I purchased a couple Ruger MPR 556 rifles when they were on sale a couple months ago. A close friend was having a birthday and I decided to gift them one of these rifles as an upgrade to their current M4gery. So, I open the box and go to grab the rifle so I can do a quick confirmation of the serial number and….
The Magpul pistol grip comes off in my hand.
WTF? Somehow this thing left the factory with no grip screw or grip screw washer. That’s not nice. Fortunately I had other MPR’s to fall back on. I wrote off an email to Ruger politely suggesting that they might wanna have a talk with whoever is supposed to inspect these things before they leave the factory, and to please send me, at no charge, the missing parts.
And now I have to go grab my USMC TM for the M16 and find their checklist of what to inspect and verify when getting a rifle warmed up for service.
I am a bit of a Ruger fanboy, and every manufacturer sometimes has something slip past the goalie, but it’s still a bit alarming when it does. Now I have to detail inspect everything on that rifle to make sure the grip screw wasn’t the only problem.
Still a Ruger fan, though.
I’m a big Ruger fan also. I have a number of Ruger rifles and pistols and the only problem I ever had was with a GP-100 in 357mag. It was the first year of manufacture for them. Every now and then the cylinder would lock up and the gun couldn’t be fired. The cylinder would not rotate without significant force applied to the hammer and trigger. I took that gun apart over a dozen times trying to find out the problem. Each time I reassembled it, it would work well for a while and then jam up again. Finally I got fed up and when it jammed again I sent it back to Ruger with a full explanation of was happening. About 4 weeks later I got the gun back with a very nicely written letter (somewhat tongue in cheek) from a service tech telling me that the reason I couldn’t find the problem was that I was fixing it without knowing it. Apparently, the powder I was using, Herc 2400, was not burning completely and some particles were getting under the star extractor and not allowing it to sit flush with the cylinder. So when closed it would jam. Now he never quite called me an idiot, and I was laughing pretty hard at his wording of the corrective action required. But his letter ensured that I never had that problem again. Ahh, I was so young! I sold that Ruger, and my friends son still has it and shoots it to this day. Fast forward to 2020 or so when I purchased a GP-100 Match in 10mm and low and behold, an insert in the manual cautions the new owner about how to clean under the extractor if the action becomes stiff! I chuckled quite a bit reading that. You live and learn. So That is my Ruger horror story! TTFN
File it under shit happens.
likely lost the safety detent and spring too.