I'm interested in a Ruger Single 10 revolver.  Are they easy to load or is it a pain in the b*tt at the range?

And what length barrels do you recommend or have?

Thanks.

Hard to load? No.

 

Slow to load? Yes.

 

I had a 9.5" Bicentennial Single Six - stolen.

 

Currently have a 5.5" Single Six convertible.

 

Great guns.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

Hard to load?  Depends on who you ask.  My Single Six is a PITA to load and unload because of my sausage-link fingers.  So much so that I hardly ever shoot it. 

I actually would prefer the Single Six over the Single 10.  Less of a PITA to clean.  Rimfire cylinders take some time to clean.  As a matter of fact, I prefer the older Single Sixes without the upgraded transfer bar.  That single-action trigger is much nicer in them.  And, if you safely load them and keep the cylinder the hammer rests on empty, there should be no problems with safety.  And, Ruger will upgrade to the New Single Six configuration for free.  Still, unless you are going to do Cowboy-style shooting,  I would suggest you consider a double-action .22LR revolver. 

Yes. Just not really quick. But yes they are easy.

"Easy to Load" is a relative call as you need to indicate what it is in relationship to!  If you mean a double action revolver with swing open cylinder, the answer is definitely not easier.  But there are all kinds of qualifiers.  The biggest pain for me is having to extract each spent round individually through the loading gate.  This gets more cumbersome as you shoot more because of the build up in gunpowder residue in each camber.  Same for loading the new rounds in each chamber as you have to push harder on each round to insert it.  6 rounds are easier to load because the chambers are not as close together.  An alternative is to have multiple cylinders that you pop in & pop out, fairly easy to do with a Ruger Single Six. You still have to deal with extracting the spent rounds.

 

I have a Ruger New Single Six in stainless steel , 6.5" barrel and adjustable sights. I target shoot with it and prefer the longer barrel for improved sight radius.  I changed out the hammer and trigger springs for lighter versions which significantly improved handling and operation.  Also replaced the wooden grips, which I felt were a lttle too wide for my hand, with slimmer "ivory" versions from Hogue.

 

I prefer to shoot WMR rounds rather than 22LR because the rounds are longer, easier to hold and insert. Of course, you pay dearly for this privilege because WMRs are significantly more expensive.

 

The nice thing about a SA 22 revolver is that it takes time to load/shoot a lot of ammo!  Givn the current tight availability and inflated cost of 22LR this is not necessarily a bad thing!

 

As much as I like to shoot my Single six and S&W 617, they are a pain-in-the ass handguns to clean, especially the cylinder face and the forcing cone areas of the breech.  I prefer stainless finishes because I don't have to worry about the possibility of rust in humid locations. I also find that lead-away patches do the best job of removing the gunfire residue and with a blued finish, you have to be careful about removing the bluing if you clean too aggressively.