I expect it's sales driven, and in the black rifle age, most shooters want black rifles. In business, you only survive when you make what people want, and sell it for more than your cost.
Ruger's too sophisticated to not know what it costs to make a run of a given model. If you called them up today and wanted a 1B in .257 Weatherby, with circassian wood, I expect they'd say, "no problem, minimum order XXX at $$$$". It's then up to a distributor to place the order, and try to sell them.
Last edited by tex_n_cal; 04/17/14.
