Ruger Mark IV Target 75th Anniversary Edition Explored

Seventy-five years later, Ruger is still going strong, and to celebrate this diamond anniversary the firm has produced a number of commemorative firearms. And it's only natural that one would be the Mark IV.

September 26, 2024 By J. Scott Rupp

Bill Ruger’s first gun design, the Standard .22 pistol, had a huge impact on U.S. firearms history. Inspired by the Nambu pistols he saw coming back to America following World War II and bearing a resemblance to the German Luger, the Standard pistol gave Bill Ruger and his partner Alexander Sturm a successful launch on their way to becoming an established—and eventually leading—U.S. gun manufacturer.

Seventy-five years later, Ruger is still going strong, and to celebrate this diamond anniversary the firm has produced a number of commemorative firearms. And it’s only natural that one would be the Mark IV, a successor to the Standard pistol that put Ruger on the map.

A Target version, it sports a 6.88-inch barrel with a target taper, fully adjustable rear sight and an undercut Patridge fixed front sight blade. The overall length is 11 inches. The barrel and receiver are steel while the frame is aluminum, and the weight is 32.8 ounces.

Anniversary Panache

engraving — The right rear of the receiver is engraved “Ruger 75 1949-2024” in a ribbon with a diamond in the center. The right side safety lever can be removed if you choose. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

Special anniversary touches include “Ruger 75 1949-2024” engraved in a ribbon on the right side of the receiver behind the ejection port and “75 1949-2024” engraved on the back of the bolt. The gun has a blued finish, with the bolt and trigger left in the white, and the grips are checkered wood laminate with Ruger logo medallions set in both sides.

Controls include an ambidextrous thumb safety. Some righties object to ambi safeties because they don’t like that right-side lever digging into their firing hand. Ruger is always listening to its customers, and here it has given shooters the choice to remove the lever with a supplied spacer. Pull the grips, remove the right-side lever with a 1/16 hex wrench, install the spacer in place of the lever and reassemble.

The Mark IV features a fully adjustable rear sight, and the trigger has a nice, light break. The grip panels are checkered wood laminate and sport a Ruger logo medallion on both sides. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

The slide stop is located atop the grip panel on the left side, and the button magazine release is likewise left-side. In addition to the thumb safety, the anniversary Mark IV Target incorporates a magazine disconnect. Two 10-round magazines with loading-assist buttons are included.

Like I mentioned earlier, the Mark IV is a successor to the original Standard, and it is without a doubt the best—or at least the simplest. While I love the Mark III I’ve owned for years, I don’t love disassembling it or especially reassembling it for maintenance. You’ve got a dig up a paper clip or similar to take it down, and putting it back together involves hopping on one leg while chanting a mantra and burning incense. Kidding on the latter, but the process was challenging enough that companies like Hammer Strut developed aftermarket products specifically to address mainspring assembly on previous Mark series pistols.

None of this is necessary with the Mark IV. With the gun on Safe, push in the disassembly button at the rear of the receiver and separate the barrel/receiver from the frame. Withdraw the bolt for cleaning both it and the barrel.

Maintenance

pistol broken down — The gun breaks down for easy cleaning and maintenance, and it goes back simply—unlike previous Mark series pistols. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

While I do use pull-through cleaners when I’m on the range, I do like to clean the barrel with a rod and brush and patches periodically—and that’s best done from the chamber end to prevent damage to the muzzle crown. Don’t forget to take a brush to the face of the chamber and the extractor groove while you’re in there.

Replace the bolt, fit the notch in the barrel lug over the corresponding pivot pin in the frame, align the bolt-stop pin in its hole, and snap the barrel/receiver back in place. That’s it.

Shooting the Mark series of pistols is a lot of fun, and this Mark IV is no exception. The trigger breaks at less than three pounds and is quite consistent from pull to pull. There’s about an eighth-inch of takeup and a wee bit of creep, but the consistent, light break makes up for the creep.

Accuracy and Reliability

accuracy chart — (Accuracy chart provided by the author)

Accuracy results are shown in the accompanying chart. My 25-yard performance with iron sights from the bench isn’t always great, but the target-style sight picture—a 0.121-inch rear notch paired with a 0.125-inch front blade together with a nearly 9.5-inch sight radius—proved tack sharp for me. It helps, too, that the rear sight is serrated so there was no pesky glare. I like the retro undercut Patridge, and this design, too, really helps to reduce glare. I credit this combination for the sharp, clear sight picture that enabled me to shoot some terrific groups.

Off the bench, the gun’s weight and balance—plus the comfortable grip angle and the checkered grips—made for smooth target transitions and quick hits. It would make a good candidate for today’s action-pistol events like Steel Challenge. The gun is certainly good to go for iron-sight divisions, and with the addition of a rail you could slap on a red dot for optics divisions. A red dot would also make the Mk IV a sweet small game gun, especially for those whose eyes aren’t quite up to making the precision hits necessary for clean kills. Ruger sells a rail for the Mark IV at ShopRuger.com.

ruger 75th emblem — The rear of the bolt, which is left in the white and contrasts nicely with the blue receiver, is engraved “75” in a diamond with “1949-2024” in a ribbon underneath. (Photo courtesy of J. Scott Rupp)

The gun ships in a “throwback” anniversary box. It’s still cardboard, but it has special branding on the lid. Whether you’re looking for a plinker, a competition pistol or a small game semiauto—or you’re simply a Ruger fan—the 75th anniversary Mk IV Target is a worthy and historic addition to your collection.