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Ruger Service Awesome

4K views 20 replies 19 participants last post by  Model 52 
#1 ·
My wife gave me a lockbox so I could put my Ruger Mark 1 in for safekeeping. She gave me this beautiful gun over 50 years ago, and it is my favorite gun. I opened the box after several months of storage, and found that my most treasured handgun was BADLY RUSTED. It seems that the cushioning material was plastic, and it contained some type of material which was out gassing Chlorine. You do not have to be a metallurgist to know what Chlorine will do to metal. I was horrified. I tried to get the rust off, but it was too late. So I sent the pistol back to Ruger for refurbishing..........

I just got it back, and I cannot tell that it is not brand new. They reblued it, they replaced ALL the springs, even the magazine spring, they replaced the rear sight, and it is as good as, or even better than, new. They also test fired 36 rounds of Winchester Super X through it to make sure it functioned perfectly.

And all this for $110.00 complete.

As I understand it, they will do this for any of their pistols/revolvers, so if you find a beat up Ruger Mark series, and you get it inexpensively, spend $110.00 and send it back to Ruger, and you will have a new pistol of which you can be very proud.

There may be better pistols/revolvers out there than Ruger, but I have not found them yet, and I have to believe that no other company offers the service Ruger has.
 
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#2 ·
Your story is not exclusive. It's a dirty shame what befell your Ruger pistol, but it's not surprising at all to read of the outcome from its trip to Ruger for renovation.

I always wish that folks would do a BEFORE, and then AFTER, photo session of the "rebirth" of one of these fine pistols. Always great to read of such instances. :bthumb:
 
#7 · (Edited)
Couple of questions:

How much time transpired since the last check??Or how long did it take for the rust to form, as best you can firure??

Sounds like storing in that material is like sticking a wet duck/deer gun back into a case (soft/hard) several times and a few weeks getting a rusty surprise.
A friend borrowed my 94-30/30 once and that happened to it. He had it reblued out of his pocket.

I always wipe gun s down after handling/shooting w/ a Rigrug which puts a good dose of RIG on them. It also removes fingerprints that have a bad habit of getting permanent on gu ns. Never have a problem. Periodically I wipe em down even though not used. I have a couple that need a dose of RIG now. Thanks for the reminder.

Ruger did me a GOOD job on a Mark II about 3 yrs ago. Mine was $00.00 inc freight both ways--wowie. No more stovepipes.

I never store guns in a hard or soft case except for my MSR=modern sporting rifle--aka AR. The only reason I do that on in a hard case is that it will not fit my lockup system.
 
#9 ·
I had a Ruger 1964 Standard that I got from my dad that had seen better days. When taking the bolt and internals out the barrel would just fall off the grip frame. I sent it to Ruger with a $35 Money Order to re-blue and asked if they would check the barrel to frame fit. Got it back about two weeks later, looked brand new. Had my money order in the box and a repair slip with all the parts replaced and a note that said warranty work no charge!:D
Great Ruger customer service!:bthumb:
 
#10 ·
My first experience with Ruger service has made me a life long fan. I was changing the base plate on my SR22 magazine and the spring went flying never to be found. I called told them the dumb thing I had done and asked if I could order a replacement. They said no problem asked for the serial number and said they would drop one in the mail to me, no charge. I now own 7 Ruger handguns and rifles.
 
#11 ·
I think I left the MarK 1 in that box for 3 months, without checking it for rust. NOT a good idea, if I had looked monthly, I probably could have avoided this problem. However, I am glad I have a complete rebluing and all new parts and springs, so it was sure worth it.
 
#12 ·
.22 LR penetration

Yes, I know this subject has been posted 1,000 times, if not more, but I never could relate how far a bullet penetrates into a gelatin block into my own little real world. I wanted something to relate to.

We have all seen on YOUTUBE a .22 LR bullet from a short barreled .22 pistol or a longer barrel on arifle penetrate a 2X4 EASILY........ So I wondered what would happen if I tried it with THREE 2X4's nailed together. I nailed 3 2X4's together, and fired into them with a CCI Velocitor, and lo and behold, it went completely through TWO of those 2X4's, and penetrated the 3rd about a quarter inch. Now this was out of my Ruger Mark II, with the 6 7/8 barrel............I have noticed that shorter barrels in .22 LR cost a lot of power, so I do not own any .22 LR pistols with barrels less than 6 inches long.

My only point in doing this was to see if I could trust my Mark II to be effective for my wife to use it in case of need. All I can say is that any bullet that will smash through TWO 2X4's is going to ruin the entire day of whoever it hits.
 
#14 ·
Ruger Service

The only time I ever send a gun to Ruger was many years ago to have a second cylinder fitted to a BlackHawk .357 and only that.
What I got was the second cylinder and every internal component including the grip frame replaced which basically destroyed the custom action work I had done to the revolver.
What I got was a long, gritty, factory trigger that was terrible.
The factory told me that their policy is to replace all internal parts when a gun is sent in regardless of the reason.
Be aware if you have a tuned action, it won't be when you get it back unless things are very different now.
 
#16 ·
I had a stainless Ruger Super Blackhawk and it broke the ejector rod of the barrel. I think the spot weld holding it on broke. It was scratched up from 30 years of hard use and the grips were stained and looked "old". I sent it in to get the ejector rod fixed, (i had all the parts,) and they polished it up like new and put new grips on for no charge!! It looked like a brand new gun after I got it back, and they even enclosed the old grips. I'm sold on their customer service!! :bthumb:
 
#17 ·
Your experience with your Mark I is similar to the experience a friend had. He bought a Red Label 12 ga out of a LGS. The gun was obviously used and had the nicks, dings, and bluing wear from being carried while hunting. The lever was at center or slightly to the left. He called Ruger about having the action tightened. He told them he purchased the RL used. They said to ship it in and they would give him an estimate. So he shipped it. Not only did Ruger tighten the action, but they refinished all the metal including rebluing the barrels. They cleaned up the wood somewhat, but did not replace any. His cost was only the cost to ship to Ruger. All other work and return shipping was at Ruger's expense. Needless to say, he has a high regard for Ruger's CS.
 
#18 ·
I've had occasion to send a few revolvers back to Ruger for rebuild, extra cylinder, rebluing and other things. Got to say I was always quite satisfied with the work, prices - lot of work they did with no charge - and general service. Of course it's been quite a few years back; decades, actually.
 
#20 ·
Me too

I picked up my first Old Model Single Six, made in 1960, and thought I had a problem. So I called Ruger Customer Service and the dude walked me through the basics of a Old Model Single Six and found out that is was working like it was supposed to. He really got after me to send it in for the "safety upgrade". Thanked him and told him I would think about it. Took me about two minutes to decide that I would leave it an Old Model. Then I picked up a nearly perfect Mark II Target Model, from a guy that was afraid to tear it down for cleaning, so it had sit in his gun safe since 1988 or so. When I tore it down I noticed the recoil spring assembly was not snug in the bolt. Called Ruger up again, and they shipped the new assembly to me free and I received it the following week. Ruger Customer Service rocks!
 
#21 ·
If the box was a small fireproof safe, the plastic may not have been the issue.

Many of the smaller fireproof boxes use a clay liner for the fire protection and it's wet enough to increase the humidity inside the box as these boxes are not sealed or vented in the same manner as a unsafe. It's a by product of the design, as the moisture boils out of the clay in a fire and limits the heat buildup inside the box.

That style of fireproof box is fine for papers, but can be very bad for firearms, film and electronic data storage devices that can be damaged by high humidity levels.

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Fire resistant gun safes in general:

Inexpensive gun safes work the same way, using a hydrate like alum or gypsum (drywall) which also releases water when heated. That water absorbs heat and the resulting steam is then vented out of the safe. The difference is that that the water is part of the molecule and isn't released by the gypsum until the temp exceeds 212 degrees.

The problem is however that the amount of water is minimal and once it's gone, unless the gypsum is properly supported, it falls apart and crumbles once the water is gone and with it sitting in the bottom of the safe's walls, it leaves nothing but the metal walls for insulation - and thin steel is a very poor insulator. Worse, since the gypsum lining isn't structural, the safe needs various gussets, braces and supports between the interior and exterior liners and these metal items between the inside and outside liner will transmit heat. Which is a bad trait in a fire safe.

Gypsum insulated gun safes can also off gas formaldehyde which is used as a plasticizer, but it's corrosive to steel. Really bad news in a gun safe.

Even UL 72 class 350 rated safes are only rated to keep the internal temp to 350 degrees, and in a fire that's 350 degrees with steam - not so good for your firearms. If the safe has an internal steel lining that's fine, but if it is only spot welded rather than continuously welded, it won't seal the inside of the safe from the steam produced by the water boiling out of the liner.

Consequently, a good fireproof gun safe uses a fully welded internal shell and a fully welded exterior shell with the space in between the two filled with around 1.5" of pored and vibrated (to remove any bubbles) concrete amalgamate as a fire lining. This is basically concrete with other insulating aggregates added like vermiculite. Water is still boiled off but it's vented outside the safe, not inside and the concrete will still stay intact once all the water is gone and the aggregates will still be able to provide insulation. Plus at 1.5", it's a lot thicker than a gypsum lining. If it's UL 72 rated as class 150, it will keep the temp under 150 degrees, even in an 1850 degree F. fire.

Really good fire proof safes will add another internal vapor barrier layer, as well as another interior layer of ceramic wool or fiberglass as an additional fire barrier. A Class 125 safe will keep the internal temperature below 125 degrees and keep the humidity under 80% in the same 1850 degree fire.

The UL 72 rated safes are heated in ovens for 1 to 4 hours and then left in the oven (turned off but still hot for up to 68 hours. That better reflects the actual conditions of a house fire a lot better than a 30, 45, 60 or 90 minute test with the safe immediately removed as you won't be immediately removing your safe after a house fire.

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In other words, when it comes to fire safes, go with a UL 72 class 150 or 125 safe, or pretty much don't bother if you're really wanting fire protection. Most gun safes are really only providing some theft protection, and an inexpensive gun safe can actually increase the risk of rust and corrosion to your firearms.
 
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