I love the twenty-two cartridge. By that, I mean specifically the 22 Long Rifle cartridge. While the 22 magnum is also one of my favorites, if I had to ever pare down to just one firearm, it would be chambered for the 22 Long Rifle cartridge. I already own a few twenty-two handguns; both pistols and revolvers, but always pick up another when I find one that I really like. I really like the subject of this review.

A few days ago, Sturm, Ruger & Co. officially announced the new Single-Ten revolver. I had heard a rumor about this handgun, but was not privileged to any information from the company, so I was pretty much as surprised as anyone else when the press release was sent out announcing the new Ruger.

My first thought was that it is a ten-shot Single-Six, which it pretty much is. However, after handling and shooting the new Single-Ten, it does have some worthwhile features besides the sixty-six percent increase in ammo capacity. More on that later.

The Single-Ten is based upon Ruger’s time-tested New Model design, which uses a transfer bar safety, allowing every chamber to safely be fully loaded. In the old style action, built from 1953 to 1973, the revolvers were best carried with an empty chamber under the hammer. While on that subject, if you own an original style Single-Six, Bearcat, Super Blackhawk, or Blackhawk revolver, Ruger will upgrade the internal lockwork to the transfer bar safety system at no charge. The New Model Ruger has proven to be rugged, reliable, and accurate, and is the best-selling single action in production. The New Model Ruger revolvers are the basis for many high-dollar custom guns, being favored by custom gunsmiths for their strength, simplicity, quality of materials, and reliability.

The Single-Ten, at least in this first model, is built primarily of stainless steel. The entire weapon is very well-fitted, and wears a satin finish throughout. The sights are a matte black, with the rear being fully adjustable. The rear sight blade is different than those found on other Ruger single action revolvers. The rear face of the blade is slightly angled, is serrated, and wears a square notch, matching the square post front for accurate target work. In addition, the front wears a single fiber-optic rod, presenting a sight picture of a black square post with a green dot insert. The rear is a black steel blade with a square notch and two green fiber-optic dots, set into an aluminum base. The fiber-optic rods gather light for a better sight picture in low light or against a dark background. The aluminum front sight blade and base is a one-piece unit, attached to the barrel with a single screw. The view from the shooter’s position reminds me of the Millet sights once offered for Ruger revolvers, but these fiber-optic sights on this Single-Ten are made by Williams. This new Ruger sight arrangement gives the shooter the best of both worlds; a good square sight picture for paper-punching, and the fiber-optics for hunting and field use.

Another advantage that the new ten-shot revolver has over the six-shot is in ease of loading. Opening the loading gate releases the cylinder to rotate, just as it does on the New Model Single-Six revolvers, but upon each “click’ of the rotation, the chambers align perfectly with the ejector rod, making unloading faster, easier, and more natural. Loading cartridges into the chambers is also very easy, and two can be loaded at a time, if desired, before the cylinder is rotated to load more. This is a real advantage that this Single-Ten has over the Single-Six.

I also very much like the thinner profile Gunfighter grips on the Single-Ten. To me, they are much more natural-pointing. I prefer Gunfighter style grips on my single actions, and the laminated wood Gunfighter grips on this Single-Ten fit my hand very well. Between the two grip panels is an aluminum sleeve through which the grip screw passes, eliminating the possibility of over-tightening the grip screw and either damaging the wood or pulling the nut from the opposite grip panel. Good idea. The reddish hue of the grips contrasts nicely with the satin stainless revolver. The overall appearance of the Single-Ten is very pleasing to my eyes, and Ruger did an outstanding job of fitting the grip frame to the cylinder frame on my sample.

The cylinder is non-fluted on the Single-Ten, and the bolt drops cleanly into the lead of the bolt notches in the cylinder, eliminating the familiar drag line that circles most every Ruger single action revolver ever built.

The first of these Single-Ten revolvers will have a nominal barrel length of five and one-half inches, but I presume that other barrel lengths will be offered later. I have no confirmation on this from anyone at Ruger, so if I am wrong on that, it is entirely my fault.

Specifications are listed in the chart below. Weight is listed in ounces. Trigger pull is listed as pounds of pressure. Linear measurements are listed in inches. The cylinder length does not include the ratchet nor the integral bushing. Height includes the sights, with the rear set at its medium adjustment.