Changing Springs on the new SP101 .22.r?

The gun is BRAND NEW! Give the folks time to check out the springs and come up with a tuning kit and the forums time to produce the FAQ threads. In fact this could well end up being the thread that everyone refers to for their own SP101-22's.

In the meantime and assuming that it's the same guts as the .38/357 SP101 I'd suggest you get the kit for that gun. Just clean and lightly oil the gun with a thin gun oil so that the hammer is very free moving with no burrs to drag at it. If you can achieve that then a lighter .38 spring SHOULD still be able to set off the rimfire primers.

Other than that you'll just need to shoot it a lot to get the internal parts to burnish their contact faces against each other. It's either that or a total strip down and polish all the contact points using super fine arkansas or ceramic files and jigs to control them. But that's normally considered as gunsmith work.

You may get erratic ignition on that gun if you switch to a lighter spring.
I discussed it with Ruger & they use that weight for maximum reliability.
Just FYI.
Denis

Wasn't saying not to play with it, just advising it's not necessarily a given that swapping springs will be successful.
Denis

Having experimented with lightened springs in rimfire handguns I can tell you that the primer in a rimfire cartridge takes a pretty good blow to ignite. More than I ever would have thought. You can reduce the mainspring only a little before you start seeing failures. Some brands of ammo will require more or less force to fire.

How do you like the new SP101 22? other than stiff trigger pull?

Bull

Having experimented with lightened springs in rimfire handguns I can tell you that the primer in a rimfire cartridge takes a pretty good blow to ignite. More than I ever would have thought. You can reduce the mainspring only a little before you start seeing failures. Some brands of ammo will require more or less force to fire.

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Might be interesting to see someone make a heavier hammer for a drip in trigger kit. I wonder if a heavy hammer could compensate for a lighter trigger and give you reliable ignition without a heavy trigger pull.

I saw one at the gun show last weekend. Got to handle it, but no trigger pulling. Seems like a nice size. I have a few S&W .22s including a 4" 18 and 617, so the pull is not strong to buy one of them. Yet.

Interesting. I think Ruger went from casting to MIM on some of the parts in the latest guns and perhaps redesigned some of the internal geometry a bit to enhance the trigger feel. I seem to recall they are using MIM triggers and perhaps hammers and redesigned the firing pin for easier access. Some of this was mentioned sometime back on one of the Ruger Forums.

19-3ben said:

Might be interesting to see someone make a heavier hammer for a drip in trigger kit. I wonder if a heavy hammer could compensate for a lighter trigger and give you reliable ignition without a heavy trigger pull.

Click to expand...

My experience has been that it's more important to have a fast strike than to have a heavy but slow strike. Case in point, you can actually crush a rim with pliers without the primer igniting if you're careful (wear heavy leather welders gloves and reach around a blast shield and remove the bullet and powder before trying this at home ). Similarly you can actually crush primers without setting them off (been there and done that in home reloading). So it's likely that actually lightening the hammer to go with a lighter main spring could prove to be more reliable by providing a fast and snappy hammer blow.

Seabee, thanks for being the front man/guinea pig/lab rat on this project. I've got the bug for one when they make it up to Canada sometime later this year so reading about this stuff now really helps.

It may be possible to further fine tune the mainspring to cut down on the FTF's even a hair more. A small sleeve of metal or plastic over the spring guide rod to produce a little more preload in the main spring will provide a faster hammer strike. Maybe try just about a 1/8 spacer to give you a couple of more lbs of preload and a faster hammer. Such a small change shouldn't raise the trigger effort all that much.

Another option is that you MAY be able to use a lighter trigger return spring as well. Often a good two lbs or more of the trigger pull comes from the return spring. I don't know what the action is like in the SP101 but in my S&W actions I know that going to a lower effort Wolff mainspring allowed me to use a lower force rebound block spring (functions as the trigger return as well) at the same time. With some tuning of the return spring you may be able to go the bit heavier on the main spring with the tuning spacer and achieve an even lighter overall final DA pull.

SP-101 Wolff centerfire springs are:
•Factory Standard.: 14 Lb.
•Reduced Power...: 9, 10, 11 and 12 Lb.

I have no idea what the SP-101 .22 RF spring is.

I do know that I took the stock gazillion pound spring out of my S&W 317 .22 RF a few days after I got it in 1998 and replaced it with a Wolff Reduced Power 8 pound centerfire spring.

It has never mis-fired once since I did it.

I'd be ordering an assortment and a reduced power trigger spring and start testing them if I had one, thats for sure.
http://www.gunsprings.com/Revolvers/RUGER/SP-101/cID3/mID52/dID234

rc

I'd say the 12# would be Goldie Locks "Just right" then.

rc

Sounds like that to me as well. And with any luck the slight difference could be made up with the use of a lighter trigger return spring as I suggested.

I'm seeing signs on one of the Canadian forums that we may be seeing our own SP101-22's on sale by around Christmas.... Is it too late to start being good now?

rc,

Not to steal this guys thread here....... I just got an SP 10 .357, the trigger on this is stiff as a dead goat too. I believe the factory hammer spring is 14# also, if ordered from Wolff, would a 10# or lighter be sufficient for this? Your suggestions please!

Thanks Seabee, I appreciate your help and where to get them. Guess I'd best get to ordering...... that goat ain't gonna get any more limber!

Wolff also sells directly. I'm just about to put in a second order with them through their online ordering setup. Although if you also need some other things then going through Midway or Brownells would work out well.