doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ruger Red label back

I seen today on youtube that Ruger have brought back the Red label over and under shotgun. Anyone have an opinion on them ? I believe they were a good basis, in 20g, for double rifle conversions.

http://www.ruger.com/products/redLabel/index.html

Only back in 12 gauge?
But still made in America
Mike

Yes Mike, made in America, Which is surprising and good to see. Sadly some great gunmakers such as webley and scott are made in turkey now,and i believe some famous names have their guns made in turkey now on the quiet.

Some traditionalists have always hated the Red Label for various reasons but I'm glad to see it back. Hope the internal changes they made will make it hold up better in prolonged shooting so the trap guys can use it without so much fixing (and griping).

And I wish they would have reintroduced the 28 first. IMO it's the best of the lot.

What was the most common breakdown with the Red Labels, Mike? I've never owned one but am curious, because one of my closest hunting buddies uses one for 90% of his shooting.

SRH

Overall good new but why Ruger continues to offer their shotguns with such short length of pulls is beyond me. They list 141/2" LOP with that looks like a 1" pad, making it difficult for those (selfishly, like me) to add length without having almost 2" of ugly black spacer and pad on the end of the stock.

I actually find RRL's serviceable guns but have sold everyone I've owned due to fit issues....my theory for why some people complain about excessive recoil....poor fit.

I owned one of the first, back when they had a blue receiver, and you could get any gauge you wanted, as long as it was a 20. I bought mine used. Neither barrel would put the shot charge anywhere near where you were looking. In 20 gauge, it was as least as heavy as my Dad's Silver Snipe 12, a gun that shoots exactly where you are looking. Nothing ever broke on mine, but, I didn't use it much at all after I figured out I couldn't hit anything with it. I got rid of it a few seasons after I got it.
The 28s really do handle well, from the half dozen or so I've seen in shops over the years, but, I've never fired one. It seems like gun shops value them far out of proportion to what the market thinks they are worth.


Best,
Ted

I have a RRL in 12 ga from back in the late 90's. For whatever reason, I am very accurate and confident in that gun. Big downside, however is weight, pushing all but 8 lbs.

Interest stock drop dimensions, 1.5 & 2.5 at comb and heel. Bit more than many, by modern standards.

know a couple of long time 20 ga red label skeet shooters...they both love their guns...

have sold a few over the years and have never had a complaint, except that the newer guns with choke tubes are heavier and not as well balanced as the older guns without choke tubes. sounds like ruger may have beefed up the barrels in order to have enough metal to machine for choke tubes.

and of course, stacking the barrels one on top of the other is rather strange, don't you know...should be side by side, eh what?

a 20g would be a lovely gun , IF ruger build it on a scaled down receiver, a peeve of mine is 20g's built on 12g receivers, massively heavy barrels and a gun that ends up weighing more than the 12g.

Stan, I don't know much about the source of reliability complaints on Red Labels except that every time the gun is mentioned on the web, somebody brings it up, usually somebody who has tried them as a trapgun.

My own actual experience mirrors the remarks above; Red Labels need a longer stock for those of us blessed/cursed with "ape hanger" arms, and they basically are all "duck/turkey/coyote" guns--fine as long as you don't have to pack them very far.

The 28 is an exception to the above, and I wonder if Ruger would ever make a 20 on the 28 frame? Or make a 20 with an alloy frame--certainly Ruger has the technical expertise to do that! (Of course then people would gripe about the recoil with 3" magnums.....).

Tripp's Red Label is used for duck hunting very hard. His only complaint is that the bottom barrel will not eject high brass loads. There really IS something about the high brass that causes the hull to stick in the chamber and not eject.

In spite of that, it's killed a train load of ducks. It's stainless and, once when painting his duck boat, he stood the gun up by the boat and just painted it all together!

Here they are:




SRH

Its about time. I hope Ruger stays on track this time and builds more Red Labels.

Hmm. I own two 20 ga. and never thought about the LOP. Turns out they're both 14" with Ruger's thin rifle-type pad, so it shouldn't be a problem adding some length. Most are probably used as field guns, which makes Ruger look like they knew what they were doing.

They were reliable guns. Are the new ones using the same mechanicals?

Some of the problems with Red Lables were operator error. On some guns you had to make sure they were opened 100% to cock both barrels. The lower ejector does seem weak, most likely that is a problem of angles and physics, perhaps corrected in the new design. The internal parts were rough and finished only in areas that needed to be finished. If you took a stock off and looked at the sum of the parts you were not impressed. They did work as a unit but were not nice to look at. Then the gun did not have the means to re-tighten the action if loose and to many they seem loose early.

Perhaps the biggest failing is that the gun was designed as a field gun first and not a competition gun. With light use a Red Label should last several lifetimes as a target gun it would be loose and problematic due to part wear in just a few years. If you want a K-80 then buy a K-80, do not spend an eight of the money and expect the same service. Even a weekend warrior shooter, shooting trap or skeet, will put 5K to 10K through a gun in a year. A dedicated hunter might put 500-1K shells through a gun. It will last as a shooter with normal care but will be hard pressed as even a modest clays gun. Use the gun for what it was designed for and you should be happy.

Now as to most of the complaints coming from trap shooters. It was pointed out to me by a well known gunsmith that most trap shooters are tinkers at heart and they cause most of their own problems. While they might not mess with a 10K gun they will work on a Red Label in a heartbeat. Consider the source.

Look at the receiver, its different from the old design.



Its been my go to pheasant gun for the last twenty years, works flawlessly, looks great.

Word is, other than fairly minor cosmetic changes illustrated above, that the major changes are mechanical.

red label is a best buy when compared to browning and beretta pricing...hope the new ones are not over priced.

Gunblast.com did a review recently. MSRP is $1399.

lee: how does that compare to a field grade citori and a beretta 680 whatever?

New RRLs available now for $1100 pre-order, delivery by 12/1/13. Can't touch a 686 or Citori for anything close to that.

would make a nice Christmas present.

They are in stock right now $1100.

I had a Sporting Clays Model. for several years and loved it

Well Christmas is coming so I ordered three for my sons. With two of them they will get very light use but my middle son will put it through its paces. That boy was born to hunt and like me born fifty years too late.

Ever consider every generation thinks the one before them hunted in the golden era. Where I grew up deer hunting is better today than ever before. Bird hunting is down to just a few percent compared to 40-50 years ago. Some things are good and something's are just a memory.

My only experience with the Ruger RL is that some years back I picked up a 28 ga. with 28" barrels and a pistol grip stock. It has been a great O/U shotgun, a joy to shoot and carry in the fields. Then a few years ago I was lucky enough to find a set of Ruger tubes made by Briley for the 410 bore is complete for me now. It would behoove Ruger to bring it back out.

Talked to a Ruger engraver at SHOT long enough ago that there was a little hope the Gold Label might be brought back. His comment was that the powers that be at Ruger really don't understand shotguns, or how they should be made. Old Bill had the right idea with the Gold Label, but even that wasn't as good as it could have been. MKII

Why is the American shotgun market dominated by pump actions and semi-automatics ? Is it simply a cultural thing ? Are they that much cheaper than a double barrel ? On this side of the atlantic the over and under dominates in clays and side by sides are used a lot for game shooting still, though semis are being used more and more, mainly by younger shooters. I'm not attacking American shooters , just trying to understand the trends.

Money is a huge driver. Witness all the requests on other boards for the "best" O/U under $600. And you can not talk them out of it. After they do try it, they are convinced that all O/Us are junk. Same with SxSs. WalMart mentality.

I did use a mossberg pump action once, absolutely hated it compared to my browning 325. Surely in a country as large as the USA the economy of scale would make decent ou's reasonably priced ? Over here browning shotguns aren't cheap, but they are not that expensive that the average guy serious about owning one couldn't aspire to one. I really don't think i could return to use a magazine fed shotgun after i used a double barrel, maybe as a farm implement but that would be about it.

I have a Ruger 28 which is nice but recently shooting quail and phes on a preserve the bottom trigger is denting the primer but not firing. Any ideas on why, possiblt a weak firing pin. If this is the problem, can it be fixed by most gun smiths or do I need to reurn it to Ruger

The cosmetic changes, I assume meant to be racy and svelte, just don't make it at all. They should have just stuck with the stodgy "business-like" design. It matched the overall aesthetic of the gun.

If they wanted to change anything they should have brought back the red pad.

A 12 gauge Red Label was my first double. Although it was somewhat clubby, I liked it well enough and learned what I could with it. Back then (1990) I thought the fact that Tim Leary used a RL 20 ga was a fine endorsement. But I tired of it after I got my first s x s double, a Leonard-made Jeffery.

That doesn't change the fact that I wish I still had it.

Call Ruger at 603-865-2442 . They will almost certainly tell you that they need to look at it to determine the problem, and ask you to send it in. Do so. In a few weeks to a month, your gun will be returned with the problem fixed, and most likely a few other parts replaced, too. At no cost, other than shipping it out.

That was how they handled the return of my RRL 28, anyway. The gun was out for about 3 weeks.

Back on topic: When I first heard that the RRL was coming back, I gave strong consideration to buying one. I don't really "need" a 12 ga O/U hunting gun, but the idea of supporting an American-made double gun appeals to me. When I found out that it will be close to 8 lbs, I changed my mind. If Ruger would make this gun at about 7 lbs, (or ideally even a bit lighter!) I would be a player, but 8 lbs. is simply too heavy for a hunting gun, IMHO, and as mentioned in a previous post, they just aren't designed to stand up to heavy use as a target gun.

If they bring back the All-Weather with the matte gray finish at $1K, I think I'm in for ducks.

murphy: your firing problem could in fact be ammo related; particularly if you are shooting cheap Winchester brand loads, which often exhibit deeper than usual primers.

Replacement,

I had one of the All-Weather guns with the stainless matte gray barrels�to me they absolutely disappeared on an overcast gray day. I don't think I am a "barrel watcher" but I found it very difficult to shoot on those kind of days. YMMV.

I suppose I could spray the top of the rib flat black? Sprayed the knurled extended stainless chokes on another hunting gun (flat black lacquer) and it has held up for about ten years so far. I'm thinking about the All-Weather RRL because my old Citori has a fresh refinish on the wood and looks too good for ducks now. That and the fact that it doesn't seem to like salt water and sand as much as it used to.

I'm at a loss. If they can make the 12 gauge Gold Label at 6 1/2 lbs., why can't they do the same with the Red Label? At 8 lbs, sorry I'm not interested.