Sunday Gun Day Vol. IV Ep. XI — Ruger's Other Success, the Standard.

They wanted a pistol, so they took to the catalogs, and eventually filled out a form, wrote a check, put the whole thing in an envelope, and in due course received their .22 pistol in the mail; yes, you could do that in those days. The gun was a Ruger Standard with a 6-inch barrel.

Ruger’s rimfire semi-auto pistols started with the Standard, but they didn’t stay there. Through its long history, since its introduction in 1949, it has been through a lot of changes and offered in wide varieties. The fun part is the rather surprising inspiration for the gun, that being the Japanese Nambu service pistols.

The Design

Bill Ruger, as we have noted in previous pieces, was a gun designer of note who got his start when he developed the initial designs for what would be the U.S. Army’s experimental light machine gun, the T10/T23E1, in 1938. That design brought young Ruger enough attention that the United States Springfield Armory brought Ruger on as a designer. But his lasting fame would come from his civilian offerings.

After World War II, Ruger acquired a pair of Japanese Nambu pistols from a returning Marine. A quick look at the Nambu will plainly show similarities in the grip shape and angle, which Ruger incorporated into this prototype, which he built, literally, in his garage. There was just one problem: Ruger lacked the capital to start building his new piece.

He wasn’t deterred. He showed the new gun to his friend, Alexander Sturm, who was impressed with the gun’s design, its function, and, rumor has it, by its resemblance to the famous German P-08 Luger. Ruger had the design, the prototype, and the skill to make guns; Sturm had the money, and so in 1949, Sturm, Ruger & Co. was formed, and their first gun on the market was what they called the Standard Model: The original Ruger .22 rimfire semi-auto pistol, originally offered only in blued finish, with a four-inch barrel and fixed sights. A couple of years into production, they started offering a six-inch barrel, which is the version my folks bought.

The new pistol had a lot going for it. Not only was it accurate and reliable, but it was also robust. Most guns in those days still used flat springs, but Ruger used more reliable and longer-lasting coil springs, a design feature he would carry over into later designs like the Single-Six and Blackhawk revolvers.

The Ruger Standard was a considerable and sudden success for the new company. They literally launched one of the gun industry giants.

Bill Ruger wasn’t one to leave a design alone. In 1950, he offered the Mk I Target, with a 6 7/8 inch barrel and adjustable target sights. In 1952, they offered a bull-barrel version with a 5 1/4 -inch heavy barrel and the same target sights.

Then, in 1982, Ruger introduced the Mk II, incorporating the same basic layout of the Mk I guns, and including a new feature common on semi-auto pistols, a bolt stop and release lever on the side of the receiver, so that the bolt would lock back when the last round was fired, making reloading faster and easier. Ruger also introduced heavy, slab-sided barrel options, and all of the Mk II guns were available in blued steel or stainless steel. Ruger also introduced the 22/45 model, which adopted a grip shape and angle approximating that of the famous Colt-Browning 1911.

The Mk III was the first iteration of the pistol to be brought out after Bill Ruger’s death in 2002. Introduced in 2004, the Mk III added a loaded chamber indicator, a magazine disconnect that prevented the gun from being fired without a magazine, and a few other details; most significant was that the magazine release was moved from the bottom of the grip to just behind the trigger guard. My wife has a Mk III Competition Target, with the long, heavy barrel, in stainless steel; I’ve seen her pop grouse out of the very tops of tall spruce trees with it. Like the originals, her Ruger is slick, reliable, and accurate.

Finally, in 2016 came the Mk IV, redesigned to be easier to field-strip, with a redesigned trigger group, an ambidextrous safety, and a drop-free magazine release.

I’ve never had the chance to shoot a Mk IV, although I’ve handled a few. An old friend who has several Ruger rimfire autos spanning the years informs me he still prefers his Mk II over either the Mk III or the Mk IV. Your mileage may vary.

What About Now?

Now, the variety of new Ruger Standards and all of their numerous offshoots and variations may be greater than ever. The company has gone from success to success with this handy, accurate, and reliable rimfire sidearm, and there’s no sign of that changing any time soon. The guns are up to the Mark IV models, with the usual, honest old Standard joined by the Target, Hunter, Competition, and Tactical models, with adjustable sights and capability for mounting optics. Then there are the 22/45 versions, as noted before, with a grip shape and controls made to resemble the famous Colt-Browning 1911 (no grip safety, though) in the Standard, Lite, and Tactical versions.

What’s more is that the folks at Ruger seems to know a good thing when they have it. They haven’t messed about with the gun to try to make it a centerfire gun, or to make a .22 Magnum version. The company seems to know what it has and is leaving it at that: A solid, accurate, reliable .22 long rifle semi-auto handgun, for any work you might need such a piece for. Since 1949, the company has made, and the American shooting public has snapped up, over two million of these guns, and that’s not anything you can shake a stick at.

The fun part is that today, with my Curio & Relics license, I would be able to re-create my folks’ purchase and receive a 1955-made Standard Model in return mail. But there’s no need. I still have the one the folks bought by mail order, years before I was born, the very pistol that they enjoyed shooting at empty pop cans and other plinking targets with, all those years ago.

And, in case you’re wondering, Elon Musk couldn’t buy that gun from me.