Help me figure this Ruger out?

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Joined
Apr 21, 2009
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1,362
Location
western Ky
I just traded for it this afternoon- my single-action I had for sale on here plus a decent amount of cash. It does not lock open after the last shot (standard or Mark I?) Gotta be aftermarket grips as well as the magazine (which jammed first shot when I got it home. I bent the lips a little bit and it went through the next 8 rounds flawlessly). Here it is:



Other than the circled place in the last pic, the finish looks slick, almost wet-looking. Been refinished probably? Serial number 479xxx.

Thanks.
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
1,362
Location
western Ky
Thanks for the replies, everyone. 1968? It has surely been refinished then. I just tried my Mark II mag and it won't fit. The round thing on the side of the mag that you push to load the mag is on the opposite side than this gun. The mag on this one must have been dropped- even I could see that the lips were bent in way too much. I hope someone makes mags for the old guns like this one. I'm gonna check around to try to find a new mag for it.
 

Firsttimegrampa

Single-Sixer
Joined
Aug 22, 2004
Messages
339
Location
Havelock,NC USA
Sir, you can change the button and put it on the other side. On the under side is a little pin hole. Push a small "pin" into it to release the bottom, pull it off and pull button out and pit it on the other side ..I know I left something out. But that is about what you do..
 

J Miller

Blackhawk
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Sep 30, 2000
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977
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Not in IL anymore ... :)
Look REAL close at the feed lips on the MK II magazine. Then look real close at the feed lips on the damaged magazine.
Get a pair of flat jawed pliars (look like needle nosed pliars with a long 1/4" wide flat nose ) and VERY carefully rebend the damaged lips to match the good magazine's lips.

I did this several years ago and went from 3 good mags and several bad ones, to six good ones and one almost good one. Need to work on it some more.

Those magazines are available from Ruger, Brownells, Midway and just about every gun shop in the country.

Joe
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
11,653
Location
Kentucky
Firsttimegrampa is real close . . .

If you push the magazine follower down until the button aligns with the round "hole" in the slot, and hold the follower there with something stuck down inside the magazine (I use a plastic toothbrush handle), you can pull the button out thru that hole and insert it in from the other side.

Presto-change-o, an opposite-hand magazine.

If you let the "holder" get away from you while the button is out, the follower and spring will launch across the room, so be careful.

Your magazine looks like a factory item to me, although I have been wrong before.

:D :D :D
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
1,362
Location
western Ky
Thanks. I'll get another mag for it, and swap the button if I have to so it will fit. All I saw locally was the Mark II kind and I didn't know you could swap sides with the button. Thanks again. The magazine may be factory- the pic of a old Ruger I found on the internet had, after closer inspection, a chrome bottom magazine like this one. At first I thought it was blue in the pic, but after I eblarged the pic- it is chrome too.

I'm learning as I go. I used to have a Mark II in the late 80's, and my wife has always wanted another one. So now I have this and she has a used SS Mark II. And I got my daughter a used Mark II 22/45 a couple of months ago.
 
Joined
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Messages
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western Ky
2Late45":2hb537vd said:
The MKI's don't lock open after the last round, and they are nine shots.

I was sure that they didn't lock open, but I didn't know they only held nine rounds. That was why I thought it was aftermarket- in my first post I said it jammed on number one then fed the other eight ok. Thanks!
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,138
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Lake Lure NC USA
Ok,,, until the introduction of the MKII,, the Ruger mags were unmarked,, had a chrome base & held only 9 rounds. Swapping the follower button around is easily done on mags with slots on both sides. The earlier mags only had the slot on one side and it wasn't until the redesigned the grip frame that they swapped sides where the follower button went. STD, MKI. & MKII mags with 2 slots can be used in all those models.
There ARE some aftermarket mags that LOOK like factory chrome based mags,, but a good inspection with a factory mag beside it shows it's aftermarket.
Now,, the MKII 22/45 & the MKIII's have different issues with the mags,,,! It has to do with the release button notch near the top,,,!
You can also lock open the bolt on a MKI or a STD with the safety button.
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2002
Messages
8,966
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Ohio , U.S.A.
the adjustable sights makes it a "Mark I"...put in a MK II mag and yours too will hold 10 shots, they work..............good looking gun, and as you say for as "shiny" as the picture shows,. most likely a reblue, but so what , they are NOT that " rare and valuable", to not have it look nice..... :wink:
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
1,362
Location
western Ky
Thanks for the info! I bought it for my wife to use. I'm not much into collector guns- that is why I sold the Single Six Lightweight, that I had bought a few years ago, to someone on here. I wanted a gun that I could use, and after I found out that some guys collect them, I couldn't stand to shoot it anymore. So I sold it and bought one I can shoot and enjoy.
 

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