Ruger vs S&W for quality and reliability

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Back to your 70 yr old mom . . . I doubt she's gonna wear out any revolvers you get her. I vote for her to choose what feels best for her. My bias would be toward the Smith, however. I would also suggest you have her look at an older K frame Smith, as opposed to the J frame. Also, you can get a lot of different grip styles for her try fairly inexpensively. Just two more cents worth . . .
 
My first gun was an '81 Ruger Security Six SS .357 6" barrel. I still have it today. The trigger just can't compare to my '58 pre-29, and I shoot my Smiths more often.
 
Right now S&W is not on my favorite list. I recently bought a lightly used 625PC. Turned out it had a LOT of misfires from light primer strikes. After a little research, it appears to be a common problem with a lot of the newer Smith's It seems that the firing pin length is marginal with a lot of primer brands. I ordered a new firing pin and spring from an aftermarket company and now it works fine. BUT my old model 25 is more accurate. Now how much is the 2 inch difference in barrel length or the gun itself I can't tell, I need more practice with it. Since this is by far the most expensive revolver I've ever bought it's frustrating

I've fired both Ruger and Smith semi-autos, and I'm not impressed with either
 
Right now S&W is not on my favorite list. I recently bought a lightly used 625PC. Turned out it had a LOT of misfires from light primer strikes. After a little research, it appears to be a common problem with a lot of the newer Smith's It seems that the firing pin length is marginal with a lot of primer brands. I ordered a new firing pin and spring from an aftermarket company and now it works fine. BUT my old model 25 is more accurate. Now how much is the 2 inch difference in barrel length or the gun itself I can't tell, I need more practice with it. Since this is by far the most expensive revolver I've ever bought it's frustrating

I've fired both Ruger and Smith semi-autos, and I'm not impressed with either



I know what you mean. Still waiting on my return label for my brand new 686. After so long of wishing Id have gotten a Smith instead of a GP100, then selling the GP100 once I got the Smith, disappointed doesnt quite do it.
I was all set to get a 629 next, but not so sure now, unless I get an older one.
 
Well I've owned a number of both over the years. I think both can be a bit hit and miss as far as fit and finish. They both produce the occasional lemon. The Ruger LCR has as good or better trigger than any DA Smith I've ever owned. However, as a whole Smith triggers are excellent and better than Rugers on average. Ruger has done a better job of making their locks less "in your face". And there are still some Rugers that are lock free. Both have great warranty service. Generally I prefer the aesthetics of Smiths over Rugers, but there are exceptions. But I love 'em both. I guess my bottom line is why not enjoy both if you have the funds.

This quote about sums it up for my perspective. Both companies produce a few lemons here and there, but every company that produces a product does.

With proper care, I really think both would hold up equally well. I'd trust my life to either based on owning both.

The S&W's are just prettier to me though. I'd buy any Ruger in a heartbeat if it filled a role I needed filled. The Smiths are the ones I always drool over though. I would like to add a Colt snake gun to my collection too. Maybe an Anaconda......
 
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My opinion is that Ruger super redhawks are built stronger than s&w n-frame's of the same caliber. The s&w has a better stock trigger than the super redhawks thou.

I would rather have S&W revolvers for other calibers.

I am sure some would rather have Rugers.

Any Ruger .44 mag or bigger (magnum) will be stouter than an N-frame, excepting maybe the original flat top .44. That's not a slam of S&W at all. Any magnum .44 or over I want in a single action (though I own a redhawk). I think the cylinder pin running completely thru stands up to recoil much better and the grip more comfortable.
As for DAs, they're both quality, but I'll take a pre-lock smith over a Ruger every time.
 
I have owned several guns of both manufacturers and I have been selling guns for 25 years. I've shot competitions and do a lot of hunting with handguns; my first .44 mag being a super blackhawk because I could not find a 29 in the early '70s. I have a lot of experience with both brands.
I will only say that Rugers are the only guns I've owned that have blown up in my hands (.22 LR) and the only guns I have had to return to the manufacturer because of parts defects. This includes a $1,700.00 Safari rifle in .458 Lott that would only fire about 25% of the time - not a good thing for such a rifle. Further, when I returned it for repair (firing pin too short, but you have to threaten them to get them to tell you what was wrong), they gouged the claro walnut stock (a 1/8" deep, 14" long gouge) and scraped the muzzle end on something (a concrete floor?) that took off about 3/8" off the bottom of the barrel. None have shot that accurately or smoothly. Triggers are horrible. Revolvers look like **** - except the Old Army I used to have.
I've never had a problem with S&W except when I foolishly loaned one to a neighbor who was thinking about getting one and wanted to try it. Even though I told him not to use handloads, he used some of his brother's. One of them was obviously loaded without powder and put the .357's (a 12 year old 5" model 60) bullet half way between the cylinder and the forcing cone. Rather than return it to me as-is, he decided to use a big rubber mallet to pound on the cylinder, shearing off the 125 grain XTP bullet and bending the crane and frame. I sent the gun to S&W, telling them what had happened and asked them to repair it and send me the bill. They repaired the gun perfectly and the bill reflected: No charge. Not even shipping.
I truly believe that Ruger's quality control program is their customer. I've sold all mine but two - the only ones that didn't have problems.
Bottom line: You'll not see my name in a Ruger forum.
Ask me some other time and I might tell you what I REALLY think of Rugers.
If this offends some, get over it. To each his own, but S&W is far superior to any "Booger."
'Nuff said.
 
Both Ruger and Smith and Wesson make wonderful guns.

I bought a GP100 a year and a half ago.

The cylinder crane was warped so it had to go back to Ruger.

Ruger CS is a delight to deal with.

They sent it back within a week fully repaired.

I had also asked them to remove some tooling marks around the underlug.

They polished them out for me.

Didn't charge me a penny.

It's a beautiful gun.

Now I love S&W very much and have an almost year old 686+.

An elegant and beautifully made weapon.

Perfect straight barrel and fit and finish is wonderful.

Whenever you have these Ruger vs S&W dilemmas, it is best to buy both and enjoy them,

:D
 
It's Ford vs. Chevy.......

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I did an informal, impartial "test", two retired NYPD service revolver, my NY-1 64-5 and Service Six .38. Both are DAO and thus SA shooting is removed from the equation. At 15 yards both of them fired every time I pulled the trigger, and put the rounds into an equal sized cluster. Both have acceptable actions. There's no doubt both of these guns would last longer than any of us unless you have the time and money to put 10's of thousands of .38's through them. My ending opinion, both are capable of the basic task a revolver was designed to do, both are quality firearms and I would feel equally well armed and confident with either of them.

I own dozens of both, both older and new. I doubt the average shooter could wear out a S&W unless you're a competition shooter, but the fact is, Ruger DA's have proven more durable and stronger. Neither company sends me free guns so I'm not so much a "fanboy" than a consumer.

Both Ruger and S&W revolvers have been issued by the US military, and both have been in countless police holsters. Both S&W .38's and Ruger Blackhawks were used in Vietnam as "unofficial personal protection" sidearms by grunts, pilots and SF guys in Vietnam. Bill Jordan pretty much developed the S&W 19, Skeeter Skelton said the best guns a cop could carry are a pair of Ruger Speed Six .357's.......

I like the crane lock on the GP, SP , Redhawk and Super Redhawk. I also like the blocky, industrial "all business" look of the GP100, I own over 20 GP100's of different flavors. Also several Redhawks, a few SP's, and a .44 Alaskan.

I have some S&W's with excellent actions, and my Dad's 1989 production 6" 586 is a Cadillac of a revolver, just perfect. I have a 64-7 that will put them through the same hole at 15 yards. Also a 581 that is probably one of the coolest looking and best handling revolvers I have ever owned.

Bear in mind the Ruger Six series was designed from the start as a police duty gun, it was not designed to be a cosmetic beauty but to take the LE market from S&W and Colt in the early 70's with a cheaper, more durable .357 revolver. The GP100 evolved from the Six as a cheaper to produce yet more durable variant.

Bill Ruger was a businessman and designed no nonsense, solid guns for police sales and the average working man. The designs were clean and industrial in nature. Ruger was also a late comer to the DA revolver world.

S&W continues to update a design from the 1890's, but thus far it has worked so why mess with it.

Both makers have strengths and weaknesses, but they're made in the USA and employ American workers, so I don't encourage "Ruger vs S&W" debates, since it feels like we're eating our own by doing so. We're all shooters and support firearms rights, and by buying S&W or Ruger, or both, you're supporting a US company and the shooting sports. If we don't support US gunmakers they will go the way of Winchester.
 
Any money saved on a Ruger DA revolver over a S&W will be spent on aftermarket grips if you don't like the Houge rubber grip it was shipped with. Very little is available and what there is if made in the USA will be over $!00. Not so with S&W hundreds of different grips available for good prices. The Ruger grip frame touted as a platform for better grip designs never happened on a large scale with after market suppliers. It's the curse of the Ruger . Got to go, need to find replacement treads for my WWII tank.
 
I will further beat the horse in saying it is a matter of preference.

Rugers are bulkier and the Smiths more elegant.

Maximum handloads...the nod certainly goes to Ruger. I don't care what's been published, but long term abuse from owners seems to confirm this.

For double action shooting there is no question the S&W is superior.

I've never met a Ruger I had to have. With S&W there's been plenty.
 
"It's Ford vs. Chevy"

More like ... Mercedes vs. AMC
 
I like Ruger's SA and own them in 41 and 44. I have owned a Redhawk and GP100. The RH was a dog and the GP was alright but nothing to write home about. To me the trigger and action on S&W double actions are smooth as glass and I haven't personally handled a Ruger out of the box that can touch them. Rugers may be strong but I find them clunky and less refined than S&W.
 
Some people are just set in their ways or let a bad experience from 30 years ago ruin them from a certain brand.

I bought a brand new 617-7 that was complete junk, spit lead and had bad timing. I sold it off for a loss, recently bought a Ruger .22 SP101 that's flawless.

My Dad bought a brand new PC 629 3" that had a galled up action that was filled with graphite lube, fresh out of the factory wrap, NIB. Luckily it was only a mis-fit hammer block, that I replaced myself. It seems a S&W tech tried to "mask" the sticky hammer block with graphite. Gun works fine now.

That said I have a GP100 I bought NIB packed and ready to be dropped off at Fedex in a couple hours, the b/c gap is about .001 and the gun locked up after 6 rounds. I had to cajole Ruger CS into paying for shipping but they did. It's a beautiful 3" GP with adjustable sights, with probably the best action I've experienced in a Ruger. It's the gun I bought instead of a 3" 686, so I hope they get it fixed and back to me.

They're all made by humans and neither a S&W nor Ruger comes out of a magical palace where guns are produced by perfect beings, or are they made by robots who make them all perfect and the same.

There's a debate on the Ruger forum about drops in QC with all gunmakers, the fact is, workers have bills to pay and need jobs, and when management tells them to get guns out, they get them out.

It almost seems that if you want "perfection" you have to pay for it. It seems these days that a gun isn't even considered "expensive" unless you're paying $2000 plus for it.

A "base model" GP100 for $550 NIB or a 686+ for $700 is almost a bargain in todays world, but gun makers seem to be cutting corners to keep the prices the same.

If you want the "best" Single Action you need to buy a Freedom Arms, apparently.If you want a "perfect" double action you need to take out a 2nd mortgage and find a Korth.

I hate to be the wet blanket , but these days when a good night out for 2 costs $100 if you actually want to eat or drink anything good...i.e. not burgers and PBR but a good dinner and top shelf drinks....$5-600 for a brand new GP100 or $650-750 for a NIB 686 seems like they're giving them away. I've spent $1,000 on 3 day mini-vacations and had to spend the rest of the week and a half until I got paid eating bologna sandwiches, but then I gripe about gun prices.......that $1,000 would have bought me a nice gun:)

If people want old ones, I've never been to a larger gun show where you didn't see at least a few older Smiths for fair prices. Or get a trade in Model 10 for $300 that will probably last a lifetime of shooting .38's.

People pay $450 for Taurus revolvers that don't even work out of the box and then get the headache of a lifetime trying to get them serviced, by that time they could have had a S&W or Ruger. I guess my point is try to buy "hands on"anymore, my strong theory is that SOME, not all but some, online gun dealers push the lesser finished or crappy action turds out to the online buyers and sell the "cream" to local regular customers. These large gun shops order Ruger and S&W wheelguns 10 or more at a time, and they let regulars "cherry pick". Faceless online buyers 20 states away get the "culls".

I want to get a Ruger Match Champion but fought the urge to use one of the large online GunBroker dealers having a "sale" on them.......I want to see it in person before I lay down nearly 7 bills on one. Be a consumer, be picky, don't accept S&W's or Rugers that appear to have been fitted with a wood rasp. I believe I am done buying online, new or used.
 
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Any money saved on a Ruger DA revolver over a S&W will be spent on aftermarket grips if you don't like the Houge rubber grip it was shipped with. Very little is available and what there is if made in the USA will be over $!00. Not so with S&W hundreds of different grips available for good prices. The Ruger grip frame touted as a platform for better grip designs never happened on a large scale with after market suppliers. It's the curse of the Ruger . Got to go, need to find replacement treads for my WWII tank.

Try the original rubber with wood panel grip for the GP100. NOS on eBay for $50-$60. IMO a much better grip than the Houge and more attractive as well.

I have 7 S&W revolvers of various flavors but I have liked the GP100 for quite a while. So, last month I finally acted and purchased a basic 4" GP100. The GP isn't as nicely finished in the hidden areas such as the cylinder cut out in the frame or the recoil shield, as my S&Ws. But the GP is as accurate as my 686-1 or my M10-8s. The GP's SA trigger has a little bit of creep that seems to be going away with use. The GP's DA trigger is very good. All but one of my S&Ws is from the 1970's or 1980's and have been shot a fair amount- with the exception of my M1917 so I'm not comparing new v new, but I'm comparing new v worn in. Overall I think the GP compares favorably. Not as well finished, but well balanced and certainly functional.

FYI, I have nothing against newer S&Ws. The new ones I've shot were great. I just find better deals on used ones.
 
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