Wow. Please, I'm not trying to derail the thread, but you Ruger guys seem to be quick on the draw when it comes to forgiving such egregiously poor craftsmanship. I have never bought a new gun with such serious issues, and if my first exposure to a brand was your experience, I would never buy another. I have never experienced this.....I have never bought a Ruger.
Now I'm not sure what to do. Ruger is for all practical purposes the only game in town with respect to .327 Federal, and I really wanted one. "Making it good", standing by the warranty, customer service.... I'm sorry..... I have bought too many guns that were flawless out of the box to accept that now after 30+ years of gun collecting.
Sorry..... not trying to hurt anybody's feelings.....just trying to grapple with my own.
Don't get your panties in a wad.
Not every firearm can be perfect.
Today, especially, we live in a world where most firearms are "consumer goods" rather than 'durable goods'.
If you want perfection, you'll need to travel back in time to what you view as your heydays. The world has changed.
You can be angry with it. You can regret it. You can do whatever you want. It doesn't matter, because this is the world that we live in.
As for my side of the equation...
I have a few things to mention:
The sarcastic comment about the Blackhawk 'holding down the Ruger shelf' wasn't a joke. That shelf stores Ruger revolvers. (And there are many other Rugers that can be found elsewhere - such as the .327 LCR that rarely makes it to the safe, since it's my primary carry piece.)
One of those revolvers on the 'Ruger shelf' is a 20+ year-old .44 Mag Super Blackhawk that was well-worn when I bought it used. After I
wore it out and sent it back to Ruger for a quote on some repairs, they shipped it to me as a completely rebuilt [brand new] and refinished revolver, built on my frames. They even took the time to accuracy test it and sight it in before returning it.
I got a brand new revolver for the cost of shipping ($12) and a piece of paper ($0.15?) listing the repairs I wanted price quotes on.
As far as I'm concerned, I owe Ruger one 'pass' for the ridiculously good way in which they treated me on that Super Blackhawk. They had ZERO obligation to treat me so well, and no other revolver company that I am aware of would do the same. (Springfield Armory sometimes treats their customers the same, but they don't make revolvers...)
None of my other Rugers (rifle, pistol, or revolver) have ever needed to go back for repair. They may not be as refined as some other brands, but they always get the job done and don't give me finicky little issues like some "higher end" brands. (Like my S&W 642 that lost timing on 2 chambers after 47 rounds.
)
Plus... Ruger's repair center isn't just a "slap new parts in and ship it out the door" operation, like some others. In my experience (including friends, family, etc.), any firearm that goes through the repair center is going to come back as a better specimen that anything that ever came straight off the production line. It's almost like shipping something to the 'custom shop' (if Ruger had such a thing).
Essentially, I'm counting on Ruger to not just fix the issues, but to actually improve the revolver beyond standard production tolerances. I have no doubt that they will do such.
They do 'off the books' trigger jobs. They fine-tune timing. They get the best possible cylinder fitment that they can. They hand-fit barrels (good luck getting that elsewhere). And more...
If you can point me towards another manufacturer that offers a 4.2" barreled .327 Federal revolver with approximately the same frame size as the SP101, at the same price point, I will consider trading. But, until then, I'll wait on my "custom" SP101 to come back from Ruger.
Honestly, I'm almost
happy that it's going back, simply because I know it will return to me as one of the best 4.2" .327 Federal SP101s in existence.
For the record, I'm not paying for shipping, either. Everything is on Ruger's dime.