I have heard that ruger's product service department is generous on fixing broken guns, has anyone experienced this?
I can speak from first-hand experience... I bought a Super Blackhawk Bisley Hunter in August 2005. The gun had the cylinder pin retention plunger drilled too low in the frame to retain the cylinder pin. Since the gun is loaded from the right-hand side, I failed to notice that the cylinder pin "walked" out. I wound up firing the gun out of battery (as a result) and blew it up ruining a pair of shooting gloves, bag rest, and got some minor cuts from "cylinder side-blast".
I took it back to the shop I bought it from and they "blew me off" telling me it was "my problem". I tossed the gun on the floor in the back of my vault (in disgust) and didn't see it for nearly a year... I talked about it on another forum and was advised to contact Ruger - even though there was NO stated warranty. Ruger sent me a pre-paid shipping label to return the gun. A month later they sent me a letter saying the gun was unsalvagable and that they would replace it as it was defective. All Ruger requested (of me) was to pay for the DROS (registration paperwork) and they would cover all the rest. Given that they told me to send it back without the scope rings - I wound up breaking even on the deal after fees & gasoline back and forth to the dealer (as I got to keep the spare scope rings).
So YES, Ruger does indeed stand behind their products and they will have a repeat customer in me. In the event anyone is interested, here's a photo of the play my cylinder pin had WITHOUT depressing it at all, you can clearly see that the retention plunger only barely engages the cylinder pin->
PLEASE keep in mind that
every company has a "bad" products make it out of the factory at some time or other. Ruger made things right for me and I got a replacement that had
NO play in the cylinder pin what-so-ever. Buy from Ruger with confidence, they will make any honest problems right.