Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles RUGER WANTS ME TO PAY TO FIX A NEW RIFLE!

I bought a New in the box, Ruger Hawkeye 358 Win. from a gun shop in Idaho, had it sent to my FFL. It looked OK until the next day when I loaded 4 dummie rounds and ran them through the action. I had to work the action with a lot of force. Picking up the rounds off the floor, they were gouged, scratched and dented. Inspecting the feed ramp it was as rough as 80 grit sandpaper. There is two chips in the lips of the feed rail, and the edges are sharp enough the cut your fingers.

Well I called RUGER and talked to Micheal he said the gun was made in 2007 and it is considered a used gun. I told him I have a bill of sale stating it is new unfired except by RUGER test firing it. Then explained the problems with the gun, he said to send it back AT MY COST, at least $30 shipping and insurance. And they will not reimbursed for shipping and insurance.

The only reason I bought a RUGER 358 Win. is because no body else makes one, what a mistake. This will be the last RUGER I ever buy, nothing but AMERICAN MADE JUNK.

Here's some pic's would you pay more to have it fixed?
HERE'S THE TWO CHIPS IN THE FEED RAIL

HERE'S THE FEED RAMP LOOK HOW ROUGH IT IS

THIS IS WHAT THE CARTRIDGE LOOK LIKE AFTER BEING RUN THROUGH THE MAGAZINE ONE TIME

Call Ruger and ask for someone NOT named Michael.
Ask for person not named Michaels' email, send them the picts and I'd be willing to bet they'll say "send it in on OUR dime"......

If you get no satisfaction, then craft a post on it.....oh, wait.

I call twice and the second time. Asked if I could Email pictures to show the problem. They said to send the gun. They need to look at it not pictures.

My M77 in 338 Fed had to be sent back because it would not feed correctly. Don't recall if I paid the shipping there or not. Think I did and they paid to ship it back to me. Bottom line, they were able to correct it.

Sounds like Ruger is hiring Kimber employees. I've seen more than one Kimber do the same thing to cartridges.

At least you can open the action. I know of a Kimber 30-06 that needed to be beat open after firing factory ammo.

I agree with SKane, make another run at em and see if you can get someonw with a brain.

Or trade it in for a Remington....





Sorry Swampy, I beat ya.

I called on a Super Blackhawk that has some B/C gap issues and end shake, also a new gun. The 1st person I talked to was in no way, shape or form going to admit anything was wrong. I was to send the gun in on my dime, they would look at it, and then any fixes would be done and charged to me. I hung up and called back speaking to another person and I described the problems. He said he was sorry for the issues with the gun, a call tag was issued to the store I bought it from and they shipped to gun to them and back to me on their dime. It was fitted with a new cylinder with the problems taken care of all free of charge just because I spoke to a different person.


I would call back and I would keep calling back.


My .358 Hawkeye was rough as hell too, I lit into it with some sandpaper and smoothed the rails and ramp. It will NOT feed 200gr RN bullets, but everything else is smooth as silk.

Yeah, that'll work.

My sole contact with Rem over a problem, was many years ago when the bolt stop pin broke off on a M788 I'd purchased new, a few years before.

Rem had discontinued production on new M788s, but many were still NIB in "the system". All I wanted to do, was purchase a new bolt stop pin, but they had none for sale.

Their proposal? Send them the M788 and they'd mail me a coupon for $100 off on a new Sportsman M78. I said no thanks.

Agree with some of the others, about continuing to "nag" Ruger, until ya get to speak with someone that has a functional brain. I don't give a damn if the rifle sat in a shop for three or four years, before being purchases as new?

Ruger made it; It was still NIB; They should correct the problem on their dime, not mine.

I find that customers calling about their guns often have issues that as a dealer I do not. This applies not only to Ruger, but other brands as well. A phone call from a dealer generally gets a will call tag.

Any resectable dealer should be willing to handle this for you as part of decent customer service.


Edited to add, it doesn't matter if we sold the gun or not, that sale is done and loyal customers are built on how I treat them. In other words, even the transfer dealer should be willing to help.

Have you talked to the gun shop in Idaho? They sold you damaged goods. Too late to stop payment? Between them and Ruger you're getting a bad deal.

My overall experience with Ruger's service dept has been good. As already mentioned sometimes you have to keep calling back.

Interesting. Only problem I've had with a Ruger was a LCP bought for my wife. Long story short, but after firing 5 brands of ammo it was discovered Hornady Critical Defense would fail to fire as often as not. On examination of the failed rounds the primer strike was found to be VERY off center. Was a little surprised the other brands fired. Ruger paid for shipping both ways and replaced the whole slide assembly. No charge. Dealer was never involved.

That's what I'd do.

I firmly believe that NONE of the .358's can feed 200 grain round-nosed bullets due to the geometry of the action. I had one of the recent .358 Winchesters and found that the nose of the bullet will hit the left edge of the end of the chamber when feeding from the right side of the mag box, and vice versa. And, yes, this is with properly dimensioned ammo. Spitzers will feed -- albiet off center -- because the sharper point of the bullet finds its way into the end of the chamber, whereas the blunt nose of the round-nosed will often hit the end of the chamber and wedge the round in place. But, here's the interesting part: After figuring this out, I carefully examined my late '90's vintage .308 and found THE SAME EFFECT GOING ON. But, due to the smaller diameter of the bullet, the .308 WILL feed round-nosed bullets -- just barely. The still enter the end of the chamber to one side, but they work.

I took detailed pictures of all of this (with the .358) and sent them along with the gun to Ruger. Got it back with an invoice saying they'd replaced the mag spring. The gun still had exactly the same issue. In my opinion, the original design is flawed; the angle of the feed ramp is wrong relative to the other geometry of the short-actioned Ruger. It's true of all short-actioned Rugers, but only causes problems with the larger caliber. Don't believe me? Load some dummy rounds and slowly work them through the action. You'll probably want to apply a heavy crimp, because, after a few cyles, the bullets will start to be pushed back into the case without it.

Now that is funny.... and very well could be true...,

I told you so.

FWIW, it's usually at the cost of the owner to send any firearm back to the manufacturer for repair - even if they fix it under warranty .. They then ship it back at their cost (again, IF it's done under warranty)..

Exceptions can occur - it's why the operative word there is 'usually'..

S&W is an exception... Had to send one back for correction. They had shipping labels in my hands 2 days after the call and the firearm back in about 2 weeks. Sad that it had the problem to start with, but S&W put it right, did it quickly, and didn't cost me anything except the drive to drop it off at the shipper. No hassle, just fixed it.

Sorry to hear Ruger's not the same.

Agree with eclectic and 43shooter. I had a ruger handgun with problems and the gun was made in the 70's. Took it back to the dealerabout three years ago and they took care of it (and Ruger) at no charge to me.

Sometimes it is well worth buying from the local guy.

I worked over my feedramp enough that the 200gr RN will feed from the left side of the mag but not from the right. I sold all my RN bullets and am only using SP's now though. A little more time on the feedramp and they will feed. That is probably going to be a summer time project.

Interesting about the other calibers and RN bullets.