I would pay $800 plus if Ruger would make a deluxe revolver in the calibers and with the features I want.
The reason? Because no one else does. Smith is off the table for me, not for politics, that is past, but because of poor quality and the lock. Colt hasn't made a DA in a decade or more. Taurus? Not likely. Who else is there? NO ONE. The market is wide open for someone to sell a pride of ownership DA revolver.
It needs to be accurate, more accurate than the run of the mill gun from anyone else. Get the reaming of the throats dialed in. Chamfer the barrel properly, avoid necking down the barrel when you screw it in.
It needs a trigger like a Dan Wesson. Dan Wesson revolvers were engineered with excellent trigger actions that did not require extensive hand fitting of multiple parts. Rugers are engineered with bad triggers that do not require extensive fitting. I think they missed something.
It needs to be the right size for the caliber, most Rugers are one size too large for the cartridge.
It needs to be purty. No slab sided barrels,, hammers extruded from a playdough extruder, ugly markings etc. It needs to look like a deluxe revolver. Not Pythonesque, but finished like an old Super or a Smith 586.
They need to have a nice feel to them. No rattles, no slop.
People still talk about "Rugers are big and sturdy, Smith and Wessons are refined and have great triggers". They need to go to a gunshop and handle a few S&W revolvers. The last S&W that I handled sold me on a Springfield 1911. There was a gap between the frame and barrel you could slide a business card into. The muzzle looked like it had been crowned with a 1/2 drill, shaprpned off center and there was grey ooze coming out of the side plate joint. And that was a Pro Series, one level up from their production line. On, and there is this hole on the side of the gun.
With a little work, Ruger could own the double action revolver market.
Build a line of DA revolvers like the .44 Flat top. Good looking, good performing and right sized.
Sorry to go on, but I think Ruger is stuck in a self image trap, they know what they make and they have an underdog attitude that says people won't pay that much for a Ruger. Tell that to the Number 1 owners, you don't see them taking second place to a whole lot of sporting rifles with prices less than a Kia.
I'd even consider a 45 acp in the GP100 size.
