A shot in the dark

[woodsy]

The title for this sub-forum includes the word "shotguns". I am meekly admitting that I never heard of a Ruger shotgun. Were there ever any? I have a Rem. 1100 and a Stevens O/U, and would gladly swap both for the (assumed) quality of a Ruger O/U, if it was close to a current production. Anybody with any info about past production, or future "pie-in-the-sky"? Color me uninformed.

 

[bnewberry]

Red Label is a Ruger shotgun. It is an over/under style. Gold Label is a double barrel, no longer made, sadly.

 

[Mobuck]

I'm not much of an O/U guy but believe the Red Label Ruger is one of the better mass produced O/U guns although I've never owned or shot one.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

I have both a Gold Label 12 Mag. and a Red Label 28 and love them both. Never any problems with either, although I don't pound them on clays, just use them for hunting. I've had both for about 14 years; GL was a retirement gift, the 28 I handled in a gunshop and just had to have it. 14 years later, I'm glad I did.

 

[eastbank]

the red labels had problems, thats why they were discontued. i owned several and two had problems the factory didn,t want to fix. to me they are a crap shoot.

 

[steveodtw]

Red Label is a Ruger shotgun. It is an over/under style. Gold Label is a double barrel, no longer made, sadly.

I am fortunate to own one of each. I have hunted and shot sporting clays with both. The only downside is the hard butt plate on the Gold Label smacks pretty hard from a 6.5 lb. 12 Ga. SXS shotgun. Not enough to keep me from shooting it though.

 

[NH Rugerman]

the red labels had problems, thats why they were discontued. i owned several and two had problems the factory didn,t want to fix. to me they are a crap shoot.

they were discontinued because the cost to produce was higher than Ruger was wholesaling them for....not to any problems to my knowledge and I knew the folks in Newport who told me what the exact issues were which I will keep private... but had to do with costs...

 

[hittman]

People claim Bill Ruger to be a genius yet say he discontinued those shotguns and scrapped the entire Six Series line of double actions because he sold them for less than his cost.

Which is it I wonder? Genius and innovator or mathematical moron who can't figure out his cost of production before pricing his product?

Or more to the story?

 

[Sugar River]

The Six series D.A. revolver line did cost more to make than they were selling for. But that was WBR's deliberate
method to get a foot hold in the L. E. market which at the time was completely dominated by S&W.

The shotguns were likely a different story.

 

[338reddog]

I had a Red Label in 20ga & 12ga field models and a 12 ga sporting clays. I never had any mechanical problems whatsoever. I actually shot them pretty well. The problem I did have was the recoil was like being kicked by a mule. The sporting was the worse when shooting skeet or clays I put a special mechanical pad on it, the fix was some help.
My buddy bought one for himself and One for his wife. I had advised them to shoot mine first. He did not take me up on it and made the purchase anyway. They ended up Cutting the stock, new pad and ported trying to soften it enough for her to shoot it.
The husband add a longer pad and solved his problem. His wife passed and the gun was to short for him so he added a gracoil which made it just right for length and recoil.
My point is the Red Label kicks like hell in a 12ga, but with some tinkering to length and pad quality it can become bearable. All in all a nice gun, I do prefer a Browning or my Caesar Gurrini for volume shooting.

 

[WAYNO]