I have had some problems with ruger customer relations. I bought a brand new gun and it had problems day one. I sent it back to ruger, they failed to fix it and sent it back to me. I sent it back a second time, and they sent me on a wild goose chase to do some non-existant paperwork at the store where i bought it, the store that was sending and receiving for me. I finally got a total replacement, but no free extra goodies to make up for their mistake of #1 letting a bad gun out #2 not fixing it the first time #3 wasting my time with wild goose chases.
Now, YOU broke the gun, no fault of rugers. Ruger can't diagnose over the phone. Lets say they did pull a tech from fixing a gun and had him listen to your description. He'd say 'humm, doesn't sound good, the chances of us being able to repair it are slim, but I couldn't say for sure without seeing it' But then, you should have already know the chances were slim.
So why send it off at all? Were you hoping they'd be able to repair it, and even though the warranty was negated, they'd repair it for free out of pity? That's a big gamble for $52 shipping.
What would you have done if they said 'it is repairable for $700'? or what if they just said 'it is repairable for $350'?
Did you decide on a 'break point' were it wasn't worth fixing?
Why did you not choose to take the replacement purchase? I can understand choosing not to buy a replacement on your own, just have one less gun, tight economic times and all, but you sent out a gun that you damaged knowing they'd charge you to fix it, so apparently you were willing to shell out a decent chunk of cash for it.
Finally, why pay to have it returned? figure it is $52 worth of parts?