Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires A mystery Ruger

they can't keep it, if they don't own it. They can rebarrel, replace, rebuild. But if you opt out of having them do one of the above, they HAVE to return it. It is Rugers policy to not have an overpressured, or any firearm that may be dangerous, returned. They will first try to get you to take an option other than sending it back, which involves YOU paying. Stand firm enough and they will replace or return it. But in the mean time, they will string you out for months hoping you cave in, and agree to pay what they ask......

If it is a factory error, Ruger should fix if free of charge.

If it isn't a factory error, Ruger will probably offer to put it back into "factory specs", but for a fee.

Ruger is known for replacing "tuned" triggers with factory units and charging the owner for the parts and labor. They do return the parts that they replace, but the owner has to go to the effort of reinstalling his "tuned" trigger and has to pay the fee for a factory specs trigger that will just go into a drawer and be forgotten. I have been told that even a minor change to a factory specs trigger, like cutting a coil off a spring, will require the entire trigger assembly to be replaced.

That is why I suggested that the OP should call Rody's, to get their recommendation before sending it back to Ruger.

I fully agree with your reasoning which is purely common sense. I bet they don’t offer it up that way, at least In the beginning.

Had a couple guns replaced by Ruger. They will send you a letter stating why the gun needs to be replaced. You have to sign off on the replacement, or sign off that you want the gun back understanding that Ruger is no longer responsible for the gun. Return the signed letter get a new gun or your old one back.

Thing is, they won't send that letter for a long time, a month or two between comms, until they exhaust all other possibilities. First, they will say it's unsafe and you must buy a new one at cost. But 'cost' is not much less than retail. If you don't fall for that, they'll say you can pay for actuall repair cost. Which both times that option was offered, repair and return shipping was more than their supposed 'cost'. And if you are insistent enuff, by telling them to return your rifle and you're not signing nothing but the form for a new one, they eventually will relent....

I've never had any trouble with Ruger, but I've only sent two (2) rifles back to them.

OTOH, Smith & Wesson fought me for months over a custom 624 that I had sent in to be engraved and was subsequently stolen out of UPS on the return. I had specifically directed S&W to insure it for the full cost of the revolver, the custom work, and the engraving. They didn't insure it and after several months finally agreed to replace it with a 629 Classic, but fought me over the engraving that I had just paid for. They finally engraved the 629, but the battle with them left a bad taste in my mouth and I haven't purchased a new S&W product since then.

Smith did me a real good one. Several years back they had a promotion going on new revolvers. Within x amount of time after purchase they would do a factory cleaning and inspection. It was a 686 that frankly got the crap pounded out if it. Well I got home one day to find a blue plastic box on my back porch. With a shipping label on it and the box was open. Fortunately must of just popped open when delivery monkey dropped it.

How nice lets ship a revolver in a factory box untaped and not require signature. Got better. Open up the box. No grips on the gun no screws in the sideplate. Took nearly a month of screw around before they admitted that they somehow made a mistake. Sent me a label to send it back,took them about a month to put some screws in the side plate and grips on it. Shipped back in a plain cardboard box over the factory case and signature required.

Smith did me something similar. I had a new M24-3 .44 Special that spit lead badly. New gun, spitting lead like a Thompson SMG. I sent it back to them to fix. They sent it back, and UPS left it on my porch, unsigned-for. And it wasn't fixed, it came back worse, AND the cylinder would turn backwards if you tried to DA it slowly. I traded it off for a nice autoloader. It wasn't the first N-frame that gave me fits, but it was the last one.

Now I send all of my handgun work to Ahlman's in Morristown, MN. The pistolsmiths at Ahlman's are at least as good as those who work directly for S&W in Springfield, MA,and do better work, do it for less $$, and turn their work around much more quickly. Plus, the do a good job packing, shipping, and insuring anything that you send to them.

www.ahlmans.com

Very interesting and curious thread....looking forward to hearing about what Ruger does with this and hope it all works out for you in the end, Utah.

So what did Ruger say?

No word back, yet.

I called them out of curiosity to see if I could learn anything. Customer service said that it is in the book for a new barrel, but they could not give me an estimate of how long that would take.

Well I recently bought a 10/22 and they messed up the drill/tap on the action. Rail pointed one way, barrel pointed another. They put on a new action, sent to FFL (new serial number) and reimbursed me the transfer fee. Two weeks to get the gun back, three weeks between sending in the gun and getting the check. They said don't send in the magazine so I didn't. It came back with a new magazine.

I emailed Ruger last week about a set of Factory Hogue grips on my Redhawk. These were the original grips. Taking them off or putting them on I must have stretched too far and they cracked slightly. Still worked but no longer fit tightly.

They sent me new grips free. All within 1 week.

Had a couple other issues through the years. Each was taken care of promptly and free. I’ve had good experiences with their customer service.

The crown is an easy fix. I am surprised no one suggested either fixing this barrel or trying to sell for a little profit and buy another. I am no fan of the 10/22 or anything 17 but; they both have a following. And anything that smacks of unique example of a common gun is usually gold. A reline wold not be a collectable, but it might be worth $100 premium. Reline was not established. I did see some one offer to buy it. I think he was serious. I would sure hate to be the guy who found out Ruger did some experimental run and one unfinished example slipped out. Imagine that!

Nothing wrong with sending it back to Ruger. I hope they tell the OP what happened. It will make interesting reading.

Looking forward to finding out about this mystery. Hope it works out to your satisfaction.

Any update from Ruger?

Nothing since I called them and they said they were putting a new barrel on it.

After all this I would call again and ask someone at Ruger just what was the finding on this barrel. Curious minds really want to know!
Otherwise you’ll wind up with a nice new barrel but never know what the story is on this barrel.