Not FF but Very Important for the Owners of Ruger Firearms (SAFETY ISSUE)

[nighthawk]

Perhaps I shouldn't post this here and if it's out of line please delete it. However, I have noted that several of us own firearms. There is an important safety issue with the Sturm, Ruger and Co. Ruger M77 rifle. I strongly urge all that own one of these rifles, as I do, to visit this site and submit the form for repair parts:

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/PDF/Sa...ements/M77.pdf

Covers M77 rifles manufactured from 1968-1991 inclusive. This causes my rifle to misfire on occasion but only with Remington factory loads. This is the only flaw I have ever noted in this terrific rifle.

All owners of any Ruger firearm, new or old, should check and bookmark this page:

http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/FA-Saf...uncements.html

I know that even though Ruger doesn't have a written lifetime warranty they routinly repair broken firearms or deficient firearms for the life of the firearm. I have never seen or heard of them charging anything for the repairs as well. I really miss Bill Ruger, got a hand written letter from him once when I was a youngster, and I am glad to see that he has left the company in the capable hands of his family. Refreshing in this day and age to see the traditions of an honorable man carried on by his descendants.

[Steve Molcsan]

Thanks for the info Eric...

[hap]

A friend recently returned a 77 of at least 15 years of age with an obviously bent barrel. Ruger replaced the barrel without charge or question. The rifle is in pristine condition, but much can happen in 15 years...

[jkurtz7]

Seems as though Ruger has been plagued with recalls of late. No doubt due to the poor designs they are turning out these days, along with very poor QC.

J.

[nighthawk]

Seems as though Ruger has been plagued with recalls of late. No doubt due to the poor designs they are turning out these days, along with very poor QC.

J.

Well, lets see. My Model 77R was built in the 1970's. So it has taken 20-30 years for a potential safety hazard to show up. These are not government enforced recalls they are all voluntary recalls generated by Ruger themselves on some of their firearms.

Perhaps Ruger is just better at quality control and taking the input of their customers to heart. To my knowledge almost all of the other manufacturers, save Thompson/Center Arms and perhaps a few others, do not monitor potential issues with firearms that are 20-30 years old. Additionally most of them, once the firearm comes out from under warranty, have the attitude of we will fix it for a fee or just plain tell you too bad even if it is a design flaw. Are you absolutely certain that this is bad quality and quality control or just a company showing more concern about it's products after sales than the others?

Perhaps there is some biased against Ruger or a bad experience with them. I do not know but I can go on my own experience with Ruger vs several other manufacturers. For me I will take the Ruger 99% of the time.

[jkurtz7]

Well, lets see. My Model 77R was built in the 1970's. So it has taken 20-30 years for a potential safety hazard to show up. These are not government enforced recalls they are all voluntary recalls generated by Ruger themselves on some of their firearms.

Perhaps Ruger is just better at quality control and taking the input of their customers to heart. To my knowledge almost all of the other manufacturers, save Thompson/Center Arms and perhaps a few others, do not monitor potential issues with firearms that are 20-30 years old. Additionally most of them, once the firearm comes out from under warranty, have the attitude of we will fix it for a fee or just plain tell you too bad even if it is a design flaw. Are you absolutely certain that this is bad quality and quality control or just a company showing more concern about it's products after sales than the others?

Perhaps there is some biased against Ruger or a bad experience with them. I do not know but I can go on my own experience with Ruger vs several other manufacturers. For me I will take the Ruger 99% of the time.

I'm not talking about older Ruger designs, They are sound. I'm talking about the new designs.
Maybe you haven't seen the recall for Ruger's SR9, the new pistol they just came out with. It wasnt' long after the gun was introduced that it was recalled. There was serious safety issues with it, and the design has changed somewhat to correct this problem.
They also have put out some seriously moronic firing pin safeties on their last few pistol designs. No I'm not saying firing pin safeties are moronic, I'm saying the way they designed theirs is moronic. As in Dry firing the weapon will lead to permanent damage to the firing pin and render the gun inoperable. No other company has such a worthless firing pin safety design.
Since Bill Ruger passed away, Ruger's designs and QC have gone way down hill.

J.

[nighthawk]

Quote," As in Dry firing the weapon will lead to permanent damage to the firing pin and render the gun inoperable.".

Perhaps there is the problem. I am from the old school of thought. The old school of thought is that you do not ever dry fire any firearm lest you want a broken firing pin. The only time I ever dry fired a weapon was in the military and only because that was the only way to decock most of the weapons of that time. Guess I am stuck in my ways. I understand that today most manufacturers claim you can dry fire your pistol. I do not own one of those but even if I did I would never dry fire it. Perhaps that's why my weapons have been hunted and used hard but never failed me.

In all fairness I do not own one of those types of pistol. You cannot legally hunt with one of them in Pennsylvania and the 12 gauge with 00 buck shot is much better for home defense. If I ever buy another short gun it will be another revolver. To each his own and just my humble opinion.

Sorry folks. I did not intend for this to go this far. Back to fly fishing.

[jkurtz7]

Dry firing is not an issue with a good quality modern weapon. Some handgun designs like Glock require that you dry fire the weapon in order to field strip it.
Dry firing a handgun (with a snap cap in place) will help with trigger control.
You can have a snap cap in the Ruger SR9 or P345 and still ruin the firing pin unless you have a magazine in the gun. The magazine deactivates the FP safety. I for one don't really care for the idea of having to put a magazine in the gun to dry fire it. The issues with those two Ruger models is a design flaw.

Those who are serious about handgun shooting as well as action pistol pros, all recommend dry firing as part of a practice regimen.
I only think old school with old guns, ones that I know shouldn't be dry fired due to age etc. I don't dry fire rimfire guns, that will cause damage to the gun.
Many older non-inertial firing pins will be damaged with regular dry firing.

Now to be fair, Ruger isn't the only company turning out lots of junk these days. Smith&Wesson, Para Ordnance, Taurus (always a risk of junk with them), Kimber, and others are guilty too. Seems that high profit margins are way more important these days than making a decent product.

J.

[nighthawk]

Perhaps this helps explain things a bit too. I did not realize that William B. Ruger Jr. had retired from the company.

http://www.handgunsmag.com/ruger021406/

I must admit with all we have been through the last few years I have not kept up to speed on these things. I hope they get things together. Would break my heart to see the ruin of Bill Ruger's company. The man was passionate about his firearms. I do wonder if he was a fly fisherman too. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if he was.

[whiskyjack]

Excellent post. Many of us both flyfish and hunt. I enjoy both activities, esp in Oct when one can have a cast n blast trip for trout and grouse in the foothills of Alberta.
Safety is paramount when it comes to our outdoor activities regardless wether one hunts or fishes.
FWIW, Ruger rifles are among the finest made, at least the tang safety model 77's, but that is just my opinion.