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Red Label KRLG Reliability Test

24K views 32 replies 8 participants last post by  nickd92 
#1 ·
My brother and I bought 2 new 30" Red Labels about a year apart. I took delivery of mine in February 2015. Before I purchased the gun I did some research on the internet and found a lot of negative comments about the new Red Label in terms of reliability. However, I shot my brother's RL and was very impressed with its quality. So after waiting for about a year and about 1000 shells to see if his gun was going to break (it didn't), I decided to get one. It was hard to find one in stock but when one showed up on Bud's Guns I "pulled the trigger".

I also considered the "B" guns as well as CZs. Brownings and Berettas are certainly well made and beautiful shotguns. However, they are expensive for someone like me who only shoots clays informally. The CZ's seem to be well made and the price is excellent but when Ruger reintroduced the Red Label at a street price of a bit more than $1K, it got my attention. I'm not generally a flag waving, buy American type, but I felt that, all else being equal, why not get a gun that was made in America.

During my internet research on shotguns, I came across a forum topic here at shotgunworld that I thought was very interesting. It is the CZ Canvasback Reliability Test. I was very impressed by that post in which cdb1097 chronicles 30K shots fired through his Canvasback. It almost convinced me to buy one!

Well, I don't see that anybody has done this with the new Red Label (or old one either) and figured I'll give it a try as I do log all my shots.

So, I have been shooting the gun now for about a month (American skeet and 16 yd Trap) and have exactly 350 shells through it. No failures of any kind. I'll keep you all posted as the round count increases.

Cheers.
 
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#2 ·
Good idea! Good luck with the new Red Label. I agree that it would be great to have a reliable American made O/U at around the $1K price, but so far, no company seems to have a PROVEN one. Hopefully the new RL will prove itself worthy of that distinction.

Keep us posted on your results. Perhaps others with the new RL will chime in also.
 
#4 ·
Went and shot today during lunch before the storm. First day of spring and we're supposed to get 4-6 inches of SNOW. Bummer.

Two rounds of skeet and one round of trap. Plus two extra shells trying to hit station 2 High House (because I stink at that station).

Missed both times. :shock:

Did shoot a 22 on my second round of skeet though. Good score for me. :D

That makes the total round count so far 427. Glad to report no failures or issues.

Hey MattL46 what were the 3 hiccups to which you refer? Also, my serial is in the low 8K's. When did you get your gun? As they are again discontinued, you probably got one of the last built.
 
#5 ·
Shot 3 rounds of skeet and 2 rounds of trap today. Actually shot my personal best with the Red Label in one of the skeet rounds with a 24. Gun swings nice for me even though I'm not a very big person.

Total now stands at 552 rounds. Again, the gun performed flawlessly. No failures of any kind.

A fellow with a K-80 shot trap next to me and had two light primer strikes in 50 shots. He refused to blame the gun and instead blamed the primers. He simply opened the gun, rotated the shell a bit, closed it, and they fired. I suppose if I spent that kind of money on a shotgun, I'd blame the shells too! It was an awfully nice gun though.

Cheers.
 
#6 ·
@Nick ive had 3 light strikes. Now one thing I did not realize I was doing was failing to mention they were reloads. Although im not blaming the gun or the ammunition at this point. Im no begginer at handloading shotshells and would like to think its not on me. Also ive read many reports from many different forums of winchester primers being a bit hard and failing to detonate on the first strike in different types of shotguns. Which is the primer im using. The first 75 rounds were reloads with 3 hicups. Im up to 125 now the last 50 being factory. No issues. Although the last 40 were reloads with no issues. So im going about 90 with no problems. I got the gun last month. Paid close to msrp for it. Oh well. Im going to shoot nothing but good factory ammunition for awhile and see if I can rule anything out. Im in no hurry to send the gun back. Although upon the first failure with quality factory ammo ill start the process.
 
#8 ·
Hi Everyone,

Shot 3 rounds of skeet this morning + 2 additional shells at station 8.

There were no failures to fire. However, I did have 3 failures to eject. Normally, I put my hand in front of the shells so I can put the empties in my shell bag but today I was firing reloads using ancient Remington Power Piston hulls. I wasn't going to save them so I let them fly. When I got home, I took a bunch of empties to try and recreate the problem. To make a long story short, the only way I could recreate the problem was if I had the barrel lifted up as I opened the action. The hull would partially fall out and the ejector would spring but not hit the shell. It's possible that I was doing this on the range as I was consciously trying not to hit my puller with the empties. I did measure the distance the other shells ejected which was between 6 and 8 feet. I'll test this further at my next skeet session.

Round count stands at 629.

MattL, I had some friends that have had light primer strikes. Of course, they weren't new guns but they fixed them by removing the stock and really cleaning out the actions. It was a combination of powder residue and excessive and dried gun oil that was causing the light strikes. Of course, my brother had an old Crescent Davis single shot that was doing the same thing and it turned out to be a broken firing pin. Just a tiny piece at the tip that you could barely see. Maybe, you have some dried lubricant in your action. Perhaps it's the primers as well. This seems to affect doubles more than pumps and autos.

pitandremington, let us know how your RL shoots! Looks nice in the box on the other thread.
 
#10 ·
nickd92 said:
pitandremington, let us know how your RL shoots! Looks nice in the box on the other thread.
I just shot 125 flawless rounds. I did notice the right top front side of the forearm has a little movement in it when held tightly. It's hard to describe but I'll probably have Laurence look at it when he comes to Cardinal in May. It's not like my CG (but not expected to be) and just as nice as my Canvasback and Sharptail. Other than that the RRL is doing great.
 
#13 ·
Shot another 77 rounds. No issues. Count stands at 783.

@pitandreminton, sounds like you're a trap shooter with those LM chokes. The stock is a little long for me but this isn't a competition gun so I'll probably leave it. Gun is a bit heavy which makes it pretty light kicking.
 
#14 ·
nickd92 said:
Shot another 77 rounds. No issues. Count stands at 783.

@pitandreminton, sounds like you're a trap shooter with those LM chokes. The stock is a little long for me but this isn't a competition gun so I'll probably leave it. Gun is a bit heavy which makes it pretty light kicking.
Put another flawless 50 through her...gonna get her stored till practice for this year's duck season ;-)

@nickd92, nope I'm a sporting clays guy. I don't have gorilla arms so I have Doug Carpenter cut all my stocks down. :)
 
#15 ·
You have one of the last ones of the "new Red Label" as I am sure you know that Ruger has discontinued the project. To bad, as they do look like nice guns, and at a very reasonable price point, at least initially they were. And as you said, American Made.
 
#16 ·
Another 4 rounds of Skeet today plus one extra shot. 101 shells, no failures. Count stands at 884.

@1Steve7301, Unfortunately, what you say is true. I must say, I am really starting to like this gun. Let's hope that Ruger will bring it back in the next couple of years.
 
#17 ·
1steve7301 said:
You have one of the last ones of the "new Red Label" as I am sure you know that Ruger has discontinued the project. To bad, as they do look like nice guns, and at a very reasonable price point, at least initially they were. And as you said, American Made.
Very true, but Ruger will take care of any issues with the gun. They have a good CS group that takes care of issues. So let's hope they come back and they turn the negative view many have.
 
#21 ·
I'd say 80% of them are good guns. There is always the risk of getting one that is problematic. But Ruger will fix it. It's just the inconvenience. I've had 4 red labels and one gave me problems until Ruger fixed it for me. I love my 20 ga Ruger Sporting model with 30 in barrels and Briley extended chokes. It's a shooter all day long with no problems whatsoever. FWIW Grade6man
 
#22 ·
Have been away for awhile but back with a report on my RRL. Round count is near 2000. I kept good count up to 1500 but then became a bit lazy as gun has performed flawlessly. I did lose the mid-rib bead last week while at the range. Contacted Ruger about a replacement and they are sending one out immediately, no charge. Only a $3 part but response was impressive. The gun is a mid-7500 serial number and first fired in December 2014.
 
#23 ·
I haven't posted in a while because the RL has been functioning well with no issues. Haven't done a lot of shooting this summer but the round count is up to 1673.

Niemand, the mid rib bead just fell out? How is it attached? Is it glued or screwed? I'll keep an eye on mine.
 
#26 ·
This may show up twice since I thought I had already answered, nickd92. The center post is threaded. Not sure where it went. We were shooting skeet and I was allowing a newbie to shoot the RRL. I noticed the missing post at the end of the round. I suspect it just slowly backed out from recoil vibration. I reinstalled using the Remington scope mount stuff (Loctite in a green bottle). Hopefully some managed to remain during the installation as my fat fingers were not really a great show of dexterity during this operation. Keeping an eye on it but have seen no signs of loosening. Now at over 2500 rounds.
 
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