"New" revolver has me confused...

Took possession of a SRH .480 today. It's stainless and has the new barrel profile, but has obviously been used.
Last week, I called my LGS to see if a distributor had one and they did, so I put some cash down and ordered it. I picked it up today, and gave it a brief look but didn't spend too much time on it since I had other things to do (and I thought it was brand new). When I got to spend some time with it this evening, I noticed the typical streak from rotating the cylinder and when I looked down the barrel it was FILTHY! By now the store is closed and I'm not sure what the heck happened. Guess I'll call them Monday....

Take a Breath.
Is Lock Up Perfect?
Is it hurt in any way?
Did you get it for a Safe Queen, or to Shoot and Hunt With??
If the answer is to Shoot and Hunt With.
Clean it, and then take it to the Range and shoot it. It will now be in the same condition it would have been in if spotless when it came out of the box. You will still have a very desirable Hunting Revolver.

Now get a Weigand Combat 480 Scope Base, and some 30mm Rings. Make an order with UltraDot West, and get a new 30mm MatchDot II, and some Flip Up Covers for it. Add reloading Dies, a Bag of Starline Brass, a jug of 300 MP, and some 375 Grain Cast Bullets, and you are ready to have some serious fun.

Bob

I believe they test fire the guns for function, accuracy and safety before they leave the factory. I have seen some that were pretty dirty.

I've bought guns within minutes of their UPS/FEDEX delivery to a shop and watched them unpacked and logged in that were dirty. Some were downright filthy, but they were brand new. Check the box and see if there are multiple log in codes or anything hinky (whited out, written over, scratched off). Dealers around here write a log in code number on the box label when they enter a gun into their BATFE required log book. A new gun should just have one unalterd log number.

Best Regards,
ADP3

Thanks for the replies guys...
Bob-There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the gun, lockup is good, cylinder gap is tight, trigger seems to be fine and another look at the bore showed it to be dirty but in good shape.
Jimbo you are correct, ruger does test fire guns before they leave the factory. However, the dark rings on the cylinder, around each chamber shows it must have been test fired a lot. lol
Sixer-the only thing that jumps out at me along those lines is this.. On the little brown envelope in the box is a sticker with some basic info on it and the hand written initials of an inspector (or maybe a test shooter). That's on every gun I've purchased new. This one has a set of initials with a line through it, or scratched out AND another set of initials. Just something I thought was interesting, not a problem.
I think I'll clean it up and see how she shoots....thanks again for your input guys!

I'll venture a guess that the first guy to test it found something he did not like, and did not approve it. It went back to the assembly bench for correction, and the second guy shot it and then approved it.

Just a guess, but might explain two different inspectors.

cadillo said:

I'll venture a guess that the first guy to test it found something he did not like, and did not approve it. It went back to the assembly bench for correction, and the second guy shot it and then approved it.

Just a guess, but might explain two different inspectors.

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My thoughts also. Put it through your tests ... if anything appears not exactly right , call Ruger. I'd think they would have record of all that went on with that serial number. More than likely , though , it will be fine. enjoy !

regards , brushunter

Agree with above comments. I have a pair of OAs, KBP-5F-I, that I purchased new from a dealer. The first one that I took out looked to have been fired and not cleaned as it was extremely dirty. The other one had been fired as well but was cleaned much better...

rugnelli

I agree with Bob R - if it passes "the checkout":

http://tinyurl.com/revocheck

...and doesn't seem to have any damage or wear, keep it shoot it and love it. It's a Ruger, it isn't meant to be a safe queen .

just an update.. I cleaned her up today and yep, she's brand new. lol Bore is bright a shiny, and all the little stains or dirty spots came right off. Now to get to the range!
JimMarch thanks for the link!

Wizzard
That is what I was hoping you would find.
The New SS 480's are not all that common.
Like was said above, It looks like the original Test Fire must have detected something that needed further attention. It was fixed, and shot again. It may have been shot several times more than a normal test firing making sure it was RIGHT before going out.
It seems to me like Ruger has been doing even better quality control than a few years ago.
I currently have 6 Ruger Revolvers. I have not found any issues with any of them.
We have 5 or 6 Willy Clapp GP100's at the range. We have a few more Adjustable sight 4 Inch GP100's and some SP101's. Between my brother and I we have owned 5 Super RedHawks. Three were 44 Magnums, and 2 were 480 Rugers.
NO Issues with any of the above.

Bob

I worked at Freedom Arms for a few years. I'd get called on occasion to do the "test firing" (like tossing Brer' Rabbit into the briar patch )
The guns were usually wiped down a wee bit and then put in the box and shipped.

flatgate

flatgate said:

I worked at Freedom Arms for a few years. I'd get called on occasion to do the "test firing" (like tossing Brer' Rabbit into the briar patch )
The guns were usually wiped down a wee bit and then put in the box and shipped.

flatgate

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wizzard said:

Took possession of a SRH .480 today. It's stainless and has the new barrel profile, but has obviously been used.

Click to expand...

Your gun does have the "bull-barrel" profile with Target crown and the new black front sight that is held on by three screws??
If so, you've probably got a pretty good gun there since Ruger doesn't have any .480 model listed on their website.
Please send me a PM with your sn information so I can get that one documented in the "Reference of Ruger Firearms". Somebody is bound to ask a question about them sometime in the future.
Chet15

That's correct! There were a few on gun broker for sale so, on a hunch I asked my LGS to check his distributors and got lucky! I'll send you a PM this weekend.

Got it...thanks Wizzard.
I know this doesn't mean much, because Ruger's website is usually behind a bit with what they are making, but the .480 is not listed on Ruger's website as of today.
What barrel length is yours??
Chet15

7.5" I'm a long barrel fan but I have not heard of any being made with the 9.5" barrel so I wasn't going to wait. And yes, Rugers website lags a little.