I recently bought an almost mint 45/22 pistol. i noticed that it had the red Ruger hawk emblem on the grip panels. I haven't seen this in awhile and was wondering how long ago they quit making them red or am I just out of touch with the newer Rugers?
Red hawk on pistol grip
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Welcome to the Forum!
Re-look at the grip medallions.
Is the eagle itself red,, or is the background red? Often, people see the red background, and think it's a "Red Eagle" medallion.
The only true "Red Eagles" were done from 1949 to early 1952.
Yes,, it's one of the many things that can confuse folks not well versed in Rugers.
Re-look at the grip medallions.
Is the eagle itself red,, or is the background red? Often, people see the red background, and think it's a "Red Eagle" medallion.
The only true "Red Eagles" were done from 1949 to early 1952.
Yes,, it's one of the many things that can confuse folks not well versed in Rugers.
Yes, some of the Mark III 22/45s did have a red background logo molded into the grip frame. Like so:
welcome from Arizona.
Thank you for the information and the welcoming posts. I am not a well-versed Ruger firearms owner. I am more comfortable in the world of shotguns, but I do have a number of Ruger pistols. I have a Ruger P345 automatic with the serial number 0087. This is significant because Bill Ruger and Bob Brister were friends, and every firearm that Ruger put out when he was alive he would send Bob that firearm with that serial number on it. I was a friend of Bob's before his passing 17 years ago. That is one Ruger I will never get rid of!
they came out with that red background medallions for the anniversary auto in 1999, on the bottom of the mags as well as on the grip panel of some models, this is NOT a 'true' "red eagle" as Ty noted above..........
read everything Bob Brister had to say about shotguns,his books are great.
Bob was a true gentleman and an incredible shot. Even in his '70's he could hit just about anything that flew. Sadly, his quest to win the NSCA National Championship in the Super-Senior category never came to pass due to his passing from cancer. He would have done it too!
That style escutcheon (medallion) with the red background first arrived with the 1982 Limited Editon Stainless Standard Auto pistols. The next time it came out was in 1999 on the 50th anniversary pistol, which was as a tribute to the original 1949 Stand Automatic Pistol (last pic).
Just realized you could be referring to this 22/45 grip.
