Gary Reeder
I had two of the "B" Auto Mags, the ones
Thursday, January 22, 2026, 11:57

with the solid bolt. They were my hunting guns and I had recently sold one of them for $4900. I planned on keeping the other one, period. I had it at the custom show down in Tucson along with several other custom guns plus 4 full custom Ruger #1 rifles. I put the Rugers at $3000 each (they were full custom and this was about 20 years ago so $3000 was a lot of money for the Ruger #1s, even if one of them was pictured in Rifle Magazine). I had them on the tables and planned on selling them but the Auto Mag was for show, not for sale. I also had 2 of the stainless Lugers that were 2 of the original 100 that we built and sold.
The first day an older fellow that had bought several custom guns from me in months past came up to the table and looked at the Auto Mag. He asked me how much. I told him it was for show only. He came back 2 or 3 times and each time asked me if it was for sale. I figured he was just showing off in front of his buddies. I told him if I were to sell the gun it would go for $4500. He laughed and said "if I were to come in here tomorrow and wanted the 2 Ruger rifles at $3000 each you would sell me the Auto Mag for $4500". I Just looked at him and laughed. He came back the second day with a buddy and he bought the 2 Ruger rifles that I had priced at $3000 each. He picked up 2 of the custom Rugers, the 416 Rigby and the 470 Nitro and started counting out $6000 in hundred dollar bills. Then he laid out another $4500 and said "here is the $4500 for the Auto Mag". My ass puckered up big time. There was $10,500 in cash right in front of me and I had given him a price on the Auto Mag. I couldn't very well back out of a deal as I had given him the price. I had figured he was bluffing me as he didn't ask for any special prices or anything, just "here is the money at the price you quoted me". Have you ever seen a grown man cry? I came real close, but he walked out with 2 Ruger #1s and my beloved Auto Mag.
A few weeks later I was talking to my good friend Lee Jurras (if there was ever an Auto Mag freak it was Lee with me at a close second). I mentioned selling my 2 "B" Auto Mags. He made a comment that I won't repeat here but it made me feel lower than whale shit. He said there were less than 300 of the B guns made and he had seen one sell at a big Ohio gun show at $8500.
Typically I haven't seen a "B" Auto Mag since that day. The moral of this story is if you have a special gun that really means something to you, KEEP IT!! I have run across several Auto Mags since that day and have bought and sold them as they were the "A" series and there were almost 7000 of the A guns made. The A series guns were good guns but not hand fit and timed by Jurras himself.
So if you see an Auto Mag for sale and were waffling about buying it, quit your whining and buy it. As John Taffin used to tell me, BUY IT. He said in 6 months you won't miss that money but you would have the gun.