Did Ruger quit making the Red Label?

[Tom Held]

ruger success

I must be the only one on this thread that has never had a problem with Ruger Red Label shotguns. A few years ago I bought a 20 and 28 gauge, both with English stocks and 30" barrels. They have been to Argentina 4 times shooting thousands of dove in Cordoba, as many as 1,000 in a day. The 28 gauge is a great handling gun and it came with a set of full length 410 briley tubes.

Guess I've just been lucky. I've had no experience with the 12 gauge.

 

[Hamish]

I have a RRL 12 gauge shotgun with 30" barrels, and I've never had a problem with it. I've only put a thousand rounds or so through it (it's barely broken in according to some) but I find it to be a reliable and accurate shotgun that I enjoy shooting.

I use it primarily for skeet, and shoot some trap with it as well. It is a fun gun, the weight and recoil are very manageable, and I intend to keep on shooting it. No complaints!

 

[DM~]

I've had 3 of them, never could get use to them handleing like a club, i just hated the bbl selector too! SO, they never were around long enough, to test their durability.

Sure a LOT of folks that had problems with them though, i would not buy another, unless i bought it cheap to trade off!

Folks buy Rugers just because they say "Ruger" on the side, but ruger has build some junk, and many of their products just aren't all that great UNTIL you throw some money at them!

DM

 

[oneounceload]

and many of their products just aren't all that great UNTIL you throw some money at them!

The 10/22 comes to mind there, and I still own one

 

[Darter]

The Red Lable is a good gun. Like any new production gun it had teething problems. Sad that they were not given more of a chance. If you look close at it it is designed similar to a Perazzi though not as robust. It has barrel trunions and locking lugs at midframe. It's profile is low to aid with recoil. It was given decent wood from the start. The barrels could have been lighter aiding in ballance issues. With just a few design tweaks it could have given Baretta and Perazzi the blues. It will now be a holy grail to those that own them.

The Remington 32 handeled better than the Kreghoff 32. The Kreghoff was made as a target gun and like the Perazzi it is heavier than a hunting profile gun to handle heavy use. It is a prime example of what can be accomplished when a good company gets hold of a good design and does right by it. Remington tried to revive the M32 with the M3200. It was somewhat of a flop. It had a shorter frame and was heavy. It was a decent target gun though.

The Browning is a decent design although it is a bad one in my opinion. Yes I have owned more than a few. It has a high frame and the barrels are hinged low. The breech gapes somewhat upon firing. It is carefully made and it overcomes it's faults well. Millions are in use.

In the end you pretty much get what you pay for. The Ruger started out as a decent field gun for the price of $550. Kreghoff's and Perazzi's have never been that cheap and never will. A K80 will set you back more than a hole covey of Rugers.

For what it's worth I have owned all of the above mentioned guns. My son now owns the Ruger Red Lable 20ga. It has a set of Purbaugh skeet tubes and the trigger was tuned by the late Cecil Weems. It is a good gun. I have and like a Browning Citori superlight 20 ga.with 28"barrels and choke tubes. The Kreghoff was a good skeet gun as was the Baretta 680 and the Rem.3200 but for me the Perazzi is better.

If an enterprising person like Hal Dupont ends up with the rights to produce the Ruger you will see a fine specimen but you will pay dearly for it.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[drsfmd]

Last I knew, I believe Ruger was making the Red Labels in Turkey anyway...

Whatever source you "knew" that from was incorrect. Made in the Ruger factory, just like all their other guns.

 

[BigJimP]

Ok, sorry ....

 

[MCgunner]

I love my Rugers, just never had a Red Label to have any experience with it.

Current Rugers...

10/22
SR22 Pistol
Mark 2 Pistol
KP90DC
P85
4 5/8" .45 Colt stainless Blackhawk
6.5" blued .357 Blackhawk
Ruger Old Army

I have owned in the past, no longer have....

Security Six 4" stainless
2.25" stainless SP101 in .357
p95

It's a shame if the shotguns weren't that good. Ruger generally builds a first rate firearm. Folks dis the little 10/22 and it's not my most accurate .22 rifle, but it's flawless in function, accurate enough, and danged fun.

 

[kscharlie]

I bought my 12 ga. Red Label new in 1988. It came with a full set of choke tubes, including two skeet tubes. Over the years, I have shot several thousand targets with this gun on the skeet field and at sporting clays. This gun has also been used to take a pretty good number of quail, pheasants and prairie chickens. I have never had one single problem with this shotgun, and I have no regrets buying it. Not that it matters, but I seldom shoot a round of skeet with a score lower than 24/25, and my sporting clays scores are normally above 80%.

 

[drsfmd]

The Red Lable is a good gun. Like any new production gun it had teething problems. Sad that they were not given more of a chance.

It was in production for nearly 35 years. How much longer do they need to work out the bugs?

 

[4v50 Gary]

Ruger Red Labels were made in New Hampshire. I saw the caged in assembly area.

 

[VAPOPO]

I have owned O/U's from Browning, SKB, Beretta and Winchester. I swapped my Beretta 686 Onyx spporting with a friend that owned a Ruger Red Label for a round of trap. After the round I had a blood blister on my left hand from the barrels flopping open and pinching my forfinger in the action a bruise on my cheek from the comb and a score of 13, my average was 24. He reluctantly handed back the Beretta after running his first 25 straight ever with the gun. Every Red label I have ever handled had this barrel flop issue on opening a sign of poor craftsmanship as bad as the Russian Bakials that you have to break open over your knee. Currently I have a Winchester Supreme that I have been shooting for the last 10 years it is without a doubt the finest fitting shotgun I have ever owned and even though I gave up registered trap a decade ago I still put well over 1000 rounds a year through it and it is still much tighter than that Ruger was brand new.

 

[Red Label]

Had mine for 10 years now. Still love it. Still fits me and I still hit more targets with it than any other gun I own. One ounce and I have had words before but I still stick to my gun! My Red Label rocks and I still shoot sporting clays with it. It went back to the factory once for ejector trouble but hasn't caused me grief since. I think its a shame they are gone

 

[kudu]

When I started skeet shooting in competition, I had bought a Red Label. It was one of the first with choke tubes, about 1989-90, had a set of economy Kolar tubes installed for all gauges and went about registered skeet. At about 15,000 targets, started having malfunctions, this was into my second year of shooting. Sent it to Ruger, they fixed it for free and I had it back in about 2 weeks. Add about another 10,000 targets and started malfunctioning again, but of a different nature. Sent to Ruger, they fixed it again. Was out about 3 weeks. I had to borrow guns on both occasions. I was able to sell the gun to another person who just shot casual and he was fine with it.

I bought a Beretta 682 Supersport with all the goodies, Kolar AAA's and carrier barrel. My Beretta has at least 50,000 rounds through it without a single problem, still tight in the hinges. I did like my Ruger, but not for heavy target shooting, I still have a nice Red Label 28 gauge for occasional targets and hunting. I am lucky to shoot 1000 birds a year anymore, but I doubt I will ever sell the Beretta.

 

[oneounceload]

Hey, Red Label,
if your gun works great for you, that is awesome. I never said ALL of them sucked, but they did have a large number with issues,and mine, a lovely 28, was one of them.
With the quality of Browning, Beretta and SKB, why takes chance on whether or not you might get a good one?