red birds

jadek44 · Feb 5, 2013

Heres a question for you Rugerholics. What year did they stop the red grip eagles on the 22/45 mark3s?? Was looking at one on Gunbroker and they said something about 2007 for the warning as well. Mine is about a year old and has no warning. Does have the lci and goofy lock.

contender · Feb 6, 2013

Ok, lets clarify a few things.
The Red Eagles were only on the earliest Std Autos & early MKI's. That eagle was recessed & red with a silver background. Alex Sturm created it, and he died in 1950. In respect for his friend & investor, Bill had the color of the eagle changed to black. The earliest black eagles were in early 1951. Production medallions did not have red eagles again. The change to silver eagles AND them being raised, came about in the mid 1970's. The background was black. Then in the 1990's the BACKGROUND was changed to red. And since then, they have re-introduced the recessed black eagle, and changed the background color on some models.
Original red eagles stopped in 1951.

Highstandardguy · Feb 6, 2013

I only have two; my P45GCMKIII from 6/2007 has red background logos with the silver/gray eagle and my P4MKIII from 12/2010 has all black. The change must be somewhere in between those dates. Maybe someone with the specific data will reply.

Update: Both have locks, LCIs and warning label on the bottom of the barrel.

jadek44 · Feb 6, 2013

Wow.. Thanx for the history lesson Mr. Contender Sir. Also thanx to the other Gent as well... Never was a fan of the regular style frame. Had a couple over the years and they never seem to fit my mitt.. Tried a 22/45 and I had to have one.

chet15 · Feb 7, 2013

Yes....I have the info you are looking for in one of the backissues of the News Exchange. It didn't make the 2010 copy of the Reference of Ruger Firearms, so I'm thinking it occurred in 2010 with the 22/45 series Mark III's. Yes, the earliest Mark III 22/45's had red background medallions in both grip panels as well as the magazine bottom. Then at some point these were changed to a black plastic "button" with the eagle logo (R only, not SR if I remember correctly).
Chet15

Highstandardguy · Feb 8, 2013

Now you've got me going Chet. I've never seen 22/45 magazine with a red background logo. Mine are all black. When did the red logo 22/45 magazines stop?

contender · Feb 9, 2013

Small details like this (when color changes are noted in the background of the eagles) are hard to pinpoint unless collectors all look VERY closely at each & every gun they get. Then they must note these differences and report them. It may be hard to get good data on such details until many more people report such things.