New Ruger Super Redhawk!

https://triggershims.com/ruger_double_action.php

https://triggershims.com/general_shim_instructions.php

Doing the whole shim shebang thing.

The feeler gauges - of which I have many - there’s no difference, between those purportedly made in the U.S.A. or China. After you “feel” the gap - you still have to measure the actual thickness of the “feeler...”

...with micrometer calipers made in Japan!

Same deal with the shims - measure their actual thicknesses first, before using them!

https://m.youtube.com/user/Levergun4570sbl/videos

Some nice videos up here.

Pardon the use of improper nomenclature, if ever... I don’t really dabble with revolvers as frequently. Up there’s the bottom strap, when I was roughly midway through.

I really regret not taking a “before” picture - see those tool marks? The ENTIRE SURFACE was full of them - much coarser, deep, and totally like - did they miss a spot? Did they forget to install the windshield wipers before shipping your car out to the dealer?

That was some really crude machining left in the raw - you can see the remnants of it after 2 or so hours of work. 320 grit wet, finished off with 2000 grit wet - both wrapped around a Spyderco Sharpmaker rod as a base. Even my cast iron pans have more uniform texture, no joke!



Had to take care of the crown, too. Burrs from the rifling, and both dings and burrs from the outer margin of the crown. For heaven’s sake, Ruger... I know this is just a pistol and it probably doesn’t matter - but the lack of attention over the crown’s probably an indicator into how the rest of the stuff’s being taken care of!



Don’t know what this part’s called, but that’s where the front sight assembly sits. Even this part was catching on the shop towel, with the sight assembly installed! Those burrs CUT!

This is where the sides of the hammer were slamming into... The edge of the hammer, and what you see above - they were wirecutter sharp. Half - finished contouring from the factory, tool marks still visible. Picture was taken halfway through my work.



Disassembling the trigger assembly... No fun at all! Mine was difficult to dislodge, which, when one thinks about it - is probably a good thing... But I couldn’t remove the tab / spring / plunger inside! I had to use some brute force with a pair of pliers (insulated with paper, or course).



There was something messed up in the channel... Things were much better after the above intervention with, guess what...

...sandpaper!

All those findings got me thinking... Before I install the shims, I should make sure there aren’t any burrs where they’d be situated! More sandpaper!



Around the hammer pin, too! Surprised to see surface rust inside the frame...



Had to be a little creative sanding the inside!

Mine measured 0.018”.





Mine measured 0.011”.



Trigger Clearance: 0.006”. Looks like there was some effort in “pre - shimming” the trigger, from the way it was cast, but not enough.

The one nice thing about this pistol is that I can’t insinuate a 0.010” feeler gauge between the cylinder and and the area around the forcing cone... So it doesn’t seem to be that much of a disaster!

I’m hoping it’s really tight there. Hopefully, not too tight to cause reliability issues!

EDIT: 0.003” forward, 0.008” backward... Not really sure why moving the entire cylinder backward and opening up the Barrel / Cylinder Gap to eliminate “End - Shake” is considered a good thing?

The shims really just push the cylinder BACK, don’t they?



While End - Shake gets reduced, is this at the expense of a widened Barrel / Cylinder gap?

Trigger Reset Spring weight at the end of this one.

Just some videos that I found helpful...

edwardware said:

Endshake shims reduce forward movement of the cylinder, increasing B/C gap. The only conventional ways to reduce B/C gap are to set the barrel back a turn, or fit an overlength cylinder. Neither is a practical solution here.

Click to expand...

This is what it looks like happens when one uses shims, based on my uneducated observations alone...

In the same thread, there’s a post with the above video (towards the end of it) showing that the yoke must be “faced off,” which makes more sense. This sounds like the part everybody chose to forget!



Apparently, proper End - Shake and Barrel / Cylinder Gap remediation is one involved process!

I wonder how it's done on a Ruger...

Simple enough to understand, though.

Sort of my first.

There was this 7 - shot GP100 in .357 Magnum that was shipped over by Sportsman’s Warehouse which I nearly purchased once (4473 denial). I was glad I didn’t end up getting stuck with it - THAT one would’ve required lots of work.

I think they went a little too far in dissing “the working man,” from the price standpoint alone.

The “blemishes” on my revolver have resulted in cuts that bled from basic handling, from areas on the pistol I wouldn’t have expected.

LaneP said:

I'd read they've gone to a sleeved barrel, first one I've seen of that type. I've had mine since 2012. Right out of the box it wouldn't set off CCI magnum small rifle primers in DA mode. Went down multiple rabbit holes in search of the fix (primarily centered on looking for an extra power mainspring, which doesn't exist) and ended up dressing a few thousands off the hammer nose and shimming the hammer to eliminate the common Ruger problem of frame rubbing.View attachment 1069997

Click to expand...

Would shims alone have corrected the issue?

I just had this rogue thought - maybe the shims need to be applied asymmetrically

LaneP said:

It's possible but I put the shims on order and being impatient, went ahead and started working the hammer...

Click to expand...

I overdid mine

Pat Riot said:

I guess I am missing something here. Is this a follow up thread to another thread?

Click to expand...

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/ruger-super-redhawk-need-a-scope.903135/

We split the original thread because it was diverging from the original question on scopes...

CraigC said:

I would like to hear what the results are when you finish doing that to the rest of the lockwork. I bet the action is pretty slick when you're done.

Click to expand...

Sure will - I'll post a video.

There's still a bunch of things coming through the mail, though - various shims and springs - give me a couple of weeks.

I'm trying to find a way to polish certain areas of the internal surfaces somewhat - that task's difficult for my amateurish hands.

Just got word from Ruger that this pistol came into being in October 2021 and was originally shipped to Shreveport, LA

.

Mail from TriggerShims arrived today!

Hammer Dog Shims installed. Two of the red shims (0.005”) actually measured 0.0045”, likely by design - that’s the only color with 4 of them in this pack.

0.011” (measured slack) - 0.002” (desired slack) = 0.009 (total shim space) = two of the 0.0045” shims.

Measure your feelers, measure your shims!

Now, if only the rest of the parts would arrive sooner...

More burrs!

THAT'S what scratched my feelers...

Got to make sure those nice shims have a flat surface to lay on!

Note the tiny remnants of surface rust...