Home Forums Birds & Dogs Shotguns Red Label 20 Gauge Price Check

Bird hunting buddy has a 20 Gauge Red Label I'd rate at 90 percent or so, honest field wear. Aftermarket fiber optic front sight and a complete set of tubes, I think Briley. He's offered it to me, but neither he nor I know what a fair price is. You guys have any idea? Thanks in advance.

Try to match the gun up with offerings on gunbroker, especially the sold items.

The Red Labels I've been seeing have had astronomical asking prices attached to them considering what they are. Many times the tag price was more than comparable Browning or Beretta models. The 20 ga versions, particularly the blued receiver versions, were the only ones I thought worth the original asking price but even they aren't near the prices I've seen. My blued receiver 20 ga was pretty rugged but I thought it heavy and I am a Browning fan. The 12 ga guns had runs where they were problematic which soured me on all the later models.

A large part of my reluctance is Ruger stopped supporting these guns years ago so you are on your own in regards to finding repair parts and someone who is familiar with servicing them. The good thing is the 20s seem to be pretty bullet proof but that is a decision the buyer has to make. Until recently, field grade Red Labels ran about 80% of a base Browning or Beretta and I would expect that to be a max still. I personally would look for a lower price due to not being familiar with parts availability and who is most likely to have them.

I am not buying from a buddy either so am not concerned if any hard feelings occur over pricing because I have doubts of these guns. That is a factor I stopped considering long ago and I put that first and foremost if someone I know is trying to sell me a gun.

Depends on your area. They bring top dollar here in Texas during dove season.

As soon as the new wears off, you will realize you paid too much.

My blued model from the 80's has been a solid gun in the dove fields.

The big issue is the lack of parts. The place where I guide had a service arrangement with Ruger for around a hundred 12s & 20s for over 30+ years but now some guns can't be maintained as there are no parts available; being as this is Ruger who is maintaining these guns, if they don't have the parts, then unless someone makes them, there aren't any. Other than that, they've been excellent shotguns and very reliable.

I had an early blued 20 with fixed chokes never had a problem with it but sold it for more than I paid for it. Bought an early 12 ga ss rec model with 28" barrels utilizing the short invector style chokes. I shot alot of skeet, trap and sporting clays with it as it fit me well. After a few years the buttstock cracked thru tang to wrist area. I sent it ruger who restocked it with a factory second that was not near as nice a wood. They said it broke because I hadn't torqued the stock bolt correctly. I had never had the butt off it and there was no evidence that the previous owner had either. Year or so later the auto safety would start coming back on after the first shot with heavier loads. I sent it back to Ruger to have the safety repaired and converted to a manual safety as they offered that for 17 bucks charge. 2 years later the lower ejector quit working and I sent it back to ruger. I kept that gun cleaned and lubed correctly so poor maintenance was not the fault. Ruger replaced the ejector and spring ,sent it back. 1 year later it needed the upper ejector and spring so back to ruger again. 2 years after that a repeat on the lower ejector and spring replacement again. Back to Ruger 5 times in 12 years the cost of shipping it about 150 bucks back then + the 500 I gave for it. I shot alot of game with it and about 25k rounds of clay targets. This amount of use in a Citori would hardly merit much other than a yearly clean and relube with an occ. Lick and wipe of gun oil on a rag. After the Ruger fugs said they weren't suporting them anymore I felt disgust. I have a lot of good memories with it only bring it out of the gun vault for an occaisional hunt anymore. One only has to look inside of a red label once and compare the workmanship to a citori or a Superposed to wonder why they wasted their money on a red label. My accounting of 36 years of red label ownership. Good luck if you buy it but you been told, might as well piss down the side of your leg then tell yourself it's raining...mb