contender
Ruger Guru
Delbert,, very interesting.
By all I've seen so far,, I'd think the Super Wrangler that Bull's-Eye has would be an early one. The way it's marked,, is very different than most of the production guns I've seen or handled.
And the "warning" crap that's now located on the bottom of the barrel is where most often the production guns are marked. AND the roll mark die is normally a dingle die with BOTH lines on it,, to assure alignment & such.
Bull's-eye's gun has a single line of lawyer crap. Again, interesting.
His gun has a noticeably different marking on the side of the main frame than production guns from what I've seen. And from what you've said about your main frame marking,, it's the same as mine.
The barrel address with "Prescott" in it,, being different on his gun, your gun & mine does seem to point to a couple of possibilities. Your gun failed to get the second line of the barrel roll mark. (A mistake maybe?) His gun being marked on the main frame didn't get it because it was already elsewhere. Mine being more common.
My gun letters as being shipped in April of 2023.
Serial numbers. Notice the picture above of what Bull's-Eye posted. The serial number of that Super Wrangler has a prefix of 207. Followed by the numbers 87392.
As noted above in my previous posting,, Ruger has overlapped the Wranglers & the Super Wranglers in their serial number sequence. Mine has a 207 prefix.
You keep saying your gun is a 4 digit gun.
You have not posted the prefix of your gun. Is it a 207 or a 209?
Ruger records,, SADLY,, even the factory info has a LOT of mistakes on the website. Plus,, often due to the way people interpret the Ruger charts, mistakes are made. The only TRUE way to get confirmation of the date of manufacture is to get a $10 letter from Ruger. The actual build records are used,, NOT what is on the website charts.
If your gun has a 207 prefix,, followed by a set of 5 digits,, (207-01234) it'd still not be a way to identify it as a "4-digit gun." Why? Because of the overlapping of Wranglers & Super Wranglers in serial number markings.
If it has a 209 prefix,, followed by the 5 digits, (209-01234) then it'd still NOT be a 4 digit gun due to the production of the guns with a 207 prefix.
In the early years from 1949 until the 1968 Gun Control Act was passed, a unique serial number of each firearm was not required. After 1968,,, Ruger started adding a prefix number to the serial numbers,, and assigned the prefix according to the models initially. 10 was the .22 semi's. 20 was the Single-Sixes, 30 was the 357 Blackhawks, 40 was the .41 magnum Blackhawk, 45 was the .45 cal Blackhawk, 50 was the 30 carbine, 60 was used again for the Single-Six line, 80 was used for the Super Blackhawk etc.
Once they run out of numbers in both the 5 digit suffix, they would change the prefix by (1) number,, such as 11, 31, 46, 81 etc. And later on Ruger went to a 3-digit prefix.
Anytime a definitive new model of some type is introduced,, they will pick a prefix that's a round number. The Wranglers were started with 200-00001. a true 4 digit Wrangler would be 200-01234 as an example. A 201-01234 would NOT be a 4 digit gun.
And since they have chosen to put the Super Wranglers in the SAME prefix section as the Wranglers,, a true 4 digit gun can not be determined by the actual serial number. Only the factory would know that info,,, and they don't release that type of info.
Using the factory website as a hard & fast method of identifying a production timeframe isn't the best.
And if you used the prefix of 209-012345 for your gun and it came up as 2023,, AND your gun does have a 209 prefix,, it most likely means they decided to stop using the 207 prefix on the Wranglers,, and POSSIBLY jumped over prefix 208,, and started with 209 on the next batch AFTER they stopped the Super Wranglers they had marked with 207-xxxxx.
We all like to think we have something special, or a lower serial number. And sometimes we do. You seem to keep on trying to make your gun a true 4-digit production example. Yet, w/o the prefix, AND knowing exactly what sequence Ruger used in their numbering of the early Super Wranglers,, (which they won't disclose,) it's a big question mark. And if your gun has a 209 prefix,, I can guarantee that it's not a 4-digit gun. Too many made already with a 207 prefix.
The bigger anomaly is the possible variations of the frame & barrel markings. From what I've seen & studied so far on this,, I'd say that Bull's-Eye's gun is most likely an earlier example. Yours,, if it's not marked with Prescott,,, is a possible mistake OR,,,, another variation. Mine,, I'll bet is a later production with all the "current" info on the gun.
By all I've seen so far,, I'd think the Super Wrangler that Bull's-Eye has would be an early one. The way it's marked,, is very different than most of the production guns I've seen or handled.
And the "warning" crap that's now located on the bottom of the barrel is where most often the production guns are marked. AND the roll mark die is normally a dingle die with BOTH lines on it,, to assure alignment & such.
Bull's-eye's gun has a single line of lawyer crap. Again, interesting.
His gun has a noticeably different marking on the side of the main frame than production guns from what I've seen. And from what you've said about your main frame marking,, it's the same as mine.
The barrel address with "Prescott" in it,, being different on his gun, your gun & mine does seem to point to a couple of possibilities. Your gun failed to get the second line of the barrel roll mark. (A mistake maybe?) His gun being marked on the main frame didn't get it because it was already elsewhere. Mine being more common.
My gun letters as being shipped in April of 2023.
Serial numbers. Notice the picture above of what Bull's-Eye posted. The serial number of that Super Wrangler has a prefix of 207. Followed by the numbers 87392.
As noted above in my previous posting,, Ruger has overlapped the Wranglers & the Super Wranglers in their serial number sequence. Mine has a 207 prefix.
You keep saying your gun is a 4 digit gun.
You have not posted the prefix of your gun. Is it a 207 or a 209?
Ruger records,, SADLY,, even the factory info has a LOT of mistakes on the website. Plus,, often due to the way people interpret the Ruger charts, mistakes are made. The only TRUE way to get confirmation of the date of manufacture is to get a $10 letter from Ruger. The actual build records are used,, NOT what is on the website charts.
If your gun has a 207 prefix,, followed by a set of 5 digits,, (207-01234) it'd still not be a way to identify it as a "4-digit gun." Why? Because of the overlapping of Wranglers & Super Wranglers in serial number markings.
If it has a 209 prefix,, followed by the 5 digits, (209-01234) then it'd still NOT be a 4 digit gun due to the production of the guns with a 207 prefix.
In the early years from 1949 until the 1968 Gun Control Act was passed, a unique serial number of each firearm was not required. After 1968,,, Ruger started adding a prefix number to the serial numbers,, and assigned the prefix according to the models initially. 10 was the .22 semi's. 20 was the Single-Sixes, 30 was the 357 Blackhawks, 40 was the .41 magnum Blackhawk, 45 was the .45 cal Blackhawk, 50 was the 30 carbine, 60 was used again for the Single-Six line, 80 was used for the Super Blackhawk etc.
Once they run out of numbers in both the 5 digit suffix, they would change the prefix by (1) number,, such as 11, 31, 46, 81 etc. And later on Ruger went to a 3-digit prefix.
Anytime a definitive new model of some type is introduced,, they will pick a prefix that's a round number. The Wranglers were started with 200-00001. a true 4 digit Wrangler would be 200-01234 as an example. A 201-01234 would NOT be a 4 digit gun.
And since they have chosen to put the Super Wranglers in the SAME prefix section as the Wranglers,, a true 4 digit gun can not be determined by the actual serial number. Only the factory would know that info,,, and they don't release that type of info.
Using the factory website as a hard & fast method of identifying a production timeframe isn't the best.
And if you used the prefix of 209-012345 for your gun and it came up as 2023,, AND your gun does have a 209 prefix,, it most likely means they decided to stop using the 207 prefix on the Wranglers,, and POSSIBLY jumped over prefix 208,, and started with 209 on the next batch AFTER they stopped the Super Wranglers they had marked with 207-xxxxx.
We all like to think we have something special, or a lower serial number. And sometimes we do. You seem to keep on trying to make your gun a true 4-digit production example. Yet, w/o the prefix, AND knowing exactly what sequence Ruger used in their numbering of the early Super Wranglers,, (which they won't disclose,) it's a big question mark. And if your gun has a 209 prefix,, I can guarantee that it's not a 4-digit gun. Too many made already with a 207 prefix.
The bigger anomaly is the possible variations of the frame & barrel markings. From what I've seen & studied so far on this,, I'd say that Bull's-Eye's gun is most likely an earlier example. Yours,, if it's not marked with Prescott,,, is a possible mistake OR,,,, another variation. Mine,, I'll bet is a later production with all the "current" info on the gun.