The checkering pattern changed several times during the production run. The Red Label was available with either an English straight stock or a pistol grip stock. The butt stock and forend are oil-finished American walnut with machine cut checkering on the grip and forend. Early production models typically had fixed chokes but most Red Labels manufactured since the mid 1980s were tapped to accept screw in choke tubes for various purposes. The shooter could determine which barrel to fire by means of a selector mounted on the tang. Later models utilized a stainless steel receiver with hammer forged barrels. The Red Label originally featured a blued receiver. In order to achieve this and put quality on par with hand-made European shotguns, Ruger invested in expensive machinery to do most of the work. Ruger's desire to produce a quality US made over and under shotgun. In 1979, Ruger began to offer the Red Label in 12 Gauge and eventually a scaled-down version in 28 Gauge (1994). It remained in production for over three decades. The Red Label soon proved a hit with the American shooting public for its affordability, reliability, and handling. The Red Label was introduced in 1977 in 20 Gauge with a 26' barrel for a price of $480.00 (equal to $2,074.95 in 2018) At the time the Remington Model 3200 was the only other quality American Made over-under, and it cost nearly twice as much. By the 1970s the Belgian-made Browning Superposed, and other over and under shotguns imported from Europe had become so expensive that they were out of reach of most American shooters, and there were no domestically produced over and under shotguns that did not cost more. The Superposed became the first mass-produced Over/Under (O/U) shotgun. Unlike traditional side-by-side double barrel shotguns that have issues with aiming points and recoil, a shotgun with two barrels stacked one on top of the other offers a single sighting plane and lighter recoil. When the Browning Superposed was introduced in 1931, American sportsmen soon fell in love with the concept of a stacked barrel double gun. For specific questions or additional information, please contact Customer Service. Note: This service is provided as reference only, and accuracy is not guaranteed. Ruger.Д®nter your RugerВ® serial number above to view its model number, product line, caliber, production status, ship date and instruction manual. The Ruger Red Label was an over and under shotgun that was built by Sturm, Ruger & Co. It really doesn't matter, since The Factory didn't record all the individual bits used on any particular gun anyway, so there is no documentation for most of those with the possible exception of some particular grip frames or panels, and these only occasionally.ДЄll this only serves to keep us on our toes and remember that with Ruger, never say never.Ruger Red Label Serial Number History Average ratng: 6,5/10 7069 reviews Ruger Red Label There is no real way to sort these aberrations out, but in most cases they can be identified as 'suspicious' if that matters to someone. And of course there is always the potential for the 'screwdriver variations' arising from easily-swapped parts that muddy the gun's actual date of origin, either 'early' or 'late'. There will always be the occasional 'late shipped' gun having bits and pieces that were released considerably after the gun's serial number might indicate, or the occasional gun wearing some older bits from way earlier production that just floated to the top of the 'parts bin' at final assembly. He can, for instance, occasionally come pretty close to revealing within a month's time when certain features/parts were changed in a run of a particular model.

His serial number breakouts are considerably more precise than anything Ruger has put out, and his discussion of which parts were used when is further informative. Knowing the month as well as the year certainly helps since the various 'type' configurations of many of the Old Models are pretty well known and documented in Chet15's Red Eagle News Exchange Reference of Ruger Firearms.

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