To start, this post is my attempt to let as many people know about my recent experiences with Ruger. I hope not to upset any diehard Ruger customers, for I am sure Sturm, Ruger & Co must, by accident if nothing else, make a good, non faulty firearm once in a while.

Six months ago, I purchased one of the last remaining Ruger Super Redhawks in .454 Casull with a 9 1/2" barrel. I mounted a 2-6x32 Bushnell Elite 3200 pistol scope and began working on loads. After spending close to a thousand dollars on both factory ammunition and reloading components and dies, I came to the conclusion that there was a serious problem with my revolver. My best three shot group at 50 yards was no less than 6 inches.

Midway through the entire ordeal, I had contacted Sturm, Ruger & Co., telling them of my problem. The response they gave me, (and I kid you not) was, "Oh, you're doing good with those types of groups at that distance." Absolutely disgusted and yet somewhat amused at the same time, I reluctantly sent my gun to Newport, NH in hopes of getting back a gun that could hit a deer at 100 yards. After six weeks and hearing nothing pertanant from Ruger, I finally was told that my gun was faulty, (the recoil plate was machined improperly, causing off center primer hits and a seriously damaged forcing cone) could not be repaired and could not be replaced because they no longer make that model.

I asked if it was at all possible to get my money back, and suprisingly they agreed. I then informed them that over the past 20 years, my father, myself and my two brothers have purchased over a dozen new Ruger firearms, three of which needed to be sent back to the factory because they were malfunctioning in some way. I then told her that nor I or any of my family members or close friends would ever purchase another Ruger firearm unless they seriously change their ways. I ended the conversation by informing her that with my refund and another $400, I would be buying a gun from S&W's PC. A quality, acurate, dependable revolver that I knew I wouldn't be disapointed with.

If you do the math, 1/4 of the guns we (my family members and I) have purchased from Ruger have been faulty. Maybe its just a horrible coincidence that my family just buys improperly manufactured guns, but if 1 in 4 guns that leave Ruger are broken, something is wrong. Nevertheless, Ruger's customer service is in a class of its own. Deplorable. Dealing with that company's customer service over the years has me wondering who does the hiring around there. Why someone who knows less about firearms than a two year old child gets hired to work at a firearm company blows me away.

In conclusion, I hope this post saves people a lot of time, money and heart-ache by forcing you to really consider against purchasing a Ruger firearm. For those of you who own accurate, quality Rugers, congratulations, you are very lucky. For those who do not own Ruger firearms, but still plan to buy a Ruger, I honestly wish you the best of luck.

You know I had a the excact same thing happen when I bought a bushmaster ar-15 The match grade 26 inch barrel. They finally ended up giving me my money back after I had it sent back for repair 2 times . The first time it wouldn't hold a group . They said the barrel had been over tightened from the factory. The second time all it would do was jam , no matter what ammo I used. I told them if they would just stop trying to fix it and send me a new one I bet it would be ok. They promptly told me they would send me my money back insteed.I then told them they lost a lifetime customer. Called my buddies that had purchaced bushmaster's also and they all sent there's back and got there money back. All of them told bushmaster why they sent them back and got no reply , just a check in the mail. Dpms picked up 4 new customers that day!

Although I do have a security six in 4 inch and love it to death. It has never let me down.

Lars

One of the other firearms of mine that needed to be sent back to Ruger was my 77/22. Again, the problem was horrible group sizes, 2-3 inches at 50 yards. In trying to free float the barrel, I discovered that the barrel was actually BENT. After removing nearly 1/4" of wood from the stock there was still barrel-stock contact. Ruger's solution, re-machine the reciever so that the barrel would screw into the reciever to make the barrel point more skyward. Unbeliavable.

I have had the same problem with Thompson Center. They have replace or rebuilt 3 frames and replaced 5 barrels for me in the last 14 years. I am still shooting them. I have learned that when I have a bad barrel simple ask for a cartridge that can only be a “Custom Shop” to HELP insure a little quality control. With that being said, if you own enough firearms you are going to get some that have special needs. It is how the manufacture stands behind their product that makes the difference.

Some times TC doesn’t do to well communicating either. I had to call them a few times to get answers to questions. But just like in a marriage, communication has to work both ways.

I must be lucky, I own 7 Ruger’s and haven’t had the problems you are having. Bent barrels are not cool.

Never had a problem with a Ruger that I didn't cause myself.
I did talk to thier customer service once and wasn't very impressed with the guy I talked to. But again, I have never had a problem with any of thier handguns or the 10/22's that I have owned.

Sorry to hear about your problems, you got some bad luck. My SRH .454 worked great, both SBH's have worked great and the MKII comp. .22 worked great!

If you don't mind me asking rupe, what size groups does your SRH Casull print at 100 yards? Also, is your SRH the 9 1/2" or 7 1/2" model?

I know that the question was directed to a 454, but my SRH 44 Mag with a 9 ½ in barrel shoots 6-7 in groups at 100 with a 240 XTP over H110 and 2 ½ in groups with 300 XTP over H110. I still have a couple of loads to try to see if I can shrink that a little.

Tcman,

What kind of problems have you seen with your TC barrels? Is it usually unacceptable group size? To be totally honest I have had better luck with Savage firearms than any other.

My groups were 4 to 6" using a red dot at 100 yards. It shot better then that at times (lucky more then likely), but that was pretty much the average. That was using Winchester supreme 260gr. Nosler partition factory rounds. Never reloaded for it.
It had the 7 1/2" barrel. I shot from either shooting stick in a sitting position or over my knees. Both leaning againest something.

i think i am one of the lucky ones i have alot of rugers here
both long and short guns and i have never had any troubles
i hope it stays that way i have not called ruger so cant talk
about c.s. sorry that you have had troubles.

I am obsessed with accuracy. Always have been, always will be. Really, I expect too much out of my firearms and its unfair. I have been told and have read that 1 1/2" groups @100 yds are very possible with either PC 460 models. This is more accurate than the majority of most (except for savage) factory deer rifles. Aside from the power, velocity and physical size, the accuracy really lures me.

But back to my old ruger, 6 inches at 50 yards with a modern day hunting pistol and high quality optics is more than unacceptable by anyones standards. Its almost unusable. How the woman at ruger could tell me that 6 inches at 50 yards was good blows my mind.

The group size was has only been a factor on a couple of barrels. I have had a problem with the drilling taping not being deep enough. My mounts wouldn’t tighten up. One of the other barrels had the wield on the bottom start to crack. On the frames, one of the Contender frames literally had a internal piece that broke its wield. Another became so hard to open that I was having problems with it! And a Encore frame’s hammer cracked. That is when I still knew some people up their and they just sent me a hammer and let me do it. That wouldn’t happen know!

I've owned 60 or 70 Rugers both rifles and handguns and I've only had a problem with one, a SBH Hunter but it was taken care of. I think it's just the luck of the draw. The only guns I've consistently had problems with but I still love are the Smith and Wessons, they are a well balanced nice working nice shooting gun but they have no backbone and that is why they had to double the size of the frame for the 500 whereas you can have a 357 Max converted or go with a custom ruger frame and it will take the beating all day long. I would say if you want the most bang for your buck with almost guaranteed reliability and accuracy you'll have to step up to a custom gun from Linebaugh, Reeder, Bowen or one of the others or go with the Freedom Arms, the only reason I prefer custom Rugers is because for the same money you get a one of kind that's your. The Smith will work great but I haven't seen one yet that will take the same loads a Ruger will and I've sent a few back to prove it, if you stay with factory ammo you'll be fine. A good case and point was my 500, I had to send it in twice for the barrel coming loose and when I sold it I did so to a friend and I let him know that the problem had been fixed but on his first outing it found a new problem which made me feel like crap because it had to make it's 3rd trip back to the factory and I've had problems with model a model 57 and a model 29 and 629, like I said I love the way the feel and shoot but it's a luck of the draw and you'll find weak spots with any factory.

Ok, they no longer offer it in 9.5"? BUMMER, guess I had better get one soon to complete my collection. I have a 480 and 44 SRH with the 9.5" barrels and both shoot less then 2" groups at 50 yards. The 44 is very accurate. I have 8 Ruger revolvers and 2 MKII's. The only time I had to send one in was a new Single Six that the hammer would not cock right out of the box. Ruger paid shipping both ways and it was back in just over a week.

I own 3 S&W's. The 500 which Rod speaks of is one of the guns. It went back for different resasons than what Rods states. And don't feel bad Rod it had nothing to do with you. S&W paid shipping both ways and I had the gun back fixed in exactly 7 days. I have put about 100 rounds thru it since then and the problem has not come back.

What it boils down to is how your treated and wheather you got a lemon or not. Just like the old Ford, Chevy debate. I have owned several of both and had troubles with both.

Your right Tigger, and we all know that Fords are better. LOL

my 7 1/2" redhawk has gone 1 3/4" for 5 at 50yrds when rested with 2400 and 240gr xtp's. that satisfies me!....6" definately would not.
i guess i've been lucky on all of em. never had any TC, Ruger, Rem problems. did have a savage 110 7mm mag rifle once upon a time that kicked the heck outta me(10 shots n dreaded the next pull). i had to trade that'n off....lol.

Rupe,
You spelled chevy wrong...LOL

Hey I'm dyslexic, it not funny to tease us!

Rupe my have spelled it wrong, but you forget to capitalize it. LOL

Kyode, I had the same thing with a 110 in 30-06, that was the most miserable gun I've ever shot, my 458 Lott didn't hurt that bad.

weird ain't it? that particular gun just put it on ya hard for some reason!

to get back on topic....lol....i like ruger firearms a lot, especially the revolvers and mk II, III 22lr auto.

I agree, no company is perfect. I guess its a combination of my bad luck with Ruger firearms and their horrible customer service thats got me a little bitter. Also, I have come to the realization that in todays gun market, if you want a perfect gun, its going to have to be from a custom gun smith.

My dad's 44 SRH has always shot 2-3 inch groups at 50 yards which is why I went with the same gun but in the casull.

Another reason why Smith is so appealing to me is because of their excellent cs as Tigger mentioned. Not only did I have to pay for the shipping of my revolver to send it in, but it took them 6 weeks to determine that the gun was so badly defective that it couldn't be sent back because of safety issues.

A friend of the family recently bought a standard 8 3/8" 500 mag from Smith. He had no clue what he was doing, reloaded some loads that were beyond maximum and literally blew the firing pin out of the gun (totaled the gun). The next day smith sent him the shipping package, paid for the shipping and gave him a brand new gun no questions asked. Now thats what I call customer service. Even though it was 100% the guy's fault, they sent him a new gun within 2 weeks.

I agree Smith has awesome customer service and an excellent product but I think you may have just had a roll of bad luck from the word go. I've dealt with Ruger customer service only on sending one gun back but before I started buying small parts(screws,pins, etc) from Brownells to restore neglected old Rugers I bought them direct from Ruger and was always treated with the highest respect and everyone I dealt with was very friendly. I don't think you would be going wrong with either the Smith or by giving Ruger another chance. Good luck whichever way you go.

X2

Of the more than (several)- numbers make my wife nervous- Rugers that I own and shoot the only one that has been returned for service is my original SBH that had a 240 gr semi wadcutter lodged in the barrel before the next round cleared(and bulged) the barrel. For the tidy sum of $175 Ruger replaced the barrel and she's good as new..... don't know if it is a sign of their shoddy quality control. but the warning on the new barrel is under the ejector housing.. making it look like a pre- warning firearm.... they reblued the entire gun to match..... I still like em... guess i'll have to buy a few more to see if their quality is really suffering, or mebbe livn to hunt just got a lemon

Oh, customer service is extremely friendly but uneducated as all hell. Everyone I spoke to, which was probably at least a dozen people over the years, had no knowledge relating to my guns. For example, telling me a 6" group is good at 50 yards for a scoped SRH shows me just how much their employees know about shooting sports. I could throw a football tighter than that.

The worst Ruger group I have ever had is about 4" at 50yds. After changing the base pin in that gun it went to 2". My main problem with Rugers is finding one that will shoot in a strait line. I had a 41 mag that would shoot 1 foot to the right at 25 yds. Grouped great but the rear sitght looked like an outrigger on a sport fishing boat. I have had several new Rugers I have bought -- shot 500 rounds or so through them and then just give up and trade them. My last 7.5" Redhawk was one of those. Now I must say I have some Ruger wheel guns that are tack drivers but not one of them was like that out of the box. As for the S&W's I have them too but they will not handle the day after day pounding you can put on the Rugers. As some of you may have seen I load my 44 Mag stuff down on the lower end so I can shoot it in the S&W's and the Rugers. Most of what I have is old P&R guns they will not take the abuse of the newer S&W guns. As for the better of the two I like to think of them as a Kung Fu Guy and a 325 lb Line Backer they both can kick some #!@ but the do it in very different ways.

well my 500 Smith is what Id consider my most accurate gun, it will enjoy just about anything you can put through it and give you less than 2 inch groups at 50 yards with every load ive tried, I love it and would feel completely comfortable to shoot anything with it. So I hope you have the same luck with your 460!!!

Sorry to hear of your misfortunes.

Of the 18 Ruger firearms I own, I have had problems with exactly NONE of them. Minor or major. The oldest one, I've had it 19 years. The youngest, 1 month. All varieties; SA revolver, DA revolver, autos, rifles, etc. Everything but a shotgun. Zero problems.Maybe I've had "good luck".

Times when I dealt w/Ruger CS (questions about sight heights, ordering spare mags and rings, serial number searches, etc)have all been extremely pleasant by knowledgeable people.

Everybody has bad exp. with every company sometime. Hopefully you have better luck with S&W. Though they've been known to have some problems as well; even with the PC stuff. Good luck.

I cracked the cylander on my .357 magnum GP100. 1 quick phone call, shipped it in, and received back with a new cylander in a few weeks. That was a long time ago, but I remember being pretty impressed with the turn around time. The accuracy has always been really good also.