Duplicate #'d Guns: anyone have both?

[Hondo44]

I often wonder if anyone has collected both guns of a duplicate numbered pair?

Unless you have the one stamped "D" you would never know if a gun has a duplicate.

 

[chet15]

I often wonder if anyone has collected both guns of a duplicate numbered pair?

Unless you have the one stamped "D" you would never know if a gun has a duplicate.

I know a collector in Texas who has three pair of Single-sixes with the exact same serial numbers!! Obviously one or the other was a duplicate, but two of the three pair do not have a "D" marked gun.
The other pair was sent back to the factory and had an "L" added after the serial number on one gun and an "R" after the sn on the other.
Its not the same, but we were able to come up with a consecutive pair of fixed sight Single-Sixes once, serial numbered D500420 and 500421. The second gun got out of the factory before it could be marked with a "D".
Chet15

 

[rugerguy]

glad you asked..........

the RST-4 and the Mk I T678 bought bought 30 plus years apart, my wife had the target gun, new in the box from the original owner, and the "original" numbered gun was found by a good friend, Bill Hall all those years later at one of the OGCA shows................


we also had a BKH42 that was a 'duplicate' gun, but they were NOT marked as such, and it went out to west coast, up north......


she had many other "D" guns, but never thought to or were ale to "match 'em up........" sold most all of them off ,except her bearcats marked "D" in one way or the other...........
thats why one has to KNOW their serial numbers and look at all and every Ruger they come across at any given time or place........

 

[Axehandle]

We've noted a series of D prefix guns in the FT 44 Specials.. The D guns are blue 4 5/8 Bisleys. The matching SN guns are in the stainless 4 5/8 FT 44s.. There is a thread in the collector folder that will run you through the facts pretty good...

Here's a link. http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=94212

 

[rugerguy]

yes, the new models are much easier to come by these days, as so many are advertised early on, and the 'mistake' is caught right away.....I was told some guys were able to even buy consecutive numbered "D"s, ups the odds to find the other one...the internet also makes it easier to contact other collectors and let each other "Know" just what one has, or may have come across.....as they say ,run an 'ad' or put it in the collectors section and "ask" the res of the collecting world........years ago and up until recently unless you saw one at the Ruger theme show or were a member of the 'RENE', and see what notes and things that Chad can come up with...even stories, , our "D" guns ran in a 'RENE' article some years back.........Thank you Chad

 

[Ale-8(1)]

FWIW, the following OM .357 Blackhawks have been reported to Bob's List . . .

D30-38756
D30-97453
D30-97511
D30-97527
D30-97559
D30-97623
D30-97640
D30-97682
D30-97701
D30-97708
D30-97732
D30-97735
D30-97761
D30-97762
D30-97875
D30-97938
D30-97950
D30-97963
D30-97978
D30-98099
D30-98173
D30-98270
D30-98318
D30-98327
D30-98391
D30-98394
D30-98396
D30-98404
D30-98432
D30-98490
D30-98597
D30-98749
D30-98861
D31-00036

I have no idea who has these.



Edited to add that I have started a separate thread for this listing . . .

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=99014&highlight=duplicate

 

[Hondo44]

I notice that FT blackhawk 44 special serial numbers are not yet posted on Ruger's website.

 

[Hondo44]

I know a collector in Texas who has three pair of Single-sixes with the exact same serial numbers!! Obviously one or the other was a duplicate, but two of the three pair do not have a "D" marked gun.
The other pair was sent back to the factory and had an "L" added after the serial number on one gun and an "R" after the sn on the other.
Its not the same, but we were able to come up with a consecutive pair of fixed sight Single-Sixes once, serial numbered D500420 and 500421. The second gun got out of the factory before it could be marked with a "D".
Chet15

Chet, was the one pair sent back to the factory specifically to get the L and R stamping or were they sent back for another purpose and Ruger noticed that they were duplicates and stamped them?

 

[chet15]

Chet, was the one pair sent back to the factory specifically to get the L and R stamping or were they sent back for another purpose and Ruger noticed that they were duplicates and stamped them?

The person who bought them from the dealer was the one who wrote the factory to tell them what they had. They told him to send them back to the factory and they would either send him two other guns or do something different for him. They came back with the "L" and the "R" hand stamped as a suffix to the serial number.
This pair of Single-Sixes is the earliest known example of Ruger making one serial number different from the other in a case of a duplicate numbering error.
But....there are known cases of many guns that go out without the error ever being caught. And if it was Ruger never did anythiing about it at the time (i.e. the 14xxx range .41 Blackhawks. Those are apparently listed in the records as having a "D" suffix, but none are known to have ever been stamped that way).
Chet15

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Chet15, does that mean they were never so stamped or that examples have not shown up . . . or possibly both??

 

[Pinecone]

Ale-8(1), I once owned serial # D30-97906. It was a convertible with the extra 9mm cylinder. Sold it many moons ago to a guy in Michigan..............Dick :wink:

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Thanks, Dick.

I've updated the list in the thread linked above.