Dieing to shoot 50th Anniv. Mark II

[Pilot]

In 1999 when Ruger released its 50th Anniversary Mark II, I bought one. They were priced about the same as the non-anniversary models so I figured what the heck. Well six year ago, I brought the pistol home, opened the box, inspected the contents. Yep, nice looking little .22 pistol with some nice cosmetic touches. Pretty cool. I closed the box and haven't opened it again in six years. That was 1999.

Now its 2005, and my wife has shown an interest in shooting so I've been going through my safe, kind of shopping for another gun for her. Hmmmm, there's that little red box and that nice little Ruger Mk II. Perfect for plnking and the range. Its not like I don't have any other .22's to shoot. I have a Ruger KMK512 (5.5 in bull barrel Mk II) and a 22/45, 4 inch bull barrel. Also, she's shot my CZ-75B with .22 Kadet Kit conversion, but none of these feels right to her. I'd like to get her a .22 revolver to match her S&W .38, but in the meantime, should we shoot this one?

 

[TMM]

well, as i see it, she might as well. you've never fired that in 6 years (seems like a sin to me, but i'm not getting into that) and all the others don't feel right to her, so let her give it a whirl!
~TMM

 

[farscott]

I see no reason not to shoot it. I picked up a slightly used one of the 50th Anniversary Models last December for $250, so I could have a lower to mate to a Pac-Lite upper for my daughter. The stainless bolt looks good with the blued lower and anodized upper.

 

[rick_reno]

Go ahead and shoot it. I don't know what you paid for it, but a quick look on Gunbroker popped up a couple with consecutive s/n's, new in their boxes for $600. It doesn't appear these have a lot of collector interest (now).

 

[Lone_Gunman]

Its a Ruger, so it is never going to have a lot of collector interest in your lifetime. Anniversary and commemorative editions don't have too much collector interest anyway.

 

[BlkHawk73]

There were thousands of these made. Bscause of that, there's no real pecial value for these except for maybe your grandkids kids. Just too many out there to make them of any collective value. Who knows, maybe giving it to the wife and telling her it's signifigance will make it special for her.

 

[hairtrigger]

I believe there were too many made to preserve the value.
It is a great gun.
Enjoy shooting it.

 

[Dienekes]

I picked one up when they came out because it was just a little different and the price was right. Kept it unfired in the safe, during which time it did me little good; neither did it appreciate as there are lots of them out there. My daughter started showing me new Ruger Standard Autos on display in gunshops and asking me if the prices were reasonable. I kept telling her to go slow, and a couple of Christmasses ago gave her the 50th anniversary gun.

She was delighted with it and I knew I had done the right thing.

I am hard pressed to think of any "commemorative" guns in the last 40 years that have ever demonstrated either real collector value or appreciated to any significant degree.

Shoot it and have fun.

 

[Pilot]

Thanks for the replies. My philosophy is that if you want an investment buy stocks, real estate, bonds, etc. I bought this Ruger model because it was the same price as the standard model, and basically forgot about it for the last six years as I have others to shoot. Now that my wife is interested and absolutely hates my 4 inch bull barrel Ruger 22/45, (high sites, grip angle) I'm going to let her shoot it and see how she likes it. I think she will.

 

[Dienekes]

Pilot, my wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law like them. My wife likes the 6" standard, while the others prefer the 4 3/4" guns. The only changes to any of them have been trigger work as necessary. I did two of them myself and the third was a bust. (Can't be lucky every time) Ordered a Volquartsen hammer & sear kit from Brownell's for the third and it's beautiful. Put Clark steel triggers in all three.

Personally I'm not impressed by all this bull barrel stuff. Pistols are supposed to be light and handy, not minature field pieces.