It had been a long hot summer, in fact the last of three painful summers. Summers are meant for shooting, camping, hiking, outdoor activities with the family. However, my last three had been spent sitting in a graduate school classroom at the University of Montana working on my Master’s Degree. Now it was finally over. I had survived and received my degree. I deserved a reward. A stop at the Gunhaus revealed the appropriate specimen so my wife graciously presented with me with my first Long Range Ruger.

At the time, 1971, I felt $150 was a lot of money to spend for a single action Ruger sixgun, however it was unlike any Ruger .44 Magnum I had ever seen, and the stocks, although factory, were made of beautifully grained fancy walnut. What made this Ruger .44 Flat-Top different is the fact it was one of the very rare 10" sixguns made in the early 1960s. My wife insisted we could afford it and she has proven to be far more perceptive than I am, as that Flat-Top Ruger is now worth at least six times what we paid for it even though it still remains in the Not-For-Sale category.

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