I think most of the serious barrel regulation issues never made it out of the factory. That's one reason the price of the gun increased fairly rapidly. Ruger had to trash a bunch of barrels.
Weight . . . Ruger reduced weight by milling steel out of the receiver. The result was a lighter gun, but one that was barrel-heavy.
I don't know whether anyone is buying, but they're certainly asking big $ for the Gold Labels.
Mine shot OK, but I didn't like the balance. Never really cared for the Ruger safety either. And make it light . . . and then make it 3". Never made sense to me.
