When did Rugers get so dang expensive?

I think that the supply/demand equation is the major factor in price increases in all products not just guns. We all recall in the recent past that American were buying guns in record numbers. Gun stores had scant inventories and deliveries of new guns were slow to near none. Used guns sold out in record numbers. The demand for guns was unlike anytime in the past.

It took gun manufacturers over a 18 months to replenish store inventories because Covid cut the size of the pool of skilled workers. However, the demand for guns did not decrease as the production capability decreased. Demand soared. High demand and low supply means prices go up. C

Once prices go up they rarely go back down. Those low supply/high demand prices become the base price for future increases in price. Now that supply has mostly caught up with demand we have higher priced guns, and added to that is the fact that the extremely unemployment rate makes labor more costly. Material supplies do that too. The end result is guns cost more, and popular guns cost get price increases at a greater percentage than those lesser desired. It just is not a buyers’ market.
 
buck460XVR said:
For many years, Rugers have sold for substantially less than their MSRP. This was where one thought they were getting such a good deal. Lately, not so much......so not so much a good deal. But you are correct, their MSRP. has jumped too.
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This might be the case because I have always considered Ruger a bit on the expensive side. Not so expensive that I avoid looking at them, but no great deals. I have always questioned the claims that they were an inexpensive alternate brand.
 
TTv2 said:
Problem is that as Ruger price goes up the quality seems to also go down. Ruger's today aren't better made than they were 5 or 10 years ago, but they cost a lot more than the rate of inflation.
Click to expand...

And you can state this because of numerous experiences
with many, repeat many, recently produced Ruger revolvers?

Of course, one could also make the argument that Smiths have
gone down in price to reflect the lowering of their quality.

My experience is that Smith and Ruger are equal in their
quality and no reason exists to really rag on one more
than the other.
 
Everyone in this thread should read

Post #26 by DWEIS

It's the most sensible post and best thought out of posts.

And truest of posts.
 
9AD13872-EE77-4836-AFD8-661D275CD242.jpeg All I know is there are good local deals out there right now! GB is not the place to shop. I research a model number online of i want new, scour the Internet and you might find a place with good price that’s out of stock. I hit the “email me to be notified”. That’s how I got my blued 5 inch half lug at a VERY low price even in a hot market. We have an online market in my state that’s FTF and folks will deal! I paid under 700 for a 20 round count Match champion and my buddy got a like new 629-4 three inch Lew horton for 750! Deals are out there. Your just not likely to walk into a shop or pawnbroker and find anything decent like old days
 
shoebox1.1 said:
View attachment 1145061 All I know is there are good local deals out there right now! GB is not the place to shop. I research a model number online of i want new, scour the Internet and you might find a place with good price that’s out of stock. I hit the “email me to be notified”. That’s how I got my blued 5 inch half lug at a VERY low price even in a hot market. We have an online market in my state that’s FTF and folks will deal! I paid under 700 for a 20 round count Match champion and my buddy got a like new 629-4 three inch Lew horton for 750! Deals are out there. Your just not likely to walk into a shop or pawnbroker and find anything decent like old days
Click to expand...

I love that gun:D. Even though I am a S&W D/A fanboy.
 
The only handguns I see languishing on the shelf at my LGS (small on) are revolvers. He has a new Smith that has been there for months and a BlackHawk that I posted here about thinking they were extinct and it is still there. The only ones that move and very slowly at that are the SA Army clones, Heritage RR, some wranglers, and a few lower priced brands like RIA in centerfire. At the farm & ranch store it's RR an wrangler with centerfire anything seldom seen.

It is not just revolvers that have become expensive. Ever go grocery shopping? The majority of inflation can be laid right at the feet of our president and congress and the government is lying about the rate, just more so now than in the past.
 
357 Terms said:
This is an SP101 with a 640 pro, a J frame.
They fit snuggly in the same holster and are only an ounce or two apart.
View attachment 1145067
Click to expand...


Sir, I stand corrected. Mea culpa.

I have an SP101, one of the French Railroad Police models.
It just doesn't seem as small as my 640-1.

I should put them side by side, instead of popping off as if I know something.
 
Hasaf said:
This might be the case because I have always considered Ruger a bit on the expensive side. Not so expensive that I avoid looking at them, but no great deals. I have always questioned the claims that they were an inexpensive alternate brand.
Click to expand...

In fact Rugers have never been across the board inexpensive firearms when it comes to MSRP, yet it does offer some less expensive pistols in the security 9 and 380, which happen to be excellent guns out of the box. They have no frill, exotic coatings, etc, but when it comes to the reliability they are excellent buys.

When you buy a Ruger you are buying more than the gun. That “more” has real value that is easy to forget. Ruger has no warrantee on its firearms, but they have an age old policy that they fix any broken Ruger for free if it has not been abused it tampered with. That applies to used and new firearms. I have sent one new and one pro-owned pistol to Ruger in the past 15 years. Both fixed and rehabbed to be like-new. That was at no charge. So when I buy a Ruger I look at like I am buying more than the gun. I am paying for unmatched customer service. That’s worth a lot to me.
 
TTv2 said:
Problem is that as Ruger price goes up the quality seems to also go down. Ruger's today aren't better made than they were 5 or 10 years ago, but they cost a lot more than the rate of inflation.
Click to expand...

Labor costs go up and unfortunately labor quality does not reflect the higher costs.
Not that there aren't skilled people to employ, but there are less of them and more of the ones that think they are doing the company a favor in just being there. Those are the ones that don't care about the product that they produce. Or are the ones that got paid to stay home during Covid and didn't really want to come back to work.

I think Ruger quality control has been lacking for years, but they do still stand behind their product and make things right.
It's still a PITA to have to send anything back to the mother ship.
 
Hooda Thunkit said:
Sir, I stand corrected. Mea culpa.

I have an SP101, one of the French Railroad Police models.
It just doesn't seem as small as my 640-1.

I should put them side by side, instead of popping off as if I know something.
Click to expand...
I believe my SP101 2.25" weighs 25-26 ounces vs 22.4 ounce 640 Pro. I wouldn't like to shoot 357 in anything smaller than my SP due to RA in hands.
 
jmohme said:
Labor costs go up and unfortunately labor quality does not reflect the higher costs.
Not that there aren't skilled people to employ, but there are less of them and more of the ones that think they are doing the company a favor in just being there. Those are the ones that don't care about the product that they produce. Or are the ones that got paid to stay home during Covid and didn't really want to come back to work.

I think Ruger quality control has been lacking for years, but they do still stand behind their product and make things right.
It's still a PITA to have to send anything back to the mother ship.
Click to expand...
The issue there is that NIB Ruger's made the past few years have a much higher chance of requiring a return to Ruger for servicing and when the price for a non-Wrangler is $700, $800, $900 and up you're paying big bucks to have problems to deal with. If that happens on a $400 revolver I can let is slide because the cost is lower.

The general quality of modern revolvers is just not as good as it was decades ago and that's not just Ruger, that's everyone. I don't think any of my revolvers have a cylinder gap less than .01" and that's never going to be changed or fixed because it seems the gaps can be the size of the Grand Canyon and the makers all consider them to be "within factory specifications." Heavy triggers are common, burrs inside the cylinder window and crane housing, sharp hammer corners, rough polish jobs, crooked barrels... yet I'm being told the value is almost a grand for such revolvers.

The bottom line is whatever the factors are with Ruger's business and abilities to produce revolvers in sufficient quantities and quality isn't my concern. I look at the price and I ask myself, "Is it a revolver worth buying knowing what I know about current Rugers?" Other than the LCRx .22 I'm planning on buying in a few months because no other DA .22 revolver is available at under $500 that is close in quality or even available, the answer is no. If I want to buy revolvers that are in the condition I described, basically half assed and half finished, then I'll find whatever is half the price. Taurus is the only one that comes close to the price, yet the quality is very good.
 
Some very strong naysayers in this thread who
find little good to be said about current U.S.
revolver selection.

Yet in many other threads in this forum, buyers have
praise for the revolvers they are buying.

One internet site is dedicated to revolvers and their
users and the guns are tested thoroughly. No such
negativism exists there nor in other individual sites
within forums dedicated to buyers of one brand or
another.

Oh well, one thing seems to be true, the interests
in revolvers is on the rise.
 
All companies have ups and downs in quality. Probably none worse than S&W during theBangor Punta years. 30-50% of all we got in went back for repair/replacement.
My Ruger collection, all hand picked and my Smiths, same criteria, are all fine and worth what I paid. I usually buy used but am capable of being selective.
 
-some people don't want to tell others they bought a lemon.
-"fanboys" will religiously ignore reality and keep telling everyone something is the best in the world.
-product testers are notorious for not being honest, out of fear they wont be chosen to test stuff after being negative and that means losing money.

the fact no such negativism exists in some places should ring the alarmbells as nothing is 100% perfect.
 
generic sportsshooter said:
the fact no such negativism exists in some places should ring the alarmbells as nothing is 100% perfect.
Click to expand...

Faults are found in the site I was referring to but the
comments do not condemn out of hand the product.
And many times the faults are minor.

I keep seeing some referring to the good old days of
revolver production.

But the steels back then were softer and less durable than
today. And easier to work on. S&W in the 1950s went
from machined triggers and hammer to stamped triggers
and hammers with then some hand finishing applied.

The problem with hankering back to the old days was
then the skilled labor was cheap, based originally on
Depression Era wages.

And then along came Bangor Punta for Smith as one poster
just mentioned. What a fiasco.

I suspect some of the problems faced by gunmakers today are
a bit of their own making; they are using better and stronger
steels and that means a more difficult job in finishing a product.
And they are producing a wider array of revolver products than
ever before.

Bottom line, it gets tiresome to see some posts that the sky is
falling, the sky is falling, the sky is falling and the world of
revolvers is a dark, dark place.

Is the world really going to be just plastics?
 
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