…as Ruger might call it, or as others (like myself) might call it: “heritage destruction”.
Ruger officials confirmed industry chatter this week that it would immediately stop producing four models, while it will halt production of several others at the end of the year.
Production of four revolver lines – some going back to 1958 – would be suspended, effective immediately:
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- LCR
- SP101
- GP100
- Bearcat
On Tuesday, the company announced changes to several current-generation product families as part of its ongoing Ruger 2030 strategy.
“These decisions reflect our review of consumer demand, evolving market preferences, manufacturing complexity and the long-term profitability of each product family,” Abbey Clary, Ruger’s director of media, advertising and public relations, told Guns.com in an email. “The goal is to focus our resources on the products consumers want most today while creating capacity for future product development and manufacturing modernization.”
I leave it to y’all to decide what Clary really means with the above corporate wafflespeak, but a decent summary might be: “If you ain’t gonna buy ’em, we ain’t gonna make ’em”.
Fair enough. Revolvers, and the people who love shooting them, are clearly a dying market (literally, in the latter case).
But the good news doesn’t end there, oh no.
A larger group of products are nearing suspension, with their final planned production runs through the remainder of 2026. They include:
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- SR1911
- LC Carbine
- PC Charger
- PC Carbine
- LC Charger
- Redhawk
- Super Redhawk
- Blackhawk
- Super Blackhawk
- Single-Series (Six- and Nine) revolvers
- Vaquero
- Ruger No. 1
- 77-Series rifles
- Hawkeye
- Ruger Precision Rifle
…leaving one to ask, as the article does, well what the fuck is left?
Rifles:
- Mini-14 rifle
- Ruger 10/22
- Ruger American Rifle
- Harrier series AR-15s
Pistols:
- LCP Security 380 and Security 9
- RXM
- MAX-9
- Ruger 57
- 22 Charger
- Mark IV
How nice of them to leave us with at least the 10/22 and Mark IV.
Ruger are quitting the 1911 market (probably because their offerings sucked green donkey dicks, so no great loss there), and ditto the “precision” rifle market (because people who do precision rifle shooting generally go for higher-quality platforms like Bergara, Howa and Sako, while for the budget-conscious, there’s always Savage).
Oh, and the relaunch of the excellent Red Label shotguns is irrelevant, because Ruger’s outsourcing the production thereof to Connecticut Shotgun Manufacturing (CSMC) so it’s just a label on someone else’s gun. I suppose we should be glad that they’re using an American gunmaker instead of some backyard Turkish suppliers.
As a one-time corporate marketing puke myself, I can understand why Ruger is doing this.
As a lifelong gun enthusiast — and a lifelong Ruger buyer — I’m feeling nothing but gloom and despair.
It makes all sorts of sense, financially speaking; but the joy of shooting Ruger’s incomparable revolvers has just left the building, after kicking people like me in the mouth.
I’m not sure I’ll ever buy a Ruger product again.