The Ruger Gold Label was a side-by-side
double-barreled shotgun
A double-barreled shotgun is a break-action shotgun with two parallel barrels, allowing two single shots to be fired in quick succession or simultaneously.
Construction
Modern double-barreled shotguns, often known as ''doubles'', are almost u ...
that was made by
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Incorporated, at their manufacturing facility in
Newport, New Hampshire
Newport is a town in and the county seat of Sullivan County, New Hampshire, United States. It is west-northwest of Concord, the state capital. The population of Newport was 6,299 at the 2020 census. A covered bridge is in the northwest. The area ...
. It was designed to be similar to traditional English shotguns used for
upland bird hunting and for
clay target
Clay pigeon shooting, also known as clay target shooting, is a shooting sport involving shooting a firearm at special flying targets known as clay pigeons, or clay targets.
The terminology commonly used by clay shooters often relates to time ...
games such as
sporting clays
Sporting clays is a form of clay pigeon shooting, often described as "golf with a shotgun" because a typical course includes from 10 to 15 different shooting stations laid out over natural terrain. For safety, the course size is often no smaller ...
.
Features
The Gold Label has a stainless steel
receiver and blued
barrels
A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...
. The
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
and fore-end are made of AAA-grade American walnut. At 6½ pounds, the Gold Label is relatively lightweight for a double barreled shotgun.
Equipped with a single
trigger
Trigger may refer to:
Notable animals and people
;Mononym
* Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers
;Nickname
* Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist
* "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster
;Surname
* Bru ...
, a barrel selector mechanism is used to choose whether the left or right barrel fires first. The second shot can be fired even if the first shot was a misfire and the shotgun has not
recoil
Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force requ ...
ed. The barrel selector is combined with the manual
safety
Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk.
Meanings
There are ...
and is located at the top rear of the receiver, behind the top lever. Opening the
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
automatically engages the safety mechanism.
Only produced in 12
gauge
Gauge ( or ) may refer to:
Measurement
* Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments
* Gauge (firearms)
* Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire
** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...
, the
chambers
Chambers may refer to:
Places
Canada:
*Chambers Township, Ontario
United States:
*Chambers County, Alabama
* Chambers, Arizona, an unincorporated community in Apache County
* Chambers, Nebraska
* Chambers, West Virginia
* Chambers Township, Hol ...
are three inches in length, to accommodate either 2¾ inch or 3 inch
shells. The Gold Label uses screw-in choke tubes that are steel shot compatible.
Models
There are two models of Gold Label. One has an American style pistol grip stock. The other has an English style straight grip stock. Both models have a splinter style fore-end.
The Gold Label was produced from 2004 to 2006 and has not been produced since. While the shotgun was still pictured in Ruger's 2008 Catalog, it was listed as "current production sold out, anticipate availability in 2009." According to most reports, the Gold Label will not be produced again due to its high cost of manufacturing.
Awards
In 2002, the Gold Label was named Shotgun of the Year by ''Shooting Industry News''. In 2005, it won the "Golden Bullseye" Shotgun of the Year award from ''
American Rifleman
''American Rifleman'' is a United States-based monthly shooting and firearms interest publication, owned by the National Rifle Association (NRA). It is the 33rd-most-widely-distributed consumer magazine and the NRA's primary magazine. The magaz ...
'' magazine.
Notes
External links
Ruger Gold Label official websiteRuger Gold Label Instruction Manual
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Sturm, Ruger & Company
Double-barreled shotguns of the United States