He learned to shoot at age 6, and he received his own Remington Model 12 from his father at the age of 12. He graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in January 1936. As a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he converted an empty room into a machine shop and, in 1938 came up with initial designs for what eventually became the experimental T10/T23E1 light machine gun for the United States Army, executing the drawings on his in-laws’ dining room table. U.S. Army Ordnance officials liked the gun design so much they hired Ruger as a gun designer at the Springfield Armory. Over a 53-year career, Ruger helped invent and patent dozens of models of sporting firearms, which were instant and enduring successes. From the start, his company stressed mechanical innovation and safety.