Apropos of nothing, I bought my wife a new Ruger 22/45 Lite. She thinks it’s pretty. I think I have a new shooting partner. 
My brother is an engineer at a large firearms company. I could ask him if this makes any sense, if there’s still any doubt.
You can rent guns in your state? Huh.
I asked a friend of mine, a licensed instructor, what he might know about this. I’m not sure it’s helpful, but here’s the copy/paste of his response:
“That’s very interesting and very possible. Manufacturers often have “deals” for ranges selling a package for way under wholesale to market their guns and have to my knowledge placed some rather stringent stipulations regarding resale. I however can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want the guns cleaned and working properly in a public venue, unless it was to torture test the reliability in an excellerated manner. I would have to defer to a higher authority on the matter as I haven’t heard of that exact program personally. As to why they might misrepresent the condition of the gun on the range… Mark III’s are very particular in the manner they breakdown and reassemble for cleaning. It’s far easier to just spray in solvent and load them up with oil and hope for the best in between proper cleanings. That practice I do have first hand knowledge of being the “go-to guy” on that particular problem at my range Lol.”