Even though Bill Ruger said he would never stop making them, after he died the decision was made.
They had been produced for such a long time that the world wide market may have become saturated enough to have reduced demand significantly. Especially due to their higher price verses the Italian guns.
And the cowboy shooters use the reproductions and not models with adjustable sights.
In the end, it was probably a business decision based on the fact that Ruger could make much more profit manufacturing newer models having the potential for rapid sales growth, and not a model like the Old Army that so many people already had sitting in their closet and which could be released for sale on the used gun market.
At the time of the decision, used ROA's probably only cost about 50% - 60% of the price of a new one. Whereas now many of the used ROA's cost nearly as much as a brand new one use to.
