Ruger Firearms

How Its Made
RugerFirearms

Tam posted a link to a hipster's review of the Ruger P89 semiautomatic handgun. To my mind, Ruger has always been 'one of the other gun companies', meaning they weren't Colt or Smith & Wesson or Winchester. And somehow their guns just weren't as sexy as the ones from the big three. Can guns really be sexy? I think it's just another way of saying 'pretty'. 

Ruger Blackhawk

For instance, I never liked the way the Blackhawk looked with that rear sight hanging out like that, looks like it could easily snag on something and break off. Never mind that Ruger might know what they are doing.

Anyway, on to the main point of this post.

Ruger makes their guns by casting as opposed to forging. Casting is simpler and therefore cheaper than forging, which means Ruger can sell their guns for less. If it's done right, cast parts can be as strong as forged parts, though it generally means the cast parts will be slightly thicker than their forged counterparts, which means they will also be slightly heavier, which brings us to this line from the hipster's review:

The P89 makes “kerchunk” feel like a lifestyle choice.

Ruger has done a whole series of short videos on how they make their guns. They are great. If the video at top doesn't automatically lead to the next one, the whole playlist can be found here.