Took the pistol to the range today. It was like a whole new gun. Which... frankly it is. Accuracy was profoundly better, with this being my 10 foot grouping for the first 6 rounds fired. For all aimed fire, this size grouping and zero was consistent.
Reliability was drastically improved. All told, 42 rounds of Remington 88 gr JHP factory ammunition was fired. The gun just felt good. Most magazines were loaded to 6 rounds, inserted into the empty pistol, racked, and fired. All fired flawlessly when so done, even the ProMag. However, on one factory magazine, towards the end of this session, I did 6+1 (i.e. 1 in the pipe, plus a full magazine). That string had one failure to close into battery at the beginning. Just barely, it was quite close to being closed, and the lightest tap of the thumb while still pointing the gun, was all that it took to close the last 1/16 of an inch. Obviously the high tension within the magazine caused a little more drag on that first round being stripped, and it just didn't have enough umph to close then.
So... Difficult to conclude. I can't really claim flawless. But then again, can I claim I am using the gun as intended, since that was a 6+1, rather than just 6? I do know I feel a WHOLE lot more confident carrying this pistol now, but perhaps I should only load a 6 round magazine, and carry 5+1? That is my intention, until more range time shows I can reliably do 6+1.
On a final note, props to Ruger - they took my concerns seriously, and essentially replaced everything on the gun except for the original frame and fire control group (and I think they may have even replaced some of that). They did so without any BS, lengthy delays, or costs to me. Then they fired almost 100 rounds through the gun to really be sure it worked - reporting zero failures with multiple brands. Not sure what more a guy could ask.
Total Round Count: For all practical purposes this is now a new gun. I guess for now I'll just reset this, and say 100 factory rounds (i.e. fired at RUGER) + my 42 test rounds. So
142. I suppose it should be noted though that the frame has seen an additional 500 rounds beyond that.