RugerSociety.com

I thought I had seen a discussion about the Woodside originally being called the Gold Label, but I cannot find where the discussion was taking place. Stumbled across this in a pile of paperwork today and figured I'd share.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

There are also a couple pics of the original Gold Label/Woodside on the covers or inside covers of a 1980-1982 Gun digest.
When the actual Woodside was first announced by Ruger we were at an NRA show that year. On display was a superbly engraved Woodside shotgun serial number 410-00016. Except, if anybody recognized the prefix on that serial number you realize that wasn't a recent production Woodside at all, but a prototype of the original named "Gold Label" from about 1982.
Also, a former employee by the name of Howard Avery recently put a photograph of his original 1982 Woodside era receiver casting on one of the forums. I asked him if it had the "D" receiver and lo and behold it does!! Approximately the first 500 or so Woodside shotguns also had that "D" receiver accent mark on top of the receiver between both chambers. The "D" accent mark mates up with the rear end of the barrel rib on those early Woodsides, but I'm thinking those first 500 Woodside receivers were leftovers from the original Gold Label project.
Chet15