Post Your .44 FLATTOP November shipped Blackhawks!!

[flattop44]

ROCS is dedicating its fall 2016 issue of the Digest Magazine to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Ruger .44 Magnum "Flattop". It has been estimated that 790 guns were shipped in 1956. We would like to tie down a good estimate of how many were shipped during the first month of production, November 1956.

Please list the serial number of your .44 Flattop that was shipped in November 1956 that has been validated with a factory letter or factory email or phone call. Please do not submit a gun that has not been validated, do not guess, we want the information to be accurate as possible. Thanks in advance for your participation!!

FT44

I'll start with a couple that I know:

172
179
200
204
212
213
219
279
299
301
305
346
379
693
708
712
714
719
723
824
888
892
911

 

[Doc4429]

Serial numbers 279 and 911.

Bill

 

[mike722]

723
(not mine but posting for a lurker)

 

[Hashknife Hartley]

Can't help you with a November, '56 gun but 512 was shipped in December, '56; shows how erratic Ruger was at shipping guns out, with both 732 and 911 being shipped in November.
HH

 

[radicalrod]

Well I have a few NOV shipped 44's....RR
11/56
204
379
693

12/56 just because.....
122
203
426
581
738
804
976
1239

 

[BRASS FRAME]

Bill, I have #219 and #712. Both have factory letters stating shipped in November, 1956. Brass Frame/Lee

 

[ndruger]

213 here.

 

[SteveRuger]

I have #892 first month.

 

[bigbore45colt]

521, Manufactured Nov 24, 1956, Shipped Nov 28, 1956. Type 1.

BB45C

 

[hammesj]

Bill; I have #490, but my letter from Ruger states that it was shipped in December 1956.

 

[d findley]

Bill, # 755 Dec. 56

 

[chet15]

Here's the ones I have in my notes that weren't covered...

200...reported to be the earliest commercially shipped .44 flattop. Never did hear if it left with a group of guns, or ?

305 mfg. 11/16/56 shp. 11/23/56
708
714
719

Also...serial number 14 may have been the first .44 flattop shipped...it went to the NRA for testing, so is pretty much a different animal from those first commercially shipped...because the Ruger people made sure it had a large button ejector rod and walnut grips....they didn't want anything bad appearing in print so they made sure it didn't have the small square button, and also made sure it had smooth walnut grips instead of the cheese grater checkered hard rubber.

Chet15

 

[bigbore45colt]

Bill,

Number 824 is listed in your article. Any idea where that serial number came from? I have a few other 824s and wouldn't mind adding that one to the pile.

Thanks!

BB45C

 

[weaselmeatgravy]

Just saw this. I missed the deadline, but I have #346, shipped 11/56. Came to me out of California in 2001.

 

[win1894s]

I have 590 looking at the list I'm guessing December.

 

[flattop44]

A friend showed me #299 in Tulsa, it's a fine factory lettered November 1956 shipped gun. Thanks Ndruger!
Bill

 

[mike722]

Add 722 to the November list..

 

[jussbad]

Bill

Add #888 to the list:
Produced in November 1956 & shipped to Baker & Hamilton in San Francisco, CA. - November 1956.
Gotta love the new letters from Ruger.
Thanks.

 

[flattop44]

Another o e added to the list, #212. Thanks for the info Gary.
Bill

 

[chet15]

From a ROCS thread on the same subject.... This may very well be the complete list, although J.D. did say there is a possibility he missed a couple. So this is J.D.'s list of November 1956 shipped .44 Blackhawks.

67
72
102*
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
177
179
182
185
187
188
190
195
198
200
204
205
206
208
214
217
218
219
223
226
227
228
230
236
245
247
248
251
254
255
256
260
261
263
266
272
275
277
279
289
294
295
299
301
302
303
305
306
309
312
316
317
320
323
330
331
335
336
337
339
340
342
343
344
345
346
347
351
355
358
365
366
367
368
369
370
378
379
384
385
385
386
387
390
391
393
394
395
396
397
399
400
402
405
456
476
478
487
509
511
516
517
519
521
522
529
531
535
537
542
543
544
546
550
551
554
602
668
673
676
679
684
693
701
703
707
708
712
713
715
717
719
720
722
723
726
729
788
810
811
817
820
824
830
835
836
837
842
847
848
849
855
859
860
863
864
867
870
871
872
876
878
879
881
885
888
890
891
895
896
897
904
908
911
914

* Note that serial number 102 was shipped 8/14/56

J.D. also provided the number of guns shipped during each day of November 1956, as follows...

20th - Tuesday 1
21st - Wednesday 6
22nd -Thursday 0
Thanksgiving
23rd Friday 19
24th Saturday 26
25th - Sunday 0
26th - Monday 25
27th - Tuesday 8
28th - Wednesday 43
29th - Thursday 38
30th - Friday 2
BKH4 shipped during November 1956 = 168

P.S. serial #200 was made in 1956 and shipped in 1957
J.D. says that #102 went out on 8/14/56 and is not included in the November dates listed above.

There are a total of 185 serial numbers listed above as shipped in November 1956.

Also, Chet15 actually saw serial number 67 along with its .357 Blackhawk same serial numbered mate at a gun show in eastern Nebraska in the early to mid 1980's. At the show, the BKH4 was a true Type 2 with large round button ejector button and the BKH3 was a true Type 1 with small square serrated ejector button. The BKH4 also had its original two piece box with a "WITH WALNUT GRIPS" sticker on the end. At the next show where these two guns were seen, the owner had switched the ejector rods (maybe he only switched around the ejector buttons?) to make the BKH4 seem like a bigger rarity when it never left the factory that way.

Chet15

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Gotta watch out for those "screwdriver variations"! (Thanks, Bob)

 

[chet15]

Aren't they all screwdriver variations???
Chet15

 

[flattop44]

Chet 15, I bought the #67 BKH3 and BKH4 about a year or so ago. Their Ejector rods with original buttons were correct in both guns when purchased. Someone put them back original by the time they came to me.
FT44

 

[IndianCent]

#385 (one of the two)

 

[chet15]

Chet 15, I bought the #67 BKH3 and BKH4 about a year or so ago. Their Ejector rods with original buttons were correct in both guns when purchased. Someone put them back original by the time they came to me.
FT44

Very good! Wondered where they went.
Now I wonder who those went to originally. One would think those two flattops #67 would have been part of the August/September 1957 purge... but to have the .44 FT leave in November 1956....
It is not believed that subscription numbers were anywhere near 67 by the time of the Fall 1957 purge.
Might mean somebody really interesting got those two guns originally, maybe through the efforts of Ed Nolan?
All speculation of course.
Chet15

 

[chet15]

Chet 15, I bought the #67 BKH3 and BKH4 about a year or so ago. Their Ejector rods with original buttons were correct in both guns when purchased. Someone put them back original by the time they came to me.
FT44

Also, didn't Gary West or somebody find the .357 box for #67 roaming around on ebay a few years back?
Chet15

 

[flattop44]

Yes, he sure did. Matter of fact I found one of them for him and another friend of mine in Texas found the other one. That was great being able to see them getting back together.
FT44

 

[chet15]

Yes, he sure did. Matter of fact I found one of them for him and another friend of mine in Texas found the other one. That was great being able to see them getting back together.
FT44

Strange how those boxes aren't kept together.
I had an absolutely NIB Tricolor with the large button and no chips on the cylinder at one time. Sold it to a well known collector in New York. Some years later I find that the gun had somehow separated from its box. Argh!!!!
That is still the only large button Tri-color I know of without chips on the cylinder.

If you ever find out who the #67 FT's went to, I would definitely be interested in knowing. Sure, its possible the original owner got lucky and paired them up, but seems more reasonable that the two guns left the factory at the same time... and for November 1956, that would be the earliest that I've heard of for a "purge" of the two-digit archive guns since most left in August/Sept. 1957. Thats why I mentioned Ed Nolan, because he would have came on board at about that time.
Chet15