Ruger Collectors Association

I have a Ruger single action with a serial number from the late 1960s. How can I determine its exact production year based on the serial number, and what resources are available to help?

For both of your questions you would be very well served by joining the Red Eagle News Exchange. The author has many years researching Ruger products and the Reference of Ruger Firearms is considered the encyclopedia of all the Ruger knowledge.

Join here:

Red Eagle News Exchange
c/o Chad Hiddleson
1945 Clover Ave.
Perry, IA 50220

Chad can also be found here and under the forum name Chet15 and you can ask him any questions.

Also, you can go on the Ruger site and they have a serial numbe lookup that will tell you the production date of your serial number

Here's a link to the serial number search page at Ruger. Start with entering the serial number into the search. If it's from the 60's you're going to get a message stating Sorry, we are unable to locate that serial number. At the bottom of that page is a drop down of all the different models. The single sixes get a little more complicated as there are a lot of options.

Fixed rear site - Single Six standard
- Single Six Magnum
Rear adjustable site - Super Single Six

https://ruger.com/dataProcess/serialHistory/

The best option is to send in for a Letter of Authenticity for $10. This will give you build date, shipped date, shipped to information, as well as the model it left the factory.

https://ruger.com/pdf/letterOfAuthenticity.pdf