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Ruger to Discontinue Several Major Models. Part of their Ruger 2030 project to re-haul the company and
make more moneylose less money. I think it's very likely that they bring many of these models back, but this is a big surprise to a lot of people, especially anyone who happened to like Ruger's vast revolver catalog.I really didn't expect Ruger needing to do anything like this, to be honest. It seems like people are spending more money on guns than ever, or at least that's what I was doing. The ATF stating they will no longer enforce the NFA when it comes to short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and suppressors in applicable states and the resulting swarm of stock and suppressor purchases seemed to be evidence to me of this. But one commenter points out that times are a bit tough for most gun manufacturers. Since we've got a Republican administration and (last I know of) Republican leaning Congress in both the House and the Senate, there aren't any bans on the table and people aren't panic buying Glocks and "modern sporting rifles".
I remember once reading an argument between a couple right-wing users here about whether they'd press a button that had a 75% chance of wiping out all of Blue Tribe and a 25% chance of wiping out all of Red Tribe. The user against pushing the button said that wiping out Blue Tribe would be a complete disaster for the entire country because of how many industries rely on them. Perhaps I'd give this as an example of how that can manifest. It's Red Tribe buying the guns with Red Tribe money, but it's Blue Tribe driving them to do it.
What's the attrition rate over time for consumer firearms? I would think it's pretty low on average. Leaving aside boating accidents, which don't take them out of circulation anyway. You're not going to see a lot of guns legitimately lost, like permanently lost such that the owner needs to buy a replacement. Some small fraction are stolen, but even those remain in circulation satisfying some kind of consumer demand. Are any significant portion of firearms damaged beyond repair each year? How many rounds do you have to put through a modern firearm before it wears out?
So if guns exist at some point to fulfill all existing demand, and they don't pass out of circulation, you're only selling guns if you're creating new gun owners or new demand. Tech advancements account for some new sales, but what new tech is going to come out of the industry at this point? When does that max itself out? Doesn't really matter if the owner dies, they are pretty much always inherited, or at least sold off.
The only thing producing fresh demand that I can think of are gun buybacks and murderers tossing a handgun into the Hudson. Unless some exogenous force is producing new gun buyers.
Yes the attrition rate is very low and that is a good point.
Generally over 10,000 rounds. None of my guns have anything even close to that number. High-volume competition shooters will chew through guns fast, but that's a very specific person.
Even lower-volume competition shooters can expect their guns to last a lifetime. 5000 rounds a year over 20 years is 100,000 rounds, and that’s not unrealistic for guns to be able to reach.
S&W revolver designs start breaking down closer to 50K rounds (they start going out of time), AKs crack at the trunnion after about 100K, ARs break uppers at the barrel threads if they even break at all, and most modern extruded aluminum rifles are likely capable of a million especially those with replaceable high-wear surfaces (the SIG MCX being a good example of that). The barrel will be shot out, and the bolt might break lugs, but that’s not usually a gun-ender so long as you can still buy the part.
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Which naturally leads to gun manufacturers focusing on the small range of models that actually wear out, rather than on the larger market. There's probably just no mass market for revolvers these days, sad to say as I'm one of the few holdouts who love them.
I still say the most fun target shooting is firing .38s through a .357 cowboy revolver. All the fun with less recoil and much cheaper ammo. The Blackhawks being discontinued is a shame, but it's not like I need any more of them.
I like the form factor, and I like the simplicity and reliability. I know that if I maintain my semiauto properly there's no reason it won't work when called on, but I like that the revolver more or less can't jam under pressure, even if it hasn't been used in a while. And while I have no fear of using a semi-auto, I like that the revolver has extremely visually clear loaded/unloaded states. Basically everyone I know who ever had an accidental shooting, the gun was "unloaded" at the time.
I think my revolver has jammed more times than my semi-autos at this point (and that’s something requiring disassembly to fix), but it’s also somehow ridiculously accurate despite having a 12-pound trigger (that is sometimes 20 if it’s in a bad mood).
You require no other hand strength to unload the gun, as soon as the cylinder leaves the gun it can’t fire even if the user pulls the trigger (for leverage, I guess), and you get a set trigger if you need one by pulling the hammer back.
It’s honestly a type of pistol that you could use offensively if you needed to (as in, not exactly 7 yards and in, especially in .357 where it’s not dropping 3” at 50 yards) if you put an optic on it, which is probably why the French adopted one.
I think the decline in metallic silhouette, or the fact it didn’t evolve as a shooting game, has a lot to do with why the casual for-recreation owner doesn’t seem to bother. Not like indoor ranges have the space for it anyway.
How?
By being off-brand Italian garbage that, while they are dimensionally compatible with gear (and some grips) meant for K-frame revolvers, is where the similarities end (so you're on your own for parts).
In my defense, it was 300USD, new in box, looked like a Python, and I bought it because I wanted a gun for every competition division (and... also to learn about revolvers; in this, the piece functioned as intended). A .357 would have been better if only for more reliable ejection; .38-only revolvers can sometimes fail to get the casings out and this one is no exception (I'm also not doing the '90s-cop/Ayoob thing where you let go of the grip and tilt the gun vertical to eject, so if I forget to sufficiently tilt the gun up before hitting the rod it'll remind me). I'd go to .38 Short Colt brass for speed, but doing that creates pressure in excess of what a .38 is supposed to take, so that's out too.
Anyway, this particular design uses a torsion spring to push the bolt into the locking recesses on the cylinder rather than the coil spring S&W designs use, and was having problems positively locking the cylinder, so it locked up in the first 50 rounds with a shaved jacket against the left side of the forcing cone (and would occasionally lead to a round where the primer would be hit so off-center that it wouldn't fire). Modifying that spring so that it engaged more forcefully against the frame solved the issue- the gun wasn't actually out of time, it just wouldn't honor the existing timing, if that makes any sense.
Then, one of the two pins engaging the hand with the other moving parts fell out somehow. For some stupid reason, the pins aren't actually part of that assembly, and said pin magically vanished out of the gun one session. The one I ground to fit seems to have held up better- at least that was a standard dimension, but I get the distinct impression that it's supposed to sit flush against the inside of the frame (there's no recess to hold it in the side plate) and I currently suspect some of the inconsistent trigger pulls the thing suffers from now are due to this pin shifting in some direction (perhaps due to recoil) and binding up. That could probably be solved by an improved shim to better capture the pin, melting some plastic on the 'loose' end to support it better, or soldering the pin to the hand, but I'm too lazy to take this thing apart because it's annoying to get the side plate back on so that's just a theory for now.
Oh yeah, and the screw holding the cylinder release backs off within 100 rounds of tightening it (unless you make it so tight it binds). Loctite would solve that if I was totally done playing with it, but a gun that was made before the widespread use of threadlocker shouldn't need threadlocker.
The extractor rod will sometimes bind due to failing to re-center on the stud that retains it and there's no chamfer so good luck loading anything other than round-nosed projectiles with any urgency whatsoever. Surface finish is nice enough but not so nice I wouldn't be that sad if I scratched it up somehow.
And yet, for all of those faults, I shoot it exceptionally well [in DA] with the factory grips (which are too fat to accommodate speedloaders, but one problem at a time) and have about 6000 rounds through the thing so far. It would be more, but the assholes at the place I bought the bullets from failed to send me the proper diameter, so that's kind of on hold for now.
Overall, I rate it 6 out of 6, would revolve again.
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