It's not 'repurposed': the 89L was moulded to the bull barrel Ruger 22 auto :-). The entire reason for the odd shape of the welt at the mouth, is to allow it to accommodate all the 22 autos of the era. We did something similar for 380 autos eventually, for the same reason.

That's quite a pristine 'oldie' Ruger; I understand that Bill Ruger changed from the red medallion to black when Sturm died. And THAT was a long time ago.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian