This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories and the story of Ruger, the great American arms manufacturer right here in the United

States. Let's continue with this great business story. There's a joke in the gun community

that God came to Bill Ruger in a dream and showed him the design for the Ruger standard

pistol, but unfortunately, Bill woke up before God could tell them how to put it back together.

Anyway, when the gun was first put into production and they were working on things,

they had a total of eight-barreled pistol receivers that they had made as test guns for this new design.

And serial number three of these guns was actually the first one to leave the factory.

Serial numbers one and two were retained internally for further study.

At February of 1950, Sternberger and Company had a back order of an astounding 5,000 units and a production capacity of just 900

guns a month. By summer of the same year, the backlog had grown to 9,000 units, and their

production capacity had picked up a little bit, but they were still only able to make

a thousand guns a month. That backlog is a

testament to that little gun's rugged design and its ease of use and its affordability. Finally,

finally, there was a 22-caliber pistol on the market that anyone could afford to own

and that was easy enough for anyone to learn how to shoot with this gun.

Within a year, that little startup company from Connecticut had gained traction and continued to advance at a rapid pace.

But Alex Sturm contracted viral hepatitis and died very unexpectedly in November of 51. He was just 28 years old.

The company's Heraldic Eagle logo that today is instantly recognizable as Ruger, that

eagle was actually designed by Alex Sturm. And so, paying homage to his fallen business partner, Bill Ruger changed the color of the eagle in the logo from red to black.

And with the exception of the one millionth Ruger standard pistol that they produced in 1979,

it wasn't until 1999 with the celebration of their 50th anniversary, that the logo would return to red on all of their guns.

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