Ruger Collectors Association

Hand stamped by serial number u.s. this mk1 has no other roll marks or stamping. Another letter I have for it is the gun was sent to the armory in New Jersey as a sample then returned back to Ruger.

That is a rare Mark I!

Pretty cool!

Would be neat to spend the extra $10 for a letter to Ruger to see what entity it was shipped to.
The reason I say that is, Ruger's records usually don't say anything about what kind of markings are on a gun (or their variation in components), there's no room in the ledgers to put that kind of information... so they would literally have had to put some kind of special note on that entry to determine that... and if it isn't your normal procedure to do that, not sure they would do that spontaneously. A hand stamping is also unusual considering everything done at Ruger is generally set up on jigged machines. Would think a U.S. marking, especially if it was meant for a military sale, would be more of a standardized rollmark.
So if the gun was shipped to an entity associated with the government and gun procurement, good as gold it would seem!!
Chet15

Good morning all,

Go to page 69 of Ruger Pistols & Revolvers. top left of page. This pistol falls within the serial number range 74258-79999, the first U.S. gun shipment in August 1956. However, 425 guns, within that range randomly were not marked U.S. and sold commercially. Chad is right , the U.S. roller die was at hand and would have been used on anything going to the military. A letter from Ruger could determine this, the letter should tell where the gun was shipped, if it was to Raritan Arsenal, then that would verify that it is indeed a true U.S. pistol.

On test guns and prototypes and etc. A lot of times there will not be any mention of them in the Ruger daybooks, but there will be a complete written evaluation in the engineers note book. I don't know the disposition of the old note books.

Regards, John

Hello again,

The existing letter in the photo is dated 2012 and indicates a shipping date of August 1955. This date should be verified, it may be a typo and should have been 1956. 1955 sounds too early for production of this pistol. 73201-74399 is the serial range for 1955, August 1955 would be in the mid 73XXX range. Perhaps Rick can order up another letter, we should wait for it before offering more opinions. I love research!

John

works of art.

Another rare and unique Ruger to see. Thanks for sharing!