Quattroclick said:
I lucked out and picked up a really nice Red Eagle 22 (RST-4) for a used shooter price. SN is 38XX. What range of serial numbers are type 2? What are the differences? I can't find much info about type 2 guns. It's my first Ruger 22 semi auto. I have passed up a few Standards and Mark 1s over the last few years, but I wasn't about to let this one get away!
Here's what I have on that one from the Reference of Ruger Firearms...
Type 2 Red Eagle 4-3/4". Has escutcheons in grip, 6-groove rifling and has the recoil spring support in the bolt. Known s/n range 3253 to 3787. Approximately 450 produced. One of the two most desirable red eagle variations along with the Type 4.
If yours is truly a Type 2 with escutcheons in the grip, it is truly one of the rarest Red Eagle Variations, and extends the known serial range a bit. But if its a Type 3 that's OK too...I like them all! The earliest Type 3 I've noted is 3648.
Chances are your gun also has the early two-piece medallion in the grip where the red part of the medallion (the eagle) is flush with the surface of the medallion. Many of those two-piece medallions are known to have broken, so have been lost somewhere along the way.
Yours is also a prime candidate for a question I've had for a while. Somewhere between 3648 and 4224, the bottom of the receiver began to be milled differently than earlier guns, probably to eliminate a lot of the hand fitting when it came to attaching the grip frame to the receiver. The earlier milling type used a verticle miller to drill straight down into the receiver to lop out the metal they needed while the revised milling type used a flat cutter to more or less "surface grind" the metal that was not needed. Am curious what yours looks like if you decide to take it apart.
If you have more questions on what the milling looks like on either variety, I can get a pic posted.
chet15
