Ruger: "I'm impotent"

Oops, I'm sure they meant "important".

S&W will be shipping a bolt-action hunting rifle this year. The single best thing to come to hunting rifles in decades, the WSM, is missing from Ruger's lineup because some a-hole filed a patent and sued Herstal & Remington ... and got them to settle. With their only other U.S.-made Mauser-style competition (Kimber, not having any warranty worth paper it might be written on), Winchester having closed its doors, right now, no one may purchase a brand new U.S.-made Mauser-style WSM rifle.

S&W has ruled the DA revolver market for decades. Ruger has always been a distant 2nd. Since about 2001, S&W has been putting blemishes on the side of their revolvers to satisfy a few ignorant politicians (who never have, and never will, buy any such revolver). Had Ruger followed Taurus' lead and offered a few models far more closely resembling S&W DA revolvers, they could easily overtake S&W.

Ruger also offers basically one lever-action rifle ... that no one would ever buy. Yet they own the U.S.-made SAA market ... mostly due to SASS. But how many Ruger leverguns have you ever seen at a SASS match? Again, with Winchester closing the doors in Connecticut, a huge opportunity ... pissed away. Ditto for any kind of SASS-legal scattergun ... not even a simple $300 SxS ... let alone a '97 or '87 clone.

And speaking of the SAA market, if S&W keeps up what they're up to, and offers SAA clones ... for closer to $500 ... what will Ruger then have that sets them apart?

Some very good custom rifle-smiths flat out refuse to use Ruger actions ... favoring Remington.

And what about the Ruger #1 ... enter Herstal's 1885 ... check, and mate.

The single-biggest move Ruger's made in the last 20yr is they downsized all their SAA's ... drumming up business for what was left of the big ones ... for those with larger hands. I expect that's their ace in the hole, re-introducing the big SAA's ... someday? I'm curious, with the new smaller Vaqueros, by precisely how much did their market-share increase?

And now Ruger is offering early retirement in an attempt to reduce their payroll by $3 million this year.

Remington is importing Mauser-style rifles. S&W is buying T/C. All Ruger'd hafta do is come out with a much better quality version of what they already make ... and differentiate it from the bad reputation the m77 has earned ... perhaps the m98? :-0

Today if a SASS guy wants a new levergun, it's Marlin, Uberti, or Rossi. If Ruger were to scrap the POS they make today, and offer quality '92's and '94's, they'd make a fortune almost overnite. Add a '76 and/or '86 to that to really round out the line-up. A '73 would be very nice as well. For that matter, why not a '71 in a .358-bore? It's tough to know where the Savage '99 thing is going ... but maybe an '88 wouldn't hurt? Boy, why Winchester (Connecticut) went out of business, I'll never understand.

Today if a SASS guy wants a SxS, it's a Stoeger or Baikal. If Ruger were to offer that, and a '97, and and/or an '87, they'd outright own the SASS shotgun market.

If Ruger were to offer DA revolvers using flat-springs like S&W, with the adjustment screw, which fit the same holsters, and otherwise look identical (sans the crater) to the m65 (but blued w/traditional service grips), the Chief's m36 (coil spring ok), a 4in m29, and a 3in m25, they'd easily stand to evenly split the DA revolver market with S&W inside one year. And if S&W weren't to respond, in kind, Ruger could actually take over 1st-place with a comfortable lead.

Then there's the auto-pistol thing. Ruger's been pissing in the wind for years on this. Even Taurus is offering a 1911 now. If Ruger were to focus on delivering just one 1911, with a beavertail and longer trigger, in a very nice blued finish, preferably with a one-piece arched mainspring housing and extended mag-well (see Smith & Alexander), with a consistently, expertly tuned internal extractor, for closer to $800, that'd go a long way to change their reputation in that area. Add on a stainless Commander chambered, reliably, for 9mm and .40sw, and they'd be well on their way. The Glock-knock-off market is extremely saturated. And, at that, the new M&P'd be very tough to beat ... without getting sued. Yet, the 92/P226 market is almost wide open ... with most people all but ignoring the FNP. Put out something extremely closely resembling a P226, and ya'll at least develop a cult-like following there. And should Sig ever completely drop their ball, Ruger'd be on it like white on rice.

Add a .32sw top-break pocket-pistol for the SASS market for icing on the cake.

Yet, none of these things is likely anytime soon. More likely, none will ever come about. What a shame. Too bad they can't do like S&W and hire a new head honcho who knows absolutely nothing about guns?