Question about a Box for a 1981 Speed Six

Question: Would the box for a 1981 Speed Six say "1981" on the bottom, or could it have an early year printed on it? I guess what I'm asking is could Ruger have printed up a bunch of boxes in an earlier year and used them in later years? They would only need to put the correct label on the end of the box.

I have been trying to find a correct box for you,, but so far,, I'm coming up empty. I have more boxes in my stuff,, I just can't "find" them right now.

But,, to answer your question.
Ruger didn't "date" boxes in the sense you mentioned. They had a few generic boxes,, that would fit a lot of guns, and they'd add the appropriate end label. The first boxes to have any dating type of info were the reddish-orange one piece, folding lid type. It had some patent data printed on the inside of the lid.
And they didn't believe in waste.
It wasn't until the yellow & black one piece hinged lid boxes came along that they did away with the pre-printed boxes. That was when having generic boxes were done,, and just the end labels were what designated what was in the boxes.
BUT,,, during that era,, there ARE some reddish-orange boxes with pasted on labels, and there are different colored boxes for a few models. Some of the earliest DA boxes were totally different than the normal production boxes. IF my memory is correct,,, the very early DA's had a white box, with a cut-out insert for the gun. Then they went to a red box with a black end on it.

But,,, again,,, if my memory is correct,, in 1981,, the box should have been a yellow & black 1 piece folding lid type.


For the DA guns,,, RoninPa needs to chime in,,, or Terry T needs to add his input. DA's are not my strong suit!

The box for a 1981 Speed Six may or may not say 1981 on the bottom, but not because of the date of your gun. That date should be the date the box was made. I am sure Ruger probably did not make/print the boxes, they would have bought them from an outside contractor and just told the box maker what the box dimensions are and how to print them. The boxes would have arrived at Ruger, unfolded, by the pallet loads. The workers at Ruger would then have folded the boxes.

I have several yellow/black boxes from Six series guns that have a box date of January 1978 but the guns were from the '80's. The box for the Six series were the same for all three barrel lengths. It would more cost effective to have one size box for three barrel lengths.

Cool....the box I just bought off of Ebay says exactly what you're saying....January 1978. It has an end label that says SS-34H which I'm pretty sure is my model number.

Thank you for the verification! Now all I need is the owners manual and I've got everything! I think I'm looking for one that is dated 1/81. Not sure though.

If you are sure you need a manual dated 1981 let me know and I'll check and see if I have one or one close. Even if it is a 1981 gun, the manual could be a 1979-1981 and still be valid.

Yep, the gun was shipped on 11/81, so I'd be looking for a 1981 manual. I've seen a 12/81 on ebay for $10 I think, but that's after my ship date.

Appreciate you looking!
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Also looking for an OM Bearcat (1964) box.