Overall, the Red Label was a well-made shotgun. Two years later, in , a gauge version was released, and in a scaled-down version was built on a gauge frame. European shotgun makers were beginning to feel a little pressure from some friendly competition from across the Atlantic Ocean. In the Ruger Red Label was offered for a limited time and production as the Gold Label for its 50 th Anniversary celebration. The Red Label over-under shotgun was produced for over thirty years, from , and again in for a limited run.
During that time, approximately , shotguns were produced. Three decades is a pretty darn good run if you ask me. The Red Label is still a highly sought-after shotgun by hunters and collectors alike. My father was immensely proud of the Red Label, as it was unique among over-unders, as it was almost an anomaly when other bird hunters carried more distinguished and well-known doubles. No shotgun is ever without imperfections and the Red Label was no different.
The big-bore 12 took the brunt of the criticism. Hauling around that much weight over large expanses can quickly have adverse effects, causing owners to re-evaluate the Red Label. I never recall my father complaining about the weight of the shotgun; it handled beautifully in the field. It swung easily and was quick to shoulder and bring down ringnecks and bobs as the shotgun sounded off its presence in the Kansas uplands.
Ruger built the and gauge on size-appropriate frames and with that came a manageable six pounds of wood and metal. However, the demise of the Ruger Red Label really came down to the price. At its inception, this was probably the most economical over-under at the time. The shotgun simply became too expensive to produce. Ruger finally closed its production line in Like the phoenix, the Red Label was reborn from the ashes in The engineers at Ruger redesigned the shotgun and developed new ways to make the over-under less expensive.
The popular model was lighter, had reduced recoil, and featured refined inner workings. However, in , the Red Label was discontinued. The company once again cited revenue issues for halting the production of the shotgun. Save my name and email to use for future comments. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Forgot your password? Get help. Password recovery. Gun Digest. No longer in production, the Ruger Red Lable is still considered iconic.
And at one time, it made the gunmaker the only outfit manufacturing pistols, rifles and shotguns. Originally outfitted with fixed chokes, interchangeable tubes becoming an option in and then standard fare in Gun included a single selective trigger, selective automatic ejectors and a checkered American walnut stock. A pistol grip or English-style straight grip were both available.
The Red Label has been built around the stainless steel receiver which has been slightly modified from Bill Ruger's original design. Mounted upon the receiver is the normal Ruger Tang-Safety with two positions, which is also capable of switching between barrels. The Red Label also features a single trigger which can operate either barrel without the need to re-cock the gun. The barrels of the Red Label are hammer forged in pairs, so that each barrel should perform equally.
Above the upper barrel sits a free floating tolerance of 0. If the numbers do not work, you have to pull the plug and cut your losses. That is what any wise businessman would have to do. There is a good reason pre-production cost figures are called estimates and projections. Our current backlog is larger than our capacity, so we removed it from the marketing material.
We are releasing about 20 gauge models this week, but have no plans to make more. While we are all pretty upset having to cease production again , the numbers don't lie. The current design is just not able to be manufactured for the retail price we need to hit.
There is no other explanation than the obvious: Ruger stuffed it up, embarrassingly so. To actually release shotguns in 20 gauge and abruptly throw your hands up in the air is tantamount to admitting a stinging defeat.
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