So I was reading my Ruger Max-9 owners manual and saw an awkward safety warning about carrying with one in the chamber. I was kinda baffled as to why Ruger is making guns for self defense and yet has in the manual not to carry it with one in the pipe. [Page 25 of manual].

Do you think Ruger striker-fired pistols are more prone to having accidental discharges or they have that in the manual because they just don’t want to be sued? How does reading that make you guys feel about carrying your Ruger with one in the chamber?

Rugtardation

Once they have it, it can’t be cured.

Label’s literally stamped-into the metal on the guns.

Attorneys

"This product is extremely dangerous and should not be used by anyone for any purpose."

I am a non-attorney non-spokesperson.

Thinking they can't cure stupidity, they are distancing themselves to avoid lawsuits?

So that if you accidentally shoot your balls off, you can’t sue them.

Because they got their ass sued off a long time ago from an old model Blackhawk (before transfer bars) that fell out of a shoulder holster as the guy leaned over tending a campfire..boom. Right in the neck if I remember correctly.
Hence the long running recall and upgrade on older Ruger Single actions.

The labeling was part of the settlement agreement to appease the Ken’s and Karen’s of the time.
Ruger just stuck with it to mitigate any further nonsense from fucktards claiming they were not notified in any manner that "firearms can be dangerous" or that "hey, know how your firearm operates".

So your dog won't shoot & kill the Grocery bag boy as he helps put your groceries into your vehicle?

Bigger_Hammer

They can fuck up a wet dream.

And your toddler won't shoot themself while you're watching sports...

They ruin everything.

This. Lawyers ruin everything.

Damn that’s a hell of a way to go out. Do you know if the guy survived?

LC9s EDC here, one in the chamber at all times, no issues.

It’s a thing Ruger does because they are gun-shy of being sued (pun intended).

LCP & LCP II x2 owner here. I carry them loaded with a round in the chamber all the time.

For a long time , Ruger loved safeties and heavy triggers.  “In order to shoot that innocent person, Mr. Idiot had to overcome a magazine safety, a manual safety and apply 12 lbs of pressure to the trigger!  Clearly his fault, not our Ruger!”

However, in order to compete in the modern defensive pistol market, Ruger can’t have their favorite heavy-ass triggers and every safety they can cram onto the gun.

So I guess dumb stuff like this is the compromise between Engineering, Marketing and Legal.

CYA

Let me tell you a story of the Fuddiest of Fudds, Bill Ruger Sr.  This clown was so far down the Fudd-hole that a legal folding stock or the 20 and 30 round magazines for the Mini-14 (we’re talking the 70’s and 80’s here long before the 1994 crime bill came about) weren’t allowed to be sold to the peasantry, but only to law enforcement.  
Later, in 1989, old Judas Ruger wrote his infamous letter to congress stating that “no honest man has a need for a magazine that holds more than 15 rounds.”  Five years later, the gun grabbers would use his own words to push for a 10-round limit that would become part of Bill Clinton’s 1994 “Crime bill”.  We suffered under that law for 10 years until it finally sunset while in other draconian states retained this law at the state level.  Myself personally, I didn’t buy a Ruger firearm if a similar option could be had and if it was a Ruger I was buying, it would be a used model so my money wouldn’t go directly into Bill Ruger’s pockets.
Finally, the happy day came that the old bastard finally assumed ambient temperature and I pray is slow-roasting in hell for the rest of eternity.  Now I could buy new Rugers again!  They even started coming out with firearms that they would have never sold to the public while old Benedict Ruger was still breathing!
But I think his ghost still lives on just a little there next to the company attorney and occasionally whispers in his ear.  The lawyers then insist silly shit like this is put into the manuals and stamp billboards onto the sides of their guns telling you to read the manual and on and on. Combine a lawyer with a company that has had such a long history of Fuddisms that might still be clinging on just a little and that’s what comes about every now and again.

Citizens of the USA are obsessed with throwing blame on anyone and everyone else rather than accept even a micron of personal responsibility for their actions. The number of unethical and immoral lawsuits relative to that narcissism has increased exponentially since the first participation trophy was awarded to members of a team who lost every single game of a season somewhere in the USA.  It was a horrific event that has been continually replicated resulting in irreparable catastrophic collateral damage.  It literally protects them from incompetent persons in possession of a Ruger firearm who will 'accidentally' harm themselves or others once a round is chambered.  The incompetent person (who should have charge(s) or murder, attempted murder, or manslaughter, attempted manslaughter) will play the victim card, blaming Ruger for not informing them a loaded handgun is extremely dangerous and there should have been safety warnings all over the place, stating they should NEVER chamber a round, ever!

THAT is why you read that in a Ruger firearm manual.  

As for the ludicrous numbers people argue magazines should be limited to... 10 or 15 vs 30 or higher, that can only be attributed to mental illness.  Why is 15 ok, but someone has 30 (or even 16!) they are raging dishonest lunatics!  Orr 10 rounds in a MILITARY STYLE SEMI-AUTO PISTOL is perfectly ok, but if someone has a 17 round magazine, they should be locked up for life!   It is illegal to shoot someone to death, it is illegal for persons under 18 to own or purchase a handgun, it is illegal to commit suicide, yet, all these things happen.  But, somehow, if we increase the number of background checks, decrease magazine capacity, require a permit to buy a firearm, etc, none of that will ever happen again. Thinking a 10 round mag is going to save lives or even prevent any murders is like thinking people really can't see you if you cover your eyes playing peek-a-boo with them.

Attorneys for people who accidentally shoot themselves or someone else.

It is not just ruger. Lots of gun companies put senseless stuff in owners manuals and people often don’t have a clue of the context.

For example glock manuals saying no reloads. This is written in nearly every owners manual for every gun made in the last 30 years. There is nothing unique to glock that makes them any more or less appropriate for shooting properly assembled reloads. But I see lots of stuff discussed about this no reloads statement as if there is something unique to glocks that makes them unsafe with reloads. ( news flash there is not)

One of my pocket pistols of choice is an LCPII  and I of course carry loaded chamber ( no suitable defense gun should be carried any other way) despite the manual warning.