Do You See The Resemblance

[kwhi43]

I was looking at some P-08 German Lugers and I started to notce something.
Do you see the resemblance between the Luger and the wife's new black
powder pistol. Almost like it is a direct copy. How unreal!

[zullo74]

It looks more like a Ruger Standard .22 to me.

[Chuck Dye]

The original Ruger / 4" tapered barrel even had some folk claiming the name Ruger is a marketing ploy trying to capitalize on the Luger name. The MkI/MkII/MkIIIs are so common now that I would never have thought Luger without your post. Excluding my own MkII, I have seen three Rugers this week, cannot recall the last time I saw an actual Luger.

[Hawg]

Looks more like a pellet pistol I used to have.

[zullo74]

....and the pellet pistol was a Crossman which copied the Ruger....

[arcticap]

It also resembles the AMT .22 Lightning pistol frame which is another clone:

http://i47.tinypic.com/200clme.jpg

http://www.auctionarms.com/search/di...temnum=5580504

[kwhi43]

Boy, I'm learning a lot. Keep it comming. Looks like it all started with
the original German Luger.

[Gehrhard]

Actually, the Ruger is copied from the Jap Nambu. It was tested by the Allies and determined to be the most accurate of military handguns. Mssrs. Sturm & Ruger weren't stupid -- the didn't start from scratch and stole the best there was.

[Gatofeo]

I"ve read that when Bill Ruger worked in Washington, D.C. -- employed as what I don't know -- he spent his lunch hour in the U.S. Patent Office, looking through gun patents.
From these he took the Iver Johnson, "Hammer the Hammer" safety for his later double-action revolvers, and the Nambu design.
But really, "stole?" A good idea is a good idea.
I'm sure the ghost of the man who invented the hammer -- the world's most common, oldest and unchanged building tool -- still grumbles that his design was stolen. The hammer, with its claw on the back to extract nails, dates at least to Roman times and probably much earlier.
When the Ruger .22 auto was announced in 1949, for a few years afterward people mistakenly referrred to it as the Luger. I have a complete set of American Rifleman magazines dating from 1929 to last month's issue, and it's amazing how, in 1949 and the early 50s, readers and even writers mistakenly referred to it as the "new Luger" or "inspired by the Luger."

But you're right. The Nambu was very likely the inspiration. The later Nambu was a good design. Had John Browning been aware of the Nambu design that fully enclosed the bolt, he might have tinkered with it.
I still think it's a good design. I'd like to see the Ruger Mark III in .25 ACP and .32 ACP as a small game gun. It's amply strong to accommodate these cartridges.
Heck, in .380 ACP it would be a good small game gun and a passable home defense gun. Kinda bulky for carrying concealed except in a shoulder holster.

Very interesting black powder pistol. Obviously patterned after the Ruger, ne' the Nambu.
How's it shoot? What caliber? What kinda pellet and saboted Super Flooper Jacketed Turbo ZX Mega X-Treme bullet ya use in it?

[aarondhgraham]

Actually, the Ruger is copied from the Jap Nambu.

I believe it has been very well documented,,,
That Bill Ruger used the Nambu as his design inspiration.

Wikipedia says:

However, there was one redeeming quality that had apparently caught the eye of William B. Ruger who had acquired a captured Nambu from a returning US Marine, shortly after World War II ended in 1945.[1] Bill Ruger duplicated two Baby Nambus in his garage,[2] and although he decided against marketing them, the handgun's rear cocking device and the Nambu's silhouette was incorporated into one of the most popular .22 semi-automatic pistols to ever enter the US firearms market, when in 1949 the Ruger Standard (and later Mark I, II, and III) pistols were sold to the US public.[1]

It was tested by the Allies and determined to be the most accurate of military handguns.

Could you cite a source for that statement gehrhard?

Every thing I have read on them says they were prone to coming apart in use.

Aarond

[kwhi43]

Gatofeo, The gun shoots very well. We just it about 2 weeks ago. Wife has
been shooting it on Sundays to get it sighted in for to use in the Nationals
comming up in Sept. at Friendship Indiana. I think we are there on the sighting in. It is a .32 caliber made by John Mouzon of SC. It has a very good
Ed Rayle barrel on it. 1-16 twist. We put the Volquetion grips on it that are
made for the Ruger Mark series. Here is the target from Sundays shooting.
This is at 50 yds. 10 shots fired with one hand un-supported. This is the way
we have to shoot, and the way we sight in a pistol.

[rodent.22]

Bill Ruger was a gun designer for the government during the war, then worked for a big firm until he and Alexander Sturm partnered up with $50,000 of Sturm's mothers money. Ruger had the design and Sturm had the seed money. Sturm was artistic, he designed the Ruger emblem. Sturm Died unexpectedly of hepatitis 2 years after the founding of the Company. His father wanted Ruger OUT, but when told it was his wifes money invested in the company he bowed out and never became involved again. The mother and Sturms wife gave full control of the company to Bill Ruger which he exercised on their behalf until he purchased their interests. Sturms widow died in her early 30's, about 4 years after him. A really sad tale. A very good source material on Ruger is the book by R.L. Wilson- Ruger the man and his guns.