Gary Reeder
Recently we built a 500 Linebaugh for a young man on
Monday, February 24, 2025, 16:01

a Ruger as the base gun. About a month later we got the gun back and it was almost totally destroyed due to his hot loads. In a hot load the cylinder will go egg shaped for a micro second, slamming into the top strap and lower cylinder window. Each time it will leave a long mark on the cylinder where it hit, plus leaving flat spots on the cylinder. The loads were so hot it stretched the frame and bent the loading gate spring breaking thru the frame under the loading gate. He had someone weld it which didn't help at all. The frame was warped so he had someone (probably him) file it trying to get it back into shape. The gun was dropped once or twice due to the recoil. The frame got so hot the bluing on the top strap turned gray. It was a testament to how strong the Ruger frames are. When we got the gun back the young man said he only shot the gun 4 times and wanted his money back. We went over the gun completely and it will cost a minimum of $1000 to get the gun back to semi normal with a new cylinder, barrel and small parts. Unfortunately, the welding of the lower frame where the loading gate spring broke thru can't be brought back to normal. It can be fixed but not to the strength it had as new.
So now comes the decision. Do I fix it and send it back to him, knowing he will just reload the same loads as before, and this time, due to being weakened in the damage the first time, the gun won't hold it. Legally I can't keep it as it legally belongs to the young man who bought it. So I have to do some heavy thinking.