| Bill Ruger: A Man on a Mission - Page Five | |
Page Five
ST: The .44 Carbine Deerstalker.
WBR:
That was an interesting little firearm. I mean, I did have a great
enthusiasm for it—still do, for that matter. But my tastes generally throughout
my lifetime have been reflective of many people’s tastes. Apparently, I
have more enthusiasm for it than a lot of people did in the late 1980s when
it was discontinued.
ST: The GP100.
WBR: This is the successor to the Security-Six. We sold a lot of Security-Sixes but had a bit of trouble manufacturing them. One thing we did to the GP100 was a very important modification—that off-center ejection rod that we have. Configuration of frame was changed to allow more space for the amount of steel in that thin space under the barrel. We’ve got a decent section of metal under there now and can chamber more potent cartridges, like we use in the Super Redhawk, which is basically the same design as the GP100. It’s a strong gun. I’m delighted with it. It is, in my personal belief, the best. It’s that simple.
ST: The SP101.
WBR: It’s basically the scaling down of the GP100. Those damned cushioned grips make it the easiest small-frame .357 to shoot.
ST: The Super Redhawk.
WBR: We just employed a bunch of ideas on how a revolver really should be designed. With that section of frame that goes way forward, the beauty of that is that simple round barrel instead of the complex-shaped barrel of our other revolvers. In doing that for the Super Redhawk, we also decided to go back to the GP100 hammer spring design to make this a very practical gun. And by this time we had designed a new grip form, which was a big improvement for the GP100 over the Security-Six. This new grip was much more ergonomic. It’s a more comfortable grip for most people. There’s more filled space behind the trigger guard, and the grip angle is more correct.
ST: The Mini-14.
WBR: It’s
a marvelous-functioning gun, and it’s been that way for years
and years. It initially took several years of good work to test and evalute,
but
we got it right. It is a classic sporting autoloader that M-1 fans always
appreciated.
ST: The Model 77.
WBR: Lenard Brownell and I were sharing ideas on aesthetics of a bolt-action rifle, and that led to what constitutes a handsome stock.
The mechanical structure of the gun was very conventional, really, there wasn’t anything radical about it. We had taken some samples of the prototype. We tested, tested, and tested. We were delighted to find that we had the strongest locking lugs of any gun in the world. I know some people were quite skeptical wondering whether our investment cast bolts would have the same properties as a forged bolt.
ST: The Model 77 Mark II.
WBR: The trigger mechanism on the Model 77 being a separate subassembly was a nuisance to produce. We now have that all integral with the receiver for the Mark II, and we also reduced the magazine capacity from five to four, which is what I wanted originally. I let it go when the Model 77 was first introduced, but I was dissatisfied with it, always thought the magazine/stock area was too deep. The Mark II rectifies that; it’s simply a better-looking and trimmer gun.
ST: The 77/22.
WBR: That’s a different action than the 77. I designed that gun mostly in the main cabin of my yacht. For the 77/22 I wanted to use the same kind of rotary magazine that we had with the Model 10/22. I thought that would make it unique. I spent a lot of time looking at other design alternatives. But the best choice, I determined, was the one we had, which works just fine.
Page One - Intro,
Birth of the Company, First Steps
Page Two - Thoughts
on Colt & Browning, Competitors
Page Three -
Why
Buy Ruger, 50 Years, Failed Designs, Single-Six, Flattop
Page Four - Bearcat,
No. 1, Red Label, Super Blackhawk, Redhawk, Old Army, Security-Six
Page Five - .44
Deerstalker, GP100, SP101, Super Redhawk, Mini-14, 77, 77 MK II, 77/22
Page Six - 10/22,
Model 96, P-Series, Looking Ahead
This article was originally published in Shooting Times magazine in March, 1999.
