OT: .32 H&R Magnum Ruger Bearcats

Pete44ru · Post by **Pete44ru** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:19 pm

Pics, etc of both Boge Quinn's & Lloyd Smale's .32 H&R Ruger BearCat conversions by Alan Harton:

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=22883

2ndovc · Post by **2ndovc** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:10 pm

Pretty darned cool!!!

Marlin .35 · Post by **Marlin .35** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:33 pm

Can you give me a ball park on what this would cost????? Them are fine shooting irons. You can E-mail me with the answer! Thanks, Art

BenT · Post by **BenT** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:10 pm

I'll have to wait for the reveiw on gunblast . They should compare side by side to a factory bearcat to see the differences. I wonder how many cartridges it holds?

bsaride · Post by **bsaride** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:17 pm

SaaaWeeeeetttt!!!!!!!!

Look like five shooters to me.

Lastmohecken · Post by **Lastmohecken** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:10 pm

That's pretty nice. I have thought about boring the cylinder out for 22mag. I think that is a pretty common modification, isn't it? But those are really nice, and adjustable sights to boot.

gundownunder · Post by **gundownunder** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 6:20 pm

Very nice looking guns, but is the bearcat really designed to take that much pressure or are the guns going to stress over time.

Pete44ru · Post by **Pete44ru** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:01 pm

[Can you give me a ball park on what this would cost????? ]

Boge's not talkin'- but I seem to dis-remember a figure of about $3K being discussed somewhere else, in relation to a .32 H&R Bearcat.
I just can't remember the specifics, since it was more than a few weeks ago. CRS, I guess.

I know the least expensive .357 Mag Blackhawk to .44 Special conversion runs about $700-800 for a bare-bones job, with no extra work - like grips, a new cylinder or barrel, sights, bluing, case colors, etc.
A more normal .44 conversion cost is closer to $1200, IMO - and a rimfire conversion to centerfire, plus a caliber conversion from .22 to .32 seems like uncharted waters to me.
I think it falls into the class of: If the price needs to be known, it can't be afforded.
Way outta my class, that's fer sure.

nemhed · Post by **nemhed** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:13 pm

Wow, makes me feel like the cheapest @#$% in the world buying a $390 NIB Blackhawk in .357. Really nice revolvers though.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:07 pm

...or like I tell my son all the time, given enough time and money anything can be done.

KWK · Post by **KWK** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:13 am

is the bearcat really designed to take that much pressure

The .32 H&R is a "magnum" in name only. The operating pressure isn't much if any more than the .22 rimfires, and the diameter isn't great either.

The trick would be converting the frame, transfer bar, etc. to centerfire.

BenT · Post by **BenT** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:16 pm

KWK , 32 H&R pressure was held down because of the strength of H&R pistols. In a Ruger single six frame it can be loaded alot hotter than load books show.

KWK · Post by **KWK** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:14 am

True, but the question was about the smaller framed Bearcat.

I'd really like to see Ruger offer the Bearcat in one of the .32's, even .32 ACP would be spiffy.

BenT · Post by **BenT** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:26 am

KWK, I agree about what pressure the bearcat can handle. Thats why I'm curiuos how many chambers the cylinder has , how much steel is between each chamber.

KWK · Post by **KWK** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 11:53 am

The pictures show them to be 5-shots, with what looks to be plenty of steel between cylinders. I want one.

BenT · Post by **BenT** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:44 pm

First time I looked I was on dial up and all the pictures didn't load. I see now by the pics that it looks like a fair amount of steel between cylinders.