doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ok so I've got a question...

All I can say about Ruger service is that somehow the entrance to the chamber of my .22 pistol was chipped after years of use and I phoned the Ruger company in Connecticut. Bill Ruger answered the phone. What do I do, I said, send it down to you? No, he said, we've a small repair department (he may have been operating out of his garage for all I know) so send it to our Peterborough office (in Ontario, Canada) and we'll make a straight exchange. Sure enough, he replaced it with a brand-new bull-barrel Mark II.

No strong feelings one way or the other from me. Seem to be decent utility o/u guns at near entry level prices. I've always favored the Browning line in this price range over the Ruger. Just me. But since the Browning Citori line has gone almost totally with investment cast parts, I'm sure the gap is closer.

I'm a fan of their revolvers and semi-auto pistols for sure. Their rifles are great too. I am really more concerned about their shotguns. I'll go ahead and show my bias... I'm not a huge fan for a number of reasons. I think they're decent guns but I think they are not in the right price point.

Any thoughts on that?

They seem to meet the competition about head on in price.

As OU field guns, they're pretty heavy in 12, somewhat less so in 20. I liked the original blued receiver versions better than the current ones. Got my son one of those (started him out with sxs but he slipped over to the Dark Side) and he loves it. Saw a blued frame 20 with a straight stock at Cabela's in Owatonna the other day. A little heavy for a field 20 IMO, but the price is certainly reasonable. The 28's . . . they got the weight down pretty nicely on those.

They're built for hunting and should be used for the same. A lot of people on these shotgun boards are target shooters, clays, trap or skeet so their opinions of the Red Label are biased in that direction and the Red Label is definitely NOT built as a trap gun. As a hunting shotgun they're pretty much hit or miss either you get a good one or a real stinker.

My experience has been great. I have two 20 ga., blued-receiver guns that were made in about the second or third year of manufacture. One has about 75,000 trouble-free rounds through it; I'm thinking about getting it rebolted. The second gun has been fired less than 2,000 times so I just won't elaborate on it.

Should you ever need it, Ruger's service is outstanding

As some others have said I think they are decent guns for the money to hunt with. I have never seen anyone that was remotly serious about Clays that had one that din't trade out of it pretty quick.

the 12s i've handled were clubs.
the 28s I've handled were as sweet as any smallbore O/U I've ever picked up.

Of all the Rugers I own only one is a shotgun. I picked up a Red Label in 28 ga. and just love it for an O/U. Have a number of thier single actions and never hve had a problem, some of them go back to the 50s.