Why not Sturms?

[Yaworski]

Yeah, I know that Bill Ruger designed the first pistol but the name of the company is Sturm, Ruger, & Co.

We don't call guns made by S&W "Wessons," we refer to them as "Smiths".

Sears, Roebuck, & Co. is known as Sears and not Roebuck's.

So why not "Sturms"? Also, to this old boy it looks like they are trying to eliminate references to Sturm. The logo has been changed to eliminate the "S" and my new Wrangler and Super Wrangler don't have the word Sturm on them anywhere.

Also wondering if any member of the family is still involved with the day to day operations of Sturm, Ruger, & Co.

 

[Watertender]

There are no family members from either the Sturm or Ruger families involved in the operation but Bill Ruger's daughter has a 10% stock holding in the company

 

[Yaworski]

For some reason, that makes me sad. Barely 20 years after Bill's death and none of his kids or grandkids are involved with his legacy.

 

[Kevin]

There are no family members from either the Sturm or Ruger families involved in the operation but Bill Ruger's daughter has a 10% stock holding in the company

Just wondering what she does? She might have a full time job doing something else?

10% of the company doesn’t give her decision making powers does it?

 

[contender]

Alex Sturm passed away in 1951. Just a few years into the beginning of the Sturm, Ruger & Company. Bill kept the name "Sturm" as part of the respect for his friend, AND a lasting legacy. After Bill passed,, and a bit later,, the company was struggling a bit. When they hired Mike Fifer,, he came in & made some changes. One of which was the dropping of the name "Sturm" from the main company stuff, AND re-designing the symbol using just the "R". It was to try & update things and make people take notice of the many changes.
Those of us who are traditionalists prefer to see the SR vs the R and never forget the history. And even the factory retains the legal name of Sturm, Ruger & Company.

But it was the public that created the slang of just using the term "Ruger" instead of Sturm. Same with S&W, and the use of "Smith." Basically, people will shorten names & words to suit their needs. Heck,, just look at all the letters used for words in texting stuff.

As for the Ruger family involvement,, it's mentioned above. No Ruger family members are involved with the company anymore. But of course,, neither are many of the other big companies either. No Smiths, or even Wessons. Nobody from the Colt family, or any Winchesters,, or Remingtons etc. Time marches on.
But at least we still have Ruger Firearms and hopefully will have them long after I'm gone.

 

[contender]

Kevin,, no,, she doesn't have any job or position at Ruger. She's just a stockholder.

 

[rugerguy]

Good info above, and I may add it was Alex Sturm who was the 'money' behind Bill Ruger, and he was the artist in the family and gave us the original hand paint red eagle medallions of the RST-4 back in 1949 ( as well as some small books he had published) yes, sadly the "bean counters" took over and made things all TOO simplistic with the name change, shortened and easier to say "Ruger" as noted above, catchy phrasing of the letters for the stock market no less......
why not 'SRC'?? maybe because 'R' comes before 'S"........

....and those guys got paid a LOT of money I bet.....

 

[Yaworski]

But it was the public that created the slang of just using the term "Ruger" instead of Sturm.

Looking at old ads, I see references to "Ruger Blackhawk" and banners that say "New from Ruger" way back in the 50s and 60s. So, even though the company's name on the ad was "Sturm, Ruger & Co." the products were promoted as "Ruger".

BTW, a number of Fords are involved with Ford. I couldn't find out how many members of the Motor family are still involved with GM.

 

[hittman]

Mr. Ruger’s legacy for his family is the name and the balances in their bank accounts.

I owned a corporation once. The official corporate name was nothing similar to the “DBA” the public knew and recognized. That’s common.

 

[contender]

Yep,, some of the old ads did say just "Ruger" but if you looked at the stuff,, it always had "Sturm" in the company name. Dan has added a bit more history behind the name thing too.
But again,, it was more common for people back then to use just the name Ruger. Just as it's been for decades.

Heck,, when they first started,, many people thought they were "Lugers" and not Rugers. Public perception.

 

[hittman]

See bottom left in small print.

https://ruger.com/

 

[eveled]

I always got the impression Sturm was happy to be in the background. Ruger was the charismatic front man. It was by design.

 

[Watertender]

Here is some background information on the Sturm family. Alexander Sturm's wife died in the mid 1950s leaving a daughter. This is his father's obituary which makes mention of the connection to Ruger. Alex Sturm wasn't even 30 when he died .

 

[roylt]

I like the older SR logo and used the emblems to make custom grips for some of my P-guns.

Just personal preference.

 

[blume357]

I really doubt if any of Bill Ruger's direct descendants really need to have a job or are worried about being involved in the company. Pretty sure they can play and do what ever they want for the rest of their lives.

 

[Johnnu2]

I really doubt if any of Bill Ruger's direct descendants really need to have a job or are worried about being involved in the company. Pretty sure they can play and do what ever they want for the rest of their lives.

I remember back in the 60's, I was at a parachute jumping meet (upstate NY) when one of the Kennedy's flew in with his own plane (complex single IIRC) with several friends. After the event they invited "everybody" to come up to (forgot where...maybe the Cape) for an after jump party. I'll never forget when a couple of the jumpers reminded them that "tomorrow is a work day" (he said that they worked in a "toilet paper" factory. The Kennedy party flew away (probably not comprehending the reality).

J.

 

[Yaworski]

I'll never forget when a couple of the jumpers reminded them that "tomorrow is a work day" (he said that they worked in a "toilet paper" factory. The Kennedy party flew away (probably not comprehending the reality).

There's a scene in "Downton Abbey" in which a middle class character says that he'll do something on the weekends and the Dowager Countess asks "What is a 'week end'?"

 

[freakindawgen]

Well the Sturm name is not gone yet.

 

[wproct]

There was a time when you just assumed anyone employed my Sturm/Ruger, Colt, Smith & Wesson, Marlin, Ithaca, Remington, etc. were gun enthusiasts, but that certainly isn't the case today.