Musing,, Our Ruger collecting world

[contender]

I was relaxing yesterday,, as I was mentally tweaking my upcoming ROCS/OGCA display, and my mind wandered a bit.

There are some truly great folks who are serious collectors of Rugers. And even more "accumulators" of Rugers & such. But i got to wondering about the future of Ruger collecting.
What does it take to get more younger folks into collecting & preserving the history of Rugers?

We have ROCS,, the RCA,, & the RENE.

We USED to have great factory support in the "letters" easily available to us.

Due to the very hard work by many,, a LOT of true, detailed history of Sturm, Ruger & Co. has been documented & preserved. Chad, Don, John to name a few with their books & diligence.

But I see little things still popping up that were either unknown, or hard to get a provenance on. For a collector like me,, uncovering an item that wasn't known about,, yet is "out there" is always exciting. The Starrett dial indicator, or the "break spoon" tool, or whatever,, allows me to keep chasing stuff.

But I also see a severe lack of interest in younger people to get involved in collecting,, or heck,, do like most of us did. We usually started by being an accumulator,, until we slowly slid into focusing on collecting. I tell people all the time; "Just do what you enjoy. Share with others, and most of all, embrace the passion!"
I know younger people who are actually productive people,, find that they can't afford a lot of stuff due to life's expenses. (Wife, house, kids, cars, groceries, etc) but I also encourage them to start with just what they can afford. I relate how I had a desire LONG ago,, yet my pocketbook was always empty or had very little. But I'd find affordable things like the memorabilia or catalog collecting. I discovered that by chasing the older catalogs,, I LEARNED a lot more about Rugers. And by buying a few books,, my knowledge expanded. That allowed me to squeeze my blood to get the money sometimes to buy a gun or whatever that was not easily found. To that end,, I TRY, & TRY to get younger folks into appreciating what we now know as Ruger Collecting.

I've watched people walk by our stunning displays at our shows,, & you can see their eyes glaze over. But I've also seen some of them slow down,, look & study a bit closer the treasures we have found & are sharing with them. When they stop & ask questions,, I smile inside as I try to educate them & share our passion for all things Ruger.

But what more can we do?

How can we expand our appreciation for the working man's firearms, and related items?

Heck,, how can we kick start some of these casual "accumulators" into actually building a display & sharing what THEY find enjoyable about THEIR Ruger stuff?

I guess I'm just openly musing over the future of our beloved appreciation for what Bill Ruger started.

[T.A. Workman]

Good post !!

[Fargolimo]

What a great post for all of us. Being a new Ruger guy, I can relate to this very well. My first thought of even buying another Ruger was at the Tulsa show about 3 1/2 years ago when I walked by the Ruger display in November and was trying to process all of the cool stuff that was there. I had 1 Ruger, a bi-cenntennial Ruger 10-22 that I purchased when I was managing a Scheel's sport shop in St. Cloud, Mn. One of our wholesaler's, (Our Own Hardware), was in a pickle with over 100 of these in stock for way too long and I bought all of them and distributed them to our Fargo stores and mine in St. Cloud. Until I walked by that display, I had no intention of buying another, even though it was one of my favorite rimfire rifles to shoot!

More to the point, some old dude in a straw cowboy hat started a conversation with me, (I believe he was a potato farmer in wisconsin) , and the rest was history for me. That day and the next, I purchased a crazy amount of stuff from Steve Adamson and Bill Hamm, and of course met Mr. Findley, and purchased the books that he had available. Although the items I purchased were special, it was the fellowship that developed from all of the Ruger people there that made it special for me. I think it is so important to have this community of collectors with sales tables next to the non-sale displays, and to have very friendly engagements with anyone that shows interest.

What a priviledge it has been for me to communicate with these historic Ruger figures, and many of these have turned into very genuine friendships where we look out for each others interests. Do we realize that the contributions to the sport of Ruger collecting by names like Don Findley, John Dougan, Chad Hiddleson etc. have made the collecting of Ruger's even possible. How blessed we are that they are available on the forums, and in some cases directly, to engage us with the myriad questions we all have.

The difficulty for any type of collecting will be the funds that anyone has available, in any period of time the younger generation will not be the main component of collecting as they will be focused on school, getting a great job, and probably starting a family. This alone will consume them, (except some of the business owners and professional folks), until their 40's and 50's. At that point, with a life well lived they will have some disposable income that can be dedicated to something they are passionate about.

I guess the only real point of this lengthy spiel is that my engagement in this crazy Ruger world was more about the people initially, had I not had such a friendly and educational experience on that trip walking past the Ruger displays, I would be elsewhere!

Bill

[gunman42782]

It really seems to me the younger folks these days could care less about the old guns, the single actions, the Standard Auto and MK 1. If it isn't "tacti-cool", they don't seem to be interested. It's a rare younger person I ever meet that show much interest in anything that isn't semi-auto. Even my own son, who is 40, and grew up listening to me bloviating about all things Ruger, could really care less. I guess it just takes a certain kind of person to even be interested.

[contender]

I agree that many of the younger folks seem to prefer a semi-auto whatever. The "tacticool" type of stuff. I see it a lot in USPSA matches & such. In fact,, a few years ago,, I was working the NC Sectional match,, and between squads,, 3 other guys I was working with,, all were discussing their preferred handguns & crowing about how accurate they were. They were talking about the modifications & such they have done etc. I casually asked them how they judged accuracy,, such as "at what distance?" The reply was in the 15-20 yd distance.
And I asked what size of grouping they expected? They were saying "3"-4" or "all in the A-Zone."
I started chuckling a bit.
I asked if they ever shot a handgun at 50 yds, or 100 yds or further.
All 3,, a resounding "No."
One even said "Nobody shoots a handgun at 100 yds!"
I then asked; "Do you or anyone you know HUNT with a handgun?"
Again,, a "No."

I then tried to educate them a little. I explained that there is a sport called International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Shooting." Where handguns are used out to 200 meters, to knock over 50 lb steel ram targets.
The blank & confused states were unanimous.

Then I told them of how I handgun hunt,, and often took whitetails in excess of 50-100 yds with a handgun. The confused looks changed to dis-belief. One of them said "BS!"
I casually offered them a bet. I pulled ot my wallet, and laid it on the table,, saying; "I have $500 here. I have a .357 Maximum in my truck,, & we can go to a 100 yds rifle range here at this club,, after the match closes today. And if I do not get a 5" group at 100 yds, I'll give you the $500. But if I do,, I want $100 from y'all."
They didn't want to accept my challenge.

My point being,, they OBVIOUSLY had never been introduced to serious handgunning. They had zero experience in anything other than the "action games."

I tried to offer a bit of insight into real handgunning & such. Only one of the guys seemed to show any form of interest.


But,, at my range,, I'm always talking about shooting a handgun at 100 yds & such. I've taken several of the USPSA shooters here & allowed them to try a revolver at 100 yds after a match. When they ring a 12" gong at 100 yds on their first or second shot,, (where I've instructed them a bit,) the looks of amazement, or satisfaction are quite evident.
AND,, I've gone as far as talking about not just shooting USPSA,, but look at getting into a serious study of other types of handguns & uses. To INCLUDE collecting & such.

I try & try.

It's a little thing,, but to overcome the lack of knowledge by actually sharing, showing & such,, is HOW we can get others involved. Our display shows are but one (excellent) way to share our love & passion for Rugers & such.
We need to invite others to see our stuff,,, let them experience something different. And maybe,, just maybe,, we'll get others to carry on the fun we have here.

[RoninPA]

Really great first post by contender and great replies. I have told people on different forums in the past that I try to build my displays not to just show some of my collection (I try to change my display each year to show my different Rugers) but show some Rugers that people don't necessarily recognize (many have told me after seeing my displays, "I didn't know Ruiger made double action revolvers") and that allows me to educate them. I WANT show goers to approach me and ask questions, I think that is what the other Rugers displayers also want, the ability to discuss Rugers, the history, and everything else. I've had people walk by my display, stop, turn around come back and point and tell the person(s) with them, hey, I used to carry one of those when I worked at ... That gets things started. Others come by an ask how much is my gun worth, If I can't give them a good answer, I find the Ruger displayer who is an expert on that model and either go get that person or direct the questioner to them. Many times they will come back to me and thank me for helping them. (And many times I or another Ruger collector wind up with something we have wanted/needed)

I see many new collectors say "I only have this, my display would look crummy against all these big displays. I thought that one time and contender told me, "Ron, just do it, show what you have, NO ONE will criticize you, in fact they will probably offer you hints and tips to help you. Example, my wife finally heeded my prodding and started displaying. She started with 1 gun (now up to 3) and her display is "My First Rugers". She gets a LOT of ladies that stop by to talk to her and ask questions - this is what we want, get people interested enough and they will take it from there (hopefully).

SO, 1 gun, 10 guns or 100 guns, pick your favorites and build a display. Need help?, make a posting here on ROCS and you will get more assistance than you could ever believe. I don't think I'm far from wrong in saying Ruger Owners and Collectors are a big family and family helps family.

[KWend54]

I understand the concern voiced in the posts here in regard to the future of collecting Ruger's. But, not only Ruger's, any old guns or collectible item we grew up with. I looked at the people in attendance at Tulsa and the vast majority were old guys my age. What is going to happen to all this history and knowledge? Where are the 20 year olds or the Dads bringing their teen age sons to the gun show? Why don't the younger generations have the passion I did for guns? Most of us had a deep respect for our Dads & Granddads or at least had a mentor that we admired, looked up to and sometimes tried to emulate. That was often times admiring the things they treasured or valued. We wanted what our Dads had. I don’t see that nowadays.
Old guns and collectibles just don’t hold the interest of the generations behind us….its all black guns.
Not sure how it will all play out…I enjoy the rare stuff I have and admire its history but also have the sad realization that when I’m gone very few will care or appreciate its value. I am not talking about monetary value but historical value. I try hard to get family, friends and anybody that shows an interest to understand the historical value for the old Winchesters, Colts and Ruger's that I have, but the younger generations sadly don't value the same things we do.

[Ruger8r]

This is a great thread about something I've been thinking a lot about lately, too. It is the big question for all of us as we age and see the appreciation for old guns seem to wane. Different times, for sure.

I wasn't able to afford the money or the time for collecting until I retired. A good friend that I traded with gave me a 3-digit Deerstalker and I was hooked on Rugers. This forum became my hobby home and all the great resources available here are truly appreciated.

My optimistic view is that these things are cyclical and that, eventually, the quality and beauty of old firearms will draw people back in. What's old is new again.

I try to educate young guys at FFLs that DROS guns for me and some are genuinely interested in learning about my old guns. But one soul at a time is not going to get the word out. I think we need to get some gun writers in current, popular publications to profile collector organizations, like ROCS, and the guns we collect, in feature articles. I guess maybe we could use a press agent.

Anyhow, fascinating stuff and an important conversation.

[t.hinckley]

I agree that there are many of the younger generation that do not care about the old guns, but I think part of the responsibility for that falls on us. My son is 18 years old, he loves shooting my old single actions, he also loves shooting the various rifles I own and if asked to pic guns for a range trip, the AR's are going to be last on his list. It even goes so far that he has already "tagged" guns he wants in the eventual (hopefully a long time from now) demise.

[chet15]

To me, Ruger collecting has always been a treasure hunt.
If the younger generation truly knew what was still out there amongst the masses, finding some of that treasure might actually turn into a quest.
I still go by the idea that roughly 80% of the rarest Rugers are still out there waiting to be found. With the unicorn factory engraved Single-Six, maybe only 55% of that highly visible "presentation" gun are known today, so the other 45% are still out there for somebody to stumble upon!
My favorite recent history lesson is on the Number 1 non-prefix. Those collectible guns can literally still be found in the $1,200 to $1,400 range for 98% guns in the most common calibers while a NIB current production Number 1 probably sells for $2,200 to $2,400. You literally cannot go wrong by getting into non prefix Number 1's, especially since those 8,000+ non prefix guns were produced in around 80 different caliber/forearm/sight/barrel contour configurations. Every caliber/configuration is at least scarce, and most of those 80 are downright rare!! So for me... if I were looking for a shooter, I would get after a firearm that not only shoots, but will have guaranteed collector interest/collector value down the road.
Chet15