Bill Ruger - Among the Best Gun Designers

[Savage92]

Do you believe Bill Ruger is one of the best Gun Designers, up with John Browning, Sam Colt, Smith & Wesson and other great gun designers.
I just notice that shooting times and other gun magazines say that he is, but when I think about what he has designed, almost everything is copied from an older design; Savage's Rotary Magazine, Iver Johnson's Transfer Bar, the M14, Dickson SxS, Savage 99, etc.

 

[Constantine-p89]

Well I think my p89 is a great gun.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I voted NO.

I personally feel that Bill did some great things for the gun world but he is no John Browning. He did bring a lot of innovative ideas to gun manufacturing.

 

[eliphalet]

Mr. Bill Ruger has earned a high place in firearm's history.

 

[Hunter0924]

I would say in the recent market Bill Ruger is close to the top and I am a Ruger fan but I do not think he is a John Moses Browning.

 

[jeepmor]

No.

Case in Point
Mini-14....3moa accuracy, yuck, another $800 of work it'll be sub-moa
Rifles - nice mauser copies, terrible stock trigger
Pistols - no experience
Gun issues - didn't really support high capacity magazines like he could have.

That said, I own two Ruger hunting rifles and really like them, besides their trigger, I'm just tickled with them. SubMOA is a piece of cake with my two rifles, both stainless/laminated models. Will I buy more, maybe, but I have what I need for now and do really like their integral scope mounts. That is a nice selling point when one is shopping on a budget.

However, if the Mini models shot better, I might have bought one of them rather than a black rifle variant. The accuracy was the deciding factor in that purchase.

 

[lesjones]

He's no John Moses Browning, but who else is?

Just based on the huge popularity of the Ruger Standard .22 pistol and the 10/22 rifle I think he's up there at the top of the list for commercial, non-military gun designers. Add in the single action and double action revolvers, the single shots and bolt actions and you've got a huge following. The success of all of those designs wasn't a fluke.

Now if only he could have designed decent triggers. Most Ruger factory triggers are mediocre at best.

 

[GTSteve03]

Sure, simply based on his revolvers alone I would give him that honor.

While other companies were using 100+ year old revolver technology, he modernized the double-action revolver to be stronger and modular, and as such the SP101 and GP100 designs are two of the sturdiest and most reliable revolvers out there.

 

[Anteater1717]

Compared to John Browning no.

 

[grimjaw]

No, BUT, he was definitely a smart businessman, and did produce a quality product. I just don't think it's groundbreaking like the other designers you mentioned.

jm

 

[Erik]

Pretty much what Grimjaw stated.

 

[Soybomb]

No, BUT, he was definitely a smart businessman,

One willing to sell gun owners down the river for the benefit of his business. I wouldn't bestow any honor upon him because of that.

 

[The Wiry Irishman]

No - because I've had to disassembled a Mark I and Mark II. (Mark III, too, but that design was after his death, wasn't it?)

 

[ChopperKen]

Yes,
I own mostly Rugers, handguns and rifles, love em,
The stock triggers do suck, that is only a 15 min. job to fix on most of Bill's guns.

 

[Kimber1911_06238]

I think Ruger makes some fine firearms....but he's no JMB

 

[Mal H]

Does anyone really know how much Bill Ruger himself was involved in the design of the various firearms offered by Sturm, Ruger & Co. over the years? I know he was intimately involved in the original .22 Standard model, as was Alex Sturm, and perhaps some follow-on models of that pistol. But, what about the Mark II rifles, the PXX series of pistols? I seriously doubt he drew up the design specs and ran the milling machines on the prototypes as JMB did.

I had to vote no.

 

[ilbob]

I think he was in the top 5 or 10.

Almost all designers of all products build on other works. I can't fault him for that.

Some of his early handguns were quite innovative. MK1, Bearcat, blackhawk, etc.

10/22 is probably one of the best all around 22 SA rifles there is.

 

[Werewolf]

Ruger is one of those companies you either love or hate - there is no in between.

Bill Ruger is the reason why.

I voted no and if there'd been a HELL NO option I'd have chosen that.

And that has not a darn thing to do with his politics...

 

[Acheron]

I'd say he was a pretty savvy businessman, but as a designer I think he barely even warrants a passing glance. I think Mal H brings up a very good point; just because a gun has the Ruger name on it doesn't mean that Bill Ruger was involved in the design process. His designs for .22 caliber weapons were pretty innovative, but he copied just about everything else from other designs.

As far as the comparisons to John Moses Browning go, I think they're a little too much. They are two very different men in two very different times. It's like comparing a housecat to a lion.

 

[4v50 Gary]

I voted no. Great designers are visionary men like Browning, Stoner, Kalashnikov, Mauser, (Carbine) Marshall. What makes them great? Why, their design principles are used today. They didn't just repackage another guy's concepts into a new gun, they were innovative and pioneering. Granted Ruger demonstrated the efficiency of investment casting for firearms production and the use of stampings (Ruger MK I was one of the first widespread stamped parts gun - but remember that the Germans and Russians made extensive use of stampings in WW II), but that just doesn't cut the mustard of great. Ruger and Gaston Glock would fall into about the same category.

 

[Bearlaker]

Bill Ruger was a marketing genius and a champion of the working man.
No more, no less. His designs work.
John M. Browning dwarfs Mr. Ruger.

 

[meef]

Among the best gun designers.....?



Well.......

I'd say he was easily among the top 100 or so.

Some where around 98 or 99 maybe.



Here's to Bill "Can You Say Sell-out, I Knew That You Could" Ruger. May he rest in peace, wherever he is.

And it's my fervent wish that in that place, he doesn't have a prayer of getting his hands on a snowball.

 

[Walkalong]

I voted yes because of my love for Redhawks and what he built Ruger into, but after reading some of the posts, I am not so sure.

 

[rocinante]

can't say one way or the other but I love my single action vaquero 357. For affordable quality and durability and dependability it would be hard to argue the man did not have some spin on the ball.

 

[ilbob]

I don't consider it a flaw to come up with a very good design that incorporates features others came up with. There are only so many things you can do with a firearm to make it different than another firearm. I have always thought part of his special genius was in making affordable and high quality firearms.