Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns New Ruger Red Label

Haven't been active in a while but have been involved on another board more shotgun oriented. I have tried the search function without results so will post up. Has anyone had a good experience with the new RRL? I have seen many bad experiences on the other board that mirror my own. They have been removed from production after only a short run.

They dropped them again because they couldn't make any money on them. When they first re-introduced them, we had them on the shelf for around $1075. Every time we would re-order, the price kept inching up. The last ones we got were over $1400, at which point the demand went to hell. Story we got from the Ruger rep was that some bean counter miscalculated when they decided to bring them back for under $1100. They kept pushing them North trying to turn a profit and finally gave up on them, again. I'm betting said bean counter is now flipping burgers with the Obama voters....

I got one at 1075. It double discharged on round 85. It was replaced with a new one after about 2 months of hassle. On the other board I mentioned there were several that had similar problems both with gun and service. Some have had the gun replaced with whatever they wanted from the Ruger Line. The new one I have has had about 500 rounds with no apparent problem as of yet. That is why I am wondering if anyone has had good experience and only the bad ones are being discussed.

Only going to bump this one time. I see there have been over 200 views but not one favorable comment about the new RRL. But have run another 100 rounds (total of 600) without a problem on the replacement gun.

Fellow had one of the originals and shot at a skeet field I used to visit. Would shoot a couple rounds thee days a week for at least 10 years. He slammed it shut like he hated it. Never seen it miss a beat.

I had one I may have put a thousand rounds thru with no problems.

Don't know any that shot the newer one, or if there were any differences between the old and new.

Pretty sure the new one just got cancelled by Ruger. There is a thread floating around somewhere that includes an interview with the CEO where he indicated it's done for...again.

But a Browning or Beretta and be done with it .

X2

I handled one of the new RRL's at a Gander Mountain. I was comparing the Browning 725 to a 686 Beretta and the manager brought out the Ruger as an example of poor craftsmanship. The gun was loose on face and lockup was spongy. The lever and safety felt loose and horrible. They pulled the new gun from the back because it was going back to Ruger. The manager only showed it to me because we were talking about quality of craftsmanship. He brought it out as the ultimate example of bad craftsmanship.

I have only seen one of the latest run. I didn't examine it closely.

I still have a sporting clays version from 1990 or so.

Shot it yesterday. It always works. Never had a problem in almost 25 years.

Have been following this on another board that is more shotgun oriented. Seems there were over 8000 produced before production ceased. That is based on one poster saying his brother had a serial number in the 1600s and his was in the 8000s. both of those were going strong with no problem. Seems the only posters are the ones that had problems. My replacement is in the 7000s and is working out well.

What I was going to post almost word for word. I have shot mine from the desert to the salt marshes with out a hitch. I know nothing about the new ones but the older ones are great guns

Same here.
I bought a 12 when they first came out and a 20 about a year later.
Beat the hell out of em for over 20yrs without a hiccup and then sold em for what I paid.

Course,,, sealbilly will be along shortly to tell us what a piece of chit they are even though he's never owned,,, and probably hasn't even shot one,,, so what do I know.

I had plans to buy one of these "gen II" Red Labels. I couldn't find one local to me to try on for size. So, since I had a 28 gauge Yildiz SPZ ME that I had been completely happy with as a field gun, I just bought another in 12, still thinking I might do the Ruger as my sportin' clays gun.

I'd have given one a shot if it fit me (the originals ones do) and I could have found one to buy.

Oh, well.... I reckon I missed out.

Might be a good thing, though... My last issue of American Rifleman has me jonesing pretty hard for a CG Invictis for my target gun and since I couldn't manage to get a new Red Label, the plus-side is that I'm $1,400 closer to getting an Invictis than I otherwise would have been.

I had one of the original Red Label 20's with the blued receiver. Shot woodcock in very rough places, it worked fine. Later, I became a skeet shooter, tried to do it with the Red Label, it beat me to death. 100 rounds on a skeet field didn't hurt the gun, but the gun hurt me, even with reloads that were closer to 28 gauge than 20.

The buttstock design on all Red Labels has too much drop, hence more perceived recoil. If the skeet/sporting clays crowd won't buy them, they will never be a success.

Have a older 28 ga that is as much fun to shoot in a dove field as can be had. Buddy bought one of the newer ones and has offered it and 500.00 for mine and I keep going NOOOOOOO!