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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   13432 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 2026

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Ruger to Discontinue Several Major Models. Part of their Ruger 2030 project to re-haul the company and make more money lose 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.

Ruger is a weird company. They make top-tier rimfires, second tier revolvers and bolt guns, and Kel-Tec-tier centerfire semi-autos. Much of what they're discontinuing is "pistol" registered short-barreled versions, possibly having to do with the ATF rule changes. The revolvers are just not profitable and haven't been for a long time. The heyday of big-bore revolvers was forty years ago, and Rugers aren't as popular or well supported as Smiths.

A lot of these old legacy gun companies are struggling, while new ones like PSA, Bergara and CZ eat their lunch. Ruger is in trouble, and I'd guess Smith isn't doing too great either. Remington, Colt, Winchester etc. are all dead and buried. Name brands for the banks to fight over.

Hey, I like magnum revolvers. Great safe queens and I can very occasionally convince my wife to shoot one.

All legit, but that sort of thing isn't nearly as big a part of the gun community as it was forty years back. Back then it was all handloading varmint rounds, fire lapping barrels and big bore six guns. Nobody had ARs!

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