully loaded" and not need worry. Old habbits die hard. You are good enough with five.
Cheezywan

Bought it from a down on his luck chopper pilot...no heroics on his part, he just found it at the end of a bad day rattling arund the chopper. Just happened to be a gun shop when he was looking to sell it in 1984 or so...shop low-balled him and I came up with a more reasonable offer). He had a set of grips made in country, some kind of wood, but used the sping clips from teh shattered plastic grips to mount them...so the grips come on and off like the originals.

Are some small hi-vel. pock marks on the right side...small bits of metal moving very fast have hit it, and being on the right side, assume it was on a right handed guy's hip when it happened. Nothing big, just a couple of little craters...figure that's how the grips got shattered.

Doubt he ever filled out capture papers on it...if he did, he didn't have them..assume it just came back.

Was a bit ugly to start...sitting in the flood didn't help it much, but for whatever reason it never pitted and developed a crust of rust...it had a light coat of rust, which cleaned off along with the blue, but nothing that really ate into the metal like other guns sitting in the same safe (some of those had trigger guards eaten through and were an immobile red mass).

I do not know what local wood was used...whaever it is, if I held it in a sweaty hand would find the skin peeling off my palm later in the week. Does posion oak come large enough to make grips out of?...the the local "craftsman" use Agent Orange as s stock finish?...was he perhaps less sympathetic to the US and ran around after hours with an SKS and black PJ's? My solution was to dip the grips in boat deck varnish several times.

Typical China-made Tok...1967 date, with a serial number in the 14millon range (did they reallymade 14million of them by 1967...or was it a psycops kind of thing, directing our attention to the endless supply of Chinese?). Insides, including the chromed bore, survived just fine....shoots well.

Use to reload for it, but am not going to set up for that just to occasionally feed this Tok....might get shot once or twice a year, and for that will just feed it S&B ammo (BTW: if you look at the Winchester factroy box, will notice it's made in the Cezch Republic...so it's S&B ammo with a WInchester headstamp).

Think with a Tok is : how do you carry it? No safety and a full length firing pin, so chamber loaded with hammer doen isn't an option...full cock isn't an option with no safety....and the 1/2 cock notch is desgined to LOCK THE SLIDE. It's a beefy 1/2 cock notch, but trusting that seems foolish...so you end up carring it with an empty chamber and having to stroke the slide to load it. That's acceptable to some people (evidently to billions of Chinese).

Tok. ballistcs are not impressive, no matter how fast you drive the little bullets....and you can drive the little 60gr. JHP's mighty darned fast.
-------
Right about CB caps...and for snake protection, will usually carry the little bearcat with one shotshell up first, then there rest either CB caps of .22LR's...doesn't much matter which, a CB cap though the brain kills even big sankes...body hits with anything just tends to tick them off.

This may be a stupid a question, but what exactly is a CB cap? I see them mentioned in several posts in this thread, and would surmise that it's some sort of 'light' 22 load, but I'm not familiar with it.



Ken

Its axactly that... a very light .22 load. Lighter than a short. Less noise.

Its axactly that... a very light .22 load. Lighter than a short. Less noise.

Is a modernized version of the old short-cased round (use to be loaded in a case shorter than a .22short..RWS still makes them that way). CB for conical bullet. Today are loaded in stadrad .22Short case and in .22Long cases and use the standard 29gr. bullet. Currently loaded to get about 700fps from rifles (real world they get somehing like 650) and are very quiet. Aguila loads one with an even lighter bullet and no powder cahrge at all, relying on a heavy primer charge to drive it...these are even slower.

Have practices in urban basemenets with them from rifles and not upset the neighbors.

Outdor use would be when you have a short range target that doesn't take a lot of power to kill...like snakes...but don't want to wake up the deer woods with a lot of noise.

Is a modernized version of the old short-cased round (use to be loaded in a case shorter than a .22short..RWS still makes them that way). CB for conical bullet. Today are loaded in stadrad .22Short case and in .22Long cases and use the standard 29gr. bullet. Currently loaded to get about 700fps from rifles (real world they get somehing like 650) and are very quiet. Aguila loads one with an even lighter bullet and no powder cahrge at all, relying on a heavy primer charge to drive it...these are even slower.

Have practices in urban basemenets with them from rifles and not upset the neighbors.

Outdor use would be when you have a short range target that doesn't take a lot of power to kill...like snakes...but don't want to wake up the deer woods with a lot of noise.


Thanks for the detailed response, I love learning new things about guns. That's why I read these forums :) Now, how widely available is the CB ammunition? It seems like it would be something nice to have around, if nothing else, for plinking in the backyard. I don't recall ever seeing a CB round and didn't know if it was something that could be picked up at the commercial places(i.e. Wal-Mart) or if I'd need to peruse one of our local gunshops for it......


Ken

Thanks for the detailed response, I love learning new things about guns. That's why I read these forums :) Now, how widely available is the CB ammunition? It seems like it would be something nice to have around, if nothing else, for plinking in the backyard. I don't recall ever seeing a CB round and didn't know if it was something that could be picked up at the commercial places(i.e. Wal-Mart) or if I'd need to peruse one of our local gunshops for it......


Ken


The local gunshops all seem to carry CCi CB shorts of longs...not a problem here to get it, but your location may be differenct. Last I picked up was at a larger chain store, Sports Acadamy (or is it Acadamy Sports?). haven't lookeda t the local Wally-World; there is seldom anything I want from them so i seldom go into the place. Isn't as cheap as the high volume selling stuff, but keeping a box or two around the house will get habit forming.

In a rifle, it is pretty quiet (louder n a handgun, but so is everything else)...won't cycle the action fo semi-autos and some semi-auto rifles are difficult to hand feed as single shots...but that's not too hard a trial for most people.

Bought it from a down on his luck chopper pilot...no heroics on his part, he just found it at the end of a bad day rattling arund the chopper. Just happened to be a gun shop when he was looking to sell it in 1984 or so...shop low-balled him and I came up with a more reasonable offer). He had a set of grips made in country, some kind of wood, but used the sping clips from teh shattered plastic grips to mount them...so the grips come on and off like the originals.

Are some small hi-vel. pock marks on the right side...small bits of metal moving very fast have hit it, and being on the right side, assume it was on a right handed guy's hip when it happened. Nothing big, just a couple of little craters...figure that's how the grips got shattered.

Doubt he ever filled out capture papers on it...if he did, he didn't have them..assume it just came back.

Was a bit ugly to start...sitting in the flood didn't help it much, but for whatever reason it never pitted and developed a crust of rust...it had a light coat of rust, which cleaned off along with the blue, but nothing that really ate into the metal like other guns sitting in the same safe (some of those had trigger guards eaten through and were an immobile red mass).

I do not know what local wood was used...whaever it is, if I held it in a sweaty hand would find the skin peeling off my palm later in the week. Does posion oak come large enough to make grips out of?...the the local "craftsman" use Agent Orange as s stock finish?...was he perhaps less sympathetic to the US and ran around after hours with an SKS and black PJ's? My solution was to dip the grips in boat deck varnish several times.

Typical China-made Tok...1967 date, with a serial number in the 14millon range (did they reallymade 14million of them by 1967...or was it a psycops kind of thing, directing our attention to the endless supply of Chinese?). Insides, including the chromed bore, survived just fine....shoots well.

Use to reload for it, but am not going to set up for that just to occasionally feed this Tok....might get shot once or twice a year, and for that will just feed it S&B ammo (BTW: if you look at the Winchester factroy box, will notice it's made in the Cezch Republic...so it's S&B ammo with a WInchester headstamp).

Think with a Tok is : how do you carry it? No safety and a full length firing pin, so chamber loaded with hammer doen isn't an option...full cock isn't an option with no safety....and the 1/2 cock notch is desgined to LOCK THE SLIDE. It's a beefy 1/2 cock notch, but trusting that seems foolish...so you end up carring it with an empty chamber and having to stroke the slide to load it. That's acceptable to some people (evidently to billions of Chinese).

Tok. ballistcs are not impressive, no matter how fast you drive the little bullets....and you can drive the little 60gr. JHP's mighty darned fast.
-------
Right about CB caps...and for snake protection, will usually carry the little bearcat with one shotshell up first, then there rest either CB caps of .22LR's...doesn't much matter which, a CB cap though the brain kills even big sankes...body hits with anything just tends to tick them off.
I have never been near a Tok and known it. Yours has a history that is interesting to me. My question was more about the metal/finish than the firearm itself. Why did it survive was closer to your post.
I have never shot a Bearcat either. I know that Bill Ruger was fond of his Stutz. It would not surprise me if he put " a little extra" into it's design.
Is your Bearcat made of stainless?
Cheezywan

I have never been near a Tok and known it. Yours has a history that is interesting to me. My question was more about the metal/finish than the firearm itself. Why did it survive was closer to your post.
I have never shot a Bearcat either. I know that Bill Ruger was fond of his Stutz. It would not surprise me if he put " a little extra" into it's design.
Is your Bearcat made of stainless?
Cheezywan


Yes, whent for the stainless. Don't know the mind of the company, but in interviews Ruger admitted to liking the Remington single action design, and using that to base the Bearcat on...can see it in the grip shape. It will be a gun that gets carried around fishing, hunging, and hiking...might not get as many rounds fired as miles traveled, but that is kind of the idea.

Haven't a clue why the old Tok. didn't rust to junk when many guns in the same safe did...including some stainless ones. Did eat off most of the finsih and kind of "etch" the steel, but nothing in comparison to the massive pits and erosions on other handguns not 3" away from it.

This may be a stupid a question, but what exactly is a CB cap? I see them mentioned in several posts in this thread, and would surmise that it's some sort of 'light' 22 load, but I'm not familiar with it.



Ken
They sound alot like a air rifle when fired in a .22 rifle. I found them useful for small varmits when I lived in a city. POA/POI where very good at the close ranges it is good for. One shot was all I ever needed. It made less noise than the sound of the screen door closing. Is a very useful round.
If you have a acurate pellet rifle, it will do the same work. A mouse is not worth getting in trouble for. One is a firearm and one is not.
Cheezywan

"One is a firearm and one is not." I'd be careful.. I think you can still get a illegal discharge of firearm in city limits citation with an air rifle. I know a Bow is out in many places... Guess it would matter how big a city and who complained...

The only one of my buddies growing up to get a juvenile record got it for illegal transportation of a firearm..... Had a BB gun bungied to the handle bars of his bicycle

Be careful out there

Nate

They sound alot like a air rifle when fired in a .22 rifle. I found them useful for small varmits when I lived in a city. POA/POI where very good at the close ranges it is good for. One shot was all I ever needed. It made less noise than the sound of the screen door closing. Is a very useful round.
If you have a acurate pellet rifle, it will do the same work. A mouse is not worth getting in trouble for. One is a firearm and one is not.
Cheezywan


Well, I don't think I'll have to worry about getting in trouble, I live on almost 3 acres on the side of a mountain(well, I call it a mountain :p ) miles from the nearest town. Heck, I've fired my 50 Flinter off the back deck before just for the heck of it with no complaints.

However, I'm sure the use of these CB rounds will be greatly appreciated by both my Wife, and my pets, none of whom like loud noises. I just have to pick up a gun and my dogs slink off looking for a hiding spot :p

I did find some of the Aguila rounds that have no powder in them at all, and are just a primed shell. I have to admit to be extremely surprised at seeing the amount of energy they deliver on impact out of a revolver. I can't wait to find the CB rounds with the small powder loads and see how they compare.

Ken

4" brrel or longer and it's reasnably quiet...CB sounds a lot like a pneumatic air rifle. The Aguila rounds are pretty weak...shoot way-way low and are amount the least accurate rounds ever shot....but certainly are quiet. CB caps will generally shot low (rather than way-way low) and are a bit more accurate...still arn't going to win any matches with them, but are useable to about twice the distance of the Aguila's.

Spent the afternoon shooting taht little Bearcat, amoung other ammo, a box of 100CB were shot, along with a handful of the Aquila Colibri's. So far, of teh "full charge" ammo, the CCI SGB is going to be a favorite.

4" brrel or longer and it's reasnably quiet...CB sounds a lot like a pneumatic air rifle. The Aguila rounds are pretty weak...shoot way-way low and are amount the least accurate rounds ever shot....but certainly are quiet. CB caps will generally shot low (rather than way-way low) and are a bit more accurate...still arn't going to win any matches with them, but are useable to about twice the distance of the Aguila's.

Spent the afternoon shooting taht little Bearcat, amoung other ammo, a box of 100CB were shot, along with a handful of the Aquila Colibri's. So far, of teh "full charge" ammo, the CCI SGB is going to be a favorite.


OK, my little pistol is a Heritage Arms Rough Rider, single action with a 6 1/2" barrel, so I guess it should be fairly quiet then. Good to know about how the CB rounds will shoot a little low. I'm going to try and find some of the CB ammo after work today, and maybe get a little shooting in this weekend myself :)

Ken

Always have the barrel cylinder gap to help produce a bit of noise; same reason they don't generlly silence revolvers. Still it the quietest ammo, should do fine arund noise-shy folks.

Just bring along a tomato paste can, toss it out, and knock it around until it's out of range.

Convoluted path to get here, but bought a new (replacement) revolver yesterday. Starting with a conversation about lathing some brass cases (making .32SWL into cases for a 1935A pistol)...the same guy wanting a boat gun, something beat up and hard to break, but cheap enough that it wouldn't beak his heart to have it fall overboard...and lo and behold, with just a little additonal money, have the $ to replace one of my lost .22's.

So i thought about how I use to use my .22's. The target semi-autos hardly ever got out to the field...a standard Ruger .22suto or a Browning Buckmark use to go out pretty often, but many times i'd struggle to feed a CB cap and end up using it as a single shot.

S&W K-22 or Kit Gun were on the list...but I'd prefer one with 6 holes...the modern multi-chambered cylinders just don't do "it" for me. I even liked the new ultra-ites, except for the ****ed plastic sights.

Wandered the few gunshops open in the area ("area" being a cricle of about 60miles) and didn't think too long when i picked up a stainless new bearcat. Had lost my old Super Bearcat, and this seemd like a pretty good duplication.
Ran a box of CB's through it yesterday, and cleaned up the internal parts sharp edges and burrs today (unbelievably, the trigger pull was just fine s issued, except for a little creep..easy cure).

Observations:
1. the transfer bar system is a good idea. Evidently having the hammer hit the bar, and then the bar hit the firing pin, sucks out some energy as the new issue bearcat has a much stiffer/beefier spring running it. looking it over, there is a little spring detent on the end of the cylinder...that spring presses the trasfer bar out...so the force of that outward pushing spring has to be overcome by the mainspring. Not a big deal on a single action. Smoothing the mainspring strut's sharp edges (is a stamped part) helps a bit...but you might need a second set of hands to re-compress that mainspring and get it back on the strut. Will investigate a lighter spring if it bothers me in a week.

2, Sights are like the originals...about "on" at 120yards. IS OK..that's just how the old one was for elevation...is also just about "on" with CB caps or .22shorts at 20yards and that's what I use the most often when woods-loafing. Unlike the original one, this one's windage is just about right.

3. No endshake, rotational play, and the barrel/cylinder gap is .003"..more important, it's the same size when teh cylinder is rotated 1/2 way around and is even top to bottom.


Am pleased...it's like meeting an old friend you thaought you'd lost track of forever.

Quite a few years ago I went thru the same project of getting a new 22 lr to pack in the woods. I had carried an armaloy Smith Kit gun for a lot of years and for some reason now beyond me it had gone by the wayside.

At that point Smith was making their little stainless 4 inch J framed gun in a six shot version and I thought well I've had so much luck with that blue version I'll just get the stainless model.

When I visited my local gun store I found he didn't have any and I would have to order one. When told the price I darned near choked. While I was pondering writing that check and looking over what he had new and used in stock I noticed a little stainless revolver under the glass counter and ask if I could look at it.

It was a Rossi 4 inch six shot adjustable sight revolver and new it came with two sets of grips, wood and black rubber. It was an exact copy of Smith's J frame except it had a underlug and looked like a model 19 Smith scaled down to the J frame configeration.

Best of all it was $135 dollars less than the little Smith. Upon talking to the dealer about this new to me revolver he said he had sold a bunch of them and all the new owners seemed pleased at the accuracy and functioning of it.

Well it went home with me in the spring of 1997 and since then has digested a lot of ammo. At 32 ounces it's very accurate and no burden to carry.

Since Taurus bought out Rossi it's no longer made in favor of Taurus's own models that are very simular, but Taurus replaced a broken firing pin at no charge a few years ago so their warrentee is still good.

How many bricks of ammo I, my son and my two granddaughters have put thru this gun I cannot say, but it has become a real friend. It now goes to the wood with my granddaughters and I have moved on to a Taurus 41 mag Tracker because of our bear and wolf population increase. Besides the grandbabies are both gitting to the point they can take a snakes head off out to 15 feet or so.

I think you will like that little Ruger, I really did mine. It's sure funny how out of several choices one seems to become the favorite.

Probably put more miles on a Charter Arms pathfinder than any other gun...most of that was fishing, and the miles were over water rahter than hunting, but she'd get out for the woods now and again.

Some of that I count as "luck"...luck in getting a Charter Arms that stayed in time and didn't break anything for nearly 30 years.

Seems there are some guns we buy for a certain use, and others we buy to be used for certain.

My co-workers and I chipped in a few years ago and bought the boss a single-six for Christmas. He lives rural and is always telling of dealing with critters using his barn as a "motel 6". We figured a stainless single action would see alot of use.
I asked him about it a week or so ago. It is still unfired!
I may have to ask him about selling it. I am the one that picked it out as a gift. I already know that I have good taste in firearms.
Cheezywan

Well, got the chance to try out the 22 CB Long rounds this weekend. They're definitely more expensive, think I payed $5.50 for 100 rounds of CCI, but really enjoyed shooting them. Not only that, but the noise was so little, that my Wife joined me out back and fired 20-30 rounds herself :D If I can get her more interested in shooting, that means I get to do more shooting ;) I was impressed with the accuracy of the round, though admittedly, I wasn't shooting past about 15 paces, and had a nice big target of a plastic pop bottle. As long as I put the sights on it, the round hit it. Think maybe for this upcoming weekend I might try to pick up some of those powderless 22 rounds. The gun store had some made by Aguila that I think were running about $3.50 for a box of 50.

Ken

You're hooked now, and if they can turn your wife into a shooter, would be worth 10X the price.

But can hunt around teh on-line sourses and order them..even with shiping, should be able to lay in a supply at a somewhat more reasonable cost (local reatil is about $1 less per 100 than yours).

I took a lot of squirrels with the CB caps. They used to be the cheapest 22 ammo. I couldnt see the difference in killing between the LR at .75 a box and the CB caps at .50. There were also BB caps which had a round ball but were not as accurate as the CB Caps. More recently, the 22 SS rounds with the 60 grain bullet are also very quiet from my CZ452 with a 24 inch barrel. Very accurate at 50 yds too.