I have owned several Rugers, both revolvers and semi autos and I dont see why a lot of guys just seem to hate the word “Ruger” Then you get others that look at you like youre some kind of fool for owning it. If you know please fill me in. Thanks das
i personally dont hate em. as a matter of fact i own several myself. imo its just that some of their models are better than others. example: ive never shot a M77 that didnt need some trigger work right out of the box. their revolvers are flat out tanks and i love them for hunting, and im not the only one. as for their semi auto pistols, there are simply guns out there that are a far better choice for slightly more money. the Mini 14s have gotten so high priced id sooner buy an entry level AR, but i will say this, they are getting creative and have came out with a couple new models (LCP, LCR) that i have considered, so they seem to be moving the right direction.
I haven’t kept up with their latest offerings.
I don’t “hate” them, but my last experience with them was that all of their guns were bigger, bulkier, and crunchier than the competition, and for a CCW none of those were desirable traits for me.
Some also blame Bill Ruger for the magazine capacity limit portion of the assault weapons ban. Whether right or wrong, some are never going to get over that.
Yeah, lots of Bill Ruger hate. Sins of the father sort of thing.
They make great revolvers, .22’s, and hunting rifles.
Old man Ruger shot himself in the foot by supporting the GCA of 1968 and the AWB of 1994. He publicly stated that “no honest man needs more than 10 shots”.
Now, he’s gone, and the company has definitely taken a new path, which is a good thing, but their “tactical” rifles and pistols still aren’t up to the level of other companies’.
They excel in their sporting gun offerings, just not their LE or tactical arms.
Ruger produces commercial/sporting grade firearms which serve pretty well in that use. Some are bright spots in the line, and do better than others. There are several offerings I do like. Credit and criticism will be given where it is due.
Some do indeed latch onto Bill’s politics, but there’s ample enough reason to avoid Ruger for serious purposes otherwise.
I have not seen a lot of hate for the product per say, just folks that don’t find them to be the best fit for their needs. I have a Vaquero and multiple 10/22’s which have all been good guns but their pistols just don’t appeal that much to me.
Like Rob said, they tend to be on the larger side due to the investment casting process that they use. The SR9 and 9c product is one that I would be interested in seeing how it holds up under long term use. The price point is attractive for those that would like something a little more affordable.
Hate is overstating it. I’m not a revolver guy but plenty of people seem to like their revolvers. Their semi-autos just don’t interest me. They either seem cheap, like the SR9, or clunky like the P whatever it is series. i just do’t see any reason to own them I mean why would you buy an SR9 over a Glock or M&P?
Templar has nailed it: these are all the concerns/objections/whatever that I have “against” Ruger, though I do not “hate” them.
I own multiple 10/22’s configured in different ways–currently own 3 of them–and currently own a 22/45 Mk III .22 pistol. They are all great. A few years back I tried a Ruger Mini-14, and then I threw good money in after bad, and tried to customize it. What a waste of money! At the time I moderated a forum of Mini-14 owners, and saw this same story repeated countless times, although in fairness, there were far more Mini-14 owners who said they were very satisfied with their rifles than there were folks like me who ended up disliking them.
Bottom line: Ruger is a great American-owned and American-run firearms company that makes some great products, and some mediocre products. They have done some good things, and they have done some things I strongly disagree with. Overall, I’m glad they are there and I will keep buying stuff on their 10/22 and Mark III platforms, plus I will seriously consider their revolvers if I ever get into revolvers. For now, I would not seriously consider any of their “tactical” offerings, though I will try to keep an open mind.
The Ruger hatred is completely uncalled for since Bill Ruger is dead & the Ruger family has nothing to do with the business anymore.
I personally refused to buy anything from them until they started offering 20 round Mini magazines, and offering tacticool stuff which they have.
I’m not too interested in their centerfire lines, but you can’t beat their .22LR line ups.
Substitute the word “hate” with “indifferent”. In addition to some of the reasons given above, I don’t want to join the “Recall of the Month Club”.
Their 10/22 and revolvers are great, imho.
Also, I owned a Ruger MK77VT in .223 and at 415y using Q3131, I could get 1/2 MOA groups after I threw out the fliers. (usually 3 out of 10 or so were fliers, as in, completely off the target). That is one of, if not the most accurate rifles I ever shot.
The mini-14, well…it just sucked for me.
I’ve shot the SR9c. Not sure it would hold up to a year with Todd G, but it’s not a bad gun. Trigger is firm but not overly heavy, with a strong reset. Better fit in the hand than Glocks (even with large hands) for me.
I will echo what other people have said. Ruger Autos tend to be clunky with heavy DA triggers.
In all of the carbine and handgun classes that I have taken in the last 4 years (gotta be more than 10) I cannot remember a single person carrying a Ruger.
On another note the Ruger Security Six and Speed Six were great revolvers. But they replaced it with the GP-100, which while sturdy as hell, sucks in terms of bulk and trigger pull.
I was in a handgun class last year and one of the guys had a Ruger P90. As far as I could tell the gun ran great and the shooter was one of the top in the class. 
We have an older gentleman that runs a P95 at our informal classes and the gun runs good for him. He needs to work on a couple bad habits and I think his shooting will improve as well. 
There were 5000 KP95D’s issued to the Iraqi police. I wonder how those are holding up?
I actually carried a P85 as my PDW for awhile in the early 1990s (being a Group XO at the time probably had some bearing on my ability to do so…). It was totally reliable. I later sold it when I was going through law school.
Flash foward to 2007. Nostalgia hit, and I decided to get a P89 as sort of a usable commemorative of some good times with some good people and a good unit. My timing was fortuitous-all the stars were truly in alignment. Ruger had just gone through a company-wide product/production/materials improvement program, and I got mine benefitting from the product improvements (and, to be fair to Ruger, they’d quietly instuted multiple product improvements to the P85/P85MkII/P89 platform throughout its 20 year production cycle)-literally right before the P89 was discontinued (due to a combination of the introduction of the SR9 and the concurrent production of that and the P95 in the 9mm handgun niche).
Mine has turned out to be a relative tackdriver, with 1" to 1.5" groups being the norm to 25 yards. Both DA and SA triggerpulls are quite nice, and the gun has been totally reliable to date, even handling some very hard-primered Israeli military SMG ammunition. Performance has been flawless in some very adverse weather as well. The only physical changes that I’ve done was to replace the grips with a set of Craig Spegel-designed Uncle Mike’s rubber grips, and replaced the mainspring retention cap with an OEM lanyard loop cap. To date, it’s singlehandedly defused my “requirement” for a HK P30 (at least from a logical/need point of view). With the newer safety/decocker levers, the Ruger P-Series ergonomics actually aren’t really bad at all. Yes, their slides tend to be a bit heavier/bulkier than their competition’s, bur Ruger grossly overbuilt the P85/P89 for the DoD XM10 trials (it just missed competing in the XM9 trials). Mine carries nicely in a Blade-Tech IWB holster.
They’re certainly not the most svelte of duty 9mm handguns, but my P89’s a keeper. I think that they’re an often ignored and underrated handgun. The jury is still out on the later polymer frame P-Series guns, in my opinion.
And I also am very favorably impressed with my 1978-vintage Security Six, and my contemporary production GP100 revolvers.
Best, Jon
The gp100 and 'hawks are some of the best wheelies in the game. Their bolt guns are great, too. As for semiauto pistols, the p series are spotty at best. The sr9 has had pretty favorable reviews but not enough to make me buy one.
the first Pistol I owned was a Ruger security Six ,Great revolver But to big to conceal.I have had the 10/22 But sold it after the 94 crap.never like their semi auto Pistols to bulky .Never liked the Mini-14 either the sights where god awful to me .Now I don’t even look at Rugers .My 22lr now is a Glennfield Model 60 Made By Marlin .Never really Hated them though.
Ruger makes some kick ass products like th m77,10/22,mini 14/30, semi auto 22 pistols, sr556 and great revolvers; however, I would never buy a ruger semi auto pistol other than 22 cal to save my life. To me its like buying a HiPoint. jmo
the first Pistol I owned was a Ruger security Six ,Great revolver But to big to conceal
I carried a 4"bbl Security Six for a while (damned hard to find made to fit holsters for it…). Worked well for me.
It was also my first handgun, and really the first quality handgun in my family’s possession.