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In 1987 Chief AJ won the Ross Memorial Award for an article that he submitted to the RCA Journal. At this time, he cannot recall the article or journal and I would like to read it if possible. Can anyone help me with this information? Also, more about the Ross Memorial Award in general as I can't seem to find much information about it. Is it named after Carl Ross? Thank you for any and all information.

I believe that award would be in honor of Bill Ross. That award was an RCA project. John Dougan could shed some light on that.

Out of that recent auction, I obtained what I believe to be a complete notebook of RCA Journals. I plan to bring to Tulsa and you can look thru them and find it.
Lee

Thank you, Don and Lee. It's funny that you mentioned Mr. Dougan. I've never met him but after some back and forth, he offered to have me over this weekend. It will be a whirlwind trip but I'm looking forward to meeting him.

Chuck, you are in for a real treat!! John knows more Ruger history than one can hardly believe. You will have a great time.
Bill

Chuck,
When you go to meet John you had better take a tape recorder with you. He can give you more info in an hour then you could find on your own in a month. You will enjoy the visit and learn more than you can imagine.

Vince

Well, now you've got me nervous! I feel like it will be another sensory overload experience and hope we have a great visit.

Here is Mr. Dougans reply on the Ross Memorial Award.

"Chuck,

Bill Ross was an early RCA member and was very active, he did the first comprehensive research on Old Model Blackhawks and Super Blackhawks. Bill authored two books before he died in 1978-79. He was well respected in Ruger collecting circles. There is even a variation of a .357 flat top named after him. I spoke with Bill on the phone several times but, never met him.

The Bill Ross Memorial Award (literary award) was established in 1979 and presented to the author of the RCA journal article voted "favorite" each year by the membership. The 1979 award was presented at the NRA Meetings in 1980 and annually thereafter for several years and then just went away.
Recipients that I recall were;
John C. Dougan 1980 (first award)
Ray Morgan 1981

I found 7 references in the earliest JOURNALS. One has an obituary written by Jeff Munnell and one has a photo of Bill Ross' wife presenting the award to Ray Morgan."

I thought that someone else might find this helpful at some point.

Which brings me to pg. 38 of the new Journal!!!! I love putting these puzzle pieces together.

Hello Chuck. We have two authors to thank for this great article about the "Ross" variation of Ruger Blackhawks. Mr. J.C. Gentry and Mr. Bill Hamm. They both had input into this very informative piece of early Ruger history. Many of us "early" collectors own one or more of this unique variation. These articles serve as wonderful sources of information along with the many outstanding books written by several well known authors. Also as a point of correction, the ROCS publication is called our "Digest", the RCA called theirs the "Journal". Brass Frame/Lee, Editor of the Digest.