A Little Late Sharing This Recent Find.......

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lovemydals

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As I was leaving my part time job at one of the local gun shops back in March, I noticed one of the employees cleaning his Ruger 10/22 rifle. As I usually do when I see older 10/22's, I checked the s/n & found it to be B121-07969. Unsure of what I was looking at, I checked Chad's Reference of Ruger Firearms & discovered it to be one of 94 made, making two known now. The next day, I called Ruger Records & was told it shipped as a 10/22R in November 1971.

Now, the challenge was going to be talking the owner out of it.

After a week of negotiations, the owner had decided to keep it even after offering him $400 for it & multiple trade options.

Well, how things come together unexpectedly.

At the end of March, I was assisting the FFL that was handling the firearms transfers for a local California Waterfowl Association dinner & fund raiser. In the process of filling out firearm claim forms for other winners, one of the participants/winner came up to our table with a new Colt M-16 Tactical 22 LR rifle. He won it in a $300 progressive game. He commented something to the effect of, "What am I going to do with this?". When he asked the value of the Colt, I told him that the shop had it listed for $550 plus & last week Big Five had them on sale for $399. Then he asked me if I wanted it. After a short session of offers & counter offers, I got the Colt for $225. A short while later, the owner of the "B" prefix s/n 10/22R approached me & said he would trade it for the Colt. He said his grandkids would enjoy shooting the Colt & that his 10/22 should be in a collection. Needless to say, I jumped on it & we completed the trade on a few days later. Cool!

Photos added:

Imag20646.jpg

Imag20638.jpg

Imag20664.jpg

Imag20650.jpg



lmd
 

chet15

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Yes...one of the great 10/22 rarities!! So far there are only two collections known that have a B121!!!
There were over 1,250 of the B131- guns made and those are super Rare. But the B121 is 10 times rarer than that!!
Chet15
 

Terry T

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I hate to admit it, but someone must be living right! :shock:
For folks who don't know 'Lovemydals', 'THE DEAL' is almost more important to him the the actual aquisition. Yes, he scored a very rare gun, but "THE DEAL" is a great story! What fun! :D
Way to go, friend!
Terry T
 

BlkHawk73

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Nice grab. Now...knowing it's scarcity and knowing exactly what it is, you had to negotiate in the $225 area? Big Five had them last week? Now seems odd they'd have these all these years later and priced how they did.
 

Terry T

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"BlkHawk73",
This deal is so convoluted that it's easy to lose track. Big 5 had the Colt M-16 Tactical 22 LR rifle on sale for $399. LMD offered the winner only $225 for the Colt. LMD's fellow emploee, who had turned down $400 for the rare Ruger 10/22R, then offered to trade his rare Ruger for the Colt.

To say it differently, a fellow won a nice Colt at the dinner, he didn't want it, LMD offered to give him cash for the Colt. LMD then was able to trade the Colt for the rare Ruger.

This story is "THE DEAL" - strange but true! :shock:
Terry T
 

lovemydals

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Terry T,

Thanks for clarifying my story in simpler terms. In the process of telling the story, I omitted a few clarifying points. "THE DEAL", as you say (in this case), I could of never pulled this one together. It was in the hands of a higher power? All I can say is that I got lucky on this one.

lmd
 

lovemydals

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98_1LE,

Per Chad's Reference of Ruger Fireams, Volume Two;

This variety was produced as a serial numbering "duplicate" error in 1971.

Quantities produced: 10/22R = 94 made (two known - s/n B121-07991 & B121-07969); 10/22DSP = 14 made (none known at this time).

lmd
 

chet15

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98_1LE said:
What is the significance of the B?

An employee made a little serial numbering error in 1971. While the 10/22 at the time should have been in the 111- prefix, seems the employee errantly turned the 2nd digit of the prefix to a number "2", then numbered the next 111 guns with a 121- prefix before the employee noticed the error. So the employee then rolled the 2nd digit of the numbering head one space. After reeling off another 1,281 guns the employee realized that he turned the digit the wrong direction again, turning those guns into 131- prefix 10/22's (which would eventually be a Number 1 rifle serial number).
To fix the problem, Ruger simply stamped a letter "B" in front of all the 121- and 131- guns.... the "B" being Ruger's letter code for all individual 10/22 parts components.
So, they weren't really "duplicates" at the time, though Ruger would eventually make it to the 121- prefix in late 1980/early 1981.
What's interesting is, Ruger also made a couple of "duplicate" guns in the B131- prefix. Those are marked BB131- !!
Chet15
 
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Jeez you guys are to much. Now on top of looking for more Rugers on my everyday list, I have to start keeping an eye out for B stamped guns. I would have never know it had I not read it here.

The wealth of information here never ceases to amaze me.

By far the BEST forum site on the net!!!
 

chet15

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HAWKEYE#28 said:
Looks like a SN rollmark for a Number One Rifle........... 8)

Right, but before the Number 1 was even up to that number. That's why it wasn't marked with a "D", since it wasn't a duplicate.

Lovemydals....did that 10/22 poster come with your B121- gun also, or did you just add that to your pic for color?
Chad
 
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Very cool story. Since reading this kind of info on the forum, I have started picking up and looking at serial numbers of 'for sale' Rugers every time I get the chance. No luck so far but you never know!
Thanks for posting this LMD!
 

lovemydals

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Chad,

I added the 10/22 poster in my photos for, as you said, "color". I thought it was a nice touch. Especially the part of "It's Here" in the poster title, since it took forever for me to post photos. Sometime back I purchased a early 10/22 box on ebay & in the box were three of these posters. Sold two & kept this one.

lmd
 

chet15

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lovemydals said:
Chad,

I added the 10/22 poster in my photos for, as you said, "color". I thought it was a nice touch. Especially the part of "It's Here" in the poster title, since it took forever for me to post photos. Sometime back I purchased a early 10/22 box on ebay & in the box were three of these posters. Sold two & kept this one.

lmd

Those posters were only with the earliest guns. You don't happen to know what the sn was on the box that had those three??
Chad
 
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