New Red Label- Same song different verse

[lssgunslinger]

Bought the new Red Label this spring. 30 inch barrel, refinished and upgraded stock finish and fit it to me. Disabled the safety and I had a pretty good clays gun that I shot well but couldn't trust in competition unless I wanted to lose X's because of FTF. It happened mostly with Federal but also some Winchester, Rio, and Estate ammo. About 3000 rds so far and the top lever was to far past center to the left . You would think that Ruger in reintroducing this model would address the issues that plagued the previous model. I shot with several persons who owned the previous model and I watched them fight unreliability issues. Took a chance that the new CEO read a riot act to the engineers and would get it right. Nope. Big brown picked it up Thursday and its off to the service dept. First Ruger for me to return. Have heard rave reviews about it in the past. We'll see. Keep you posted. Back to my Citori with 10,000 and 0 issues.

 

[Jim Puke]

Never heard a much of anything good about the Red Label from competition shooters...they all seem to have a similar experience to what you have had.

 

[lssgunslinger]

The Red Label was designed as a field gun and would never do as a heavy clay game gun. I bought it because of the mechanical triggers cause I like to save overly expensive shot by shooting 3/4 and 5/8 ounce loads for practice. Those light loads won't reset the triggers all the time on my inertia trigger guns. I have a CZ o/u 20 gauge for the same reason. 5/8 ounce 20's won't cycle my auto. Took a chance that they learned from their mistakes. Evidently not.

 

[dwayne]

I wanted the mechanical triggers, too. I strongly considered the new Ruger but couldn't get past the fact that the last 5 Ruger pistols/revolvers that I have bought required a lot of work to make them suit me (nasty triggers, thread choke, rough actions, poorly fitting grips, etc.). I ended up buying the Browning 725 Sporting instead. The fit, finish and workmanship were excellent right out of the box. The triggers are about 4# and crisp as my FA revolvers and Wilson 1911's. I've only put about a 1000 rounds of mixed sporting clays rounds thru it. So far, no problems, no issues -- great shotgun.

 

[golferboy426]

I have the old red labels in all 3 gauges plus my duck gun. Each of my skeet guns in 12 , 20 & 28 have over 25,000 rounds each and none of the 3 have ever failed, not one broken part, Can't speak for the new ones but the old ones performed well for me and I average over 95 across all 4 gauges. I shoot 410 in the 28 with Ruger tubes.

 

[milky7272]

I have an old model 12gauge red label. I love the gun but I do have a problem with the top barrel not ejecting brass. I usually have to take a clean in do and tap the hull and it will eject. It dosent do it all the time but enough to be very annoying. Any on ran into this?

 

[edlmann]

I have an old model 12gauge red label. I love the gun but I do have a problem with the top barrel not ejecting brass. I usually have to take a clean in do and tap the hull and it will eject. It dosent do it all the time but enough to be very annoying. Any on ran into this?

IIRC, you can convert the ejectors to extractors by removing the spring. Maybe your spring is broken/missing.

 

[lssgunslinger]

Well an update on the contrary Red Label. Sent it to Ruger and three days later they call me requesting a copy of my dealers FFL so they can send me a new gun. Picked it up yesterday and I must say the figure on the stock is an improvement. Haven't shot it yet but did put shells in chamber and it seems like the headspace is more even with the top surface of the extractors. The toplever is well to the right on this new one so now if it will go bang about 25,000 times,every time I'll be a happy camper. One thing for sure Ruger customer service is topnotch. Just a shame that they need great customer service, I would much prefer a troublefree gun. I had owned a ton of various Rugers and although they went bang every time the action on every one but this Red Label felt like the gun was full of gravel. A couple thousand rounds and they will start to smooth out nicely. I guess unless I have another issue with the Red Label this will be my last post here. Catch me later!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lssgunslinger]

Well I guess it was to much to expect that Ruger could get it right the second time around. Took my brand new Red Label to the 5 stand shoot Sunday and right away the factory shells fall past the extractors. Sent it home with a club member thats a gunsmith so we'll what happens. It would be going back to Ruger again except that at least this one makes all the primers go bang and if it goes back they will screw up and send me one with some other defects. This is a hell of a way to run a gun company.

 

[lssgunslinger]

Picked the new replacement Red Label up from my gunsmith last Wednesday and have since run 200 shells through it. Works great. Hope I got all the defects behind me and I can shoot the snot out of it. We'll see how it goes.

 

[lssgunslinger]

I am at 650 rounds and its working great. Firing Nobel Sport, Cheddite, Federal, and Winchester primer in Remington and Winchester hulls, and Federal, Rio, Winchester, and Remington factory shells with nary a hint of a missfire. We'll see if this keeps up. Hope so!!!!!!!!!

 

[lssgunslinger]

I was just on the Ruger website to see if they have a 20 gauge yet and as far as I can see the Red Label has been taken off. Soooo maybe Ruger has axed the shotgun line again. If so it means I got an out of production turkey I'll never find parts for if needed. I mean how likely that a Red Label will need the attentions of a gunsmith, yea right !!!!!!!!

 

[hawk_driver]

I got heavy into sporting clays around '98. At the time I was shooting an 11-87 and got tired of chasing/losing hulls, so started looking at O\U's. Being a longtime Ruger nut, that's usually where I look first. None of the guys I saw shooting, were shooting Red Labels. Started asking a lot of folks what brand they would prefer, considering fit. To a man, when asked about the Ruger, they all told me that Red Labels wouldn't stand up to a lot of shooting. Always thought it was odd, since Ruger seems to over engineer everything they build. Almost all said for an off the rack gun, try the ones that start with B and find the one that fits you the best.

I went with a Browning, the thing feels like it was made just for me, and haven't had a single problem with it. I was kind of bummed about the rep that the Red Label had, Ruger is where I usually start shopping. I did like the the way the Ruger felt at the time.

To this day, I cant recall seeing a Red Label on a sporting clays range.

Not saying they won't hold up, obviously someone has had good luck with them. But, gotta wonder when this notion about the Red Label started?

 

[lssgunslinger]

My experience with Browning is the same as yours. My first was a 1989 GTI I traded for used. I put maybe 20,000 rounds through it with nary a bobble. Then I got a 2007 525 Sporting from CDNN at a fantastic price. Still have that one. Just last winter had a set of J&P springs and firing pins put in after about 10,000 rds cause was getting misfires on lower barrel. I decided why throw more shot then needed to break skeet targets 21 yds away. I experimented with loads down to 5/8 ounce and they worked fine except for 5/8 with cylinder choke. Had to use skeet choke for them. At 3/4 ounce inertia trigger reset was iffy. At 5/8 non-existent. Thats the reason I got involved with the Red Label and its mechanical trigger. I know why not buy a 725. I am now on social security. Nuff said. Up to 775 on round count and still going bang, all is well at present.

 

[lssgunslinger]

Just an update on the Red Label No. 2. Just past 3000 rds. and not a bobble. Conclusion so far. Ruger customer service is top notch. Quality control sucks when they ship a defective replacement that goes immediately to a gunsmith to be fixed. It is a great clays gun tho. So the saga continues!!!!!!