School me on the Ruger Standard

[M. Sage]

All I know about it is that it's Ruger's first firearm. It's the basis for the MkI-III. And not a lot else.

I had one fall in my lap, and if my (non-gun) friend who wanted me to look at it (with an eye toward her buying it and one other gun she dropped with me) doesn't keep it, I might end up with it. If the date on the box is close to the production date, this thing is almost as old as I am and doesn't look to have seen a whole lot of use.

 

[Texas1911]

Good guns ... they were even used by the SEALs at one point with a suppressed upper. The guns themselves are all good, it's the sights that always come loose that annoy me about Rugers. I'll eventually buy another 22/45 but it will be a MkIII so I can mount a red dot on it.

 

[M. Sage]

Well, if she doesn't buy it I probably will. I like it, plan on taking it to the range this weekend.

 

[ROGER4314]

I've been buying, trading and playing with those for decades. Finally, I got another one and swore an oath to keep it! On the older ones, the finger/loading button on the magazine is on the opposite side as the new ones. I remember switching the button side on a few mags so, getting older mags is no problem.

There is a trick to reassembling the pistol. Just keep track of the hammer spur as you install the main spring assembly. Get that wrong and it locks up the action.

Go to the Ruger site and they list all of the serial numbers and dates of manufacture.

Buy it....you won't be sorry.

Flash

 

[M. Sage]

1978 it is! And definitely the old style magazine.

I'll snag it if I can, but I don't have first dibs on it.

 

[ryantx23]

Guess you learn something new every day. My 10/22 was made in 1967 and my MK1 was made in 1980. Sure was nice of my dear old dad and pick up a pristine Ruger 10/22 at a pawn shop in 1972 for $25 and then give it to me 30 years later :-) I grew up shooting that thing and still love it as much as I did when I was 10.

 

[40Arpent]

The first handgun I ever shot, at the age of 8, was the Ruger Standard. It was mfr'd in 1953, the year my father bought it, and I still have it. I have several MkII's and MkIII's and none of them have ever given me any trouble whatsoever through thousands of rounds each.

 

[M. Sage]

Well, I didn't wind up with the standard. I was holding it for a friend who is just getting back into shooting after a long hiatus that was given the gun by a friend of hers, and she's going to wind up buying it from him.

However, a different friend of hers is liquidating his gun collection, and I just wound up with an unfired MkII that dates to 2000. I paid $200 for it, and the $200 is going to be paid off in auto repairs.

I also bought an AR-7 (AR-7 Industries built) from the same guy. Unfired, $150.

I'm going to go to Bexar Community Range tomorrow, I think I'll break the seal (so to speak) on both of these.

 

[country_boy]

My mkII likes the copper plated 22s anything else jams or makes the bolt not go all the way forward.

 

[M. Sage]

About all I shoot are copper-plated. Easier to clean up after and more reliable.

So I put about 200 rounds through it today. Showed up at the range with about half of a Winchester 555 round bulk pack and came back home with 15 rounds total.

The Ruger (Mk II 4" target) ran flawlessly, had to make a slight adjustment to the sights and might make more after I get new ammo since it was hitting about 2" high at 25 yards. But holding about 2" low, I didn't have a lot of trouble hitting shotgun shells sitting on the berm at that distance and had zero trouble shooting the numbers off my target at 7 yards.

I also ran the AR-7. Ran alright, the trigger is quite heavy (meh, survival rifle. But I still might try to lighten it a bit), accuracy was acceptable, reliability was fine if I downloaded the 8 round magazine to 5 rounds. There are some tricks I can try for this... The biggest impediments to accuracy seemed to be the light weight (it's a rifle that weighs about half what the Mk II does) and heavy trigger. Once I benched the gun the groups at 25 tightened right up.

I'm very happy with both purchases, though I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to use the AR-7 for... The Ruger is going to be my constant range companion so that I can practice every weekend I have enough free time. .22 is way cheaper than .45, after all and more rounds downrange with any gun will help me out with all guns.

I also had the chance to shoot an LCP (Elsie Pea) and was pretty surprised at how accurate it was. The sights are so-so but usable enough, and the trigger is tough to pull without yanking the sights off target. I'm sure the size of the pistol and lack of gripping area has a lot to do with that. At 7 yards, my first shot was exactly on my call. My next round got pulled low and the one after went into the same hole as the first. One more low (almost exactly where the second shot went), one at 5 o'clock and then another in the original hole and I was done. Firing slowly and deliberately, I managed to put half the magazine into a group that was touching. It was only 21 feet, but I wasn't expecting the pistol to even be capable of that!