I was in a gun shop a days ago and the owner showed me his personal rifle as we both shoot left handed. His was a simple rifle in 358 Norma, barreled by McGowan I believe. The interesting part was the fact that it was a Mark II with a tang Safety. Controlled round feed bolt with blade ejector and non adjustable trigger. Is this something that had been modified or did Ruger make some left hand mark II rifles with a tang safety? I have a project coming up and had resigned myself to do it on a non tang safety model, but this could change my mind. Thanks for the info.

Joe

Joe,

Ruger has made a lot of non-catalogue firearms over the years; this could have been one of them.
I'd ask Ruger directly (the serial number might help them to determine whether this was a factory item or not).

Could it have been a Mark II bolt adapted to a Mark I action?

George

While I am not certain....it sounds to me like a conversion. It would not be that difficult for a skilled gunsmith to convert a Mark II to a tang safety.

quote:

Could it have been a Mark II bolt adapted to a Mark I action?

I had thought about that, but it was missing the adjustable trigger of the original 77(All mine have had them but they are liberty models from 1973) and the trigger its self was unblued. I'll give Ruger call Monday. I began salivating over all the things I could build on CRF actions with a tang safety.

Could it be possible that the MKII bolt was adapted to a MKI action but had to have the MarkII trigger to work correctly?

I do not think they ever offerd the "Mark I" which is the tang safety left handed. Or am I wrong about this? I do have the Ruger book....I will see what it says. That is why I think it is a safety conversion. Not a bolt change.