WEBVTT - The $50,000 Bet That Became Ruger Firearms

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<v Speaker 1>And we continue here on our American stories. Ruger is

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<v Speaker 1>the biggest gun manufacturer in the country, and it's not

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<v Speaker 1>by accident. In the words of William Ruger, each firearm

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<v Speaker 1>is built quote to a standard, so I would want

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<v Speaker 1>one even if it was made by our competitors. Here

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<v Speaker 1>to tell this American story is Logan Metish. Logan is

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<v Speaker 1>a firearms historian, a museum professional who runs High Caliber

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<v Speaker 1>History LLC. Here's Logan.

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<v Speaker 2>The timing really couldn't have been better for William Ruger

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<v Speaker 2>when he and Alexander Stern became business partners in January

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<v Speaker 2>of nineteen forty nine. Ruger had been making hand tools

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<v Speaker 2>for the previous few years, but unfortunately business was not

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<v Speaker 2>going well for him. He found himself forty thousand dollars

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<v Speaker 2>in debt and he was pretty much ready to close

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<v Speaker 2>up shop when he showed Storm a prototype of something

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<v Speaker 2>that he was working on, which harkened back to his

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<v Speaker 2>earlier days with military arms development. So Sterm liked what

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<v Speaker 2>he saw and agreed to bankroll the project with fifty

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<v Speaker 2>thousand dollars in seed money, and just like that, those

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<v Speaker 2>two men began laying the foundation for what would become

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<v Speaker 2>one of the largest firearm companies in the United States.

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<v Speaker 2>But in order to get there, you have to realize

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<v Speaker 2>where they came from. So let's start with William Ruger.

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<v Speaker 2>His dad was a lawyer and his mother was from

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<v Speaker 2>a family that owned a successful chain of department stores.

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<v Speaker 2>As an interesting aside, his great grandfather was actually a

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<v Speaker 2>drummer boy at the Battle of Waterloo in eighteen fifteen. Anyway,

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<v Speaker 2>so Bill Ruger had always been interested in firearms and

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<v Speaker 2>tinkering with designs, and very mechanically inclined. In fact, he

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<v Speaker 2>patented his first machine gun when he was just sixteen

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<v Speaker 2>years old, with the help of his aunt, who had

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<v Speaker 2>set him up with a college fund. He ended up

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<v Speaker 2>going to the University of North Carolina, where he continued

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<v Speaker 2>to work on arms designs, specifically a blow forward style

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<v Speaker 2>machine gun. While he was in college, he met a

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<v Speaker 2>girl named Mary Thompson. She was from a well healed

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<v Speaker 2>family there in North Carolina, and they got married in

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen thirty eight. Bill was just finishing up his sophomore

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<v Speaker 2>year of college, but when he got married, he quit

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<v Speaker 2>and the two of them promptly took off for a

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<v Speaker 2>three month long European honeymoon. Once back in the States,

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<v Speaker 2>Bill continued to work on developing different firearms designs, and

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<v Speaker 2>one of the things he started to do was tinker

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<v Speaker 2>with an existing design. He took a Savage Model ninety

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<v Speaker 2>nine lever action rifle and converted it into a gas operated,

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<v Speaker 2>self loading repeating rifle, and rightly so, he was pretty

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<v Speaker 2>darn proud of his work. So he took it to

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<v Speaker 2>New York City and demonstrated it to the executives at

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<v Speaker 2>Savage and found himself rather baffled when they weren't absolutely

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<v Speaker 2>astounded with what he had done. You know, he was

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<v Speaker 2>hoping they would buy the design and bring him on

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<v Speaker 2>board as a designer and offer him a job, but

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<v Speaker 2>that just wasn't the case. So Bill found himself with

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<v Speaker 2>a young wife, a newborn son, Bill Junior, an empty

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<v Speaker 2>inheritance coffer, and no job. So he went back down

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<v Speaker 2>to North Carolina, and as luck would have it, he

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<v Speaker 2>ended up getting a telegram that offered him a job

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<v Speaker 2>at Springfield Armory in Springfield, Massachusetts for thirty two dollars

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<v Speaker 2>and fifty cents a week. It was really not something

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<v Speaker 2>he was in a position to pass up, so he

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<v Speaker 2>took the job, but he didn't stay there for terribly long.

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<v Speaker 2>He ended up quitting in the spring of nineteen forty.

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<v Speaker 2>He quit because he didn't want to end up like

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<v Speaker 2>John Garrand, who he felt was treated like a mechanical

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<v Speaker 2>toy and was paid what he felt to be a

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<v Speaker 2>mediocre salary for all of his contributions, which is really

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<v Speaker 2>saying something, because John Garrand is, of course one of

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<v Speaker 2>the greatest arms designers of the twentieth century, and you

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<v Speaker 2>and I and anyone else in the gun world would

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<v Speaker 2>consider it an honor to end up like John Garrand,

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<v Speaker 2>but not Bill Ruger. That was not good enough for him.

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<v Speaker 2>He aspired to hire things, so he went and continued

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<v Speaker 2>refocusing his efforts on his machine gun designs, and he

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<v Speaker 2>pitched the idea to Smith and Wesson. They turned him down,

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<v Speaker 2>but they did offer him a job. They saw him

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<v Speaker 2>his potential as a designer, and Smith and Wesson offered

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<v Speaker 2>him a job for seventy five dollars a week, which

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<v Speaker 2>was a nice pay bomp, obviously, but Bill's pride kind

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<v Speaker 2>of got in the way and he rejected it, and

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<v Speaker 2>on down the road he went to another gun company,

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<v Speaker 2>this time High Standard. They weren't interested, but they told

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<v Speaker 2>him again to head on down the road and try

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<v Speaker 2>his luck with Auto Ordinance. So Bill went over to

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<v Speaker 2>Auto Ordinance, and a little while later they ended up

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<v Speaker 2>hiring him as an arms designer, and his pay was

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<v Speaker 2>somewhere around one hundred dollars a week. So he took

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<v Speaker 2>that job around the beginning of World War Two, and

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<v Speaker 2>he stayed on as an arms designer for them until

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<v Speaker 2>the end of the war in nineteen forty five. By

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen forty six, Bill had gone into business for himself.

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<v Speaker 2>He always wanted to be self employed and have the

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<v Speaker 2>freedom to do his own thing and design his own stuff,

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<v Speaker 2>and so that's exactly what he did with the Ruger Corporation.

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<v Speaker 2>They were making hand tools and small industrial parts, and

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<v Speaker 2>also he was working on his design for a twenty

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<v Speaker 2>two caliber pistol. But unfortunately, like I'd mentioned earlier on,

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<v Speaker 2>business wasn't doing so well. The whole hand tool concept

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<v Speaker 2>was a good idea, but it was proving too pricey

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<v Speaker 2>for the market. So by nineteen forty nine Bill was

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<v Speaker 2>basically flat broke when he met Alexander Stern. Now Storm

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<v Speaker 2>was an interesting guy. He was a legacy Yale graduate

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<v Speaker 2>and like Bill was from a well to do family

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<v Speaker 2>and was always sporting custom tailored clothes and taking weekend

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<v Speaker 2>trips to New York City, and while the rest of

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<v Speaker 2>his Yale classmates ate at the cafeteria on campus, he

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<v Speaker 2>dined at the finest restaurants in the hotels in the

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<v Speaker 2>local area. He was kind of a renaissance man. He

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<v Speaker 2>dabbled in a little bit of everything, including writing, acting, painting, filmmaking,

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<v Speaker 2>and he was also a big time collector of all

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<v Speaker 2>sorts of different things which just happened to be firearms.

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<v Speaker 2>Adding to the oddity that is the life of Alexander Stern.

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<v Speaker 2>This well bred young man served during World War Two

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<v Speaker 2>with the Office of Strategic Services, which was the forerunner

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<v Speaker 2>of sorts for today's CIA. So with that fifty thousand

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<v Speaker 2>dollars worth of seed money, they started their company, and

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<v Speaker 2>their first factory, and I used that term loosely, was

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<v Speaker 2>in a small, unassuming building that they affectionately dubbed the

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<v Speaker 2>Red Barn, across the street from a railroad depot in Southport, Connecticut.

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<v Speaker 2>It was essentially just Bill and alex and a couple

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<v Speaker 2>of tool makers, all working long, long hours into the night,

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<v Speaker 2>and Bill actually mentioned at one point he was writing

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<v Speaker 2>the final payroll check from the initial fifty thousand dollars

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<v Speaker 2>and they were out of cash, and he told Alex,

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<v Speaker 2>he said, this is the last bit of money for

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<v Speaker 2>the original fifty thousand dollars investment. But that was okay

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<v Speaker 2>because they had designed this pistol together, and Alex Stern

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<v Speaker 2>had checks for one hundred guns that were ready to

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<v Speaker 2>be sent out into the mail, and so just like that,

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<v Speaker 2>they were in business. The seed money paid off. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>this gun that they designed together was inspired by World

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<v Speaker 2>War Two handguns from the Axis Powers. It had a

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<v Speaker 2>similar silhouette appearance of both the Japanese Namboo and the

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<v Speaker 2>German Luger. In certain ways, the ergonomics of those guns

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<v Speaker 2>were tweaked a little bit to create what would become

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<v Speaker 2>known as the Ruger standard, and the gun would go

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<v Speaker 2>on to be lauded by shooters for generations as being

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<v Speaker 2>well balanced, easy to hold, and easy to shoot. Unfortunately,

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<v Speaker 2>the gun is a bit of a Rubik's cube in

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<v Speaker 2>design when it comes to putting the gun back together.

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<v Speaker 1>And when we come back, we'll continue with the story

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<v Speaker 1>of Ruger, the great American company, and my goodness, how

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<v Speaker 1>it got started. It is like how so many companies

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<v Speaker 1>got started. I'm the cheap and almost out of business

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<v Speaker 1>from the beginning. More of the story of Ruger the

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<v Speaker 1>Great American gun company. After these messages, this is our

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<v Speaker 1>American stories, and we continue with our American stories and

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<v Speaker 1>the story of Ruger the great American arms manufacturer right

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<v Speaker 1>here in the United States. Let's continue with this great

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<v Speaker 1>business story.

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<v Speaker 2>There's a joke in the gun community that God came

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<v Speaker 2>to Bill Ruger in a dream and showed him the

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<v Speaker 2>design for the Ruger Standard Piss, but unfortunately Bill woke

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<v Speaker 2>up before God could tell him how to put it

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<v Speaker 2>back together. Anyway, when the gun was first put into

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<v Speaker 2>production and they were working on things, they had a

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<v Speaker 2>total of eight barreled pistol receivers that they had made

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<v Speaker 2>as test guns for this new design, and serial number

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<v Speaker 2>three of these guns was actually the first one to

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<v Speaker 2>leave the factory. Serial numbers one and two were retained

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<v Speaker 2>internally for further study. A February of nineteen fifty, Stern,

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<v Speaker 2>Ruger and Company had a back order of an astounding

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<v Speaker 2>five thousand units and a production capacity of just nine

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<v Speaker 2>hundred guns a month. By summer of the same year,

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<v Speaker 2>the backlog had grown to nine thousand units, and their

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<v Speaker 2>production capacity had picked up a little bit, but they

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<v Speaker 2>were still only able to make one thousand guns a month.

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<v Speaker 2>That backlog is a testament to that little gun's rugged

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<v Speaker 2>design and its ease of use and its affordability. Finally, fine,

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<v Speaker 2>only there was a twenty two caliber pistol on the

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<v Speaker 2>market that anyone could afford to own, and that was

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<v Speaker 2>easy enough for anyone to learn how to shoot with

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<v Speaker 2>this gun. Within a year, that little startup company from

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<v Speaker 2>Connecticut had gained traction and continued to advance at a

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<v Speaker 2>rapid pace. But Alex Stern contracted viral hepatitis and died

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<v Speaker 2>very unexpectedly in November of nineteen fifty one. He was

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<v Speaker 2>just twenty eight years old. The company's heraldic eagle logo

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<v Speaker 2>that today is instantly recognizable as Ruger. That eagle was

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<v Speaker 2>actually designed by Alex Stern, and so paying homage to

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<v Speaker 2>his fallen business partner, Bill Ruger, changed the color of

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<v Speaker 2>the eagle in the logo from red to black, and

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<v Speaker 2>with the exception of the one million Ruger standard pistol

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<v Speaker 2>that they produced in nineteen seventy nine, it wasn't until

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<v Speaker 2>nineteen ninety nine with the celebration of their fiftieth anniversary,

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<v Speaker 2>that the logo would return to red on all of

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<v Speaker 2>their guns. So even though they had the tremendous setback

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<v Speaker 2>of Alex Stern passing away unexpectedly at a very young age,

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<v Speaker 2>Bill Ruger was a shrewd businessman and he didn't want

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<v Speaker 2>to rest on their laurels and be seen as one

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<v Speaker 2>trick pony, So he knew that they were going to

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<v Speaker 2>have to diversify their offerings beyond that twenty two caliber pistol.

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<v Speaker 2>Given the popularity of westerns and cowboys six guns in

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<v Speaker 2>the nineteen fifties, the Ruger Company introduced their first single

0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:42.280
<v Speaker 2>action revolver in nineteen fifty three. The revolver was a

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<v Speaker 2>instant success, and the company introduced the single six, the Blackhawk,

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<v Speaker 2>and the Bearcat, all of which were single action revolvers

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<v Speaker 2>all by the end of that decade, and each one

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<v Speaker 2>of them was a hit. Next up rifles, so the

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<v Speaker 2>deer Stalker, the ten twenty two, the number one on

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<v Speaker 2>the Model seventy seven, and so on. We're all added

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<v Speaker 2>to the lineup in the nineteen sixties, and due to

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<v Speaker 2>the brand's success and popularity. The company became publicly traded

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<v Speaker 2>for the first time in nineteen sixty nine. It would

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<v Speaker 2>go on to be listed on the New York Stock

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<v Speaker 2>Exchange in nineteen ninety. But today it remains the only

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<v Speaker 2>American arms manufacturer that is publicly traded as a standalone

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<v Speaker 2>entity and not grouped into a larger parent organization. So

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<v Speaker 2>they're flying high. By the end of nineteen sixty nine,

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<v Speaker 2>they've been in business twenty years, and now it's time

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<v Speaker 2>for a flop. But it wasn't a gun. Bill Ruger

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<v Speaker 2>collected high end antique automobiles, and so in that vein

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<v Speaker 2>he designed what was known as the Ruger Sports Tourer,

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<v Speaker 2>which was a car based on the Bentley and it

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<v Speaker 2>had an estimated retail price of twelve to thirteen thousand dollars.

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<v Speaker 2>Bill read the market wrong with the car, and that

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<v Speaker 2>was kind of a rare occurrence for him. He usually

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<v Speaker 2>was a keen eye and knew what people wanted. But

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<v Speaker 2>they did not want this car, so they'd only made

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<v Speaker 2>two of them when they turned their focus back to

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<v Speaker 2>making guns. Unfortunately, they'd already spent eight years and four

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<v Speaker 2>hundred thousand dollars developing a car that never made it

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<v Speaker 2>to production. Nonetheless, when they turned their attention back to guns,

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<v Speaker 2>they did well in the seventies. By nineteen seventy nine,

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<v Speaker 2>which was the company's thirtieth anniversary, for the models they

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<v Speaker 2>offered had already sold a million units each, and they

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<v Speaker 2>finished up their thirtieth anniversary with sales totaling sixty eight

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<v Speaker 2>point eight million dollars and a profit of seven point

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<v Speaker 2>nine million, which was up like fourteen percent over the

0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:51.680
<v Speaker 2>previous year alone. So by nineteen eighty nine, and at

0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.640
<v Speaker 2>this point in American history, the idea of a so

0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:59.200
<v Speaker 2>called assault weapons ban was really picking up steam, and

0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.240
<v Speaker 2>so Bill ru wrote a letter to every member of

0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:06.360
<v Speaker 2>Congress and he told them that they should limit magazine

0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:10.680
<v Speaker 2>capacity instead of trying to ban these so called assault weapons.

0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:14.440
<v Speaker 2>Taking it a step further in a couple more years,

0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:17.920
<v Speaker 2>he would sit down with NBC in nineteen ninety two,

0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:21.280
<v Speaker 2>and in that interview he was quoted as saying that

0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:25.320
<v Speaker 2>no honest man needs more than ten rounds in any gun,

0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:30.600
<v Speaker 2>and backlash against Bill and the company was swift. Gun

0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:34.120
<v Speaker 2>owners as a whole have very long memories, and there

0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.840
<v Speaker 2>are still some people to this day that will not

0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:41.840
<v Speaker 2>own a Ruger firearm because of what Bill said. Fortunately

0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:44.240
<v Speaker 2>for them, you know, they make a good product, and

0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.800
<v Speaker 2>there were enough people who still rallied around the brand,

0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.560
<v Speaker 2>and they found themselves in nineteen ninety nine celebrating their

0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.840
<v Speaker 2>fiftieth anniversary, and by that point in time they had

0:15:55.040 --> 0:15:58.800
<v Speaker 2>really cemented their place both in firearms history and in

0:15:58.920 --> 0:16:02.280
<v Speaker 2>American history. You know, quite literally, tens of millions of

0:16:02.320 --> 0:16:06.480
<v Speaker 2>gun owners had Ruger firearms in the field, hunting, sitting

0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.200
<v Speaker 2>in their home gun safes, out on the range with

0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:11.600
<v Speaker 2>their kids, sitting in the gun rack in their trucks.

0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:16.400
<v Speaker 2>You know, Ruger firearms were everywhere. And over the years,

0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.520
<v Speaker 2>Bill Ruger had the opportunity to buy a whole bunch

0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.560
<v Speaker 2>of other companies. Even if you don't know firearms, you

0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:28.400
<v Speaker 2>still know names like Colt Smith and Wesson, Remington, and Winchester.

0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:31.720
<v Speaker 2>He had the opportunity to buy all of those companies

0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:35.200
<v Speaker 2>and didn't. And it wasn't just gun companies. Beyond that,

0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:39.160
<v Speaker 2>he had the opportunity to buy both Maserati, the sports

0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:44.120
<v Speaker 2>car company, and Harley Davidson, the iconic motorcycle company. Instead,

0:16:44.320 --> 0:16:48.720
<v Speaker 2>he chose to focus on his guns. By two thousand,

0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.320
<v Speaker 2>Bill was eighty four years old, and he decided it

0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:56.160
<v Speaker 2>was finally time to retire. Now, retirement was kind of

0:16:56.160 --> 0:17:00.040
<v Speaker 2>an odd thing for Bill. In nineteen ninety two, he

0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.640
<v Speaker 2>did an interview with Forbes magazine when he told him

0:17:02.640 --> 0:17:05.919
<v Speaker 2>that he could never retire because he'd never done a

0:17:05.960 --> 0:17:08.960
<v Speaker 2>god day's work in his life, So how can you

0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.840
<v Speaker 2>retire if you've never worked. Nonetheless, he did retire and

0:17:13.880 --> 0:17:17.480
<v Speaker 2>his son took over as chairman and CEO of the company.

0:17:18.000 --> 0:17:21.520
<v Speaker 2>Bill had also said around that same time that if

0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:24.560
<v Speaker 2>you rest, you rust, and so that's why he tried

0:17:24.600 --> 0:17:29.120
<v Speaker 2>to keep so active, and unfortunately retirement meant rest, and

0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:32.760
<v Speaker 2>it meant rust. So Bill Ruger died in two thousand

0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:36.119
<v Speaker 2>and two, having spent fifty three years involved in the

0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.880
<v Speaker 2>operations of the company that he helped found, and his son,

0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:44.479
<v Speaker 2>Bill Ruger Junior, passed away in twenty eighteen after working

0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.040
<v Speaker 2>for his father's company for forty two years. He retired

0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.640
<v Speaker 2>in two thousand and six, and so even though there's

0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.840
<v Speaker 2>been no direct Ruger descendant running the company in more

0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:58.400
<v Speaker 2>than a decade, they are definitely one of the big

0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.439
<v Speaker 2>players on the block in turn of American firearms. The

0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.800
<v Speaker 2>Ruger standard pistol that they initially created back in nineteen

0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.320
<v Speaker 2>forty nine, lives on today in a variant known as

0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.800
<v Speaker 2>the Mark four, and like the previous three versions, it

0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:17.639
<v Speaker 2>maintains all the classic appeal and lines of the standard,

0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:21.720
<v Speaker 2>but it just kind of updates the platform for today's market.

0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:27.080
<v Speaker 2>Most importantly, however, it solves the difficulty of takedown and reassembly.

0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:30.520
<v Speaker 2>So now that Bill Ruger is spending all of his

0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:33.960
<v Speaker 2>time up above with God, he was finally able to

0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.119
<v Speaker 2>have God show him how to put the pistol back together.

0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.280
<v Speaker 2>And so now that the Mark four has ironed out

0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.240
<v Speaker 2>all the kinks in the design, the gun can remain

0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:46.399
<v Speaker 2>at the forefront as an incredibly popular gun for people

0:18:46.440 --> 0:18:48.720
<v Speaker 2>to learn how to shoot on both young and old,

0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:53.960
<v Speaker 2>beginner and seasoned pros alike. The humble startup that consisted

0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.800
<v Speaker 2>of just a few guys in a red barn now

0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:01.840
<v Speaker 2>has more than eighteen hundred employees. Are still headquartered in Connecticut,

0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:06.760
<v Speaker 2>but now they've got five factories throughout the country. Alexander

0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:10.920
<v Speaker 2>Sturm's fifty thousand dollars investment really paid off. The company

0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:15.720
<v Speaker 2>today is worth nine hundred and forty million dollars, and

0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.439
<v Speaker 2>given their success, I think It's safe to say that

0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:22.000
<v Speaker 2>mister Sturm and mister Ruger would have big smiles on

0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:24.720
<v Speaker 2>their faces if they could see where their company is

0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:26.160
<v Speaker 2>at today.

0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.720
<v Speaker 1>And a very special thanks to Logan Metish. Logan is

0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.320
<v Speaker 1>a firearms historian, a museum professional who runs High Caliber

0:19:33.440 --> 0:19:37.560
<v Speaker 1>History LLC. And my goodness, what a story. Eighteen hundred

0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:41.720
<v Speaker 1>employees off a fifty thousand dollars loan. Two guys just well,

0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:45.040
<v Speaker 1>never working a minute in their lives, they probably felt.

0:19:45.040 --> 0:19:47.000
<v Speaker 1>And so many people who work for themselves that's why

0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.120
<v Speaker 1>they do it because they have something special they want

0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:53.600
<v Speaker 1>to do. And my goodness, anyone who owns weapons, who

0:19:53.720 --> 0:19:57.600
<v Speaker 1>loves firearms and responsible firearm ownership is a big deal.

0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:02.640
<v Speaker 1>That he testified and went public on magazine capacity, My goodness,

0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:04.840
<v Speaker 1>I took a lot of courage to do and he

0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:10.000
<v Speaker 1>did it. Ruger, the great American gun manufacturer. Their story

0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.120
<v Speaker 1>here on our American Stories