The love/hate I have with Ruger.

I love Ruger, you know that? I also hate Ruger... Of course, many people have heard of the compromises that Bill Ruger suggested and advocated many times, resulting in legislation directly opposed to the desires of the responsible gun owner. That's not the issue at hand for me. It was unfortunate, it wasn't good, we should take it as a lesson on compromise, but we can't go back in time and it doesn't affect how I feel about Sturm, Ruger & Co. now. However, I really feel like Ruger could be 2 separate companies, a good one and a crappy one.

HATE

The hate-side company is a company so frightened of litigation that they take relatively well thought out and well built designs and cover them in safeties. They're like a car company that tries so hard to "protect their customers" that they add multiple remote shut off methods and a GPS system that doesn't allow you to travel over the speed limit... ever. Ruger's contemporary pistol designs have SOOO many overdeveloped safety features. It's like they don't want you to be able to fire them.

A thumb safety alone is not a deal breaker, but the fact that they refuse to even consider creating a model without one is asinine. It holds them back in the conceal carry market for sure and likely hurts their case in competition for LE contracts as well in some cases.

Most horrifically, they make every single one of their modern pistol designs with a magazine disconnect safety. That's a huge issue for me. I will never purchase a handgun with one of these if I have a choice. There is 1 very improbable situation where this could be a benefit (release the magazine if you believe a gun is about to be taken from you, leaving it inert in the hands of your attacker.) However, off the top of my head, I can think of several far more realistic cases where you could be put in danger from this "feature". Accidentally discharging the magazine as you attempt to draw in a high stress situation, something knocking into the mag release while in a lady's purse causing her to draw a useless gun, or the need to suddenly and unexpectedly fire the gun while performing a tactical reload.

On top of the 2 big no-nos above, there are other minor issues along the same lines. The GINORMOUS loaded chamber indicators they like to use. The inexplicable added "feature" of locking the slide forward when the thumb safety is engaged. The remarkably long trigger press on the LC9.

LOVE

The Ruger that I love is an American company, producing popular designs at VERY competitive prices. They don't produce a million different variations of every product because they don't want to mess with the original design and they know it was done well.

Their revolvers are very well built (SP101 is on the EDG list...) at an affordable price point. When you compare a Ruger revolver to a Smith and Wesson for example, you are going to be getting a product with AT LEAST the durability, and similar quality of function, but for hundreds of dollars less (Compare a GP100 to a mid-size frame Smith in .357).

The Ruger SR1911 is probably one of the best values in the vast 1911 market. Competitive in pricing to low end models from other primarily 1911 making companies, the Ruger is a well built and in my opinion a particularly visually attractive example of the design for the cost. More interesting still is the fact that Ruger chose to go with a "70 series" design, leaving off the additional (and unnecessary with proper engineering) Schwartz firing pin safety. Something that would seem right at home with the many safeties packed onto their modern designs.

Ruger's SR556 and SR762 are another set of well priced and well built examples of a popular design. Both are piston driven AR platform rifles in their respective calibers. Considering the premium normally attached to the additional engineering and manufacturing associated with the more reliable piston system, the pricing on the Ruger ARs is very competitive.

I could go on about the Mini-14 and Mini-30, the 10/22 and its variants, the Ruger American, the Ruger No. 1, and on and on. But you see where I'm going.

So... am I crazy? Or does it seem like there are completely different companies running the long guns and "traditional" pistols versus the modern polymer pistol designs at Ruger? It's to the point that I never know quite how to feel for liking a new Ruger model. They are great machines, but I feel dirty wanting to give my money to the same company with magazine disconnect safeties everywhere...