doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Status of the Ruger Gold Label side-by-side?

Ruger has a history of strange projects

Several years ago, I think it was in the 90s, Ruger decided to get into the competition rifle bussines.They talked NRA into letting them build rifles for the US Palma team. I think Mid Tompkins was running the team that year. Anyway a guy who has since passed at an early age named Richard Anthony a great shooter who was a classic shooting bum, meaning "Turkey" as he was called lived only for rifle shooting and nothing else, was put in charge of the rifles.

The deal was that, provided the team members used the Ruger Rifle, they could have one of the 25 one-off very special rifles, (I think the rifle was on the cover of American Rifleman)

As it ended up, "Turkey" wound up with the only rifle that was good enough to shoot in a match, probably because he picked through them all to find one that would shoot. The rest of the shooters used their Swings, Paramounts, Remingtons, etc. I've since wondered what happened to those 25 rifles. Including Richard's since he's passed away.

The Palma Team members didn't get them, so they must be out there somewhere. If you run accros a 30" barreled Model 77 .308 single shot Ruger at a pawn shop, it might just be worth some money.

Re my earlier post about no problems with the GL . . . when they first appeared, if I recall correctly, some people reported problems with the guns not cocking. Again, I'm stretching my memory here--and I even had one for awhile--but I believe they eject BEFORE they cock. That is, you have to make sure you break the gun fully, not just to the point where the ejectors fire, to make sure the gun is cocked.

"you have to make sure you break the gun fully, not just to the point where the ejectors fire, to make sure the gun is cocked."
I found this to be a problem and eventually sold mine.

The only "problem" I've seen with 2 of them is that you have to be careful to push the safety fully to one side or the other when disengaging the safety. Otherwise the hammer will fall, but won't hit the firing pin.

I would have like a double trigger better. However, the Gold Label is a good light weight gun, more comfortable to shoot with lighter loads. To bad Ruger couldn't see fit to make another run - preferably in 20ga.

Regards, Ron