Any Ruger collectors want to gnash your teeth and tear out your hair?

D

Dr. Mudd

Joined
Nov 7, 2006
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1,862
Yesterday I bought an old and very abused Ruger .22 Standard Model pistol. It had spent years probably being used for a "boat gun" and it had evidently stayed on board at all times. It had been rusted all over (as in ALL OVER), then painted black, and then rusted some more as most of the paint came off. Unbelievable! Here's where it will make you cry. This is one of the early Red Eagle ones, and the four digit serial number places it in the second year of manufacture! It has no finish left, unless you consider light pitting to be a finish. The grips are ruined, too, with no red eagles left on them. No amount of restoration can bring back its collector value, but I'll consider what to do about it eventually. I bought it cheap just for a shooter, so I can't really complain too much. Maybe a light, soft bead blasting followed by rebluing and a set of new grips would be in order sometime.
 
Don't be too sad. The gun was used and abused as Ruger intended. They are rugged guns. Once you clean it up, if it still shoots well, thats even better than something to just stick in your safe!

(Of course, wouldn't it be nice to find one in great condition that was going cheap!)
 
Years ago there was a feature in - I think - a Guns & Ammo annual where someone bought an ancient, pitted Colt Woodsman.

He had the Woodsman refinished in - once again, I think - electroless nickel or hard chrome.

The end result was an attractive, functional, low-maintenance pistol. The finish seemed to do a good job in "evening out" the rough surface of the pistol.

It might be an option to explore.

Robar is one firm that offers this finish:

http://www.robarguns.com/additional_finishes.htm

maximus otter
 
Shann, your suggestion to clean it up and enjoy shooting it is normally what I do with the guns I sometimes buy. Like I've told my friends, I like my guns old and ugly enough that I can afford to buy them and just enjoy handling, carrying, and shooting them. An old Ruger .22 Magnum Single-Six revolver that had also been abused and painted black (There must be a lot of that going around!) is another treasure I found and bought cheaply last year. It's my "van gun" now and it stays out of sight but within easy reach next to the driver's seat. Well used and at least semi-ugly guns are what I can afford to buy and I can enjoy using them this way, too. I'm having momentary regrets about what was done to this old Red Eagle Ruger .22 pistol and that's what made me start wondering about having some degree of refinishing or restoration done to it. I have a local friend who is a real, honest-to-God gun writer who has had lengthy articles on pistols published in nearly every issue of that big annual book, Gun Digest, suggested I ask the Ruger factory about the feasibility of having them restore it, so I'll look into that. But in the case of the old Single-Six I mentioned I just cleaned off the remaining black paint with acetone and 0000 steel wool, then applied several coats of cold bluing, and now it looks fairly good. It's certainly good enough for a truck gun! I may end up doing this old pistol the same way. I'm not really in a financial position to become attached to any serious collectors items. I'm sort of like some of my guns, old, beat up, broke down, and just limping along. :D

Garage Boy, I'd love to be able to send everybody photos of the old Ruger .22 pistol, but I don't yet have the camera and capability to do that. Maybe I will before long, though. I'm slowly heading that direction. I didn't grow up with computers and digital this-and-that like I'll bet you did. I grew up with knives, guns, and fishing tackle. I must be a throwback! :eek:

Maximus Otter, since you apparently live on the Isle of Skye, I just had to look that up to read about it and look at some of the scenery before I wrote this. I'll bet that's a BEAUTIFUL PLACE!!! Bet the weather is awful, too, sometimes. Your suggestion of using Robar for a hard chrome or electroless nickel finish is a good one, too. I'll consider that, as well. Once, long ago, I customized a nice .45 Colt steel frame Commander I had, and one of the things I did was to bead blast and then electroless nickel plate the frame, leaving the slide assembly polished and blued. I then had access to a bead blast cabinet (it's like sand blasting, but using tiny glass beads for a softer finish), and a friend of mine was set up to do electroless nickel plating. He let me plate the frame of my pistol under his guidance, and it was shockingly easy to do. One of the newer black finishes might be worth considering for this old pistol, too. There is at least one that is commonly available and is intended for home use, and it is cured at fairly low temperatures in the oven. Uless Teflon has been improved recently, I think it's too soft for long term use, though.

But I should shut up now and go back to bed! :yawn: I talk too much!
 
i have an older ruger like the one you have. does it have the 6" or 4" barrel. i completely redone the whole thing back in 93. i put on williams adjustable sights which i had to machine a dovetali base, walnut grips i made myself, a trigger job which i was told by another gunsmith couldnt be done plus hotblued the whole thing (except for the bolt which i forgot to do). you might find this hard to believe but if i could see something, i could hit it. i had a target set up at 300 yards and could hit it 7 out of 10 times. ruger is a tough gun like shann said so its worth fixing up for sure. i wouldnt take any ammount of money for my standard model 22 and have turned down good ammounts for it (some people who shot it and wanted it bad didnt get what "its not for sale" meant).
 
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