A New Ruger Business Model?

[RSIno1]

With all the special guns ordered by distributors will Ruger evolve into just filling orders for limited runs of special designed guns? The bean counters would like it - the entire run would be sold before the first receiver popped out of the mold. Runs would be small piqueing collector interest and increasing sales. The same base model could be offered and Lipsy's could add some custom touches Davidson's could also do the same thing using different pieces - scopes/triggers/buttstocks/barrel crown/stock material/color/metal finish/bi-pod/sling all would be orderable for a run of guns. Lots of combinations so the actual guns stand on their own.
I don't know if they are following the same distribution method of Ford & Chevy. They produce a bunch of cars and about a week before they show up on the lot the dealer gets notice of what cars he's getting and how big a check he has to give the driver to get them unloaded.

 

[Jim Puke]

Not nearly enough orders for special runs...special orders won't total 25,000 guns a year...Ruger sells over a million guns a year. Do the math...

 

[Pat-inCO]

With all the special guns ordered by distributors will Ruger evolve into just filling orders for limited runs of special designed guns?

It's beginning to look that way.
Seems like at least every other month there is a "new" model out,
mostly in PINK, that the women will not buy.

I asked my daughter about pink guns and she said that she would buy one
about the time 0bummer starts living by the Constitution. :shock:
(OOPS . . . . can't say that on this forum)

 

[mohavesam]

Everything is called a special order... you don't think Ruger would call them "mistake runs" now do you?

 

[DGW1949]

Heck, I remember plenty of times that I've tried to get a dealer to order me a plain-Jane Vaquero, Mini-14, or whatever..and was told that there were none available because "they're not making those right now". Point being that Ruger has been making guns in "batch runs" for years. That's just how they do it, and whether or not any certain batch gets dressed up as some sort of "distributor exclusive" has really had little bearing on the matter.

DGW

 

[DeletedMember275]

Didn't Winchester try that at one time, with all of the M94 Commemorative models?

 

[Viking Queen]

With all the special guns ordered by distributors will Ruger evolve into just filling orders for limited runs of special designed guns?

It's beginning to look that way.
Seems like at least every other month there is a "new" model out,
mostly in PINK, that the women will not buy.

I asked my daughter about pink guns and she said that she would buy one
about the time 0bummer starts living by the Constitution. :shock:
(OOPS . . . . can't say that on this forum)

I think I like your daughter.......A LOT!

When asked why I don't have pink guns I just say I like basic black or stainless, it goes with all my outfits.

However, if pink or purple or any other fashion color gets a woman to buy her first gun, then I am all for it.

Viking Queen

 

[wizofwas]

I don't know if they are following the same distribution method of Ford & Chevy. They produce a bunch of cars and about a week before they show up on the lot the dealer gets notice of what cars he's getting and how big a check he has to give the driver to get them unloaded.

I don't know if they're doing that now but back in the 70's when I worked at the Motors (PMD), every car that we made was sold before it even thought about of being put on the assembly line. Back in those days, Mopar was the one that made cars that weren't sold. The dealers knew that an always waited till the end of the month for a "fire sale" to buy their cars. One of the big reasons why Mopar went belly up back in the 70's.

 

[mohavesam]

With all the special guns ordered by distributors will Ruger evolve into just filling orders for limited runs of special designed guns?

It's beginning to look that way.
Seems like at least every other month there is a "new" model out,
mostly in PINK, that the women will not buy.

I asked my daughter about pink guns and she said that she would buy one
about the time 0bummer starts living by the Constitution. :shock:
(OOPS . . . . can't say that on this forum)

I think I like your daughter.......A LOT!

When asked why I don't have pink guns I just say I like basic black or stainless, it goes with all my outfits.

However, if pink or purple or any other fashion color gets a woman to buy her first gun, then I am all for it.

Viking Queen

Back in 1986, my hunting pal showed up with an AR-15. Colt of course. Since we hunted coyotes 2-3 times a week, we did alot of self-camo on our guns. I was better at it than him of course, so he gave the job over to me. I settled on a hot pink with white zebra stripes and a few black-line accents. We sure got some looks at the range!
But in B&W photos, the AR and our camo and our shrubbery all looked the same, and it worked very well collecting pelts... I wonder if I should be getting royalties from all these camo companies now touting pink camo variants of MY original from '86??? I have some photos (non-digital of curse) around here somewhere... !!!

 

[exavid]

Seems to me that with the computer controlled laser and water cutting machines every firearm could come off the same line with individual customizing patterns on them. These systems are fast too, so it wouldn't slow production enough to matter.