#3 .44 magnum serial numbers

[Ruger # 1]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that the Ruger # 1 group has been doing stuff like this since 2003. They have hundreds and hundreds of serial numbers of Ruger Single Shot rifles including the # 3. Most anything you want or need to know about the # 1 & 3 is in that group.

They cover Collecting, Shooting, and Hunting with the # 1 & 3. Also for those that like to shoot there Single Shots they hold events every year for the # 1's & 3's that are backed by the Ruger Factory and Lipsey's.

Not trying to take anything away from this group but the Ruger Forum is for all things Ruger, the Ruger # 1 Group is for Ruger Single Shot Rifles only so it's set up a bit different.
Ruger # 1 Guy

 

[das5833]

Thanks, Ruger #1 guy-

I just went over there to look (and join) and they have five on their list. One is a duplicate, four are numbers that we don't have. Will have to add them to the list later today. That brings us up to 27 now-

Dave

 

[Ruger # 1]

Your Welcome Dave,
That site is scheduled to be up dated on the 15th. I'm sure there will be a lot more # 1's and # 3's listed, not all 44 Mags of course but all the calibers that the # 3 was made in.

I think the nice thing about it is that all of the numbers reported are listed in numerical order along with the year made, caliber, and any other particulars about the rifle.

As you can easily see it seems that most # 3's in 44 mag were made in 1984. Interesting for the guys that need to know.
Ruger # 1 Guy

 

[RUFFBIRD]

Great thread so far, slowly we will have a better informed picture of the no of .44's made.

My guess all these years about date of manufacture on mine was sometime in 1985....

 

[RugerHound]

Dave is acquiring the ship dates for the group we have thus far, and from that point forward we'll integrate future shop dates to our data as the information comes in. The stuff on the #1 group is very eye-opening. Those folks have done a LOT of great work gathering & compiling information. Once I figure out how to use their yahoo group, I'll give them the information from my 7 No.3's.

After Dave gets his delivery information, we'll try to pull this data into a format that's a little but more 'user friendly'.

We still have the same low & high SN. We have 27 serial numbers now which represents about 13.5% of the so-called '200' models.

Series Batch Gap
132- 39138
132- 39669 531
132- 42067 2398
132- 42133 66
132- 42153 20
132- 42205 52
132- 42238 33
132- 42363 125
132- 42366 3
132- 42528 162
132- 42558 30
132- 42701 143
132- 42911 210
132- 42967 56
132- 42971 4
132- 42984 13
132- 43023 39
132- 43121 98
132- 43147 26
132- 43188 41
132- 55171 11983
132- 55350 179
132- 55373 23
132- 55390 17
132- 55677 287
132- 55835 158
132- 55886 51

 

[rec0546]

Please add mine to your list. Serial number is 132-55069.

 

[bluedot54]

have all 6, 44 is a virgin ser no. 132-39729

 

[RugerHound]

Some interesting data boys & girls! All ship dates are now updated as well. Low & High SNs have not changed. 29 total in the spreadsheet...

Low SN: 132-39138
High SN: 132-55886
29 total accounted for, 14.5% of the perhaps NOT so mythical "200"!
Verified Ship-date range: Dec 1982 through May 1984

(Sorry for the leading zeros in the "Gap" column. This msg format doesn't like tab characters.)


Series Batch Gap Shipped
132- 39138 ------ Dec-82
132- 39669 00531 Oct-82
132- 39729 00060 Mar-83
132- 42067 02338 Dec-81
132- 42133 00066 Oct-82
132- 42153 00020 Oct-82
132- 42205 00052 Jan-83
132- 42238 00033 Sep-82
132- 42363 00125 Oct-82
132- 42366 00003 Oct-82
132- 42528 00162 Oct-82
132- 42558 00030 Jan-85
132- 42701 00143 Feb-83
132- 42911 00210 Jan-83
132- 42967 00056 Oct-82
132- 42971 00004 Oct-82
132- 42984 00013 Dec-82
132- 43023 00039 Feb-83
132- 43121 00098 Sep-82
132- 43147 00026 Sep-82
132- 43188 00041 Dec-82
132- 55069 11881 Apr-83
132- 55171 00102 Sep-82
132- 55350 00179 Oct-82
132- 55373 00023 Nov-82
132- 55390 00017 Dec-82
132- 55677 00287 Apr-83
132- 55835 00158 Oct-82
132- 55886 00051 May-84

 

[bluedot54]

ok i hope this all helps have all 6 in box with all the trimmings. only the 44 is nib. none of the others have been shot more then 10 (ten) rounds.

1. 45-70 LM ser. no. 76-527

2. 30-40 krag LM ser. no. 130-57996

3. 223 rem. ser. no.130-69037

4.22 hornet ser.no. 130-61397

5.375 win. ser.no. 132-50178

6. 44 rem mag. 132-39729

sure would like to get my hands on the 30-06 that was made, i am under the impression there was only one made.
keep up the good work.

ron tait

 

[NH Rugerman]

Some of your dates do not coincide with the Ruger websites information, below is the first serial number of each year according to Ruger...you have my rifle shipping in May of 1984 yet the website suggests it was manufactured in 1985.....does this make the info on the website suspect for all other Older Ruger models as well....just wondering.

130-50000 1973
130-51170 1974
130-54210 1975
130-55139 1976
130-60511 1977
130-65671 1978
130-70344 1979
*132-01360 1980
*132-07159 1981
*132-25986 1982
*132-34077 1983
*132-39043 1984
*132-54434 1985
*132-73032 1986

*No. 3 serial numbers rollmarked with No. 1 Rifles beginning in 1980

 

[bluedot54]

the ruger no. 3 begs to be to be made in 32-20 win, 25-20 win. and perhaps in 218 bee, and as long as I'm wishing 460 win mag. or is it 460 s&w??

ron

 

[RugerHound]

Some of your dates do not coincide with the Ruger websites information, below is the first serial number of each year according to Ruger...you have my rifle shipping in May of 1984 yet the website suggests it was manufactured in 1985.....does this make the info on the website suspect for all other Older Ruger models as well....just wondering.

130-50000 1973
130-51170 1974
130-54210 1975
130-55139 1976
130-60511 1977
130-65671 1978
130-70344 1979
*132-01360 1980
*132-07159 1981
*132-25986 1982
*132-34077 1983
*132-39043 1984
*132-54434 1985
*132-73032 1986

*No. 3 serial numbers rollmarked with No. 1 Rifles beginning in 1980

Yours is the highest SN we have thus far, and the ship dates are directly from Ruger via email correspondence. I think we know that some of Ruger's number/dates are a little 'out to lunch' for at least some of the SA pieces as someone on the forum put it in another thread a while ago.

We may have to take some time & call the records lady. I suspect she processes a BUNCH of requests every day, and it's possible that there was a mistake.

 

[Ruger # 1]

Please don't forget, many times Shipping dates don't have much to do with Mfg. dates. And the date you bought your Ruger many times has nothing to do with when it was made or when it was shipped.
Ruger # 1 Guy

 

[RugerHound]

Please don't forget, many times Shipping dates don't have much to do with Mfg. dates. And the date you bought your Ruger many times has nothing to do with when it was made or when it was shipped.
Ruger # 1 Guy

Absolutely correct... although I also have several No.3 rifles that Ruger reports ship dates earlier than when the gun was manufactured (according to their table).

 

[das5833]

Before throwing my 2 cents in here, I think all of us here that are interested in this project should thank Pete for the work he's done compiling the charts.

Now for my input: I think both NH Rugerman and Pete are both correct regarding the conflict in the manufacturing dates vs. the shipping dates. One of the examples that jumps out is the second rifle from the end of the chart. According to the data supplied by NH Rugerman, the first serial number of 1985 should be (according to the Ruger website) 132-54434. Yet we have on the chart, for the above mentioned rifle, a serial number of 132-55835 shipping (again, per Ruger records) in Oct 1982. That's a minimum of two years and three months before it was manufactured- all according to Ruger!
That's only one example- I'm sure there are more...
So I think we have to take all of this information with a grain of salt. These records are coming up on thirty years old, and who knows how carefully they were recorded to begin with, let alone how accurately they are being reported now.
The whole point of this exercise was to have some fun, and try to learn something, from Ruger if possible, and from each other for sure. I say let it play out and let's see how much more info we can gather for awhile. After we get a larger sample (50+??), we should be able to get a clearer picture of what happened with the history of these rifles, and at the same time, be better able to "flag" some of the suspect info/ data.

 

[RugerHound]

Dave,

I appreciate the kudos but please don't leave out your own efforts! It's certainly a team effort to be sure. We don't have too much to look at yet but hopefully we'll gather steam. (Trying to figure out how to put this data into a graph that makes some sense) As it is, we have ship dates for all SNs we have cataloged which is a step in the right direction!

Looking at my own No.3 rifles, they don't coordinate very well with the table on Ruger's website either. When examining the on-line tables, we should always remember Ruger's admonishment:

"Ruger does not produce firearms in serial number order. There are occasions when blocks of serial numbers have been manufactured out of sequence, sometimes years later. Also, within a model family the same serial number prefix may be used to produce a variety of different models, all in the same block of serial numbers. And in some cases, models may be stored for a length of time before they are shipped.

For exact information on your specific serial number, you can contact Ruger's Records Department either by telephone or mail."

 

[ubme]

I can add a serial# to the list.

132-55964 Shipped Oct 1982

 

[RugerHound]

Well we've finally found a new 'high' Serial Number! This gives us 15% of the possible '200'. As has been mentioned, the ship dates are all over the map. Just another example of Ruger's famously inconsistent shipping habits.

Earliest ship date - Dec 1981
Latest ship date - Jan 1985

Series Batch Gap Shipped
132- 39138 ------ Dec-82
132- 39669 00531 Oct-82
132- 39729 00060 Mar-83
132- 42067 02338 Dec-81
132- 42133 00066 Oct-82
132- 42153 00020 Oct-82
132- 42205 00052 Jan-83
132- 42238 00033 Sep-82
132- 42363 00125 Oct-82
132- 42366 00003 Oct-82
132- 42528 00162 Oct-82
132- 42558 00030 Jan-85
132- 42701 00143 Feb-83
132- 42911 00210 Jan-83
132- 42967 00056 Oct-82
132- 42971 00004 Oct-82
132- 42984 00013 Dec-82
132- 43023 00039 Feb-83
132- 43121 00098 Sep-82
132- 43147 00026 Sep-82
132- 43188 00041 Dec-82
132- 55069 11881 Apr-83
132- 55171 00102 Sep-82
132- 55350 00179 Oct-82
132- 55373 00023 Nov-82
132- 55390 00017 Dec-82
132- 55677 00287 Apr-83
132- 55835 00158 Oct-82
132- 55886 00051 May-84
132- 55964 00078 Oct-82

 

[picketpin]

The "RUGER" ship dates and serial numbers highs and lows for each year on their charts and web site are a rough approximation and have NO basis in reality.

You have to remember that the rifles or any other guns at Ruger were NOT made in any kind of order.

The "listed" serial number can be significantly earlier than the RUGER web page shows and they can also be years later than that chart would suggest.

There are a LOT of #1s in RSI configuration that shipped long before the RUGER RSI was actually cataloged and shipped. We have addressed this on the #1 Group. When you actually contact records and they get the information all the RSIs shipped after the introduction date listed, regardless of what the serial number is. There aren't any that shipped 2 years before it was introduced. BUT the serial numbers on the rifles would suggest that, until you call records.

In the same vein, of the non prefix #1s I own, I have a 6mm and another in 257 Roberts that shipped much later than the non prefix supposedly shipped.. The non prefix was made from 1967 through 1969 though a bunch actually shipped in 1970. However the 257 Roberts shipped in October 1972 and the 6mm shipped in Sept 1974. In fact the 6mm actually has a mix of non prefix features and later features, probably 1974.

So, the Ruger data is a very ROUGH approximation and the only accurate thing that you can go by is what records has and that's the ship date. To the best of my knowledge there are no records available reflecting the actual "Build" date. That was not something that Ruger was required to keep or provide to ATF so it simply wasn't part of the records. Especially when they were assembled completely at or nearly at random regarding the sequence of the serial numbers.

Some come pretty close to the date you would think. BUT they can also be YEARS off, both early or late once you get an answer from records. When in doubt or it's critical information it's always best to letter the gun via Ruger Records.

RWT

 

[RugerHound]

For what it's worth, the SN's that Dave & I have recorded here (thanks to the generous cooperation from their owners!) were all verified as to ship date by Ruger records unless the owner provided the ship date information (month & year) themselves. It's fairly obvious to even a casual observer that the serial number sequence & dates of shipment are pretty well skewed! We've also seen this same phenomenon with the SA pieces.