Sturm, Ruger

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Sturm, Ruger & Company NYSE: RGR is a Connecticut-based manufacturing company composed of three divisions: Ruger Firearms, Ruger Investment Castings, and Ruger Golf. The best known division is the first one, because Sturm, Ruger was formed as a firearms company - in fact, the firearms division is often called "Sturm, Ruger" even though "Sturm" is no longer part of its official name. Ruger is the largest American firearms manufacturer.

Sturm, Ruger & Company was founded by William B. Ruger and Alexander McCormick Sturm in 1949 in a small, rented machine shop in Southport, Connecticut. They initially produced a .22 caliber pistol (see Ruger MK II), which became so successful that it launched the entire company. Ruger Firearms is now the nation's largest firearms manufacturer, and the only one producing firearms in all four market segments: rifles, shotguns, pistols, and revolvers.

Ruger is a dominant player in the .22 rimfire rifle market in the U.S. with its Ruger 10/22, and has had that position for some years now which was assured by its inexpensiveness and high quality. It has produced a custom edition of it sold only by Wal-Mart.

Ruger similarly dominates the .22 rimfire semiauto pistol market with the Ruger MK II. Like the 10/22, the MkII is extremely well supported with a variety of good aftermarket accessories.

Ruger Casting has plants in Newport, New Hampshire and Prescott, Arizona, making ferrous, ductile iron and commercial titanium castings. Ruger Golf makes steel and titanium castings for golf clubs made by a number of different brands.

Sturm, Ruger stock has been publicly traded since 1969, and became a New York Stock Exchange company in 1990 (NYSE:RGR). After Alex Sturm’s death in 1951, William B. Ruger continued to direct the company and until his death in 2002.

From 1949 through 2004, Ruger has built over 20 million firearms, and currently offers hundreds of models for hunters, target shooters, collectors, and law enforcement.

1 Controversy
2 Corporate governance
3 Products
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Controversy

After a spate of high profile shootings and incidences with the Ruger Mini 14 rifle, along with a number of unsavory associations the Mini 14 had gained with militias and extremist movements during the late 1970s and early 1980s, William B. Ruger expressed a highly unpopular position (amongst firearms owners, users and enthusiasts) by stating his personal views on the "sporting" nature of certain firearms.

In his letter to members of the House and Senate on 30 March 1989, Mr. Ruger stated in that which has come to be known as "The Ruger Letter":

"The best way to address the firepower concern is therefore not to try to outlaw or license many millions of older and perfectly legitimate firearms (which would be a licensing effort of staggering proportions) but to prohibit the possession of high capacity magazines. By a simple, complete, and unequivocal ban on large capacity magazines, all the difficulty of defining "assault rifles" and "semi-automatic rifles" is eliminated. The large capacity magazine itself, separate or attached to the firearm, becomes the prohibited item. A single amendment to Federal firearms laws could prohibit their possession or sale and would effectively implement these objectives."

In addition to the furor amongst hunters, sportsmen and shooters caused by "The Ruger Letter", Mr. Ruger made additional comments during an interview with NBCs Tom Brokaw that angered 2nd Amendment proponents even further, by saying that "no honest man needs more than 10 rounds in any gun…" and "I never meant for simple civilians to have my 20 and 30 round magazines…"

This position, coming from an important firearms manufacturer such as Mr. Ruger, caused outrage in the shooting sports community and led to a boycott of Ruger products that is still practiced by many firearms purchasers to this day, who choose to buy products from manufacturers who hold a greater respect for their customers. Though Ruger retired (and later died), there is fear that his open contempt for the company's customer base still permeates upper management of the company.

"The Ruger Letter" is widely accepted as being the genesis for those parts of legislation that were drafted 5 years later in the now defunct Assault Weapons Ban which prohibited the manufacture of any magazines holding over 10 rounds of ammunition for civilian sale, except to the motion-picture industry, which Ruger continued to pursue. Critics consider it ironic that the company would supply shows such as The A Team with the Model 556 (a fully-automatic machinegun), then complain about the resulting public image of the semi-automatic Mini-14 lookalike.

While it is unknown what the true motives behind "The Ruger Letter" really were, it is widely speculated that his position on magazine capacity was more a matter of smart business than one of individual philosophy. Given the legislative climate regarding firearms during that time (the late 1980s/early 1990s), the prospect of an outright ban that may have impacted one of Ruger's most popular and profitable models (the Mini 14) was a very real possibility.

By taking preemptive measures to shift the focus from the "guns" to the "magazine capacity", this would allow Sturm, Ruger Inc. to continue production with their Mini 14 line of firearms for civilian sale. Any legislation regarding magazines would have had zero impact on their bottom line, given that Ruger maintained a company policy refusing to sell Mini 14 magazines over 5 rounds (which wouldn't have been affected), even prior to the 1994 legislation mandating such.

However, the tactic was a complete failure. Not only was the Mini-14 included in the various lists of banned guns, but the customer base of "simple civilians" simply found other vendors, while the government and law-enforcement markets largely continued to pass by Ruger products in favor of higher-quality arms from Colt's, Springfield Armory, Heckler and Koch, FN and others.

[edit] Corporate governance

Current members of the board of directors of the company are: John Cosentino, Richard Cunniff, John Kingsley, William Ruger, Stephen Sanetti, James E. Service, and Joseph Strasser.

[edit] Products

[edit] Centerfire Rifles

Ruger Number 1
Mini-14 and variants:
- AC-556
- Mini-30
Ruger Police Carbine
M77 Mark II Assorted Models

The Ruger M77 Mark II rifle uses a modified version of the Mauser 98 action. This is a controlled round feed action. During the '90s, Ruger M77 rifles garnered a reputation of not being particularly accurate. Ruger addressed this problem in the early 2000's when they started producing their own hammer forged barrels. Prior to this, they procured barrels from various manufacturers and have admitted that the quality was not as good as what they are now producing.

Recent examples of Ruger M77 Mark II rifles have been well regarded by Gun Tests magazine (2002,2004).