Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc., better known by the shortened name Ruger, is an American firearm manufacturing company based in Southport, Connecticut, with production facilities also in

Newport, New Hampshire Newport is a New England town, town in and the county seat of Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. It is west-northwest of Concord, New Hampshire, Concord, the state capital. The population of Newport was 6,299 at the 2020 United States ...

; Mayodan, North Carolina; and

Prescott, Arizona Prescott ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. As of 2020 United States census, 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona Territory, r ...

. The company was founded in 1949 by

Alexander McCormick Sturm Alexander McCormick Sturm (June 23, 1923 – November 16, 1951) was an American artist, author, and entrepreneur who co-founded in 1949 the American firearms maker Sturm, Ruger & Co. Sturm provided the start-up money and designed the Germanic h ...

and William B. Ruger and has been publicly traded since 1969. Ruger produces

bolt-action Bolt action is a type of manual Action (firearms), firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the bolt (firearms), turn-bolt via a cocking handle, bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (a ...

, semi-automatic, and

single-shot rifle In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have ...

semi-automatic pistol A semi-automatic pistol (also called a self-loading pistol, autopistol, or autoloading pistol) is a repeating firearm, repeating handgun that automatically ejects and loads cartridge (firearms), cartridges in its chamber (firearms), chamber afte ...

s, and single- and double-action

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

s. According to the ATF statistics for 2022, Ruger is the largest firearm manufacturer in the United States, surpassing

Smith & Wesson Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. (S&W) is an American Firearms manufacturer, firearm manufacturer headquartered in Maryville, Tennessee, United States. Smith & Wesson was founded by Horace Smith (inventor), Horace Smith and Daniel B. Wesson as the ...

History

Sturm, Ruger & Company was founded by William B. Ruger and

in 1949 in a small rented machine shop in

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Just prior to their partnership, Bill Ruger had successfully duplicated two Japanese "baby" Nambu pistols in his garage, from a captured Nambu that he acquired from a returning Marine, at the close of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. When it came to designing the Company's first product, Bill Ruger designed a semi-auto

pistol A pistol is a type of handgun, characterised by a gun barrel, barrel with an integral chamber (firearms), chamber. The word "pistol" derives from the Middle French ''pistolet'' (), meaning a small gun or knife, and first appeared in the Englis ...

that incorporated the looks of the German 9mm

Luger P08 The Pistole Parabellum or Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), commonly known as just the Luger or Luger P08, is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The Luger was produced in several models and by several nations from 1 ...

and the American

Colt Woodsman The Colt Woodsman is a semi-automatic sporting pistol manufactured by the U.S. Colt's Manufacturing Company from 1915 to 1977. It was designed by John Moses Browning. The frame design changed over time, in three distinct series: series one being ...

into their first commercially produced .22 caliber pistol (see Ruger Standard), which became so successful that it launched the entire company. Ruger is a dominant manufacturer in the .22 LR rimfire

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

market in the U.S., due primarily to the sales of its Ruger 10/22 semiautomatic rifle. The 10/22 is very popular due to its reputation for being relatively inexpensive and of high quality. As a result, a wealth of after-market accessories and parts were made available for it, which has further increased its popularity. Ruger similarly dominates the .22 rimfire

market with the Ruger Mark IV, a descendant of the Ruger Standard pistol. Like the 10/22, the Mark Series is supported with a wide variety of after-market accessories. The 22/45 is similar to the Ruger Standard family of pistols but features a different grip angle, that of the Colt 1911 (as opposed to that of a Luger utilized in the Ruger Standard). Ruger is also renowned for the production of high-quality revolvers, such as the GP100 and Redhawk lines. They also have some presence in the semi-auto pistol market, with the SR1911 and SR22 lines of handguns. From 1949 through 2004, Ruger manufactured over 20 million firearms. The company is headquartered in Southport, Connecticut, and maintains manufacturing facilities in

, and Mayodan, North Carolina. Ruger's subsidiaries are Ruger Precision Metals LLC in

Earth City, Missouri Earth City is an unincorporated commercial area located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, along Interstate 70, near the Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, M ...

, Pine Tree Castings in Newport, New Hampshire, and Ruger Sportswear & Accessories in Mayodan, North Carolina. Ruger's Pine Tree Castings division makes ferrous,

ductile Ductility refers to the ability of a material to sustain significant plastic deformation before fracture. Plastic deformation is the permanent distortion of a material under applied stress, as opposed to elastic deformation, which is reversi ...

iron, and commercial

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

castings. Ruger had a division known as Ruger Golf, making steel and titanium castings for

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety o ...

s made by a number of different brands in the 1990s. Sturm, Ruger stock has been publicly traded since 1969 and became a

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

company in 1990 (NYSE:RGR). After Alex Sturm's death in 1951, William B. Ruger continued to direct the company until his death in 2002. In September 2020, the company bought the

Marlin Firearms Marlin Firearms is an American firearms manufacturer, manufacturer of semi-automatic firearm, semi-automatic, lever-action and bolt-action rifles. In the past the company (based in Madison, North Carolina and formerly based in North Haven, Conne ...

company from bankrupt Remington Outdoor Company. Just one year after the acquisition of Marlin, Ruger introduced the first Ruger-made Marlin lever-action rifle, the Model 1895 SBL. In 2024, Ruger celebrated their 75th anniversary.

Statistics

Ruger was ranked the number one U.S. firearms manufacturer from 2008 to 2011. In 2011, Ruger manufactured 1,114,687 firearms, as their promotion, the "Million Gun Challenge to Benefit the NRA", played a significant role in the company maintaining its top U.S. manufacturer status. The company has set a new goal of 2 million firearms produced per year. From 2009 to 2012, Ruger was the top-seller of

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

Products

Ruger breaks down its products into nine categories: *

bolt-action rifle Bolt action is a type of manual firearm action that is operated by ''directly'' manipulating the turn-bolt via a bolt handle, most commonly placed on the right-hand side of the firearm (as most users are right-handed). The majority of b ...

s * autoloading rifles * lever-action rifles *

s *

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

s * centerfire pistols * rimfire pistols * double-action revolvers * single-action revolvers

Rifles

Bolt-action rifles

* Hawkeye * Ruger Scout Rifle * 77-Series * Ruger American Rifle * Ruger American Rimfire * Ruger Precision Rifle * Ruger Precision Rimfire * Ruger American Rifle Generation II * Ruger M77 (discontinued)

Autoloading rifles

* 10/22 *

Mini-14 The Mini-14 is a lightweight semi-automatic rifle manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co. Introduced in 1973, the design was outwardly similar to the M14 rifle and is, in appearance, a scaled-down version chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO, though with its ...

* Mini Thirty * SFAR * PC carbine * LC carbine * AR-556 * SR-556 (discontinued) * SR-762 (discontinued) * Deerfield carbine (discontinued) * XGI (not produced: development halted) * Police carbine (discontinued) * Model 44 (discontinued) * 10/17 (discontinued)

Lever-action rifles

* Model 96 (96/44, 96/22 and 96/17 discontinued)

Single-shot rifles

* No. 1 * No. 3 (discontinued)

Shotguns (discontinued)

* Gold Label (discontinued) * Red Label (discontinued)

Submachine guns (discontinued)

* MP9 (discontinued)

Handguns

Centerfire pistols

* Ruger American Pistol * Security-9 *

Ruger MAX-9 * EC9s * SR1911 * LCP II * LCP Max * LC380 * Ruger-5.7 * Security-380 * PC Charger * LC Charger * LCP II in .380 auto (discontinued) * LC9 (discontinued) * LC9s (discontinued) * Hawkeye (discontinued) * P-Series (discontinued) * SR-Series (discontinued) * Ruger RXM (based on the 3rd generation Glock G19)

Rimfire pistols

* Mark IV * LCP II in .22 LR * 22 Charger * SR22 *

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

(MK I) (discontinued) * MK II (discontinued) * MK III / 22/45 (discontinued)