What happened to Ruger?

Nothing has happened to Ruger really.

When you factor in the selling prices of now vs then, and figure out what the percentage of income is needed to buy a new Ruger.....you'll find the prices in most cases have gone down, not up.

In 1976, I had to work 40 hours to buy a new Blackhawk.
In 2010, the last full year I worked before I retired, I only had to work 25 hours.
 
In 1976, I had to work 40 hours to buy a new Blackhawk.
In 2010, the last full year I worked before I retired, I only had to work 25 hours.
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Did you have kids at home, mortgage, car payment etc in the 70's? How about when you retired? These factor in how much you really get to take home.

Retirees typically have more disposable income than younger people with family's. Sure I could earn the needed amount in about 31 hours, but that does not mean that those funds are disposable! I work a seasonal job so most "extra" funds get dropped into saving to live on in the winter. Spending $500-$650 on a new Blackhawk (assuming I can even find it at that price) is a large chunk of money to me.

Maybe most of you can just throw money around on any gun you want and if you can, that's okay! Its America, you can spend you're money on whatever you want. Just don't assume everyone else can. I feel like I make decent money and live pretty well, but I take a $600 purchase seriously.

Unless its groceries, gotta eat and all...
 
Living in this world is more expensive that it used to be.

Labor is expensive.
Machine time is expensive.
Raw materials cost more, while scrap prices are waaAAYYY down.


I see the price increase of Ruger products to be roughly in line with beef, fresh produce, clothing, and personal hygiene products.
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This is exactly it. Everything has gone way up over the last four to five years. Not only has prices gone up, but manufacturers have given us less quantity of product in smaller packaging. For instance with food products, my wife always shows me the differences in package quantity and size when she gets home from the grocery store. She'll compare it to a current package that we have in the pantry. The new packaging is always a couple of ounces less, and this is with a price increase as well. Its happening with more and more frequency.

I've noticed these price increases in other product categories as well. Ruger is just keeping up with everyone else as their manufacturing costs have increased. I have a small gun rack business, All my supplies have gone up considerably over the last five years compared to the previous five years, especially the commodities that I use such as lumber products and sheet goods.
 
When you factor in the selling prices of now vs then, and figure out what the percentage of income is needed to buy a new Ruger.....you'll find the prices in most cases have gone down, not up.
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You seemed to have missed the part where it was posted that comparable Ruger's used to be cheaper (by far) than the equivalent competition's guns. For instance Ruger M77's used to be about 200 dollars less than either Remington 700's or Winchester M70's. A cursory look at comparative prices today yielded: Remington M700 = $629 from Bass Pro whereas I found Ruger Hawkeye's to be 829.99. So that would indicate as the O.P. stated, Rugers are no longer the cheaper of the choices...no longer the guns for the poor working class and all the persistent arguments that everything is more expensive nowadays misses the point.
 
I had a niece that worked at a gun manufacturer that mostly make higher end pistols.

December 2014, the manufacturer had excess inventory that they wanted to clear out before year end, so they offered the employees their choice of any pistol in inventory at cost.

Turns out that she bought two of them for less than half the cost that a dealer would sell one of them for.

That means that between that manufacturer and the dealer there is a mark up of 6x the cost of making the gun.

When I bought my first Ruger SBH, it cost me 1 1/2 weeks salary. I saved up the money over several months so I could buy it. I had a family on top of it.

Bottom line is if you want it, you probably don't need it and it ain't the end of the world if you don't get it. Just remember that if you do scrounge up the funds to buy, what are you gonna feed it? Ammo costs a lot nowadays too.

I used to buy a brick of 22LR for $5. Now it is 10 times that much....or more.
 
You seemed to have missed the part where it was posted that comparable Ruger's used to be cheaper (by far) than the equivalent competition's guns.
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Nope - I saw that. I figured that a lot of the other people had a handle on that.
Ruger has a lot more overhead now than then & their cost of doing business has gone up.
Any mature company in our financial system faces that some day.
Ruger is listed on the exchange so their financial statements are public.

Feel free to visit Ruger.com and see how their liabilities have grown over the years as they've grown & matured. That all affects the price they have to get - not what they want to get, but, what they have to get to stay afloat.

Heck you could say the exact same thing about Amazon!

Did you have kids at home, mortgage, car payment etc in the 70's? How about when you retired? These factor in how much you really get to take home.
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Yes I did, but, it really doesn't matter. I should have mentioned though that my figures are based on gross income alone.

Seriously - to the OP - -just watch over the years as WalMart matures and they have to pick up the bill for people and places that no longer bring in revenue. People will wonder about their prices and why they went up like they did.
 
Well there's this too... Yesterday I called Ruger customer service inquiring about an important middling-cost part for my SR40c... wanting to know whether I needed to ship the gun in or if they could just send the part, etc. Firstly, a knowledgeable woman answered the call immediately... not one second of waiting on hold...

She quickly took my info, asked what was wrong with the part. As I was a little embarrassed about how it had gotten broken, I just responded "Well... It's messed up." She didn't pursue it any further and simply said they would ship out the part to me today. As I got out my credit card ready to read off numbers, she said, "Anything else?" I said "So there's no charge?". She said "No charge."

I was impressed and told her so. This kind of CS I like!
 
I don't think Ruger has changed as much as the rest of the world. The only way to judge prices is not by the price but by how long do you have to work to pay for it. I think if you base it on that, Ruger is probably cheaper than they have ever been.

The problem Ruger has it that the internet and other communications have alerted the buying public to other brands that have better prices. Living in the mountains, I had never heard of RIA and thought a 1911 would be either a Colt or Ruger. However, I ran across them on the internet and did some research. I ended up buying a RIA 1911 rather than a Colt or Ruger for half or less than their cost. I did have to order it through Gallery of Guns but it has been a good choice with good accuracy and reliability. It was the same thing when I bought my last 22 rifle. My ideal rifle was either a Ruger or a Marlin. Where I live, Mossberg was known for shotguns and I found out they made rifles. I chose a Mossberg 22 rifle for a much lower price and I have been happy with it.

Ruger lose those two sales only because modern communications made me aware of other choices. I did buy a Taurus TCP rather than a LCP because of the price and last shot hold open. I also bought a S&W AR15 over the Ruger because it was cheaper and had a better track record (and I didn't know enough about the hundreds of other brands).
 
I had a niece that worked at a gun manufacturer that mostly make higher end pistols.

December 2014, the manufacturer had excess inventory that they wanted to clear out before year end, so they offered the employees their choice of any pistol in inventory at cost.

Turns out that she bought two of them for less than half the cost that a dealer would sell one of them for.

That means that between that manufacturer and the dealer there is a mark up of 6x the cost of making the gun.
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That may be true of higher end items, and certain brands, but it isn't a hard-and-fast rule across the whole industry. Custom products, niche products, specialty products, and 'higher end' stuff usually has a bigger markup.
"Dealer price" is also highly variable, depending upon location, local/state regulation, and local market.

Also keep in mind that if the manufacturer is selling at cost, they're making zero profit. ...And people don't go into the business of anything without wanting to profit.

--

Several people in my family have gotten firearms "at cost" or at wholesale price, from various manufacturers - primarily Ruger. Although one specialty item cost about $350 with a $1,200 MSRP (ironically, the model was discontinued before the first examples ever shipped); the rest of them were roughly 50-70% of MSRP.
When you knock MSRP down to 'real world' retail prices for most of the U.S., it puts the cost/wholesale values at about 70-80% of retail.
 
Lets see.
Looking at a SOG mail advertiser I kept from when i had a FFL on 5/25/1990 my dealer prices were for example... Colt AR 15 $795. Beretta 92 $485. NAA 22lr $95. Desert Eagle 44 $709. Taurus 85 $144. S&W M-60 $250. M1-Garande $229. M-14 semi-$5898 M-1 carbine $139. SKS $69. German Lugars $299. Broomhandles select $189.
Hows them beans? :eek:

Gun Broker has Ruger P85's going for $400 and up...
 
Ruger bashing

I think Ruger's changed, and have stated same in print here before. The replies I get are all along the same lines as here in this thread. Intelligent reminders that our world has changed, and things are not as they were. It seems my tastes and interests remain the same, but the industry, Ruger as a good example, doesn't have to cater to that. I don't have to like that, but it is the way of things. Ruger still makes decent enough guns, just not enough that really appeal to me anymore........

I too likely have more Rugers in the safe than any other firearm. I didn't plan it that way, or am any sort of Ruger collector. All were bought because Ruger was the only maker producing THAT firearm, or that firearm at a DECENT price for the time. "Old Ruger" as I like to call them, made interesting guns, or guns that offered equal quality and looks, for a bit less than what the other big names asked for their version.

Nobody made an affordable SA revolver of good quality except Colt ($$$$) when the Single Six, Blackhawk and Bearcat hit the market. The Ruger .44 carbines (tube fed, mag fed semi's, and the lever, and the bolt rifles) were the only alternative to a Winlin carbine in their day too. The Ruger 77/22 was an adult bolt .22, when the other makers pretty much made kid .22's. Ruger also put their 77 rimfire series out in .22 Hornet....nobody else has chambered a domestic repeater in that caliber in ages. The Old Army?
Finest percussion revolver ever made. What about a heavy barrel varmint rifle in .220 Swift? Ruger did it. Mannlicher stocked versions of their M77 bolt rifle. A quality SINGLE SHOT in the #1, and for good measure, a carbine version too (No3)....in some interesting calibers.

I don't see that type of innovative, yet still traditional , thinking much from Ruger anymore. My take is that Old Ruger used to think...."What can we make that hunters/shooters will buy?" Nowadays it seems New Ruger seems to operate on the principal of , "What are people buying, so we can make it?"
 
Ruger also put their 77 rimfire series out in .22 Hornet....nobody else has chambered a domestic repeater in that caliber in ages.
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I have a left handed Browning Micro A-bolt chambered in 22 Hornet that is about 10 years old. A fine and accurate firearm. It is of the same quality as are the standard A-Bolt rifles.

I have never found a Ruger that piques my interest enough to buy it, other than several handguns. If I did not already have a 375 H&H, I would strongly consider a Ruger chambered in 375 Ruger. The Hawkeye African has 1:12 twist which I prefer in 375.
 
micro

Dufus,

I was not aware that Browning offered their Micro in the Hornet. Thanks for the enlightenment.

As an aside, but related, Ruger has discontined the 77/22 series in all calibers, last I heard.
 
I respectfully disagree with the OP.

It appears to me that Ruger has actually embraced the lower end of the market (Ruger American, LCP, etc) as it's target demographic and is neglecting some of their higher end guns (M77 for example).

To me, this is sad. But, companies have to do what they can to survive. There's a lot of people who want to spent <$500 on a gun... and the Rugers and Savages of the world are going to collect on it.
 
alaskabushman --

The price issue you are seeing because of location. I'm no expert on Alaska (never been there) but I can tell you that we have a daughter who has worked on a cruise ship plying the Alaska shoreline. It is sometimes cheaper to buy sundries here in the lower 48 and mail the items to Skagway, rather than buying them there.
 
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