Mark II Serial number

[KenH]

Hello all - this is my first visit to forum and am looking for a bit of help. I have a Mark II with serial number of 216-080xx and would like to know year of manufacture. I found the page (https://ruger.com/service/productHistory/PI-MarkII.html) for Mark series serial numbers and it shows that year 1991 the serial numbers started with 216-68349. It seems 1991 is the only year for the 216 series of numbers, but note the page says they start with 216-68349, but to the best of my meager math abilities -080xx is before -68349. Can anyone tell me the why of this? I do fully expect the year of manuf is 1991 because of the 216- number.

Thank you all for any help and guidance.

Ken H>

 

[daveg.inkc]

I would say 1990. Call the fine people @ Ruger.

 

[Fox Mike]

I would say 1990. Call the fine people @ Ruger.

First off...Welcome! What dave says is true. The serial number range for 1990 was 215-61938 through 216-68348.

 

[KenH]

Thank ya'll for the info - Based on the Ruger webpage linked in first post that 215-xxxxx was the total 1990 yr and 216-xxxxxx was the 1991 year. BUT, since ya'll folks know this stuff, I now understand the 215-xxxxx went to a number, then rolled over to 216-xxxx, and 1991 would pick up in the middle of 216-xxxx range.

Thank ya'll again, it never fails to amaze me just how much good knowledge can be found on the internet.

Ken H>

 

[Fox Mike]

There is a wealth of knowledge here concerning anything Ruger. The information I posted was taken from the RENE reference. It is actually more accurate, in many instances, than the information on the Ruger company's Web page.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

Hello all - this is my first visit to forum and am looking for a bit of help. I have a Mark II with serial number of 216-080xx and would like to know year of manufacture. I found the page (https://ruger.com/service/productHistory/PI-MarkII.html) for Mark series serial numbers and it shows that year 1991 the serial numbers started with 216-68349. It seems 1991 is the only year for the 216 series of numbers, but note the page says they start with 216-68349, but to the best of my meager math abilities -080xx is before -68349. Can anyone tell me the why of this? I do fully expect the year of manuf is 1991 because of the 216- number.

Thank you all for any help and guidance.

Ken H>

Ken,

If you got that date information off Rugers web-site, read the very bottom line. Those are the dates that those serial number ranges were shipped, not necessarily made. As was mentioned above, to get the actual "born-on date" you would need to contact Ruger. Receivers are serial numbered as they are made, BATF-E thing, but sometimes receivers will languish on a shelf for a while. That may not be real important, unless you are trying to be very accurate as far as the date when the receiver was actually made.

 

[KenH]

Thank you for bringing that to my attention - I'd not really "read" the bottom of page, just the top part, then started looking at numbers. The actual date isn't all that important. This Mark II came from my wife's late husband's estate of 17 years ago. She had sold it with a badly damaged barrel who a guy who was going to have it fixed, never did. A couple weeks ago he contacted us about returning the pistol, so we gave him his money back. I purchased a used barrel, removed old barrel and replaced with used barrel. Now it looks just like I expect it did new. VERY happy with pistol.

I'd read horror stories about how impossible it is to remove a Mark series barrel from receiver, but shucks, not hard at all. Just drop receiver/barrel unit in solution of dry ice 'n alcohol, soak for an hour, clamp barrel in good barrel vise, play a little heat on receiver over threads and screw right off. Got replacement barrel screwed in enough to index correctly - now that had to be TIGHT!!!

Ken H>

 

[KenH]

I would say 1990. Call the fine people @ Ruger.

This morning I did call Ruger, once you get thru all the phone options to get to a real person it was a very nice lady. Unfortunately she says the number didn't turn up in system. She says send for the Ruger Letter(s) of Authenticity and $10 for complete info. For $10 I might send it in, but not really all that important, other than just "good to know" type of thing.

Ken H>

 

[KenH]

OK folks - know this is an old thread now, but the wife did want the info from Ruger, so she sent the request and $10 to Ruger. Got Ruger's reply and the letter says "Our records indicate this Mark II pistol was shipped in Nov, 1989 from our Southport, CT as model KMK-512W in .22 Long Rifle"

Since it was shipped in 1989, I expect it was sold in 1990 which fits pretty close to the wifes "remembered" time frame.

Thanks again to all for your help.

Ken H>

 

[valvestem]

OK folks - know this is an old thread now, but the wife did want the info from Ruger, so she sent the request and $10 to Ruger. Got Ruger's reply and the letter says "Our records indicate this Mark II pistol was shipped in Nov, 1989 from our Southport, CT as model KMK-512W in .22 Long Rifle"

Since it was shipped in 1989, I expect it was sold in 1990 which fits pretty close to the wifes "remembered" time frame.

Thanks again to all for your help.

Ken H>

Thank you for the follow-up to the original post. Interesting that you came up with 1989, when you thought it was a 91, and others a 90. All good. And great information.