I believe it was officially begun by at least September 1957, maybe as early as May 1957, when Ruger decided to clear out his stock of one and two digit guns that had been piling up in WBR's "archive's".
The folks who got the earliest numbers were those writers, employees and other close friends of the factory who had received low numbered guns as early as 1953 when early one and two digit Single-Sixes were first produced. There were quite a few gun writers during the period who were tops on Ruger's list to get an example to...John Amber #7 and 8 engraved in spain as well as 9 and 10 unengraved (and several other early consecutive pairs, 26 and 27 and I don't have my list in front of me right now on the others he received, 45 and 46 maybe?), 15 to Elmer Keith, 21 I believe to Lucian Cary, 20 to Jack O'Connor, 23 to Pete Brown, 14 to Julian Hatcher and can't think of the writer at the moment who got #13.
There were also employees that got nice examples...#4 to comptroller Walt Berger, #11 to Michael Horelik (he may have got this one much later), #12 to employee Walt Sych (he may have also received this one later), 25 to Ed Nolan, 31 to Bob Dearden.
And Friend of the factory, generally WBR....#6 I believe went to WBR's patent attorney Hal Seagraves and #16 made special with 7-1/2" barrel for antique arms dealer Herb Glass.
The earliest collector to get a number I believe was probably Fred Davis, Jr. (editor/publisher of Gunfacts magazine). His number was 51 and with the other guns with that magic #51 that he had, I've always had a suspicion he was more than just a well known dealer of Ruger firearms...I believe he also had a contact at the factory who was pretty high up...Ed Nolan maybe? Because he had some Ruger firearms with that #51 that nobody else received for some reason.
OK...so fast forward to September 1957. At that time Ruger cleared out their warehouse of those early numbered guns....WBR must have finally came to the realization that he couldn't keep them all...and he had plans to make a move into the new Southport plant by 1959, so a lot of the archive guns went
Ruger also kept milestone guns....as an example, Single-Sixes 5000, 6000.... 21000, 22000, 23000, 24000 etc. He kept them in the "archive" of all models until that 1958 time period by which time most had been dispersed. Even after that he still continued to keep the really "big" milestone guns and when Ruger went to the prefix serial number system he also kept the guns ending in zeros (i.e. 111-00000, 112-00000, 113-00000, etc.).
So at 9/57 Those that were in stock went to other people in the industry...distributors, other friends of the factory etc. Some went in quantity to distributors...like the #'s 59, 65 and 101 that wound up in Florida. There were also four numbers that went through Sutcliff Company as leftovers, 49, 50, 53 and 54...Many of these numbers had the two flattops available in their number as well as the Single-Six and Single-Six Lightweight. Some also got lucky and received the two-digit Red Eagle in their subscription number.
The highest subscription numbers known are 1000, 1127 and 1130. Quite a few #1000's went to stock maker Bob Wallach (I think that's how you spell it), and #1130 went to a man by the name of Russell Sims, and then later Sims was also able to get into the #29's.
When the #1 came out Ruger made a series of presentation rifles called the "21 Club" rifles, and those were also given to "subscribers"...notably the earliest gun writers and a few others. The 20 Gauge Red Label also got "21 Club" treatment...going to writers of the era...not many made.
During at least the last decade of the program, Ruger was holding on to the first 500 serial numbers of any given newly produced model, unless they happened to release the guns by mistake.
About15 years ago, with the warehouse full of these two and three digit guns, the remainders were sold unceremoniously through normal distribution...first with Davidson's who took a huge pile, then a year or so later with William's.
Then disappointment. I believe the last "subscription" gun that anybody received was the SR1911 (somebody correct me if I'm wrong on that). Don't know all of the facts with certainty, but somebody close to the factory with one of the early subscription numbers came to be PO'd because they felt somebody took them to the cleaners when they sold the intact collection. Whether or not these guns brought fair market value I do not know...but shortly after that the powers that be at Ruger decided there would no longer be a "low serial number program". Ruger was supposed to have sent out a letter to all "subscribers" saying the program was to be discontinued, but that never happened either.
So today....instead of good low numbered collectible guns going out to those that wanted and cherished them, they go out through normal distribution to anybody who wants to shoot the living heck out of them...completely oblivious to the importance of such low numbered firearms.
Chet15