Ruger Wrangler(s) Experience

[Tenncvol]

Last year I purchased a Ruger Wrangler 22LR pistol just to have fun with it at the range. I realized it would not be a high precision pistol at the low price point. It was inconsistent, and often would shoot as expected given the simple sights and my skills. However, there were some real bad flyers that I could not blame on my shooting. Closer inspection revealed the holes in the paper were oblong, not round. I think the term is "keyholing". The Ruger customer service lady was not surprised and arranged for it to be returned for repair. I received notice that it could not be repaired and was offered a replacement which I accepted.

The replacement Wrangler made a bad first impression as cartridges had to be firmly pushed into three of the cylinder chambers. After shooting, empties would not come out of the chambers except by removing the cylinder and using a punch and mallet to force them out. I rigged up a way to polish the inside of the chambers and solved that problem. Once I was able to shoot it again - guess what. It keyholed worse than its predecessor. I put it back in its new box and traded for it boxes of Mini-mags. Consider yourself lucky if you got a good Wangler.

 

[doubleh]

Keyholing is apparently a big issue with them if what I read on various forums is true. I have one and have managed to cure the keyhole problem but you wouldn't use accurate to describe it.

 

[tubeshooter]

Only have 2, and haven't shot them much, but I was able to shoot the primer out of a shotgun shell at a distance of 3 or 4 yards with both with some low-power CBs within a try or two.

Even at this short distance, I doubt that would be possible with truly atrocious accuracy. Granted I had to hold both guns really still. I consider myself an average shot at best.


I've seen some reports around about keyholing and flyers as well. Maybe I got a couple of decent ones.

 

[tallpaul]

that is sad...

 

[WestKentucky]

I know several people who are not impressed with them. I was gung-ho as soon as I heard that they were doing a birdshead but accuracy problems is a dealbreaker for me. I have shot 1 and felt it was better than a heritage in the way it felt, I would personally buy a heritage because those do have decent accuracy for what they are.

 

[American Finn]

@Tenncvol I'm sorry to hear about your problems; I have a Wrangler that my son shoots and it seems to be accurate and reliable; haven't had any issues with at all.

I commented on another forum about a Charter Arms quality issue; it just seems to me that nobody really cares anymore about building a quality product. I thought the firearms industry would be a bastion of pride and sound worksmanship but it appears that is no longer the case. Maybe I'm wrong (and correct me if I am) but I don't remember firearms of years past having the issues that they seem to have today. You would think it would be the opposite with all of the precision machining and metallurgical technology we have today.

 

[sparkyv]

Well, my Dad just gave me his birdshead Wrangler; I don't think he even shot it. It's the Talo edition and looks pretty nice and feels great in my hand, but after reading this thread, I sure hope it shoots decently. Anyone have suggested ammo for it? SV or HV?

 

[American Finn]

Well, my Dad just gave me his birdshead Wrangler; I don't think he even shot it. It's the Talo edition and looks pretty nice and feels great in my hand, but after reading this thread, I sure hope it shoots decently. Anyone have suggested ammo for it? SV or HV?

I use standard velocity CCI and Blazer and they seem to work just fine. I haven't tried anything else but I don't see how it would matter either way SV or HV. I don't have the manual in front of me but I don't recall any warnings stating not to use HV.

 

[jotjackson]

I have one, it shoots fair but for the price I didn’t expect a tack driver. Ruger makes some great guns, this is just not their best.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I already had a few low cost 22 revolvers in the Heritage line. And i did not like the looks of the wranglers. So i did not bother with them. My single six i like very much.

 

[adcoch1]

I bought two of the standard wranglers, and they both shoot pretty good with bulk ammo. But one had two chambers that were tighter than the others. But a lot of 22s have this issue, I really think it's mostly an ammo problem and a little of a gun problem.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

Mine has been an excellent revolver.

I clipped the mainspring a few coils as the hammer pull was very hard, gently bent the losing latch spring as it was excessively stiff, filed the rear of the frame where the cylinder was binding, did the “po boy trigger trick” and it’s now a fine shooter. Groups well.

I am skeptical of any keyholing issues. Ruger makes a fine revolver and mine has not keyholed whatever with multiple cartridges.

 

[JCooperfan1911]

@Tenncvol I'm sorry to hear about your problems; I have a Wrangler that my son shoots and it seems to be accurate and reliable; haven't had any issues with at all.

I commented on another forum about a Charter Arms quality issue; it just seems to me that nobody really cares anymore about building a quality product. I thought the firearms industry would be a bastion of pride and sound worksmanship but it appears that is no longer the case. Maybe I'm wrong (and correct me if I am) but I don't remember firearms of years past having the issues that they seem to have today. You would think it would be the opposite with all of the precision machining and metallurgical technology we have today.

Henry cares. But so does Ruger.

Ruger is putting a fine piece of shootin iron in the hands of the everyman with their little Wrangler six shooters. Those that don’t know how to shoot straight nor how to spruce a gun up a tick might struggle with them, but that’s there problem, not the guns.

 

[defjon]

Hmm. I have owned two and both were outstanding accuracy and functionality wise. I'm sorry you got a bad one though. If you follow these and other forums, unfortunately company and price point are poor predictors for that.

I'm hearing about some hair raising stuff leaving various factories the last couple years.

Hears to hoping that we see an increased interest in quality control across the board. I think there are a litany of issues contributing to this, and I won't derail by going into all of that.

Suffice to say, I would keep sending it back until they get it right. This goes for any manufacturer. I would go "up the food chain" so to speak until I got satisfaction.

If these issues continue folks will stop buying. Not worth the headache and hassle. Already we are seeing quarterly sales drop among many manufacturers. Maybe that is not the worst thing. Sometimes a company, just like all of us, need to take a step back and reevaluate.

It wouldn't hurt for quotas to go down and QC be placed front and center. Just this man's opinion.

My wrangler experiences, however, lead me to heartily recommend them to family and friends and have resulted in glorious range days with my daughter, my nephew, my niece, and co workers. I would advise to chase the issue until resolution...and then to buy some wood grips and a slim Jim holster. It's just good clean fun..

 

[WestKentucky]

@Tenncvol I'm sorry to hear about your problems; I have a Wrangler that my son shoots and it seems to be accurate and reliable; haven't had any issues with at all.

I commented on another forum about a Charter Arms quality issue; it just seems to me that nobody really cares anymore about building a quality product. I thought the firearms industry would be a bastion of pride and sound worksmanship but it appears that is no longer the case. Maybe I'm wrong (and correct me if I am) but I don't remember firearms of years past having the issues that they seem to have today. You would think it would be the opposite with all of the precision machining and metallurgical technology we have today.

Industry has shifted, and that’s all segments of industry, with nothing left as a bastion of hope. The shift isn’t actually so much in quality as it is in production volume and manufacturing technology to achieve the volume. That’s why I got out of industry. It’s always been about volume but before it was about volume with a second thought of quality and customer service. Now it’s about volume with a second thought of where to find workers and how to run with fewer workers. QC is not value-added labor so it was deemed non essential and was first to go. Machinists weren’t far behind as CNC machinery took over and now once you get it right and save the program you get Jim Bob T. Doofus to just hit the run button for 8 weeks until it breaks. Make it fast is important. Make it cheap is important. Run efficiently with fewer employees is golden. New technology to make all that easier isn’t cheap but it pays for itself over time. Quality techs just don’t fit the modern production plan. People called quality techs do, but they serve only the role of checking boxes to keep manufacturing certifications and whatnot, and cater to major customers complaints. There’s no time to fire all 6 cylinders of a revolver to make sure the gun is in time. There’s no time for destructive testing of complex products where they would find things like poorly threaded barrels or frames, loose parts that should be tight, tight parts that should move freely, etc. the saddest part is that many countries REQUIRE proof testing either prior to importing arms or proof testing within the country, but if it weren’t for that then the guns would never be fired prior to shipment, and likely would never actually be inspected or touched by human hand much at all. It seems as though all of the companies (firearm related or not) are moving the same direction and as bad as it seems to be if we put it into perspective it’s not that bad. Sure, a wrangler may not shoot like a single six, but I think we will see a lot longer service life out of a wrangler than we did a FIE from years back. Zamak is still zamak but the coatings have gotten better and more durable. You won’t see a 72 Chevy go 200,000 miles but a 2002 Chevy probably already has and likely has a few more left in it. The plastic parts of the Jennings J9 I had crumbled and that gun was not all that old, but we can pretty well rely on the gen 1 glocks and even those are 30 years old now. It stinks to get a lemon, but as a whole it seems as if things have moved further in the right direction. More service life, relatively unchanged or cheaper when adjusted for inflation.

I do get it though and I like the old stuff that seems to be made better. Quality does seem to stink, but perhaps our expectations are off. We are used to perfection with our 3.99 tea pitchers and whatnot so we expect perfection with everything, but not everything launches projectiles at a thousand feet per second, and most don’t hold a few thousand pounds of pressure without blowing apart either.

 

[ECVMatt]

I have one that I keep at my desert house for the ATV, new shooters, and just fun. I bought it right when they came out and it has been a great gun. It works fine for what it is. Mine is more than accurate, 100% reliable, and so far robust.

I am sorry you got a couple of lemons!

I think Ruger should make less guns of higher quality.

Not to knock the Rough Rider, but I was shooting with a buddy who loved his RR until....the gun made a strange pop and the off flew the barrel. It looks like they are pressed into the frame with friction grooves and a glue of some sort. He paid about 150 bucks for it and they fixed it so I guess he is happy.

For what I paid, the Ruger works well, but for a more refined experience I will switch to the K22, GP100 .22, or my Single Six.

 

[Biblethumpncop]

I have shot my Wrangler a handful of times. No issues. I did notice a couple rounds of Winchester M-22 key holing, but Super X, Aguila, Federal and CCI didn't. Might be your gun doesn't like some ammo?

 

[ID-shooting]

Bought my 75 year old mom mom one a few years back when they first came out. She keeps it in AZ where she snow birds in the winter. She shoots the crap out of it regularly. The old folks like to binge up on old westerns, Bonanza and Gun Smoke episodes off ME TV, then put on thier straw hats, drop their "six shooters" into "cowboy holsters" and blast empty cans off the fence railing. LOL. Quite a site to witness. As she says, "we shoot all the time, the crooks know it and non of us care about a life prison sentence any more". Probably the safest retirement trailer community out there. hahaha. So long as I keep supplying her with bulk .22 lr ammo for it, she is happy as a clam.

 

[Bennj]

Got my Wrangler at the end of 2019 and have put a few hundred rounds through it without a problem. At first, the loading gate was pretty stiff but has loosened some. So far, no issues with accuracy or keyholing out to 15 yds. mostly using Aguila and Federal brands. I guess I got lucky but not bad for a $200 SA revolver.

 

[doubleh]

I bought mine based on shooting my oldest grandson's. No keyholing with it and the accuracy was decent. Mine is nowhere close to his in the accuracy department and I did have keyholing.

Fine piece of shooting iron? No, it is a cheap piece of shooting iron made to compete with the Heritage and it doesn't even do that very well. The only good thing about mine is that it doesn't have the very stiff loading gate that people complain about.

I bought this for kids to shoot mostly but kids like to be able to hit what they are shooting at and I am not going to foist this little thing off on them. It would just discourage them.

 

[Riomouse911]

I bought a standard Wrangler a couple of years ago. I added a set of Altamont grips that I got on Black Friday, as the factory grips are wafer thin.

My only issue involved the cylinder locking up a gew months ago, it went back and was fixed by Ruger.

This guns trigger is OK, and it shoots a variety of ammo well. (Rested 15 yd groups, bottom two are standing two-handed.) I can’t complain about how it operates or shoots, and since these were shot I have added lighter Wolff springs and smoothed the trigger pull out a bit more.



I bought a Birdshead this summer. The trigger on this gun was much stiffer than the other Wrangler and the light-colored sights are much tougher to see clearly when shooting indoors. These things, plus the shorter sight radius, are reflected on the groups shot in the same manner as the other Wrangler. (Somehow it shot better offhand than rested. Go figure?)



Like the other one, I replaced springs and also blackened the sights. Now this gun feels a lot better and shoots better, too.

No signs of keyhole impacts or other signs of a bad bore. Maybe I got lucky with these two?

Stay safe.

 

[SwampWolf]

Suffice to say, I would keep sending it back until they get it right. This goes for any manufacturer.

This sounds like a good strategy-so long as the company keeps footing the bill when it comes to the cost of shipping a handgun to them again and again.

 

[JohnB-40]

My Wrangler is what it is....A cheap .22LR SAA. I brought it on a whim to pair with my 9422,like my 357 Vacquero and 357 '73 Miruko. It is accurate enough with CCI SV,always goes bang and with nicer grips looks OK. I'm satisfied with it.

 

[Mr. Mosin]

I have one of the first.... I've put it through literal hell on earth, as it is my only handgun currently. Trap-line, plinking, tucked in my waistband, on my nightstand, I've lost count of the rounds I've put through it... and guess what ? It's plenty accurate for a fixed sight .22 SAA copy, in the hands of this half-blind redneck. Reliable, and safe. Only complaint is that the finish has wore poorly.... it looks like a beat-to-pieces 75 year old gun, instead of a well-used 3 year old gun

 

[Shooterbob]

I traded into a wrangler recently and it shoots very low . Like 6 inches low at 12 yards. Only had it to the range once. Shot several different kinds of ammo and I think the standard velocity cci was the best. But not terrible groups but not as good groups as a few rough riders I have shot.The gun is new not used.