What is going on with the Ruger Blackhawk price?

johnjohn said:

There is probably a lot more skilled labor involved in making any good revolver, not to mention more expensive material. Your average plastic fantasic wonder 9 is cheaper to produce and people waiting in line to buy. You got to take care of the stockholders.

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I agree.
Lots of machining, fitting, etc. goes into the manufacture of any revolver compared to the stamping and plastic molding of a LCP, Glock, xD etc. My Blackhawks and Single Six certainly are more involved than my Glocks and other plastics are.

Regarding the focus on the pistols; Lower per-unit cost + selling like hotcakes at or near MSRP to lots of newer shooters = happy bean counters.

Stay safe.

I got a used one for a $299 GB bid about five years ago.

I'm surprised they cost so much now.

captain awesome said:

exactly right. they apparently think they can make more money by churning out tons of semiauto 9mms. they are probably right in that regard so they slow production on the revolvers and allocate more of their resources to the semis. so they charge more for the revolvers

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Perhaps. But both types are made in different factories, states apart.

$87.50 when introduced. At the same time a Combat Magnum (19) was about the same. Took longer for Ruger to keep pace. Too darn high for either now. IMO.

I'm surprised at your surprise. Haven't you been listening to our dear leader? It's all because of COVID and Putin.

Dave

Todays Ruger Blackhawk quality is very much like a 1962 Ruger Black hawk. Steel machined correctly with a nice finish , lifetime good warranty too. Todays S&W has no pin located barrel but are press fitted into the frame, with vaying results, there are few S&W barrels that have real cut rifling and many models have a steel sleeve inside a casting ! The finish and quality is hit or miss and it seems like they prefer to let you QC it and they can repair or send you another if needed. The wood grips are hideous in most cases. I have collected S&W over the years, they were my favorite revolvers, overall , but enough is enough ! The last custom shop target 686 I saw in 2021 had crooked sights ! Very sad.

I can't afford anything I own. Must be Putin inflation.

beag_nut said:

There may be an effect caused by where one looks for a particular gun. When I bought a couple Ruger revolvers the LGS was much less expensive than the ones which advertised extensively. And also for the 10/22 I got. AND the Henry. Pays to shop locally, if possible.

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That also depends on where you're looking. Anything in the bottom 3 New England states and you're looking at paying 20 to 30% more than what you could pay if you got it online and did a transfer and at times avoid sales tax.

I'll be picking up a new Taurus this week and will pay no tax. If I'd bought in store I'd be out another 200 bucks, easy.

The Blackhawk I sold (no trade) to a big box store was babied, and looked LNIB. They paid me for it, box and candy- very close to what I paid months earlier. Talk about walking out happy.

If you think the Blackhawk prices went nuts check out the Old Army cap and ball revolvers, prices on these are completely insane. I shoot mainly black powder and cost of everything is through the roof. Plus other ammo is very hard to find thanks to Jobama.

On a positive note I took a look at a nice Single Six with both cylinders yesterday for $399 asking. I thought that was decent for what I have seen lately. Had no need want or desire but what I thought was a good buy for someone.

Yeah I believe Ruger revolver prices are crazy but I haven’t bought one in 10 years

That Blackhawk.45 convertible set me back $560. in 2012 from Davidson’s.

Prior to that a SRH-7 was NIB $450. From a LGS in 03 and I was pleased with price.

Aren't we supposed to be happy the guns we bought have kept up with inflation, or maybe done better?

Only sample here is a Buckeye Blackhawk 10mm/38-40 but I've been eyeballing 2 in 30 Carbine. Anyone have the 30 Carbine Blackhawk 7.5"?

DesertFox said:

Only sample here is a Buckeye Blackhawk 10mm/38-40 but I've been eyeballing 2 in 30 Carbine. Anyone have the 30 Carbine Blackhawk 7.5"?

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Why, yes
Yes, I do
A 1969 3-screw. Awesome, fun gun, outstanding on hogs, loaded with Hornady V-Max 110 gr

Ruger Vaquero prices have gone insane as well; MSRP is over $1000 and used easily commands that on various web sites. I never ever thought a Ruger Vaquero would cost that much...
It seems any time one can get a RV or Ruger Blackhawk for $500-$700 now, if it's in good shape, it's a "bargain"...

I haven't bought anything in a few years but above posts got me to looking at some current MSRP's. The .454 SRH is dang near $1500. Yowza.

Even before the price hikes, I had been having serious concerns with Ruger SP101 and GP100 and their quality. My Sp101 had spots that weren't fully polished and sharp corners inside the frame... things just didn't seem like they were living up to the Ruger name. Nobody seems to have issues with the LCR or Redhawk (and my Redhawk was flawless) yet I have heard much about the SP and GP revolvers that has caused me to avoid them. Now that they're costing $150 more than they were, I'm not expecting at those higher prices that the issues I've had and heard from others will be fixed, I expect they'll still be present and at $750 I expect a product wasn't made by cutting corners.

Ruger better be careful with how they price their revolvers and what they allow to go out their door because Taurus is coming on strong with improved quality and extremely competitive prices. Having bought a PT92 this week and put 100 rds thru it yesterday with zero malfunctions and found it to be accurate and well made, it's my second Taurus in the past few years that has delivered at a price around $400. At that price and performance, why would I pay more for a Ruger?

Mn Fats said:

Agreed. But the single action Blackhawk? For that design to meet up with a 686 or Gp100 in price seems asinine. There's less manufacturing involved. Yet the prices are not too far off. To me, this is hard to justify. If it's availability, then I understand that.

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But you will never wear it out. I have a SBH 44mag I bought NIB for $425 probably 18 years ago that I gave some thought to selling a few months ago but there is no way I would let go of it now. Its still like new and shoots very well. Its the only 44 mag I have now. I was looking at getting a 357/9mm convertable but there is no way I will pay what they want for them on gunbroker. And now that they are collecting taxes on online sales the final price you pay is just the beginning. If you pay $700 or so you can count on another hundred bucks for shipping, taxes, GB fees and transfer when it gets to you.

I just sold 9 guns for a friend on GB and so am up on what the real final price is when buying a gun from there now. I may sell more guns but I don't think I will ever again buy a gun from there.

ThomasT said:

I was looking at getting a 357/9mm convertable but there is no way I will pay what they want for them on gunbroker. And now that they are collecting taxes on online sales the final price you pay is just the beginning. If you pay $700 or so you can count on another hundred bucks for shipping, taxes, GB fees and transfer when it gets to you.

I just sold 9 guns for a friend on GB and so am up on what the real final price is when buying a gun from there now. I may sell more guns but I don't think I will ever again buy a gun from there.

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GB is getting pretty bad, no way would I ever buy a new gun on there now and so long as it's a gun still in production I may as well buy it new from somewhere else online. About all I intend to buy off GB now is used guns that are no longer in production as the ones I'm looking for tend to be cheap and wouldn't be able to find them locally.

That said, there have been times where I have been able to avoid taxes and GB fees by contacting the seller directly and paying by money order. Last time I paid by credit card thru GB's checkout system and got whacked good. Never using the card on GB again.

TTv2 said:

Last time I paid by credit card thru GB's checkout system and got whacked good. Never using the card on GB again.

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I never use GB pay to buy a gun. I am a big believer in USPS money orders. Good as gold and protection for both the buyer and the seller. I wouldn't have sold the guns for my bud on there except he said he was just going to take them to the pawn shop and dump them for what he could get. He is 76 now and doesn't care much about shooting anymore. got him a couple of thousand dollars more than he would have got taking them to the pawn shop or gun store.

Gun stores and gun dealers think all of their sh*t is stuff and all your stuff is sh*t.

One other thing is that I blame gunbroker for the reason guns are the price they are now. At least to some degree. With the guns online their are potentially hundreds of people viewing and a large amount bidding and bidding guns up past what they would normally bring. A common occurrence at auctions. And when nother see the inflated prices of sold guns they think all guns are worth that amount.

I have twice went in pawn shops and asked the price on the gun and the counter guy will go on the computer and look that gun up and quote you the highest, most out of line price he can find on an unsold gun.

I have suggested they log in and do an advanced search and see what the gun in question really sold for. Not some pie in the sky price some dummy thinks his gun is worth. And they don't like it when you do that either. Needless to say I didn't buy any guns from them and never returned to their shop either.

As a building contractor (retired) I find this pretty funny. Anyone priced lumber or sheet goods in the last couple years? Insulation or concrete? Guns are still so cheap as to be hardly worthy of comment.