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Between 1956 and 1986, the U.S. military ordered some 23,000~ rimfire semi-auto Mark I and Mark II pistols direct from the company for the use of service marksmanship teams.

Bill Ruger produced his Ruger Standard pistol in 1949, taking lessons from the Japanese Nambu and the Hi Standard .22. His neat little $37 pistol with its 9-shot magazine and 4.75-inch barrel turned out to be his first product and a great seller. So much so that by 1956, the U.S. military sought out a 6 7/8 inch heavy tapered barrel version for use by military shooting teams for practice and competition. The first order, for 4,600 of these guns in serial number range 75845 to 79945 was produced in that year. All were marked “U.S.” on the top right hand side of the receiver.

Now that doesn’t mean that all the guns in that range are GI pistols, as the factory made commercial guns right alongside those for the military. Over the next 15 years, at least another 1,500 guns were bought in a half dozen or more smaller contracts spread out from serial number 150036 to 331744 (about 1 percent of the production volume for that period).

Then of course there were the Mk II models in at least two different barrel lengths and secret ‘hush-puppies” that Mitch WerBell had a hand in…

For the rest of that story, check out my column at Ruger Talk