My 1972 Standard Auto

Officially, that is a Standard Auto, not a MK 1, but lots of people make that mistake. The MK 1 has adjustable sights, longer barrel. It is a nice looking gun, and the gun that started it all!

So it would be a pre-mark 1? When was the first Mark 1 made? Did they run a parallel production?

The 6 7/8 inch barreled MK 1 became available in 1951, the standard auto that started the company in 1949. Yes, the MK 1 and Standard Auto , from 1951 on, had parallel prodution, right up untill the MK 2 was announced in 1982. The MK 2 autos are all called MK 2. Their were several different barrel lengths of the MK1, only two barrel lengths of the Standard Auto, that being 4 3/4 and 6 inch, both with tapered barrels.

Yes, gunman has it correct. Sometimes even the folks at the factory in the service dept "misname" these early .22 auto pistols.
After the intro of the MK II, in 1982 they called ALL the models ,no matter what sights were on them , MK II's.......
Besides it's always "easy" to see the rollmark on the right side of the early guns, will have the "MK I" rollmarked into it,starting in 1951,not so the standard "fixed sight" ones, for the entire production till 1982.
So you have a NICE 'later' model of the 'RST-4' with the walnut flat, checkered panels and the scarce version of the 'black eagle' medallions in the 'right side' panel when they switched over to the newer A-100 frame, from the early A-54 frame. Most I have seen have the 'silver eagle'. Then of course, someone "may" have changed the medallion from a silver to a 'black'.
There is NOT a medallion on the left side, is there? Shouldn't be.....

No medallion on the left, and grips are original.

One of the things that attracted me to this pistol was the year is was made, 1972. I was born the same year.

Nice touch.... still I feel one of the 'classics' AND THE 'basic' of the Ruger family...................

Wow, great to see this fine example of the Ruger heritage.