I had to decide if I wanted a new gun that was $500.00 over the price of a Gold Label. Are they $500.00 better? If they are, then that is what one should expect.
Tough to make that kind of comparison with two decidedly different marketing plans. Connecticut Shotgun is the manufacturer, distributor,
and retailer of the RBL,
as well as most of the other guns they produce. They get to keep ALL the profit, rather than allowing distributors and dealers to figure in their cut as is done with Ruger. I suspect that if C.S.M.C. employed a more conventional distribution/sales network, the price of the RBL to the customer would be 40-50% higher.
Until the shutdown of production, Ruger probably sold the GL to distributors for somewhere in the $1200-1300 range. Even now with the new MSRP of $2650 for the GL, and if production ever resumes; Ruger will probably be getting around $1800 from the distributors, and that's with a reasonable profit factored in.
Gotta wonder what Remington pays Tony to make a $49,000 Parker.
