Ruger 25th Anniversary .44 Carbine up for auction to benefit SASP

The 25th Anniversary .44 Carbine Rifle ships alongside a special medallion commemorating the 25th Anniversary rifles. (Photo: GunBroker.com)

Ruger starts the year off in a giving mood, donating a 25th Anniversary .44 Carbine Rifle to benefit the Scholastic Shooting Sports Foundation’s Scholastic Action Shooting Program.

Currently up for grabs on GunBroker.com, the .44 Ruger rifle features a compact style with sleek, classic lines — all of which contributed to the model’s original success. The Limited Edition 25th Anniversary house a special rollmark harking back to the early days of the design. Marked “1961 – 1985 ~ 25th ANNIVERSARY” on the barrel, the rifle also flaunts a specially designed nickel silver medallion set into the American walnut stock.

“In 1985 Ruger announced that, after 25 years of continuous production, it would stop manufacturing the famous Model 44 autoloading carbine,” Ruger explained of the 25th Anniversary Rifle. “Ruger offered a Special Edition of 1,800, 25th Anniversary .44 Carbine rifles to celebrate the close of an era. The anniversary rifle was listed in the 1985 catalog and the suggested retail price was $495.00.”

The 25th Anniversary Rifle is outfitted with a folding-leaf rear sight with reversible U/square notch plate. The sight can be adjusted to accommodate elevation. The rifle tops off its sighting system with a gold bead front sight. Drilled and tapped for scope mounts, the rifle also touts a curved metal butt plate in addition to a tubular magazine which holds four cartridges.

The Anniversary Rifle will ship in a special box along with the original manual, purchaser record car and a “Firearms Safety Depends on You” booklet. In addition, the auction also throws in a .44 Carbine 25th Anniversary medallion, alongside a “blank” box end label and 25th Anniversary decal.

All proceeds from the auction will go to benefit SASP, which offers youth resources and opportunities to encourage and support kids and teens in the shooting sports.

The auction is set to end on Jan 24. The current bid, at the time of this writing, was $1,250.