New to Me Ruger Standard 22lr

[Tallball]

My shooting buddies all seem to want to shoot at 7 yards at our local range lately, instead of 15. I like to "warm up" with a 22 revolver and 22 semiautomatic before I start shooting the centerfires. The K22 and Buck Mark seem silly at that distance, though.

My Single Six is a good shooter for 7 yards, but I didn't really have a suitable shorter-barreled 22 semiautomatic. I traded for a Ruger SR22 not too long ago, but I really don't care for it that much. One evening last week I had a few beverages and got involved in a Gunbroker bidding battle for a Ruger Standard. I ended up winning it for $265, which is more than I would have ordinarily paid; I got a bit carried away.

The left side looks great. The right side has some blueing wear and the right grip is a bit scuffed. It seems very nice mechanically. The balance is excellent: I really like the grip angle, and it points very well even without grasping it with my thumb. The sights are nice. The trigger is excellent. I like its weight. (For anything but CC I prefer a heavier steel handgun.) I'm guessing that I'll shoot it well and that the SR22 will get traded towards something else.

I would appreciate advice, info, stories, pictures, etc. According to what I've read, mine must have been made between 1971 and 1981, due to the magazine button being on the left side. If you own or have owned a Ruger Standard...

Where is a good place to get a spare magazine? Do you have a favorite holster for it? What ammo does it prefer? Any tips on maintenance? Any shooting tips?

My FiL has a Mark II and is going to teach me how to field strip the Standard. Other than that, I am pretty clueless.

Oh, I do have one clue now. I looked up the serial number, and it's from 1982, the final year of production.

Ruger Standard 22lr

• Tallball
• Nov 17, 2018

 

[RedlegRick]

That's my very first pistol and it was built around the same time to boot. It will most likely group low and right, I've owned two more after and they seemed to group the same (either that or it was me).
Magazines are still available at the usual places like Natchez and Brownells and unless I'm mistaken, direct from Ruger still.
The follower button is no big deal. Compress the spring and hold the follower parallel to the little round cutout on top. Press the pin and replace on the other side. That's all you need to do. Good luck and have fun!

 

[thomas15]

I think it would have been less expensive and lower stress to get a new set of shooting buddies.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

My first pistol as well, but 6". Bought new in 1979 for $92. Still have it-still love it, though I liked it enough to buy a new KMK-512 in the late 80s. The Mark II started getting all the attention then. Carried the old RST-6 in a Hunter leather holster, a simple rig with a snap strap, while in the Hiawatha National Forest, back in the early 80s, for targets of opportunity.

 

[ThomasT]

You just bought an excellent gun. I have two now, a 4" and an unfired 6" model. Magazines for the older guns are getting hard to find. Ruger sells new mags but some complain about them not working correctly. But as many as they have made you should be able to get them. They will just cost a little more. But at least they seem to never wear out.

Some will say these are hard to take down for cleaning. They are not. They just need a little paying attention to. I bought my first one way before Al Gore invented the internet but after looking at it a couple of minutes I had it apart for cleaning. When I put it back together I was stumped until I saw the hammer strut had to fit in the take down lever a certain way. Once I understood that it was easy.

Some don't like the fixed sights. I do. They are rugged and once set never move. Ruger ships these with the front sight extra tall so you can file it down. Test your gun and see what ammo it likes then start adjusting the windage by drifting the rear sight and file the front till it shoots where you want.

I once shot a Pigeon with mine off hand at 40 yards without using the sights. I just pointed and made a snap shot and drilled the bird dead center in the chest. It was a fluke but shows how well these guns naturally point. For holsters I have a couple of the Uncle Mikes Nylon holsters. Not fancy but more than good enough for field use.

My 4" gun is a 1776 commemorative model. But some jackass tried to take it apart and made pecker marks around all the pins. I have smoothed and repaired as best I could but it ruined any collector value. But no matter. It was my dads gun first (he bought it used) and so it will never be sold. The 6" gun I bought off GB and couple of years ago and have not shot yet. It is NIB and came with the box and all the paperwork. Its a pretty gun. And I paid around $225 IIRC so you didn't do bad on your purchase.

 

[sparkyv]

Very nice! I bet you'll have fun with it at 15yds as well.

 

[Texas10mm]

$265 for a Standard is a damn good price.

 

[ThomasT]

Very nice! I bet you'll have fun with it at 15yds as well.

If he can shoot he can have fun with it at 100 yards. I can hit a beer can on a regular basis at 100 yards with mine. It just takes practice.

 

[Tallball]

I sure hope mine doesn't have pecker marks on it! I'll have to look at the finish more carefully...

 

[1KPerDay]

Get an ultimate cliploader. You're welcome.

 

[Labguy47]

I own two standards and the limited 93 only 22/45. The mag release is on the bottom of the standard. The safety is on the left side.

Mine is especially fond of Federal target match 325 bulk ammo. It has a Hogue grip, and rides in a fobus kydex holster. I don’t clean mine after each use, but maybe every 1000 Rounds or so it gets spray cleaned.

 

[RON in PA]

Excellent pistols. If you didn't receive a manual with the Ruger I'd go to Ruger's web page, pretty sure they have downloadable manuals.

 

[Spats McGee]

Where is a good place to get a spare magazine? . . . . What ammo does it prefer?

I had one of these for years, and it was a great pistol. When using the original Ruger magazine, it fed just about anything. I never could find anything else that it liked, though. My suggestion is just to stick with Ruger mags. I'll admit, though, that I never bought any new mags for it after probably the early 1990s. If there's a problem with more recent mags, it likely escaped my notice.

 

[WestKentucky]

I bought one a few years back as a gift for my father. It came as gun only, 1 mag for 150 out the door. I quickly found spare mags online at a hefty price point, but readily available in the 25-30 range. I also found a nice hunter holster for it. All together it was about 225 for what I gave dad, and that was about 9 years ago. I recently found the receipt. I will grab his pistol and take a picture when I’m there for thanksgiving.

 

[WestKentucky]

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/pro...t-styles-ruger-mark-ii-belt-holster?a=1692616

This is the holster I bought for my dad. It’s a great holster. It’s a shame that it’s out of stock everywhere that I have seen it. What I bought was the holster itself, no belt with it.

 

[AlexanderA]

Where is a good place to get a spare magazine?

Call Ruger customer support. They have all the parts for magazines and, strangely, the sum of the prices for the individual parts is less than the price for a complete magazine. (This was true at least until a few years ago. Maybe they changed their policy more recently. You will have to check.) Assembly of a magazine is literally a matter of seconds. Current magazines will work in earlier guns.

 

[Tallball]

I tried my FiL's MKII magazine at the range and it worked just fine. I'll call Ruger and see about buying one as a whole versus as parts.

I took it apart today, cleaned it thoroughly, and put it back together. It was FILTHY. Now that it's cleaned and lubed, it may shoot even better.

I can understand how Ruger was able to get their start with this pistol. It's excellent. I belatedly realized that my other favorite 22lr semiauto, a Browning Buck Mark, is coincidentally not all that dissimilar in basic design...

If you haven't owned or shot one, I can't over-emphasize how well this pistol balances and points. I am seriously impressed.

 

[AlexanderA]

If you haven't owned or shot one, I can't over-emphasize how well this pistol balances and points. I am seriously impressed.

Bill Ruger took the general profile of the Luger (which was familiar to the public because of all the WW2 bringbacks), and made a blowback .22 which was cheap and easy to manufacture. Pure genius.

 

[RedlegRick]

I thought Ruger took the Nambu as inspiration for the Standard?

 

[Tallball]

I read something recently also that indicated Ruger used the operating mechanism of the Nambu as the basis for the Ruger Standard.

Ironically, I suspect that the Japanese carrying the Nambu would have been better off with the Ruger.

 

[Shimitup]

I think the Ruger drill is where it all started.

 

[bannockburn]

Tallball

I had several Standard Models before I took a shine to the target sights and bull barrel of the Model 512. All of them have been great shooters and an excellent buy in a .22 auto.

 

[Stevie-Ray]

I think the Ruger drill is where it all started.
View attachment 813182

How much red is on the top of that crank?

 

[Shimitup]

How much red is on the top of that crank?

This is not mine, just a copy and paste from Ebay. I don't know what Ruger's original color scheme should be on these.

 

[FL-NC]

I believe that's not a MK2- its a "standard", also known as a Mk1. Pretty sure what is on the left side is the safety/slide lock, with a heel mag release. If that is the case, mags from later models won't interchange.