1953 Ruger Standard RST4 SN-67,800

[Dantforth]

Always when I am not prepared and low on cash. I jumped on this. It comes with a hinged box and with the poor photo it is hard to tell but may have tapered ears. The only negative is that the original grip panels are gone and replaced with faux stag. So, I am waiting, not so patiently for it to arrive. Now I am looking for a set of original black eagle grips. Photos when I can. In 95% condition or better. Price was sooooo good, especially when considering the eighty cent Canadian dollar. Seller said he had twenty some inquiries waiting for answers after he posted it. I was lucky enough to say "I'll take it" first. Here is a photo. Can you believe someone would add those grip panels!!! Ugly. David

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

Nice snag!! Maybe rugerguy can help you with the grips.
Terry

 

[Dantforth]

Thanks Terry. Maybe someone will chime in here with a set of grips for sale. I have some trade stuff, including those awful looking grips that are on it. I will wait a bit and then post on the for sale area. These old ones are getting very difficult to find here.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Nice score!

Hey, those plastic stags were all the rage back in the day. Keep 'em for show & tell later on.

 

[contender]

Let's see that box a bit better. If it's a hinged lid, it may be for an older Red Eagle gun.

 

[Dantforth]

Well, it has a hinged lid. I did some research in my Rene guide and it looked like that vintage pistol could come with a hinged box. Maybe I was wrong? One way or the other, it is coming.

 

[street]

Hinged boxes for Standard Autos are known as high as serial number 90800. And tapered ear Standard Autos run from 43181 to 69372 and from 80019 to 83368. So your gun should be a tapered ear with a hinged lid box if it is in the serial number range of 58,xxx.

 

[OldRugerMan]

I think street nailed it. I have RST4 serial number 44430 made in 1952 with tapered ears, two piece bolt and I believe it should have a hinged box. It's in a Standard Auto box right now until a hinged box comes along. You'll need the grips with the dull Eagle (as opposed to the shiny Eagle). I'm talking about the silver part of the Black Eagle grip medallion.

 

[Dantforth]

Thanks Street and Randy. I am waiting for the wheels to turn so I can have it here. I will be looking for original grip panels for it at some point. I have a set of Sack Peterson Elk Stags for the XR3 grip frame which I may offer for trade for original grips and another magazine of the correct vintage. Seller says he may find the grips in the estate stuff he got from the original owner so I am trying to be patient.

 

[Dantforth]

So, here is the rest of the story. Pistol arrived and has exceeded my expectations in condition. I disassembled and cleaned it. There was some hardened grease which was reddish in colour under the grip panels and inside. It has tapered bolt ears and a two piece bolt. S/N turned out to be 67800. Box is hinged and in VG condition. S/N on box is 66967. This mistake must have happened at the dealer. I am assuming that pistols were removed from the boxes when they were put in a display case and when sold the boxes were mixed. Owner had recently passed and had purchased it new. It came with the warranty card and a manual which is dated "Revised October 1,1952". Grip panels, which are even more ugly in person, have Franzite SR-22 Ruger moulded into the rear side of each.
Now for my big question.....upon disassembly, when I removed the firing pin cross pin and the firing pin itself a very small coil spring and small flat piece of metal fell out from under the firing pin. Now, I managed to reassemble it but I guessed at how these two small parts went into place. Everything seems to be functioning properly but I have not fired it. Is there an exploded diagram showing these parts in place? The diagram shows "rebound spring and rebound spring support". Help!!

 

[rugerguy]

sounds like a really neat "package"...... as for the firing pin support and spring, with the bolt flat on the bench (top up) when you look down in the slot you will "see" a slight notch towards the front , as the notch curves upward....the "support" with the curved side downward goes into this forward notch, and the spring will be towards the back, thus it pushes on the bottom "notch/flat" of the firing pin......lay the spring and support in the groove, and slip the firing pin over, from the rear then slightly forward so it engages this spring, then put the cross pin back on place...you'll know you hot it right if you "feel" spring tension on the firing pin when you push it rearward with a punch or screwdriver,,,,,then put the recoil spring guide assembly back on top, it it's groove, and you're ready to go.......

 

[Dantforth]

Thanks Dan. I may have lucked out and put it back in correctly. When I push forward on the rear of the firing pin it is under some tension and comes back into place when I quit pushing. Yes, it is a neat package for me. Very few people who purchased these early pistols had any thoughts of collecting and even fewer kept original boxes and paperwork. David

 

[rugerguy]

glad it worked out, there are a set of grips on their way to you, let us "see" some pictures when you get them............

 

[Dantforth]

Dan, you beat me to it. Thanks to you and to Laura for the proper grip panels. Yes, I will post a photo here when it is complete. David

 

[Dantforth]

Well, I got my grips thanks to Dan....rugerguy. Grips look great but the left panel will not sit flat as there is a pin jutting out of the grip frame. It appears that the pin should be flush on both sides. It is just beside the top grip screw. So, it is out of place. Without looking at any diagrams it almost looks like a pivot pin for the hammer??? The old Franzite grips were hollow so they allowed the pin to shift out of place where the factory grips would not have allowed that. Anyway.....darn! Now I have to figure out how to get the pin back into place without screwing anything up. Problem solved. All done and the grips look lovely. Thanks again to Dan and Laura. David

 

[rugerguy]

sounds good and you are more than welcome, yes, any of those "hollow" grip panels or even putting MK II grips on the MK I will allow the pin in the frame to "move" over and out, usually the sear pin, and it will just 'lock up ' the gun, at times a simple 'slave pin' can be used from the opposite side and with a bit of wiggle and luck, allow things to "line up' and the pin to go back into place ...
again, glad to be of help David, thing to remember though your gun I believe is the two piece bolt?? (Korean War vintage era), and those two piece bolts can and will "come apart"...keep that in mind.
keep an eye open for a later one piece bolt and you can shoot it all you want, save the "vintage" two piece bolt.............

 

[Dantforth]

I have a couple others to use so this one will stay in the box. Good advise though. I do enjoy my Rugers. Dave