Double rifles with stainless steel barrels

[Peter Larsson]

 

[Peter Larsson]

Flodman.

 

[Forrest Halley]

I think Sturm Ruger really missed the boat in not developing their “Gold Label” shotgun platform into a double rifle.
These had a stainless action but blued steel barrels.
Legend has it they lost money on every one sold so stopped production after only a few thousand were made.
If they had made a double rifle with stainless barrels on that action (or one similar) they could have justified a much higher price than the shotguns and I bet right now they would be the darling of every PH or single gun all weather world adventurer.
If they made them with laminate stocks they would have weighed a ton so maybe in the interest of looking traditional, walnut and staining of the metal black or blue may have been well received.

Ruger made money on some guns and lost money on others. It was sort of a service to the common man to have a nice gun after buying so many service grade pieces. Glock essentially killed that whole idea once it got off the ground and running. Reliable plastic that is produced for less than $100 and sold for five times that. Sad that they aren't doing that anymore.

As far as a double rifle goes, there is a bit more difficulty in regulation of a rifle as opposed to a shotgun. Eventually someone may be able to program a CNC machine to bore the barrels in such a way to make manufacturing a less expensive double rifle possible. Bond arms is doing very well for their barrels as far as collimation goes. It would take a magnanimous manufacturer to make something like this available to the public without fleecing them.