ROCS 2nd OGCA Display show was another great success! Our displays were placed in an island in the middle of the show just as you walked in the door. The OGCA Members attending the show really seemed to enjoy our Rugers. There was a constant crowd viewing the displays, talking with the displayers, asking questions, etc. We signed up 5 new members at the show and handed out numerous applications.

This is a very high quality show with approximately 750 tables. The OGCA has about 18,000 members. Go to www.OGCA.com to learn more about them and how to join. We highly recommend it!!

As you will see in the individual display write-ups, there were 15 displays of some of the finest and rarest Rugers made. We want to give a big thanks to all of the displayers for their hard work building, transporting, setting up and tearing down their display. A great big thanks to Vince Carabetta, ROCS Photographer and Chris Rohal, OGCA Photographer, for taking some great photos of the displays and displayers.

Chad Hiddleson, Red Eagle News Exchange, generously awarded a one year free new membership or renewal membership to each class winner and for Best Ruger Of The Show. We want to thank Chad for supporting ROCS and the displayers.

The ROCS OGCA Display Show fund awarded each class winner with a new Ruger firearm and provided two new Rugers for a drawing for the 3 class non- winners and the Masters class. Each class winner will also be given a personalized Plaque. All of the displayers received a unique OGCA 2016 solid brass belt buckle with the ROCS Logo and a $50 ShopRuger gift certificate. We want to thank Ruger Company's "ShopRuger" store for providing several gifts to each of the displayers.

The Awards Dinner and Auction was a lot of fun with about 50 folks in attendance. OGCA officers, Cecil Parker and Charles Rush and his wife Lynn, attended and we really appreciate their support. We were also happy to have our ROCS Digest Production Manager, Jennifer McMahan and her husband Dean visit our displays and attend our Awards Dinner. We want to give special thanks to Laura Knots, OGCA Business Manager and Sandra Schwab, OGCA Member Services Coordinator, for their dedicated support and help. Without them we could not have pulled this off! Lee Sundermeier, ROCS Display Show Coordinator, simply did a great job putting everything together and making this a really fine tuned event.

The Raffle of three Ruger firearms and the silent and live Auctions were a real success! A SR1911 Commander with its slide engraved by Mike Sawmiller, OGCA Member, brought about spirited bidding! A special Ruger SR9s "Prescott Engraved" pistol donated by the Ruger Company also brought in a considerable amount of needed funds!! A special thanks to Shawn Leska, Vice President of Sales, Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. who arranged for this donation. Thanks go to ROCS Member Terry Wolosek for working with Shawn to obtain this fine pistol and to ROCS Member Matt Olivier who provided free FFL coordination, shipping and insurance for all the guns awarded, raffled and auctioned. Wayne Dennis did his usual great auctioneering job in getting every cent he could from the participants. A very special thanks goes out to all of the ROCS Members who so generously donated the many auction items. As you all know, without these generous donations for the auction and raffle there would be no show awards or funds for other associated expenses.

My personal thanks go out to Pat Hunsinger for keeping up with the auction winners and keeping tabs of the funds. I could not do it without her!!

Last but not least, we want to thank each and every displayer and all of the attendees at our Auction and Awards Dinner for your participation and support. They traveled from Arizona, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio and probably some other states that I have not named. Without your support these wonderful events would not be possible. So again, thanks to all who donated, attended and all who bought!!

I urge each and every one of you to put together a display...one gun or many, we guarantee that you will have fun and enjoy it. Your participation in these events goes a long way in supporting the ROCS efforts to attract new members.

"RUGER'™S PERFECT 45, THE SR45" Wayne Dennis, Awarded 1st Place Novice Class

The Ruger SR45 is one of Wayne's favorite .45 ACP semi-auto pistols. Right out of the box it was dead on with a six o'clock hold. Most firearms today are made primarily for the right handed shooter, but being left handed this striker fired SR45 is lefty friendly right out of the box. With its ambidextrous controls built into its design, there's no need to spend hundreds of dollars to reconfigure the firearm for the 10% population who are left-handed.

The SR series comes standard with a unique reversible backstrap, ambidextrous manual safety and magazine latch. Wayne says another feature that appeals to him is the trigger safety/firing pin block. This insures that a deliberate pulling of the trigger is needed to fire the weapon. The striker is visible and feelable at the rear of the slide to show the status of the weapon, cocked or uncocked.

The SR45 also has a loaded chamber indicator that eliminates the need to do a press check or slide check to confirm that there's a round in the chamber. Any feature that aids in preventing one's hand from being anywhere close to the business end of a weapon is a good thing. Plus, in the middle of the night when there is little or no light, a quick sliding of the offhand just to the front of the rear sight gives instant feedback on whether the weapon has a round in the chamber. This feature along with the striker feature described above makes this an excellent home defense weapon.

Three magazine articles on the Ruger SR45, factory case, magazine, magazine loading tool, factory-supplied locking device, and instruction manual were also displayed. Two holsters, one for field carry and one for CCW plus two types of ammunition used, one for training and the other used for day to day carry enhanced the display.

"RUGER'S FIRST DOUBLE ACTIONS, THE SIX SERIES" Ron Lutz, Awarded 1 st Place Intermediate Class

Ron's display was a collection of both the early low-back and later high-back double action revolvers that Ruger produced from 1970 to 1988. Pictures were displayed showing the two frame differences.

The display contains samples of the different models produced; the Security Six, Police Service Six and the Speed Six. It also includes fixed sight Security Sixes that were later designated the Police Service Six when Ruger was trying to make inroads to the police market. It also contained both blued and stainless examples of the different types.

The centerpiece of the display is serial number 150-00141, a first year production gun that is new in box with paperwork that was shipped very late (2006).

To support the displayed guns there were period correct boxes, manuals and memorabilia.

"LOW PRODUCTION NON-PREFIX No. 1s" Byron Hunsinger, Intermediate Class

Byron displayed eleven fine No. 1 rifles. The first three years of the No. 1 rifles, 1967-68 and 1969, they could be ordered in any configuration you desired. An example would be a .30-06 with a 26 inch barrel and iron sites.  This resulted in some very rare configurations of No. 1s. Byron displayed some of these rare guns. There is no way of telling exactly how many of each were made. According to data compiled by Carl Ross, who has spent 30 yrs researching No. 1s, estimates may be as few as two in some configurations.

There were also two prototype guns in Byron's display that were never put into production. Extra rare stuff!!

"RADICAL ROD'S RARE RUGERS" CELEBRATES THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE RUGER .44 BLACKHAWK 1956 TO 2016 "Radical" Rod Kirian, Awarded 1 st Place Advanced Class

Rod says that he loves chasing numbers and thought it would be fun to find a Ruger .44 "Flattop" in every serial number range from 100 to 900.

Well, once he reached that goal he thought why not one in each serial number from 1000 to 29000, how hard could that be!?!

Rod said that the has to thank a lot of other collectors for their help in this endeavor and I would like to give special recognition to his friend Dale Dalbotten, who has gone to the great gun show in the sky, for all his help and encouragement.

So here they are...the actual shelves from Rod's gun room with one of each in all the serial numbers...along with a few extras!!! Rod's mind-blowing display of a total of 56 Ruger Blackhawk .44 Magnum "Flattops"!

Also shown were period boxes, paperwork, and grips including, walnut, stag, and ivory.

Simply outstanding!! Rod certainly did his part to help us celebrate the 60 th Birthday of the .44 "Flattop"!!

"RUGER BLACKHAWK OLD MODEL .45s, 1971-1973" Tyrone Phillips, Advanced Class"

Tyrone's well done educational display was based upon the "Old Model" Blackhawks in .45 caliber, introduced in 1971. A .45 ACP convertible cylinder was offered as well shortly after production started. The "new model" production began in 1973, so "old model" production only spanned three years, totaling only 23031 guns. These guns were offered in 2 barrel lengths, 4 5/8" and 7 1/2". Brass grip frames became an option on both barrel lengths in 1972. In all, there are only 6 variations of .45 Blackhawk old model.

This display shows a fine example of each of the six variations:
BKH44 (.45 Colt in 4 5/8" barrel)
BKH45 (.45 Colt in 7 1/2" barrel)
BKH44X (.45 Colt convertible, 4 5/8" barrel)
BKH45X (.45 Colt convertible, 7 1/2" barrel)
BKH44B (.45 Colt, 4 5/8" barrel, brass frame)
BKH45B (.45 Colt, 7 1/2" barrel, brass frame)

Accompanying the guns are correct boxes, shipping sleeves, manuals, warranty cards, catalogs, dealer price sheets, cylinder bags/boxes, and advertisements announcing the new models.

Factory letters authenticating the examples are also displayed, along with warranty cards showing a change in postage price in 1971 from 5 cents to 6 cents!

THE LEGACY OF "WILLIAM BATTERMAN RUGER" Bill Ridge, Advanced Class

Bill's great display shows a history of Ruger products and looks at the founders, focusing primarily, Bill Ruger, Sr. Lighted boxes highlight the year of the introduction of seven new products. Although the guns represent the model of the year introduced, they are not specific for the year of introduction. For example, the .357 Blackhawk, .44 Blackhawk and Bearcat are 50 th Anniversary models. Long guns include a 10/22 Liberty model, Mini-14 Liberty model and No. 3 .22 Hornet Liberty model. Also shown are examples of the SR pistol series; the SR22, SR9c, SR40c, SR45 and SR1911. Also shown are a TALO edition stainless .44 Magnum Bird's Head and the Ruger American pistol.

There was information on the initial investment by Alex Sturm and Bill Ruger's technical contribution. A "Red Barn" Tin with knife shows their first manufacturing location. A printed excerpt explains Bill Ruger the inventor and his passion for firearms and cars. The backdrop also includes several tin reprints of the earlier advertising for the standard automatic and the Single Actions. The book Ruger and His Guns and the Ruger Papers are displayed next to several older boxes and 50 th anniversary boxes. The display is rounded out with examples of corresponding ammunition boxes, print ads and catalog pages on the kiosk in front of the display

"NUMBER APPROPRIATE" Tom Braden, Advanced Class

Tom's eye-catching display featured a 1955 first year manufactured BKH3 Blackhawk .357 Magnumserial number 357!! It was purchased from the late Bob Campbell,friend and mentor, who like Tom only collected357's. It was the centerpiece of Bob's collection. Also featured in the display was the 2005 50th Anniversary Blackhawk .357 Magnum serial number 357 (50-00357). It was originally purchased by "Radical" Rod Kirian assuming Bob would want it to partner the original. Bob' health and eventual death did not allow that to happen. Obviously they are now both properly united.

The display also included the original boxes, manuals and warranty cards along with both original American Rifleman Advertisements and period catalogs. In addition the 50th Anniversary model included the 50 th Year Blackhawk history book and original flyer featuring all the specifications.

Tom's display serves as a fitting memorial to Bob. Our dear old friend is sorely missed. I am sure he was smiling down and giving Tom a big atta-boy!!

"STURM, RUGER & COMPANY'S BLACKHAWK BRASS FRAME PROMOTION REVOLVER!" Matt Olivier, Masters Class

Matt displayed the Ruger Blackhawk .41 Magnum #40-18080. This gun was featured in vintage factory advertisements, photographs, magazine articles and used in catalogs, all showcasing the factory brass frame Blackhawks or rare factory guns.

For many, many years, this gun was not thought to exist in its configuration and that it would not factory letter as such. It does indeed letter (shipped Jan, 1973) and was displayed here with two original vintage factory photographs of this gun. A vintage Arms Gazette magazine, where it is also pictured, and a 1972 vintage factory catalog, the first catalog to advertise the brass frame gun. Its original box and paperwork were also on display.

A truly rare piece of Ruger history!!

"SINGLE-SIXES IN TRANSITION" Jim Schafer, Masters Class

Jim's very educational display shows Ruger Single-Six revolvers during the transition period from mid-1962 until late 1963.

The changes and styles shown include variations in grip frames (XR3 and XR3- RED), steel and aluminum ejector rod housings, stamped vs. scratched cylinder numbering, and serial number size changes.

This display shows Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 transitions of the period as well as the larger serial numbers that completed the transition period. Shown were a 5 ^1/2, 6 ^1/2 and 9 ^1/2 barreled example, along with guns numbered in the Lightweight serial range and Magnum marked guns.

"MY SCRATCHED UP RUGERS" Vince Carabetta, Masters Class

Vince's colorful display featured five non-factory engraved Ruger Single Action revolvers, one each of the following:

.357 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk "Flattop"
.44 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk "Flattop"
.45 Colt/45ACP Ruger Blackhawk Convertible
.41 Magnum Ruger Blackhawk
.44 Magnum Ruger Super Blackhawk

All were done in different engraving styles and patterns, and all except for the Super Blackhawk were done by unknown engravers. All were dressed up with fancy grip panels and shown with custom display cases.

The .357 Magnum Flattop had a set of Ruger factory mother-of- pearl grip panels, one of only two sets known to exist!

"No.1 RUGER RIFLES, THE TRANSITION YEARS" Lee Sundermeier, Masters Class

Lee's fine display contained one rifle of every model offered in the Ruger catalog from 1970 to 1974.

The rifles were displayed in the same order as they appear in catalogs and factory advertisements.

These rifles represented the first production guns, following the non-prefix serial numbered rifles of 1967 through 1969.

The display contained a different caliber for each model of No.1 rifles made.
All of the rifles had a 130 prefix serial number.
All of the rifles have a hand fitted action that is serial numbered to the receiver.
Most of the rifles have the early type one checkering.

"VIP" A FEW SPECIAL .44s Mike Womble, Masters Class

Mike's outstanding display featured four Ruger Single Action revolvers each owned by a "VIP" of the Ruger world. They are:

• 1. Serial number 25 Ruger Blackhawk .44 Magnum "Flattop", owned by Ruger VP Ed Nolan, Bill Ruger's right-hand man in the 1950s. The gun is complete with original box and shipping carton, along with manual/warranty card/wax paper. It wears a pair of engraved factory walnut grips in acorn/oak leaf pattern that are believed to be a sample pair done by Charles Jerred, the Ruger engraving contractor at the time.
• 2. Serial number 26 Ruger Blackhawk .44 Magnum "Flattop", owned by Wayne Fleming, marketer at Brownell's Inc. of Iowa. This gun is complete with original box, paperwork, and outer cardboard shipping sleeve. It wears an original set of Ruger factory stag grip panels of the era.
• 3. Serial number 58 Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum, owned by Tom Ruger, Bill Ruger's son. Tom worked at Ruger for many years until his untimely passing. This gun was made in 1959 but not assembled and inspected until 1965. It has all of the 1965 period features (aluminum sight, ER housing, high polish finish, oiled walnut grips, and period rollmark). This unique gun is also complete with its original (1965 era) two-piece box and paperwork, along with the outer cardboard shipping sleeve.
• 4. Serial number 64 Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum, owned by Walter Sych, a Ruger chief executive from the very beginning of the company. This gun is as new and complete with mahogany presentation case and paperwork.

The display is rounded out with biographical information on each VIP, along with ammunition examples and advertisements of the period.

"SUPER RARE" Bill Hightower, Masters Class

Bill's great display showed four of the rarest non-prefix Super Blackhawks that are known. They are:

• #13716 shipped as a factory second or used gun and is 1 of only 2 that are known. These are commonly known as a "S" gun.
• #36012 shipped with a brass grip frame and was in the first lot to be inspected on April 30, 1968. It is 1 of 20 that were made and is shown with shipping sleeve, box and all paperwork.
• #3111 is a high polish Super without the Eagle logo on the barrel and is shown in its mahogany box. It is 1 of 11 that are known.
• #2672 is a long grip frame Super without the Eagle logo on the barrel and it is shown in its mahogany box. It is 1 of 10 that are known.

Just as Bill's title attests, SUPER RARE!!

"LOW NUMBERED & SPECIAL FLATTOPS" Bill Hamm, Masters Class Blackhawk .44 Magnum #5001 "Prototype" 15" Barrel Ruger Buntline, Awarded RENE Best Ruger of the Show.

This group of Blackhawk .44 "Flattops" was displayed to commemorate the 60 th birthday of these fine single action revolvers that began shipping in mid-to- late November 1956. The display included eight "Low Number" .44 Flattops and three other very special ones.

Included were #10, #19, #28, #34, #50, #58, #179 and #1000. Most of these guns were originally owned by gun writers and influential people in the firearms industry that were friends of Bill Ruger, Sr. #179 is a very rare Type 1 variation.

Three other very special .44 Flattops were also shown. They were:

• #5001 with its "Prototype" 15" barrel, is the only one in existence. Bill Ruger's "Buntline". It was given by Bill Ruger to his friend and associate Jack Behn.
• #2331, a special 4-5/8" barrel Flattop made by Bill Ruger for his friend and shootist Elmer Keith, often referred to as "The Father of the .44 Magnum".
• #23300 engraved and gold inlayed by my friend, Master Engraver Ray Viramontez, the engraver of the famous "One Millionth Ruger Pistolâ"
• #28 & #34 wore nice original factory stags. A picture of Elmer Keith holding his #2331 4-5/8" Flattop, original and enlarged early advertisements, period catalogs and instruction manuals were also on display.

"RUGER HAWKEYE" Bill Hamm & Jim Schafer, Masters Class

This display featured four NIB low number .256 Winchester Magnum rolling- breach block single shot Hawkeye handguns.

Bill showed Hawkeye # 15 and #19. Hawkeye #19 belonged to Pete Kuhloff, a friend of Bill Ruger and Guns Editor for "Argosy" Men's Magazine.

Jim showed a consecutive set, Hawkeye #50 and #51. Both are new in the box with their shipping cartons.

Also displayed were two Bushnell Phantom period scopes, a box of .256 Winchester Magnum Prototype ammunition and standard Winchester production ammo.

Catalogs, instruction manual, Hawkeye box and shipper, November 1962 "Shooting Times" magazine with the new Hawkeye pictured on its cover, "American Rifleman" magazines with the first advertisements and pictures of Bill Ruger, Harry Sefried and Pete Kuhloff test firing Hawkeye Prototype #X2 rounded out the display.

If you shoot, carry, hunt with or collect Rugers, join our team!