Chad, I would probably have to agree to that to a point. I have always assumed that they were completed Maximums. There are a couple of reasons why I have believed that. one, the highest produced Maximum was serial #600-16314 and Ruger records indicate that the Max WAS produced into 1984. Now we all know that Ruger will produce guns in "blocks", not necessarily lineally in sequence by serial #. Evidence of that is that David Bradshaws #600-00018 was the first one off the production line, Elgin Gates #600-00016 was second. So this being the case, through my research the highest # Max out there, #600-11588, was produced in March of 1983, as well as several "blocks" of numbers down to below #600-11300. Quite a few months between March 1983 and January of 1984. I am assuming that production may have still continued through that time period. Allows for the assembly of a lot of guns. There may very well have been some serialized frames as well as Guns in various stages of completion that ended up on the scrap pile, but I believe most were completed guns.Obviously I make some assumptions here, and unfortunately most of those that had first hand knowledge have now passed.
I would be interested to know a few thinks that may help confirm or deny the "completed gun" thing. There was a pic that I believe Dougan had that showed a tray of Maximum cylinders. Be interested to know the date on that one. Also the dates of when Walter Howe contacted Munnel about "borrowing" a .357 Max Seville , which by the way is one I own, I have a letter from Walter relating to it's return, but not to the date of the original inquiry. My point is, and once again lets assume something here, that at the time Walter contacted Jeff, Maximum production had ceased because of the Max "issues" I better call Jeff! :shock: :shock:
Stuff like this, especially for me, makes this whole collector/Maximum thing really interesting! Chad, by the way I'd be interested in hearing about the FB jrs conversations. I had the pleasure of discussing the Max with FB while he was Plant manager, on the phone one time. Vogel gave me his number and gave him a heads up that I would be calling, both great guys! God Bless, Coogs.