Ruger Wrangler (SUPER)

Well , my old faithful H&R finally has become unreliable, I've replaced most of the internals but after many years of trapline and general rough outdoor duty it was time to replace it.
Enter the search for a inexpensive 22 wheel gun that would stand up to the next 20 or so years of what probably will be no where near the amount of wear and tear that the old 9 shot accepted on a regular basis.

My state doesn't allow semi automatic handguns for hunting or trapping so that rules out any of the fine semi's available on the market,plus for mw the need for high capacity or quick reloading isn't necessary, although removing a magazine would be infinitely easier to be made unloaded to comply with your local laws Additionally having my CCW means I don't have to unload it getting in or out of a vehicle so it kinda balances out. Your requirements may vary.

I Started looking for a ruger single six, whooo doggie them things is pricy now! I have a sweet Smith &Wesson K-22 Masterpiece but it isn't a trapline carry gun it's more of a Sunday Funday shooter and the replacement price on it is far out of reach this day and age for me so it's remains a Safe Queen.


As I've always told my boys , research, and research and so I dove headfirst into the Interwebs to seek knowledge !

Heritage rough rider looked like the old 922, one trip to the shop and handling it was all I needed to know .I'd rather stick to the worn out H&R and it didn't have some lawyer inspired safety hanging off of it at least.
And from what I've read the Rough Rider was just as apt to shave as much lead out of the box as the 70 year old H&R did anyway

Onto the next in line, price wise the Ruger Wrangler was double the cost of a heritage,but it WAS a RUGER and me being a Rugerholic it made sense, it wasn't stainless which is my preferred metal finish for a hard use handgun . some one named Sarah coated them now at the factory. I had heard of her work but never used any of it.

Reviews were mixed and there are a whole lot of Karen's who you would think are all Master gunsmith's on The internet now days they aren't hard to spot just put on your BS Filter and read their comments . I wanted a reliable six gun for field use , people think that for $200 you should have something that's made by Holland & Holland or Kreighoff . Seriously people get real!

Anyhow I stopped to look and found a silver colored Cerakote one at the mom and pop local Gunshop. I'd rather go there than the big box stores that only talk to you if you want a black rifle or plastic sidearm.
It was hefty and certainly Ruger'esque at first glance . I found out this was the Super Wrangler that had a steel alloy frame to handle the magnum loads as opposed to the Zinc alloy on the long rifle only regular Wrangler
This one had 22 and 22 WMR cylinders with it for a tad bit more of the folded green paper all in all I considered it fairly priced and took it home
First range trip convinced me that my eyes were not going to like the black on black sights against any target let alone the black target bullseye
I ordered a TruGlo green front sight and one screw removal and replace changed the sight picture to something that fairly JUMPED out to me
After fiddling slightly with the rear sight I have it close bout not dialed in exactly just yet . but dang it sure hangs nice at the end of your arm and is a joy to shoot!
A long time ago when money was even tighter than now we had an awful lot of enjoyment of a weekend just shooting rimfire handguns and this Wrangler transported me back just a little to those bygone days which was an unintentional bonus.

The internals are rough , no denying that the are not hand fitted or polished they are assembled without this process which adds significantly to labor cost, but I will shoot it a bit and the work the action this winter when time allows to slick it up a might.

I did do the NON-Approved trigger job (which I neither recommend or condone ) by removing one leg of the trigger spring and this helped with trigger pull substantially. I may order a new set of aftermarket springs to install later but not sure just yet.

A lot of people complain about the factory grips and order replacement ones, well for my intended usage I believe the ones it came with will be fine for me and I kinda like the old style Plow Handle grips anyway.

Both 22 long rifle and 22 magnum cylinders shoot much better than I am capable of by holding to point of aim at ranges of 5 to 50 yards on sensibly sized targets.No I'm not Elmer Keith and I didn't shoot it a'horseback at full gallop and hit a mating chipmunks eyelash at 600 yards but it will do well for my intended purpose. (No disrespect directed towards Mr. Keith,quite the opposite is intended)

So after a touch of tinkering and a little extra outlay of frog skins for a more visible to me front sight I'll keep it.
Another couple thousand rounds may prove different but right now a solid bang for my buck (pun intended)

Ride hard, Shoot straight and Tell the truth!

An interesting review!, lol, but it answers a bunch of questions, I've been thinking of one of these for awhile.... Thanks.

I bought this one for my boy a couple years ago. He likes it, I never liked the Heritage, and wish this one had a 9rd cylinder and folded out to reload, but it's working flawlessly for him. Much lighter than the other grip and long barrel, one of the things I hated about the RR.

Not the Super Wrangler but it was cheap. Sarah's coating on it seems to hold up ok, but a lot of in and out of the holster will show some wear on it.

my trap line gun is a wrangler , not a super

I think they are the best option for the money , better than a heritage RR

it is a proven design it is a single 6 in different material

they are also dry fire safe very few other 22 revolvers are

I would think about a super wrangler for the better sites and can you really have too many 22 pistols ,but for putting down stuff on the trap line the sights work on my regular Ruger Wrangler

I've also been using the Wrangler (non super) on the trap line for about 5 years. It has taken a lot of abuse and never fails.

I am using a Super Wrangler as my trap line gun. Use .22 Shorts in it.

Ruger sells a nice flap holster for it that works nicely in my 5 gal bucket tool caddy.

I also upgraded to a green front sight and I'm perfectly happy it.