Another Ruger Standard

My 90 year old dad had to give up his guns due to being moved into a nursing home. I've taken protective custody and am inventorying all of them. One that he has is a 6" barrel Standard which the serial number preface indicates was made in 1982 which was apparently the last year for the Standard.

It does have the safety warning roll marked on the left side. It also has a Micro rear adjustable sight and a tall square flat blade front sight. It is not marked Mark 1 and I think the Mk1 (Target model) came with undercut front sight. I am assuming they are aftermarket sights. Dad says he bought it used from a neighbor that way.

He has two mags with it, neither are marked Ruger on them. One is broken they both other seem rather flimsy compared to Ruger mags I've seen and it hangs up on the mag release. I'm guessing these are aftermarket ones from the 1980s. I am assuming that since this pistol has the A100 frame (made after 1973) it will use the later MkII mags.

Overall the gun is in Very Good condition. Bluing about 90%.

Based on the above I am assuming this is simply a RST6 with target sights added. I just need to confirm this.

Yep,,,your assumption appears to be correct. A Standard with added sights.

+1.
Looks like a later gun with a prefix? Ruger's website has the year of manufacture available by s/n. Nice condition for its age.

mohavesam said:

+1.
Looks like a later gun with a prefix? Ruger's website has the year of manufacture available by s/n. Nice condition for its age.

Click to expand...

Yeah, prefix is 17 i.e. 1982

I have a 1981 Standard and it does take the 10-round magazine.

mac66 said:

My 90 year old dad had to give up his guns due to being moved into a nursing home. I've taken protective custody and am inventorying all of them. One that he has is a 6" barrel Standard which the serial number preface indicates was made in 1982 which was apparently the last year for the Standard.

It does have the safety warning roll marked on the left side. It also has a Micro rear adjustable sight and a tall square flat blade front sight. It is not marked Mark 1 and I think the Mk1 (Target model) came with undercut front sight. I am assuming they are aftermarket sights. Dad says he bought it used from a neighbor that way.

He has two mags with it, neither are marked Ruger on them. One is broken they both other seem rather flimsy compared to Ruger mags I've seen and it hangs up on the mag release. I'm guessing these are aftermarket ones from the 1980s. I am assuming that since this pistol has the A100 frame (made after 1973) it will use the later MkII mags.

Overall the gun is in Very Good condition. Bluing about 90%.

Based on the above I am assuming this is simply a RST6 with target sights added. I just need to confirm this.

Click to expand...

Your Dad was a very savvy fella! He used a rear sight of the era when Ruger purchased those from the Micro Sight Company. The front sight is not a purchased part, because nothing of that sort was available commercially at the time, so most likely, either he, a local machinist, or 'smith, fabricated that blade. Good job!
The titles of "Standard" on fixed sight pistols were changed after the Mark II pistols came out, but were still know as Mark II & Mark III Standards when fixed sights were used. The RST 4 & 6 designation was dropped with the introduction of the Mark II guns. Not sure what they're gonna do with the Mark IV, or even if there will be a version with fixed sights only. Time will tell.

I think it was the neighbor who put those sights on that 6" RST. He was quite gun savvy and I think he probably sold it to my dad when the MkII came out. I was long gone out of the house by then and didn't know that neighbor well. He did always seem to stop over and talk guns whenever I visited my parents.

Interestingly enough, my brother has a MkII (marked as such) that has a prefix of 18 with serial number in the low 16,000 range. It was also made in 1982. His is a 4" with fixed sights but has the MkII improvements. So my dad's was made in the last year of the RST and my brother's was made in the same year as the MKII.