Ive not been on here in a while. Ive moved to Washington State recently, and I just found a like-new Ruger SBH SS with a 10" bbl in pawn shop that the guy will sell me for $480.00. I just got off the phone with a local gunsmith that will cut and re-crown that bbl to whatever length I want and reset the front sight for about 180.00. Im thinking 4 1/2", I have a bear hunt in Alaska coming up this spring on horseback. Ive backed off the .460 Rowland thing just because of the lack of ammo locally, and i dont like depending on mail order. Any feed back or advice? $660.00 doesnt seem bad. If I buy a short bbl SBH, it doesnt have the longer dragoon grip

WHY 4 1/2 AND NOT 5 1/2? 5 1/2 GIVES YOU MORE SIGHT RADIUS, LESS KICK, MORE VELOCITY, AND IS JUST AS PACKABLE.

You can probably get a new 4 5/8" or 5 1/2" for a little less money. But starting with the 10". you can have the exact length that you prefer, and have more of a custom job.

One thing to consider, when I lived in Washington I believe you had to have a minimum of a 6" barrel to hunt there. If that is true, and you plan to use it there to hunt you may want o go 6"

I checked, minimum barrell length for handgun hunting in WA is now 4".

I cant buy a new one with a short barrel that has the longer dragoon grip

6" does have its advantages. I probably wont get it cut either way until I get back from the hunt anyway. I wont actually be hunting, as im no longer a resident up there and its too expensive. My one son in the military is still a resident, so hes hunting. Myself and my other 2 sons are meeting him up there with some friends and we're all hoping to make a week-long horseback trip into the backcountry out of it. Ill just be wrangling horses and camp cooking.

My good friend Paul, raptortrapper said I ought to just keep it 10" and hunt with it. Put a red dot on it.

Sounds like a fun trip you are going on.

That is a good buy on the 10" regardless what you end up doing with it.

I agree with Paul. Leave it at 10 and either scope it or put a red dot on.

thats a fair price for a used shooter- if you want to make it more custom, throw some money at it and get what you want, buy once cry once. If you shoot it and have second thoughts, leave it alone and trick it out to fill your needs with a scope or dot. just my two cents worth.
btw- I had a 10" SBH in 44 mag 10 years ago and sent it down the road because i didnt like the bbl lenght. kicked myself for that one. now I would have it worked over to something that would be more useful to me.
no matter what you do with it, Enjoy.

I second that motion. Buy it and customize it as the initial investment is done. Keep it and build funds to alter it into the treasured work you will cherish. Have done such to all my big bores. My Ruger GP100 22 LR just has a Hogue replacement sorbethane padded rubber grip added. It is for fun and target shooting as a 10 shot revolver. Also chambers 22 Short and 22 Long cartridges but 22 LR is my choice if available.

On the immediate cosmetic side, I have a nice set of elk horn grips set back that Ive had for awhile. On the practical side, my only up-front change right now is to get a Belt Mountain base pin for it. Other that that, I'll shoot it for a while and slowly customize as the ideas (and the funds) arise.

Well, scratch the new ruger. I finally got my WA license and went in today to fill out the yellow paper and pick it up, and was told I had to pay for the gun, fill out the paperwork, they would send the background check into the State by email, and I then must wait about 3 weeks to find out if approved or not. If approved, I could finally pick up the pistol. New WA state law.

I got my down payment back and walked out.

well, that sucks- even though you dont take possession of the gun,isnt that technically a purchase?

Its the principal of the matter of the state making you wait for 3 weeks for a background check that normally takes 2 minutes for me over the phone. Im not playing the game.