Latest Posts

Random Thought

Drive Time, Technology

I know, I know… everyone’s going crazy about Elon’s Flyeeen Car and how cool it is, and people are already lining up to buy second-floor parking spaces in downtown Manhattan etc. etc. etc.

And let’s be honest, this is pretty cool:

I do, however, have one thought that nobody seems to have addressed yet.  And that is:

Let’s assume that before the Flying Tesla took off on its groundbreaking run, before it got to 60mph in under a second — before all that, its little Duracell battery was at 100% charge.

Now after zooming up that ramp, performing a slow roll and slowly descending back to Earth, landing back on its wheels…

…how much charge was left in its battery?

I think we should be told.

Birthday Greetings

Music

…from yesterday to Cliff Richard (86), who had at least one #1 hit record in each decade since… seems like forever.  Some my personal favorites:

Throw Down A Line

Devil Woman

Miss You Nights

We Don’t Talk Anymore

When The Girl In Your Arms (from his regrettable “Elvis” period)

Dreamin’

Wired For Sound

The Young Ones

Summer Holiday

…and one hat tip to his backing band The Shadows, with peerless lead guitarist Hank Marvin:

Apache

Doesn’t sound like much today, but to the early-1960’s listening public it was heavy metal.

Product Consolidation

Corporate Fuckery, Finance, The Gun Thing

…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: 

    • 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:

    • 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.