Ruger 20 Ga. Over & Under

H

Harold Cannon

Member
i was wanting to get an over & under (20 gauge) that would hold up in the wet, muddy duck hunting conditions as well as in the dove/quail fields. My "meat gun" has been the SBE II 12 gauge that I will probably continue to use for the most part, but you all have got me looking onto the 20 gauge, and I hope to hunt some bird fields out west. With that in mind, I do like the fact that those hunting with me in the field can readily tell whether the gun is in a safe position by it being open.

A used Ruger Stainless Red Label is available and I would appreciate any thoughts that you all may have as to whether this would be a good all around O&H. I have also looked at the Beretta White Onyx. Hoping to shoot them both fairly soon.

Thanks for help ...hope your weekend goes well.

HC
 
Harold,

I had the ruger red label 12 ga and it was a super shotgun. it was a mid 1980's gun.

I never should have sold it but it is gone. I got it for $550 and sold it for $600. It was the wood stock and black barrel version, had 26'' barrels (shorter than I like, but it shot superbly.

Being a 26 inch barrel set made it come to mount very quickly and it was a pheasant and snipe blaster.

Browning made a 12 o/u citori that was a waterfowler gun, could take 3 and 1/2 inch shells too.
 
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If you start asking around about Red Labels you will find that people have a lot of problems with them - for sure a lot more problems than with Berettas or Brownings that are very common. I have a horror story Red Label in the gun cabinet that I refuse to sell anyone because I don't want anyone to have the POS and the headaches that come with it. Almost everyone I know that has owned one has had to send it back to the factory at least once. Mine was back several times for a variety of issues. Some are fine, but the problem rate is way higher than it should be.

I shoot mine well and it is a good handling gun, but what a POS.
 
I have only seen one Ruger SS O/U in the field. The kid that owned it could not hit any ducks with it using steel shot. He took it to the range and found the pattern with steel was large enough that anything smaller that a swan could fly through it at 40yds. He then tried heavy-shot and it turned into a shooter. Lead worked well, too for upland. He never found a steel load that shot out of that gun.

I have an old red label 20g made in the early 1980's. It is a great gun. I need to send it out to have tubes installed so that it is more than a grouse gun. It is a great grouse gun, though.

If you search for posts made by Tod and use ruger as a search term you will find the long old thread where he goes into the details on his gun problems. They are very good points to keep in mind when considering a red label.
 
My buddy has the 12 with 28" barrels, and loves it. He has added comp-n-chokes and had the ejectors replaced - but he likes more that his Benelli SBEII....
 
Harold,
I have a 30 inch 12 ga. It has had a bunch of rounds down the pipes. Very trim gun with a shallow action that points where I look.
It went home to NH for a broken stock I caused, dropping the gun in a case going out the door at 3:30 am. They replaced it and I still shoot it well.
A SS 20 would be able to take the weather for sure. But you still have to clean it.
For me I would not hesitate to consider the Cera Coat paint system for that gun so it would hide a bit better. I never liked the grey and shinny look weather the Rem\Mosberg marine pumps, rifles or the O\U.

Bob
 
Stood up for the prom, yep - over and over and over again. As everyone does, I have a threshold of tolerance for malfunctions - this is rightly related to the relative price of the object and it performance compared to its competition. My one Red Label fell far below that threshold, but everyone produces lemons now an again, I have tolerance for that. The thing with the Red Label is the vast numbers of folks that own them that have had malfunctions, far more than I would have ever expected and one of the reasons why I always push it.
 
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What have been common problems with the Ruger?
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Problems are the safety coming on between shots (not a big deal, but annoying and sometimes takes multipless trys for them to fix), they shoot loose (big problem), ejectors, and stocks break. I'd search Ruger Red Label on the search engine of your choice along with the terms: "Safety problem", "shoot loose", "ejector problem", and "broken stock".

All guns fail, but given the relative rarity of the Red Label and the abundance of problems they don't make sense for me.
 
I cut my "auto safety" rocker out because the gun is mostly shot at targets vs rounds used duck hunting. So never had it move unless I did it.
My gun hit the stairs hard enough to dent the choke tube and that had to be straightened back to round. No fault of any but me on the stock cracking because of a hit like that.

I have heard that the highly figured stocks without straight grain in the head, being thin in the cheeks, can crack but that trim shape is what makes the gun feel good in my hands. A trade for sure, but one I accept over some of the more boxy actions like the Citori. The stock needs straight grain in the head for any smaller hand grip, rifle or shotgun.

If I was going to put 5 to 10 thousand rounds down the guns barrels I would look at a gun with replaceable ears on the action, but Im not.

I really like the smaller frame red labels esp the 28. What a trim little gun.

I also really like the fact that the hammers are recoil less. Dont need the first barrel to fire to have the second go off like my SKB.
 
Harold,

Don't know if a 20 would be a good "go-to" gun in all ducking conditions, but you would know the types of shots you get in the situations you hunt in. I
have a Ruger 12 ga. Red Label O/U with a straight English stock that I really like; howerver, it does have a tendency to misfire if I use 3" loads (inertia trigger won't activate for the second barrel).

No issue with 2 3/4" loads, or a 2 3/4" in the first barrel selected, backed up by a 3 in the second. I am doing all my waterfowling with a 12ga. Ithaca/SKB SxS now, but one of my sons uses the Ruger for waterfowl using the 2 3/4 combination above.

View attachment 12309 037 (600 x 396).jpg

I believe I read a post by Hank Garvey addressing this same issue with Red Labels some years back. Supposedly Ruger was willing to take care of this problem, but I never looked into it or contacted Ruger. This gun also gets used at the skeet range quite a bit with no issues - but then again light 2 3/4 / 1oz. loads are being used. Issue seems to be with 3" duck or goose loads only.
 
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I had a Ruger 12 ga with 28" barrels, mid-80's vintage. Safety liked to kick back on after the first shot with any load greater than 1 1/4 oz or hot steel loads. It effectively made it a single shot gun for hunting. I had the auto safety disconnected and that fixed that. I them had problems with the ejectors. I sent it in to be fixed. It worked when it came back and I sold it. I've never had similar problems with my Brownings or my SKB 28 ga. I know people that love their Rugers, but I won't own another one
 
Hey Bob, I have the exact same gun. Sure is a good shooter for me.

As an aside... If you send it to Ruger they will fix it for no charge (other than shipping), they have fixed mine for that twice :). If you call them, as a warning they will also act like it is the first time they have ever heard of the problem and ask you if you are shooting hot reloads when you tell them it is with "heavy loads". Just ship it back and if you are lucky it will be fixed the first time.
 
I have a 12 ga Red Label, and love it. I did have one issue when I forgot the safety was ON (shooting clays), and quickly flipped the safety OFF and pulled the trigger at almost the same time. Something jammed internally, and it wouldn't open. Ruger's customer service was good; they fixed it free and paid shipping both ways. I now have approx 3000 rounds through it, and looks/feels/shoots like new.
 
Thanks to everyone ...your feedback helped a lot. I expected the 'passion' to show and I truly appreciated it ...bet that we would see the same passion if asked about what breed is the best duck dog (don't take that as an opening!).

Turns out that the gun was not a full stainless version. So, the search continues and I will use all of your thoughts in evaluating the next purchase.

Blessings to each of you this hunting season...

HC
 
I own one in 20ga that was made in the 80 and it has been a great gun but I have never duck hunted with it.I do have a friend that does hunt with a mid 80s 20ga Red label for the last twenty plus years and the gun is well used but he loves it.I do know hevi shot was is what he shoots from it because he could never get a Steal load that pattern good
 
I traded a 12 guage Citori that I didn't like for the Ruger Red Lable Sporting Clays model back around 1993. It is way too heavy for upland but has been a great waterfowl gun all these years. Finally after about 15 years that safety popping back on issue popped up.

I took it to my favorite gunsmith who is a good friend. He hates them. They look nice outside but inside is all cast parts. Anyway he replaced the spring and it continues to shoot well. For me if I hadn't talked to him about it or read Tod's post I would continue to believe I own the best waterfowl gun ever. As it is, it's a nicely balanced gun with pretty wood, shoots where I point it and has been trouble free for me, if you don't consider one easily fixed problem after fifteen years of hard use an issue. Sounds like I'm one of then lucky ones.

John
 
Harold, Let me begin by saying I don't own a Ruger, but I shoot a lot of skeet during the summer and most of the O/U's that you see are Berettas and Brownings with a smattering of SKB's. I have a Field Grade Citori Lightning that gets 100 to 200 rounds a week along with trips pheasant and duck hunting and has not had an issue in the 12 years I have owned it. 2 guys that I know of have Red Labels. One his my brother-in-law, the other a teen who bought a used one at a local gun store. Both have had issues with the second barrel not firing on doubles. Could be that they don't clean the guns often enough or that they aren't releasing the trigger enough between shots, I don't know. I do know that they have more issues than I or the other guys who are shooting Brownings or Berettas are having. If it was me, I'd go for the White Onyx that you mentioned or find a used Citori. I think you will me happier in the long run. Just my 2 cents worth.
Ron
 
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