Machinist

I will never buy another Ruger Single Action, maybe any Ruger handgun. The last one I bought was a Single Ten. I took it home and was working the action, not dry firing but working the action and letting the hammer down under the thumb. After an hour or so the action locked up. I took it back to the dealer who sent it back to Ruger to be fixed. It cost me nothing but I was out the gun for weeks, I ended up with an unfired gun that already had needed repairs, and I have little confidence in it. I recognize that any company can have a defect get out and they handled it right but this on top of other problems I've heard about made me uneasy. Yesterday I was working with my 50th Anniversary Flat Top in .357 using snap caps. The action locked up. I tried to take it aopartt but could not get the trigger pin out and could not see what the problem was. This has very little firing time and has not been fanned or abused. I have worked with it a lot but with snap caps and never fast or rough. I have had maybe ten times as many DA revolvers as single action and I have had less trouble with the actions in 40 years than I have with Rugers in the last one or two. The breakage or problems I have seen with revolvers was broken firing pins which can happen with either type or the early stainless steel S&W revolvers were soft and poorly finished and deburred inside so the actions would eat themselves. Other than those problems with stainless guns the only time I had a S&W action jam up was a newer Mod 60 with the cast parts. A piece broke off of the hammer or trigger and jammed the works but it was easy to open it up and remove the piece and the gun has worked perfectly since. This revolver has seen far more use than the Blackhawk. I guess I will have to pay to send this to Ruger to fix so I can get rid of it and the Single Ten as I have no faith at all in them. What a disgrace that I have to buy an Italian revolver if I want a quality SA.

Color me POed.

Sightngrl

Mac, I'm so sorry about your Ruger, and you're completely justified in your feelings of distrust.
Grrrr rrr r r

303Lithgow

My Single-Ten isn't anything like my Uberti or Cimarron.

RetiredSeabee

I understand how you feel. I spend a good deal of time on the Ruger Forum and there are way too many reports of defective firearms. I had a SR22 pistol that had to be replaced. The barrel and slide were off angled. Most of the issues that I read about are things that you can see when looking the gun over well. Most people are usually to excited when they pick up the gun to look it over closely before leaving the store. Then once at home and they take time to break it down they discover something that should never have left the factory. I understand that they have been under pressure to catch up with demand. But throwing QC out the door is going to hurt their reputation.
Some people on the Ruger Forum get their panties in a wad if you say anything critical of Ruger. As if you had insulted their religion.

303Lithgow

So far I've lucked out with my Rugers. I've had minor problems but nothing that I couldn't handle myself. Seems trying to keep Rugers inexpensive may cost them in the long run.

Sightngrl

Agree and facts are facts.

north country gal

Oh, no, Machinist, not you, too! I do feel your pain and I mean that, exactly, because I've had the same run of luck with new production Ruger revolvers in the last three years, one of which was also a Single Ten. Let's see, six new Ruger revolvers in the last three years - an SP101 in 22 LR, an SP101 in 327, a Single Ten, two GP 100s, a New Ruger Bearcat.

One of the GPs would jam up every fifty rounds until I let the gun cool a bit. Not a matter of dirt under the star, either. No biggie for shooting at the range, but definitely a biggie for carrying as a self defense gun against bears.

One GP was so miserably poor in the accuracy department that I finally gave up on it. Out of three I examined in the store, this was the only one with a reasonable trigger. The other two were pathetic.

The Bearcat after one week of use had the pawl plunger and spring pop out of the back of the gun on their own and I had to send for new parts. Then, the trigger return spring started hang in up, so took the gun apart, only to discover there was a defect in the casting that held the spring in check. Back to Ruger.

The SP101 in 327 was at least usable, but shot so high at just 15 yards there was nothing I could do to bring the POI, down, without seriously altering the gun.

The other SP101, in 22 LR was absolutely the most miserable experience I've had with any Ruger product. DA pull was unusable - couldn't even make it though all 8 rounds before my hand hurt. Worst of all, two of the holes in the cylinder were improperly cut and out of alignment with the others. The gun shaved lead so bad that it would jam up after 25 shots from the lead deposits. Accuracy wise, I could do better by throwing the gun at the target. Back to Ruger, but came back just as bad.

The Single Ten lasted the longest, but was extremely fussy about cylinder position before closing the loading gate. Then, during a shooting session, the hammer pawl mysteriously broke. Back to Ruger.

All are gone, now. Once they were shootable, sold them off. I will not buy another new Ruger revolver. I will buy a new Mark pistol, because even the poor quality control at Ruger, these days, can't destroy that indestructible design. Other than a Mark, the only other Ruger pistol I can recommend is the SR1911, but, then, that is made in a different Ruger facility than their revolvers. If and when I buy another revolver, it will be S&W. Should have gone that route in the first place, sad to say. Shame on Ruger for such trash.

Machinist

Sadly, my experience with the Mod 60 makes me skeptical of even the new S&W revolvers with the cast or molded parts. I will stick with the older ones. The parts are proven and robust. They were intended for serious users in law enforcement. I think the shift by LE to autos changes the market and makes price more important than bet your life reliability.

I may just get rid of my N frames except for my Mod 25 Target in .45 ACP and try to pick up an L frame .357. If I want a SA .45 ACP I will look at the Cimmarron or something similar. I am temped to give up the .44s altogether but I do have hundreds of cases and thousands of bullets. The Mod 28 .357 and the Mod 629 just don't see much use now. The arthritis in my hands are making them hard to use in DA. The K and L frames are easier to handle. .22 LR, .38/.357 and .45 ACP are all I really need in revolvers and I am well set in autos. Maybe it's time to cut back.

tx gun runner

Ruger has taken the best gun ever made to the worse gun being made . . Uberti has made a ton upgrade to there gun in the last 10 yrs making them the best in the business . I will no longer buy Ruger guns anymore in rifle or pistol .

north country gal

I'm no engineer or production expert, but I think the American gun industry has reached the point where they are no longer willing to invest the extra labor and attention needed to turn out a consistently good revolver for fear of making revolvers too expensive an option to autoloaders. If you doubt this, just compare the price of any Ruger auto with classic Ruger DAs such as the GP, SP, Redhawk and so on. It already costs substantially more to take the revolver option. You would think that paying more to get an SP or GP would insure you get a better product, but my experience says it ain't so.

Let's face it, revolvers are more expensive to make than autos - more parts, more fitting required, more machining, more critical alignment issues and, overall, more quality control needed. You can't crank them out like autoloaders, but apparently Ruger and S&W are trying to do just that in order to keep revolver prices competitive.

I really do think it is safe to say that when it comes to affordable revolvers, at least, they don't make them liked they used to, anymore. Not in this country, at any rate. if I do buy another revolver, it will be an older vintage Smith or DW.

tx gun runner

I would gladly paid a extra $50 to $100 more to get a gun that I don't need to spend my time or send it to a gunsmith to make it right . I'm sorry when I would buy a Colt , S&W or Ruger 20 yrs ago they were the best in the world at a fair price . I guess I'm a perfectionist , but if I buy a gun it should not have a budge in barrel at threats that cause leading and all six cylinder should be the same size and should be chamber with a reamer and not a drill bit . 90% of the people buy guns can't hit bull in the butt with a 2X4 and are 100% satisfied with the junk being put out . All my Glock's and Uberti's have been 100% perfect if every way shape or form

rman43

I'm happy with my Ruger SA and DA revolvers, but all of them were made in the 70's except for the Bearcat. So far it has been good. I also like my SR1911. I did have problems with a KP-90DC, KP97DC, SP101 .357 and a SR9. My SR9C has been a good gun though. I guess QC is a hit or miss proposition at Ruger any more. As much as I like Rugers, I'm also leery about buying new ones.

north country gal

I'm with you on the SR1911. Like I said, the only new Ruger I've used that gets a grade of A is the SR1911 that I had and should've kept. It wasn't as accurate as my Springfields or as tight, but it was a utility grade 1911, after all, and it was flawless for over 2000 rounds with everything I fed it. I would buy another one. It's a great workhorse of a 1911.

rman43

It's kind of funny I think. Over on the Ruger forum, one of the usual "flamers" bet everyone that he could put out several 1911s and challenge anyone to close their eyes, pick up each one, and identify the Ruger just by it's feel. I don't fall into these traps, but I have several 1911s and I guarantee you I could pick out the Ruger. I can't put my finger on it, but it does feel better in my hand than any of my others. Perhaps it's the shape of the beavertail or something. Anyhow, it is not my prettiest, most expensive or most accurate 1911, but it's reliable, serviceably accurate and just feels right.

NCLEO89

Really hate that for you, Machinist. Your experience with Ruger is the opposite of my own, but as I've said before, no matter the gun, no matter the company who made it, someone, somewhere, has had a bad experience with it/them and thus has no use for either one. For instance, I've had very bad experiences with the Sig pistols my agency issues us, and you wouldn't believe the flak I hear from Sig fans anytime I bring that up....but the fact remains that they've let me down repeatedly, and you can bet I'll never own one.

303Lithgow

I really wanted a Shopkeeper but held off on your advice. Wish they could get it right.

north country gal

That version has been out for quite awhile, now. Are they still having problems?

303Lithgow

I thought they were. But I thought I heard that from you. I have enough irons in the fire right now with my Henrys.

tx gun runner

I would love to have one too . You know the cylinder are not chambered but drilled out , the barrel could have a budge at forcing cone and the bore could be .224 and not the .222 for 22LR . That is 3 strike against the gun before you ever fire a shot . Only the barrel budge can be repaired without part replacements . Till they fix those 3 things you have a cap gun or safe queen in my opinion .

You can buy this tool and make the ammo fit the gun correctly and then fire lap the budge out of barrel .

http://www.gunblast.com/Paco.htm

303Lithgow

Neat tool but could be time consuming for a casual plinker.