Author Topic: Any thoughts on the Ruger Red Label line of o/u's? (Read 1393 times)

azmtnpa · « **on:** June 13, 2006, 01:01:47 PM »

I am looking at investing in a new o/u and am interested in the rugers.
the catch is i am thinking of the stainless/synthetic one as i want to use it for ducks in the winter. also i hunt in arizona where i know the first time i take it out i'll scratch a nice walnut stock all to pieces. mostly the gun would be used for sporting clays, dove, and quail hunting with some cold weather duck hunting. any opinions would be appreciated. thanks
dave

nasem · « **Reply #1 on:** June 14, 2006, 04:16:49 AM »

They do have an annoying feature and that is.... everytime You open the gun, the safety automatically goes to 'ON'....

I love the look of the synthetic / stainless, it looks so evil but, like I said, that safety feature is really annoying....

nasem · « **Reply #2 on:** June 15, 2006, 02:31:21 AM »

Here is something I heard from a gun dealer, he said that ruger can take off the "auto safety ON" feature for you for free....You just have to ship it to them (Again, Im not very sure how much truth there is in his statement but, its always a good idea to check)

Graybeard · « **Reply #3 on:** June 15, 2006, 05:17:29 AM »

Ruger or any gunsmith worthy of the name can fix the auto safety feature for you.

victorcharlie · « **Reply #4 on:** June 15, 2006, 07:23:37 AM »

Quote from: nasem

They do have an annoying feature and that is.... everytime You open the gun, the safety automatically goes to 'ON'....
like I said, that safety feature is really annoying....

My Beretta 686 has the saftey come on when the breach is opened....personally, I like that.......yes...I will admit that I've missed a few clay birds because I forgot to take it off........but, I'm the kind of guy who carries my gun unloaded and breech open until the dogs have a hot trail....I unload when the game is killed.......some of the guys look at this as odd as they load as soon as they get out of the truck......I don't jump shoot game anyway.....and enjoy the dog work as much as bringing home a bag full of rabbits......my nephew was killed in a gun accident......as a result I'll do eveything possible to avoid another tragedy....

After the accident, my brother sold his guns and never hunted or shot again.......

each to his own......some find it annoying and others don't......if you like the ruger this is a small thing that can be disabled if desired.

The ruger is a solid built gun. It doesnt' have the fancy engraving and such which adds to the cost of manufacture and would be a very good choice for the duck blind......or clay's range......

azmtnpa · « **Reply #5 on:** June 15, 2006, 11:22:14 AM »

thanks all for the input. I'll let you all know how many clays i can miss when the gun gets here. Dave

nasem · « **Reply #6 on:** June 16, 2006, 09:15:13 AM »

Does the ruger red label use the Inertia system (like brownings and beretta's do) ?

dave375hh · « **Reply #7 on:** June 17, 2006, 03:07:13 AM »

I would have to rate the Ruger Red Label as the best product Ruger has made to date, with the Super Blackhawk a close second. Early on the knock on them was "they shoot loose". The truth is the RL has a self opener feature built into it that give the barrels a kick from the maim spring when first opened.

The gunsmith you talked to is correct, Ruger will remove the auto saftey at no charge. But fair warning it may take 6 weeks to get it back. My personel feelings on auto saftetys is that if I need an auto safety to keep me safe then I have no buisness being out with a firearm.

Yes Ruger's triggers are controled by an inertia system like Browning, & Beretta.

nasem · « **Reply #8 on:** June 17, 2006, 01:58:39 PM »

Quote from: dave375hh

Yes Ruger's triggers are controled by an inertia system like Browning, & Beretta.

Dave -

I think you might be wrong here, I talked to a few folks over shotgunworld.com and they all said that the Ruger RL uses mechanical triggers

Graybeard · « **Reply #9 on:** June 17, 2006, 05:24:24 PM »

A quick search of the Owner's manual online at the Ruger site says the triggers are mechanical not inertia. I wasn't sure as it's just been too many years since I owned one.

dave375hh · « **Reply #10 on:** June 18, 2006, 03:11:19 AM »

I stand corrected on the triggers, sorry. But now I'm really confused because I've seen two Red Labels that wouldn't always set the second barrel after fireing the first. Both of them had the auto saftey removed by Ruger, and acted up when they were returned. I thought possibly the inerta weight was hanging up, but if the triggers are mechanical that can't be. I'm going to borrow one from a friend and take a look at it. The reset failure was about 20% of the time, and was corrected by Ruger on a second trip to the repair shop. :oops:

nasem · « **Reply #11 on:** June 18, 2006, 03:36:23 AM »

My ultimate goal in the O/U world is to actually buy a Ruger Redlabel stainless steel for about $1200, and THEN, change the synthetic stock to nice wood stock, I dunno, Stainless steel has always been more appealing to me than blued steel.

I woun't be getting to do this for another couple years,

Graybeard · « **Reply #12 on:** June 18, 2006, 11:03:14 AM »

There is a swinging inertia safety block mentioned in the Red Label owner's manual. It might be it was acting up and not allowing it to fire. But the actual triggers according to them are mechanical. Sounds like a somewhat complicated arrangement to me.

woodswatcher · « **Reply #13 on:** June 27, 2006, 06:00:10 PM »

the red label .20 is near perfection..