1950 Ruger Standard

[wingspar]

My father bought this gun brand new. I've shot it a lot, but not since the late 1970's or early 80's. He passed away in 1988, and my mother put the gun in a box and gave it to me just to get it out of the house. It was the only gun he had left. He had already sold everything else. It has been in the box she put it in till this month when I got a renewed interest in guns, and decided to photograph it. There are a few boxes of 1950's vintage ammo with it, which I do not plan on shooting. Some ammo just arrived today via the brown truck.

The red medallion is missing from the left grip. I just received a couple of medallions from Ruger, but they did say they are not of the same vintage. Does anyone have a photo of the red medallions used before Sturm died?

Here is what Ruger sent me.

 

[DA_TriggR4Ruger]

THAT is one FINE Ruger you got there! Not many of those around anymore esp not that good looking. Finish is great from the pics. Don't know much about the Ruger medallions, but im sure plenty of folks around here can help with that. Welcome to the forums

 

[wingspar]

Thanks for the welcome. I've had a really hard time finding out what the original medallions look like. My memory of it is very vague, and I have no idea of how it could have come off. In another forum I've had one person say this is it, and another say this could never pass for an original. I was hoping someone on this forum would know.

 

[Danjet500]

I am also interested in the differences, if any, between the new Red Eagles and an original.

 

[gb6491]

THAT is one FINE Ruger you got there! Not many of those around anymore esp not that good looking. Finish is great from the pics. ...

+1 on that; very nice photos as well

I believe this style medallion would be correct for your pistol:

Regards,
Greg

 

[chet15]

gb6491's pic is a good start. That is the type of medallion that was used with most of the red eagle autos (send me a pm on this and I can tell you what variation it is also...there are 10 different variations in the 4-3/4" red eagle, some common but most rare).
It all depends on what the serial number of your gun is.
Since your medallion is missing, I am betting it is the earlier style (not pictured) that was made of two pieces. Yes the eagle is red on the early one, but they were also made of two pieces (stem and medallion) that were brazed together (hence the reason you see a lot of early autos without the medallion...they broke and fell out).
These early two-piece medallions also look as though the eagle is enameled, and is the red part is flush with the outer "silver" colored surface of the medallion. These grips are tough to come by and are only known on .22 pistols up to the 9,300 range, although the later red eagle medallions are also seen much earlier than 9,300. The later red eagle medallions have an eagle that is best described as "incuse" or set below the surface of the medallion.
Another note on the later (incuse eagle) medallions is that the medallion itself was very thin, so that when the stem was staked on the backside, the stem itself almost pushed through the eagles breast on the front, leaving a humped area on the eagles breast and most of the time cracking the paint. This type of thin medallion was also used during the first ten thousand or so black eagle's.
Chet15

 

[wingspar]

I believe this style medallion would be correct for your pistol:

It looks like your photo is correct from the following paragraph I was able to find recently. The original Red Eagle models had the Ruger logo in red on a silver background.

Alex Sturm and Bill Ruger started selling pistols in 1949 using a red eagle logo that Sturm designed. The Red Eagle models had the Ruger logo in red on a silver background. Since then, the Ruger logo on the grip panels has been either black on silver or silver on black, with the exception of a special 50th Anniversary model that had a silver eagle on a red background. When Sturm died in 1951, Ruger changed the logo to black to mourn his friend. Approximately 25,600 pistols were sold with the red eagle logo.

 

[wingspar]

gb6491's pic is a good start. That is the type of medallion that was used with most of the red eagle autos (send me a pm on this and I can tell you what variation it is also...there are 10 different variations in the 4-3/4" red eagle, some common but most rare).

Good info. Thank you. Here is a photo showing the missing medallion. I'm guessing it was very early, as the serial number is 4xxx.

 

[rugerguy]

yessir, that is one of the "early" ones and you'd have to "update" the left grip panel, with a "later" one -piece medallion, and paint the center ( the eagle) red.......OR try and locate a pair of early red eagle grips on one of the gun auction sites, but be prepared to pay a large sum for the "correct" vintage grips, they usually are in the $100 range for them, thats why its best to just put into YOUR left grip panel, another medallion..........( no, not the "current" red background medallion, like they use in the 'anniversary' guns....as in your picture above.
I'd put on a picture ,but our photobucket.com servor is "screwed up" at this time..........................

 

[wingspar]

I'd put on a picture ,but our photobucket.com servor is "screwed up" at this time..........................

Please post a photo when you can. I was thinking of changing the color of the medallions Ruger sent me to match the one in the photo gb6491 posted, but I notice the SR symbol is not in his medallion. Was it not in the original medallions?