lots to know and learn abot the early automatic 22 rinfires...best bet is try and find Chjad Hiddlesons book "Encyclopdeia of Ruger Semi-autmatic Rimfire Pistols 1949-1992" covers it all , along with GOOD pictures tohelp...yes, any of the other .22 rimfire books will cover "inprint" but you gotta go back and forth and jump around...(need a LIBRARY of Ruger books....) Hey,most of us have them.....
anyway, the early gun has the red eagle grips and aroud the grip screws are small aluminum escutcheons, this tells you it is indeed an "early' gun,,,, there are LOT of later, hard rubber ( butaprene) grips on many early guns and the eagles were "repainted" red, over the black..so gotta be careful,,,the Red eagles will run up to aropund serial number #35,000 give or take a few numbers, ( its in the book...)also there are about 10-11 variations of the 'red eagle' 22 guns ,even into the first Mark I targets ,in 1951......so gotta do your homework..also "condition" they gotta be nice nd even better ,boxed to get the "big buck'....the early ones were also shipped direct to the buyer, and shipped out in a "wooden, salt cod" box and had a REA Railway express label on them....yes, these boxes have even been"replicated" so again, be wary and careful...
as for prices, we se them run the gamut of $300 to $2500 plus, if "packaged" ...guns alone usually around here will run in the $350-450 range, in fact I have had one to about 5 shows now inthe $450 range and its still sitting here..................
last Maumee Valley gun show we got one, NICER and in the box for $500, so one never knows....................
Good luck