Ruger QC Opinion

They sent me a label for warranty work and I had to send it back. It went out the previous Monday (13 days ago) and I got an e-mail it was with a technician this past Friday.

While it was there I sent along the BX trigger group I bought and wrote in my repair letter to please call me with the bill for installing it.

Stay safe.

Tallball said:

Maybe demand is so high now that the manufacturers are just pumping them out as fast as they can.

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I’m sure that isn’t helping matters, but QC was lacking at Ruger (and S&W and Colt) long before the current surge in demand.

I like Ruger revolvers. They are solid well built revolvers, but I will not buy one without seeing it in person. I bought one of the 480 Ruger Bisley super blackhawks a few years ago off the internet. It was fine, except for the grips. It looked like a monkey had pulled them out of a box and just slapped them on. You couldn’t even shoot it with the grips that came on it. You can go in a gun shop and look at a two Rugers that are the exact same model and the quality level will not be the same. I bought a sp101 22, looked at two. One looked like hammer hell and the one I bought was near perfect. I believe Ruger could do much better with the grips on their single actions, and the finish. It is not just Ruger. Colt and Smith and Wesson are the same now.

I'm a big Ruger fan but I'll admit that they're QC isn't that good, tooling marks are quite common and bought two Blackhawks that had a slightly canted front sight, now Ruger fixed the first one and the second one I just sent off last week, bought last week too. If you own a stainless Ruger you need to have some 3m scotchbrite pads to clean up the finish, get some of varying coarseness, they're good for cleaning up small scratches and imperfections, just go with the grain of the metal. Everytime I buy one I have to almost think of it as a project to clean it up

I’ll give my anecdotal experience with Ruger.

I’ve owned give or take about 10 Ruger revolvers over the last 20 years. Of those 10, I’ve sent 3 in for RMA work.

One was a brand new SP101 I bought sight unseen. It would have the action freeze up if you began a double action pull, staged the trigger, and then released without firing. They replaced the pawl and some other parts. Returned it to me within 2 weeks. Worked fine after that.

One was a brand new New Model Blackhawk 357/9mm convertible also bought sight unseen. The barrel was not aligned properly with the frame, causing sighting issues. Moreover, the loading gate would sometimes pop open during recoil (moderate strength rounds, nothing crazy). They clocked the barrel and replaced some parts for the loading gate. Returned it to me within 2 weeks. Worked fine after that.

The third one was a brand new New Vaquero in 45 Colt - also bought sight unseen. I bought it in 2018. Over time, I realized that it would always shoot about an inch and a half to the right, and it wasn’t me. Upon closer examination, I realized that the front sight blade was not installed properly centered to the radius of the barrel. They clocked the barrel for me, and even though the sight doesn’t look straight, I’m now shooting on center. Works fine. That repair was done 2 years after I had bought the gun.

The moral of the story is this. Ruger definitely has QC oversights. But I have absolutely no reservations about buying a new Ruger sight unseen, as I have complete confidence that they will take care of their customers after the fact.

Heck, I actually prefer buying my Rugers sight unseen from retail vendors online, simply because I don’t have to worry about handling marks and lack of oil from guns sitting in retail stores for customers to mess with before someone comes along and buys them. I was at a gun store today and was appalled by the way that they had brand new revolvers literally rusting on the display stands from neglect.

I recently upgraded my double action revolvers with 5 SRHs. One of the five, a SRH Alaskan in 480 Ruger had an intractable ejection problem. I called Ruger and they immediately asked me to send them the revolver. They replaced the cylinder, adjusted the gap, polished it, paid the shipping costs, and had it back to me in less than two weeks. The repair was successful. The other four were all as good as you could expect for a new double action revolver...adequate, but will benefit from work to smooth and lighten the double action trigger.

TTv2 said:

At this point all factory new revolvers not made by Freedom Arms, Magnum Research, and Korth are suspect.

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Sadly, I think this is pretty close to the truth - and I wouldn't be surprised if those companies occasionally put out something they shouldn't have.

Regardless, I have said it before: I budget for a trip to the gunsmith any time I buy a new handgun. If nothing else, a revolver from any of the big manufacturers is nearly certain to need a trigger job. My most recent Ruger is a stainless Vaquero with a loading gate that just about required a pry bar to open. I could have sent it back to Ruger at no charge, but it desperately needed trigger work too, so I just paid the gunsmith to fix the loading gate while he was at it. Just part of buying new guns these days, as far as I am concerned.

Wow! I only have one new revolver, a Colt Cobra, and fit and finish are perfect. Trigger pull in DA feels like their advertised 8 lbs +/- and SA is the smoothest of any gun i have ever owned, albeit not a lot to compare with, and after a couple hundred rounds trying to get used to a revolver, it has been perfect. As someone said, there are lemons from everyone. I love the overall fit and finish and the way is works.

Semper Fi
paul

.38 Special said:

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My most recent Ruger is a stainless Vaquero with a loading gate that just about required a pry bar to open. I could have sent it back to Ruger at no charge...

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Usually the stout hairpin that regulates the gate is out of place, can be put in place w/no disassembly.

I have three Mini’s, a GSR, and a 10/22. The 6.8 mini couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from the inside. The Mini 30 wouldn’t digest steel primers. The 14 is dead eye accurate. The 10/22 is nice. All are fixed. I didn’t send any of them back. Rugers are still on my buy list. Rumor is that Ruger has excellent service.