Received my first new Ruger Letters

[princeout]

On 9/2/14 I mailed off a request for two letters, along with a check for $20, to Ruger. One is a 4-5/8" barrel OM .357 Blackhawk with a brass frame that is listed in Dugan's book as being a factory Brass frame gun. The other is a 4-5/8" barrel OM .45 Blackhawk with a brass frame that is not listed in Dugan's book, but I still wanted to confirm this. I've read several instances where 45's in particular have lettered as factory even though they didn't make Mr. Dugan's list. I wrote that my desire was to determine whether the guns came from the factory with the brass frames.

Tody, 9/13/14, I received the letters. Great response time! That impressed me. Opened the envelope. I'm underwhelmed. They look nice, with a nice gold seal but that's about the only nice thing. From misspelling my name and my address, things went downhill. The 45, which would be a BKH-44, was determined to be a BKH-45, caliber .44 Long Colt. The 357 was identified by the correct model number, but neither gun had any info as to whether the brass frames were factory. The 45 was a long shot so I'm not really disappointed, although now I know I have the extremely rare .44 Long Colt version, but the 357 is a previously identified factory brass frame gun.

A third letter was included that indicated that this was all the info they could share on the guns - shipping month and year, model and caliber.

Makes you long for the old days where a phone call got the whole story, followed by a confirming letter if requested. I certainly don't begrudge Ruger the $10 per gun charge, but it would be awfully nice if they could at least include as much information as they used to do in the free letters.

Now I'm still left in the wondering mode on the 45 and lack a confirming factory letter on the 357.

Rats.
Tim

 

[radicalrod]

Well that is really sad...they have no one that even knows anything about their own history....or CARES....

We should send them Chad's resume....imagine the detailed letters we could get :lol: :lol: :lol: RR

 

[wizofwas]

I just got a letter from them too. It was a really fast response. Basically what it said was, Thank you for $10, yes you have a Ruger revolver and it was shipped on May 23, 1981. And as a free gift, we're inclosing an instruction manual! And like Tim, it was a pretty letter with a gold seal and at least they got my name and address right. I feel like I just wasted $10 for info that I already knew.

 

[T.A. WORKMAN]

Well that is really sad...they have no one that even knows anything about their own history....or CARES....

We should send them Chad's resume....imagine the detailed letters we could get :lol: :lol: :lol: RR

+1

With out a proper Historian we will never advance our hobby to the extent of S&W & Colt etc. Damm shame!

 

[stikshooter]

Not what I was wanting to hear, that is a shame.

 

[gewehrfreund]

I agree this is sad, but am grateful for the report so I won't have to waste any money/time sending off for information.

 

[cellar701]

It sure seems like some "Tell the CEO" memos to Mike Fifer are in order. Here is the link for convenience:

https://www.ruger.com/dataProcess/tellTheCEO.html

I sent one and basically told them that for some of my "letter" requests the new system information is adequate. My example is a request for ship date on a No. 3 in 30-40 Krag that may be one of the earliest shipped examples in that caliber. Other times it is inadequate, and I used the brass frame model as an example - using other examples as well will probably be helpful.

I don't know what is going on inside Ruger Corporate but I expect it is similar to what other corporations are going through. Paper records are expensive and nearly all new records are digital. Some of the old paper records are being retained, but they are likely being digitized, and someone has to decide what to digitize. That someone doesn't have a clue what we need, probably had a lawyer's input, and the detailed decision is made well below Mike Fifer's level.

Another note on corporate paper records - don't visualize that they are retained in nice orderly file cabinets. After information from them is digitized, they are probably boxed up and stored in a large records retention warehouse with some file code on the outside of the box. They are retained, but very difficult to find anything after they go down that path in my experience.

May not make any difference in the end, but cost of an electronic memo is pretty cheap...

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Regardless of how the info is filed, the "ladies" used to be able to come up with the basics (shipped configuration and ship date) while-u-wait, or on occasion a callback in a few minutes. This was adequate for me, with the exception of a couple where I requested a confirming letter which arrived within a few days.

Yeah, I know, things are different now . . .

:roll: :?

 

[No-1]

I've only got pedestrian Rugers so the date made from their catalog site is good enough for me. I can understand the frustration collectors have with the current shell of a company that was Bill Ruger's.

 

[mike722]

sent off a letter to Ruger with my check for a couple of guns I wanted ship dates on..I received the envelope back today (about 10 day turnaround), Priority Mail from them...never seen that before , always been first class..they even enclosed some new patches and a couple of the older "sr" decals..pretty nice.
The letters had just the ship date and model number, all I needed though..no gold seal on the letter though..

 

[hinkruger]

I mailed in the form to Ruger about a month ago after I picked up a Super Blackhawk with a brass frame. I asked in my letter if it came from the factory with a brass frame. Letter said it was shipped as a S47 in March of 73 but it didn't show in their records that it was a brass frame. Patches and a manual were included...and it showed up in about 10 days.

I really doubt they are "looking" past a computer screen.....

 

[wizofwas]

I mailed in the form to Ruger about a month ago after I picked up a Super Blackhawk with a brass frame. I asked in my letter if it came from the factory with a brass frame. Letter said it was shipped as a S47 in March of 73 but it didn't show in their records that it was a brass frame. Patches and a manual were included...and it showed up in about 10 days.

I really doubt they are "looking" past a computer screen.....

Your revolver was shipped as a S=Super Blackhawk 4=44 Mag. 7=7 1/2 inch barrel. If it was shipped with a brass frame it would have had a B after the 7. So it appears that the brass frame was put on by a previous owner.
Just wondering if your letter had a big gold seal on it? And you got some patches? Nice.