A week or so ago, a news article came across my news feed regarding some of the shareholders for Sturm-Ruger playing silly buggers.
So, when I hit the convention floor, I headed for the Sturm-Ruger booth to ask media-type questions.
Nobody at Ruger would go on record, but I got one of these little jewels:
With the suggestion that I look at the letter at the URL at the bottom of the card.
Didn’t really answer my question, though.
When I gently pressed, the Ruger rep assured me that the shareholder kerfuffle was a paper tiger, and nobody was worried about it.
I’m going to take them at their word, but I have to admit that I’m a little concerned by the new tacks the anti-gun folks are taking.
Here’s hoping.
LawDog
Edit: Bugger! I forgot to coon-finger the 10mm GP100! Dammit.
LawDog
Thank for the update. Sounds like SR is actually not going to knuckle under, yet.
There's always tomorrow, Dawg…
Per your first link there are around 3 million shares explicitly on board with this movement. Out of 17.5 million. If 18% is enough to fundamentally change the course of a company, that company really needs to overhaul its bylaws.
What I think this is really about is Amalgamated Bank and Blackrock attracting the kind of idiot who thinks that Davey Hogg is worth listening to.
Thank you- loved the mental image of "coon fingering" something. ; )
I've been a fan of Rugers since the seventies, having purchased more than a dozen, and still owning most of those.
BUT – about six weeks ago, I contacted Ruger's "Customer Service" (a definite misnomer) to see about getting my early production Redhawk (7.5 inch barrel) re-barreled with a 4.2 or 5.5 barrel (the sizes of barrels available on the new Redhawks). When I finally got a reply (several weeks after contacting them), I was told that the new Ruger barrels are all sleeved barrels, and would not work on my old model Redhawk.
The woman told me that even if they still had the original style barrels, they couldn't re-barrel my gun unless I first got approval from their legal department, but that even then it wouldn't matter because the don't re-barrel any of their guns (in spite of the listing on their web site that gives prices for re-barreling revolvers and rifles).
Then I asked if I could get the barrel on my Redhawk cut, crowned and with a new front sight installed in their Custom Shop. This same woman told me that Ruger does not have a Custom Shop (I had the Custom Shop page up on my laptop as she was telling me this).
I contacted the "Ask the CEO" email address, and wrote about this to the CEO. He evidently touched base with the "customer service" lady who told me the only thing they could do for me was to sell me a new Redhawk for $720 (supposedly the distributor price), BUT – I would have to send them _my_ Redhawk in exchange – along with the $720.
I thanked her politely, but declined.
Why do I think someone at Ruger decided it would be a really cheap way of getting an original Redhawk for free from a sucker who likes Rugers? I like the Ruger firearms I own and have owned, but this does not incline me toward doing business with them anymore. If I want another Ruger, I'll buy a used one from an individual. I won't give Ruger any more of my money after this.