When they were in production an article in SSM described their new method of barrel joining. I don't recall details, .....
Ruger developed a new process for soldering the barrels on the Gold Label. The barrels were placed in a jig & hot air is piped through the barrels to melt the solder. Then the flow is changed to cool air to cool the barrels. I would think the jig would align the barrels to that point of impact would be almost guaranteed. My GL is aligned properly.
The engineers at Ruger are no dummies & they would not develop a process that would give a large percentage of unusable barrels. The Gold Label is a production gun, made to sell for a lower price (with Briley chokes!). The receiver is investment cast with CNC machining & I'd be the stocks are CNC inletted so close that little hand fitting is needed. That is just state of the art production methods. Go ahead & demand traditional machining from forgings, but wasn't that the business model of Ithaca Classic Doubles (3-5 times the price & out of business).
From the beginning, I think it was clear the Gold Label was almost a special project for Ruger & that the production would not be high. When you see something like that, it's a sure bet that in 10 yrs, collectors will drive the price out of sight.
With the Gold Label keep your choke tubes clean & be careful screwing them in.
Regards, Ron
