Ruger Red Label durability for trap?

[Trey Veston]

I've posted a few threads here about my adventures in learning how to shoot trap. My first session was with a custom Ruger Red Label from the early 90's with a straight stock. I did two sets and got a 12 and a 16. I then showed up with a Browning Sweet Sixteen A5 in 16ga and got a dismal 10 on my one and only set.

Then I showed up with the Sweet Sixteen again, along with a Browning Superposed 12ga once owned by Jack O'Connor. I got a horrible 11 with the A5 and a 14 with the Jack O'Connor gun.

The Ruger seems to be the one I shoot the best with, and being 12ga, the shells are easy to find, and I have probably a couple thousand of them in storage. So, the Ruger will be my huckleberry.

But, many folks opined that the Ruger simply won't hold up to the rigors of trap shooting. But, I would like to know why, and how can I mitigate the impact, as well as cost of repairs if/when it fails.

The Ruger automatically fires from the top barrel when loaded, and the safety is also automatically engaged. During my first shoot, I had to develop a muscle memory to disengage the safety before each shot. I've heard that using the bottom barrel is better to ensure longevity, but also may impact the aiming for clays?

I can learn to switch the safety to off and to select the bottom barrel before each shot, if needed.

I shoot trap once a week, and only do two sets, or 50 shells. If I went every week, that is about 2600 rounds a year. That seems pretty low for rounds that are light trap loads? How many years could I use the Red Label? If it fails, what breaks and is it repairable?

I really know hardly anything about shotguns and what wears out, so looking forward to more info from the braintrust on here.

 

[Lo-Profile]

The Ruger Red Label was built to be a field gun. Those are usually carried a bunch and shot a few times. Trap, Skeet and Sporting Clays guns are meant to be shot a lot. It will work well for a while, but will wear quicker. Usually a lot lighter as well compared to a Clays gun. The weight helps mitigate recoil over 25, 50, 100+ rounds
My Trap gun is a purpose built Beretta that's probably about 50 years old.
My Sporting guns are used for clays and my field guns are used for hunting

 

[Hookeye]

Ruger considers some models "Obsolete" with no repair parts.
Scroll down to see list here:

Ruger Parts & Service

ruger.com

 

[Hookeye]

I will use my field gun for clays.
However it is a Citori.

 

[1KPerDay]

Far as I know Ruger won’t fix it if/when it needs it, so work that into your calculations. Me, l’d probably just shoot it and try to solve whatever issues arise. 2500 rounds a year isn’t a lot. And you’d be shooting a gun you enjoy. That’s what they’re for.

 

[kudu]

The majority of shells that were shot through my Red Label was sub-gauge through Kolar tubes, 20, 28, and .410, it wore out at about 45-50 thousand shots, a 12 gauge Red Label Sporting clays gun started having problems under 8000 shots. A 28 gauge Red Label that I dearly loved was having problems intermittently at about 3000 rounds. I absolutely loved the feel of the Ruger shotguns, but I moved on to Beretta as they feel almost the same and got my 682 well over 50k shots run through it now. I have a dedicated trap gun, Winchester M12, that is set up to shoot a 90/10 pattern, I float the bird above the barrel and still smoke it. Field guns that you have to swing up and cover the bird can be done, but once you lose sight, it's a possible miss.

You may be fortunate and get in excess of 40-50 thousand rounds through the gun before the firing pins/springs/ mechanism goes bad. At first it's a few misfires, a click, no boom, second shot goes off. Might be fine for a few more boxes of shells, then it happens again, then a bit more frequently.

I always use the bottom barrel first on an O/U, the recoil is more directly pushed straight into the shoulder, the upper barrel makes the gun rise a bit more into the cheek, not hardly noticeable, but it cumulative.

 

[cfullgraf]

Serious clay games shooters shoot ammunition by the pallet load. Browning Citoris or Beretta 686 Series guns are considered the minimum for longer term reliability shooting the clay games with regularity and volume..

I competed in skeet with a tubed Browning Citori in the 1990's with success in the lower classes.

@kudu comments above are very accurate.

 

[cfullgraf]

The Browning Citoris and Beretta 686’s do not automatically engage the safety when the gun is opened. Good for clay games as guns are not loaded until the shooter is in the shooting position.

Bad for the hunter who needs to remember to engage the safety when loading the gun, then disengage the safety when a bird presents itself.

The side by side that my Dad grew up with engages the safety when the avtion is opened. After shooting the Citori for a number of years, I’d forget to disengage the safety when shooting the side by side on s skeet field.

You have to practice to get the memory to make the gun safe or ready to fire based on how the manufacture designed the gun.

Similar with pump guns. Before I got the Citori, I shot alot of skeet with my mother’s 20 ga Winchester Model 12. Cycling the action on skeet doubles was second nature. After switching to the Citori, I lost the automatic nature of cycling the pump on doubles. They just shoot the second round if you do not cycle the action.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I probably shot my 870 Express at the trap field 5,000 shot, still holds up very good. breaks clay and it fits me perfectly. Had my 686 fitted, stock chopped, all that jazz… and it’s a small difference

 

[Royboy99]

I have a Ruger Red Label, 12 gauge, 26" barrels, that I bought new in 1988. For several years it was the only shotgun I used (other than a slug gun) and I used it for everything: birds, waterfowl, turkeys, trap, skeet and sporting clays. I am not and was not what I would consider a high-volume shooter. I shot trap a couple of evenings a week and sporting clays and skeet on weekends. Judging by the amount of components I used in those days I'd say I put 4,000 - 5,000 rounds a year through that gun, the vast majority being one ounce target loads with several boxes of waterfowl and upland loads. I have never had a single problem with that gun. It's been quite a few years since I've shot it that much. Today I have a trap gun, a sporting clays gun, a waterfowl gun, and upland gun and a turkey gun. I still shoot the occasional round of sporting clays with the Ruger, still use it for early season swamp ducks over decoys. I don't think any other gun I've ever had has given me the return on investment that the Ruger Red Label has.

 

[1KPerDay]

The Browning Citoris and Beretta 686’s do not automatically engage the safety when the gun is opened.

my 686 did…

 

[DustyGmt]

I was new to trap years ago and when talking g to the guys about good trap guns in the sub $2K price range the one thing they could all agree on was that the ruger RL's had no place in trap. A guy brought one in and I understood. Ironically on our yearly field day Ruger is the only reps that come and bring shotguns to demo. The guys will say they look nice and shoot nice but nobody ever buys one and they just don't seem to be suited to the task. They seem like field guns that Ruger fans own but don't use for high volume clays........

 

[DustyGmt]

The old trap folks told me I had a really proper trap gun 870TB and not to buy a red label when the rep came. They said my TB would outshoot the red label 1000 times over in terms of longevity.... I am inclined to believe them. The RL also had an odd balance too, not so great awkward swing

 

[Lo-Profile]

The Browning Citoris and Beretta 686’s do not automatically engage the safety when the gun is opened.

I have 4 Beretta guns that were configured to do so from the factory. Three were 686 Onyx field guns. A 20 gauge, two 12 gauge and a SP1 28 gauge.
They all came with auto safeties. Had them all removed