Just brought this 1959 beauty (134195) home and was pleasantly surprised to find that it appears to be unfired. The listing information indicated that it has been stored in a safe for many years and the internals were coated in old grease that made the action feel stiff (thanks to Bill Hamm for the tip on using a blow dryer to heat the area around the base pin to loosen it). The base pin is in-the-white from the notch back, which I hadn't seen before.
It is like new except for a small nick on the left rear of the trigger guard but was wearing vintage aftermarket walnut grips in excellent condition but it now wears factory stags that came via Mr. Hamm. The bad news is that I had not noticed the large aftermarket ejector rod button and assembly, which is apparently a Premier item for a Colt that was nicely fitted. It looks great and for what I paid I can't complain.
Here are some photos.
Last edited by Ruger8r on Wed Feb 10, 2021 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
"My greatest fear is that, when I die, my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them." Anonymous Collector
Very nice specimen, always nice to run across on in such great shape. Now to put a box with it, stags look great and Bill IMO is a true hero to the Ruger collecting community for his knowledge and willingness to help anyone.
Bennett
Bill Hamm is one of the most knowledgeable and nicest Ruger people among a great group of fantastic members. I admire Bill so much that I gifted him a double red velvet carrying case for a pair of 38's... I tried to find one in 44 but 38 was the best I could do. He really seemed to enjoy it when I presented it to him!
Some people sit on $.05 of knowledge like it is the treasure of Egypt. I will teach anyone $.10 worth just to prove a point...
Ditto re admiration for Bill Hamm. His integrity in our dealings has been beyond outstanding and he's always generous with advice. Just a great guy and probably embarrassed by all the praise.
After re-checking RENE on the ejector assembly it seems that only the rod/button we're replaced. I thought the straight slot going all the way to the frame was not factory but it is. Was the Colt button a common Ruger modification? Did Premier publish a catalogue of all their parts?
"My greatest fear is that, when I die, my wife will sell my guns for what I told her I paid for them." Anonymous Collector
A very nice example!!
The first group of 1,000 or so RSS4's in that 134xxx range also all seem to have been shipped in a "non-catalog number" box, presumably because the RSS4 printed boxes hadn't been prepared yet.
Chet15
