Pocket Guide to Ruger Rimfire Pistols Standard & Mark I, Production Dates 1949-1982

The Pocket Guide to Ruger Rimfire Pistols provides a guide for serial number research for each year from 1949 to the introduction of the Mark II in 1982. Information listed here covers the .22 caliber Ruger pistol in both Standard and Target Models with a section devoted to the boxes these guns were shipped in.

Some of the dates and serial numbers in this booklet are approximate estimations. In most cases the serial number listed for the beginning of each year should not be considered as the absolute first pistol shipped that year. The data listed herein was compiled from the most reliable information available.

Beginning with the introduction of the Mark I Target pistol in 1951 blocks of numbers were assigned and "set aside" for each model, then often produced and shipped at different times, sometimes months or even years later. Example: RST4 number 69989 was shipped in January of 1954, T678 number 70279 was shipped in July of 1953. Two pistols, in the same number block just a few numbers apart; RST4 number 300140, shipped 6-30-1965, and T678 number 300889, shipped 1-25-1962. In some blocks not all numbers were used.

The information printed here will assist in determining the time a pistol left the Ruger factory and the type of box it was shipped in. To positively determine the date and model configuration of a specific Ruger firearm contact Sturm, Ruger's Records Department.