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Jim,
I'm with you, I never warmed up to the looks or fit/finish of the Gold Label. The concept was a good one, but the beltsander finishing and the stainless frame, baby poop brown stain all left me thinking I'd rather have many other guns.

I don't know what they were thinking when they decided to do that roundy beltsander process on the Gold's frame. The whole thing about sxs guns is their craftsmanship. If they don't have that, we may as well shoot a o/u.

I agree with you also, Jim. But look at what GJZ and KMcMichael said. (Like my post stated) they are discribing English game shooting. 50 straight at skeet (or in a Vintagers shoot)is hardly a frequent flurry. Anyway, this is the reason many people in my area don't like them. Plus, Ruger was having so much trouble on returns I don't think they had that much success with it. I don't look for them to ever be out again at the price they were at. It looks like another 339 trap gun adventure to me. Chuck, people don't shoot skeet and sporting clays with the set up you mentioned on the gun. Light gun-shorter barrels- open chokes are preferred.

I shoot skeet all the time with sxs game guns, including a Parker Repro 28 with a splinter. No issues there with hot barrels, if you've got a 5 man squad. Trap . . . yes, if you have a squad that shoots fairly fast, or a short squad, you're going to want a glove on your leading hand.

Jim, I think $3K would be a bargain on a GL at present. Saw one in a local shop tagged at $3800. And people seem to be buying them at those crazy prices!

When the GL was at it's lowest market price, I just couldn't get excited. Now that it's twice that, I have half the interest.


Jimmy,
Just my observation, but overwelmingly at my ranges, for 12g skeet and sporting guns, they are in the 7 1/2 to 8 1/2 lb range and some even higher. Frankly, I can't honestly recall the last time I saw a 6 1/2 lb 12g on the range. I know I've seen some, but they are somewhat an oddity at my ranges. Usually, someone getting some short term, just before the season, practice in with their hunting gun.

There are just to many nicer used guns out there to think about spending the money on a GL. Folks will always talk about the American old classics and Brit guns but look at the more modern stuff like the last Ithica from N.Y. Big deal when it came out but no one talks about them now.

People in my area really hate a splinter forend. One of the comments just this weekend about the Ruger GL was about the splinter forend being too small. When we are shooting skeet in 80-90 degree heat here with 4-5 guys, those barrels get way too hot not to have gloves. I wear Bob Allan gloves and they get hot through the gloves if I handle the barrels. Plus, people in this area just turn up their noses at the looks of them.........Ruger really cornered the market in western handguns. They should have stuck to what they were great at. My feelings are that they only went to these other areas so they could brag about making a SXS or a trap gun. Now that they are fooling around with other things it looks like they are losing their grip on western style handguns because of their bad reputation. That is just the way I see it.

that's saying an entirely different thing from Jim's point. saying one gun is a bargain at $3k because it often sells for $4k does not address that it really isn't a $3k gun in the first place, based on all the other available doubles in that price range. i'm sure i'll regret saying this but it's the same as if it were a model 21 that's a bargain at $5k becuase lots of comparable 21's have just sold for $6k. that still doesn't mean the gun intrinsically is a $5k gun based on quality and features. nor is a gold label a $3k gun. certainly not based on its engraving and wood. for that kind of money, i could get on the 'net and find a gross of nice doubles with engraving, nice wood, etc.

roger

Not that I would even come up with half of $4k for a Gold Label, but Roger, things are worth what the market will bear. Not worth it to you or I is yet another thing altogether.

I'd like to know how one determines value of a gun "intrinsically"? I understand marketplace valuation, and understand how individual players decide the value to each personally. How do I find this intrinsic value stuff?

Roger, Chuck pretty well nailed it. If a new Ford Focus is going for $13K, then $10K is a bargain price. Whether you or I consider it (or a GL at $3K) to be a bargain at that price is beside the point, but it is a bargain on the market in the sense that it's below the average asking price. And no, a GL at $3K is not a "buy" to me, even if it is a bargain price.

Jimmy, a lot of sxs fans will tell you that the only purpose of a forend is to hold the barrels to the action. A splinter reduces weight. If your goal is something in the "game gun" tradition--which was Ruger's goal with the GL--then you hang a splinter FE on it. They weren't built to be target guns.