Ruger vs Beretta What's Going ON? Let's Take a LOOK

Drama in the firearms industry is not unheard of, but it is fairly rare. Given the industry’s relatively smaller size, there just usually aren’t a lot of eyebrow-raising events that happen.

However, that has changed recently with interactions between Ruger and Beretta. These two stalwart bastions of gun design and manufacture have not exactly come to blows, but there are developments raising some eyebrows.

In September of 2025, Beretta – the oldest gun manufacturer in the world, since 1526 – acquired 7.7% of Sturm, Ruger & Co. stock and then bought more to up its total holdings to 9.95%. That number makes Beretta the largest single shareholder of Ruger stock. 

In October 2025, Beretta purchased the extra shares as recounted above. That led Ruger to issue a “poison-pill defense”… there are different forms of that strategy, but they all boil down to making a hostile takeover more difficult and costly for the acquirer.

In its initial federal disclosure, Beretta Holding said that it:

Did not have a present intention of seeking control” of Ruger, but instead they claim that they simply want a “strategic minority interest” in order to reverse what it calls Ruger’s “deteriorating financial performance.” I’m not sure Ruger believed that, after they contended that “Beretta’s Chair “indicated a long-term plan to combine Ruger with Beretta, but made no formal proposal” at a December meeting.

Earlier this year, negotiations between the two companies fell apart, and Ruger went public with details of what it called a “creeping takeover” by Beretta Holding.

 “Beretta repeatedly demanded terms that would transfer value from other Ruger stockholders to Beretta and undermine Ruger’s status as an independent public company,” 

“Specific demands like 25 percent of the company, discounted shares, a board appointee that could violate antitrust laws, and more. Beretta repeatedly advanced extreme demands and threatened to ‘go to war’ if those demands were not met. “Beretta’s scathing reply on March 10 addressed what it called Ruger’s breach of confidentiality by issuing “blatantly false and misleading statements.” Beretta insists it wants only to help Ruger as a minority investor.