New SP101 just arrived...a couple questions.....

[MIL-DOT]

First, thanks again to all who chimed in to my recent threads leading up to the purchase of this latest toy (stainless 3" .357) .
Second, credit to BudsGunshop for a very satisfactory sale. After ordering this, I started reading about Ruger's quality control issues,specifically concering canted sights on these pistols. I sent an E-mail to Buds asking if they could/would check the pistol for this problem before shipping, so that I didn't recieve something that I'd have to immediately send off to Ruger for ten friggin' weeks. Bud's responded the next day, and said they would do just that, and told me the pistol was due to ship the first of the week. Though I'm still a little annoyed that they take a full week to ship,the pistol is exactly as it should be,and came at a good price, so thumbs-up to Buds.
Anyway, the trigger/hammer are quite stiff. I would hate to have to pull the hammer back for single action firing more than a few times, after several times, it becomes nearly impossible. Seriously, it's pretty brutal.
The double-action trigger pull has several variations in resistance, and several different sounds,or clicks throughout the pull.
I've been Googling and You-tubing, and using the THR search feature, and it seems this is (more or less) common with this pistol, and the Wolff spring replacement is often recommended.
I'm wondering if a mainspring (trigger spring) replacement is all I need ? This seems to be something I can do myself, anything further, like trigger springs, and I'm dropping it off at my smith ( who was the FFL for this one).
So, the factory spring is 14 pounds, and I'm leaning towards a 12#, but I read that the 11# spring is ideal, and some claim an even lighter spring is fine ( though,regardless, I don't think I'd go lighter than 10#, as I've read about the potential problems with them) .
One other thing. I also have a 6" GP100, and I know Ruger says dry-firing is perfectly fine, and I've read that this is a great way to fix-up the trigger issues without modification ( like 1000 dry-fires). Some folks say that you should insert expended rounds into the cyclinder when doing this. Yes?No?
Anyway, sorry for the long post, any further enlightenment much appreciated....

 

[WNC Seabee]

I put the 10# Wolff spring in my 3" SP101 and it made a great improvement. Also, just dry fire the heck out of it and he trigger will smooth right out.

The 10# spring has been totally reliable with all factory loads and my hand loads using Winchester primers.

 

[savit260]

Have you tried a basic field strip and lube on it. Could be a lose fragment of metal floating around in there.

 

[John Wayne]

Spent cases in the cylinder won't do much of anything. After a few cycles the primer cup is going to be hammered in so much that the firing pin won't hit it anyway. Most people on here agree that it is a bad idea to get in the habit of dry-firing with brass in the gun, as it gets you used to pulling the trigger while the gun appears loaded. Buy some snap caps if you are concerned about damaging the mechanism--but the SP101 uses the same style lock work as your GP100. I wouldn't worry about damaging it.

Generally, the SP101 and other small-framed revolvers are known for having heavy or rougher triggers than their larger counterparts. There is simply less mechanical leverage, and some springs are often stronger. Dry -firing will help "mate" the parts, smooth out burrs, and strengthen your hands.

I can't comment on replacing the springs--I know S&W revolvers use two seperate springs for the trigger return and hammer, which allows you to put in a lighter trigger spring without affecting the reliability of ignition. I don't know what kind of spring arrangement the Ruger uses. Basically though, if you can put in a lighter trigger spring without lightening the hammer spring, you should be ok.

 

[PT1911]

Dry fire, dry fire, dry fire... ON EMPTY CHAMBERS, buy snap caps if you must, but you will not hurt the gun with dry firing.

 

[WNC Seabee]

Spring replacement on the Ruger is a simple task, much easier than the S&W's I've worked on; don't let it intimidate you. Worse that would happen is you take a bag of parts to your 'smith!

I have a GP, SP and 6 different K or N frame Smiths.


+1 on using empty chambers for dry firing...I have personally had a neglient discharge when "dry firing" because I got careless with live ammo in the same room where I was dry firing. It's not fun.

 

[ohwell]

give it a good cleaning let a little oil seep into the trigger area put some snap caps in it and dry fire away, its gets better fast.

 

[MIL-DOT]

As usual, great info, not to mention, conveniently speedy responses !! Thanks guys !!

 

[brotus2]

Had to send mine back to Ruger for bad sight. They paid the freight both ways. Two weeks later it was shooting perfect. Great customer service.

 

[MIL-DOT]

Yeah, I was mightily concerned about the canted sights, and I'd read reports of turn-around times as long as 10 weeks, so I REALLY hoped I wouldn't get me one O' them !! I really wasn't concerned about who paid shipping.
Like I said earlier ...I ain't bitchin' !!

 

[Fishman777]

Hey...

If you want to improve the trigger pull on the gun, be aware that Ruger doesn't spend a lot of time deburring the internals on the gun.

Dry firing helps, but you could also polish up the internals a little. I'm not big into doing this kind of thing, but some folks are a little more picky with triggers than I am. Anyways, if you join rugerforum.net, and post 10 times, you'll get access to the Ruger SP101 IBOK. It is a document that was written by one of the forum Moderators. He is a retired revolver smith and is an incredible resource. In the IBOKs, and basically describes the gun from the bottom up. It is a great thing to have. It is copywritten, otherwise I'd send you a copy myself.

I haven't done any work on my revolvers, but it doesn't appear to be terribly difficult.

 

[Rexster]

I have polished the internals of several Rugers. Primarily, the mainspring strut has been stoned and polished. One surface of the hammer, and one surface of the trigger, have been polished a t-i-n-y bit. I have learned to leave full-strength mainsprings in place, in the GP100s, to ensure ignition of magnum primers, and have elected to follow this same practice with my SP101s. Lighter trigger return springs can be installed, but then I notice, in really fast shooting, that the trigger does not return as fast as I might like, so I have learned to leave those alone, too. I don't want anything to slow me down if zippering a bad guy becomes a necessary action.

 

[RugRev]

The Ruger will smooth up somewhat with use but as the former gunsmith over at Rugerforum.net states it either will wear in or grind any offending shards, etc. into the parts. He is an advocate of disassembling, cleaning and oiling and also removing and polishing certain parts. If the action is rough it will require more spring tension to function effectively than if it is smooth. There really isn't all that much to polish in the Ruger. If it is cleaned up it should work with the 11 lb. mainspring (mine that is tuned works with a 9 lb. but I put a stronger one in to ensure it goes bang every time). The trigger return stock spring is 10 lbs and Wolff makes an 8 lb one. To ensure a quick trigger return requires the spring channel in the trigger guard be cleaned out with a drill bit by hand and some polishing be done on the cylinder locking bolt. Using the lighter spring MAY get a leisurely trigger return. Polishing the strut for the mainspring mentioned above gets rid of a lot of grittiness, too. At any rate they can be smoothed up. After tuning mine was 9 lbs double action which is down from 14 lbs stock. To me it felt better than a tuned Colt Magnum Carry I had (as I duck under the table!).

The IBOKs are no longer on the website due to copyright problems. The gunsmith known as Iowegan has a book with a lot of pictures in it on tuning Ruger double actions that he sells for $15. Right now he is sold out but said he would print some more up when he gets back from his travels.

 

[kdstrick]

Disassemble and de-burr it. Often times there will be small pieces of metal left inside the revolver that will cause excessive grittiness. If you really want a GREAT trigger pull, change out the springs and follow the instructions on the following thread.

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-174831.html

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/sid=31/schematicsdetail/SP101

 

[CDR_Glock]

I put the 10# Wolff spring in my 3" SP101 and it made a great improvement. Also, just dry fire the heck out of it and he trigger will smooth right out.

The 10# spring has been totally reliable with all factory loads and my hand loads using Winchester primers.

There's a YouTube video to replace the spring. Use the 10 lb spring. If you still think it's stiff, polish the mechanism.

 

[harmon rabb]

my sp101 is pretty easy to cock and the DA trigger isn't bad at all. something is up with yours.

 

[zombie44]

I had a 2.25" SP101 and it certainly was not a fun gun to shoot down the range. I changed the springs, polished the internals, even deburred the sharp edges of the trigger, but it still wasn't smooth enough for me. So I eventually sold it and managed to find a well used but perfectly servicable 2.75" Speed Six, wow what a night and day difference. The trigger and hammer on my GP100 and SRH Alaskan 44m were also very smooth.

 

[fourdollarbill]

Both my GP100 and 3" SP101 needed a good cleaning and allot of dry fire. They loosend up pretty well after a few days of trigger pulling. Also the creep or inconsistant double action pull force may be a little bit of mill grindings left behind and that can be cleaned off.

 

[MIL-DOT]

Hi guys, many thanks,again, for all the useful responses .
I fished up a couple disassembly videos on You-Tube, and after this one,felt confident enough to give it a shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRrTQ1vNjFo&NR=1
There really isn't much to it. I had it taken apart, scrubbed down and re-lubed, and then re-assembled in maybe 20 minutes, and mechanical stuff often gives me fits.
Everything looked smooth and clean internally, no shavings,burrs or rough edges that I could see or feel.
I've done a thousand or so dry-fires, and shot a box of .38's yesterday, and the DA trigger pull seems a little better, but cocking the hammer is still pretty tough.
As cheap as the spring kits are, I may put an 11 or 12 pound main spring in myself,but I will probably give it a while longer before changing anything.
Anyway, thanks again to all.......

 

[Rico567]

I endorse changing out the mainspring as a first measure. When I bought my GP-100 new, the mainspring was intolerably heavy. I got somebody's four-spring set, and the second-heaviest was the bomb. Go lower, and I would get the occasional light strike that wouldn't set off the round. If it's like my GP-100 (and I think it's the same design), the gun will smooth out a lot with use. Probably a good idea to take it apart and check for burrs and flush out any crap in any case.

 

[MCMXI]

I bought a couple of Wilson Combat Custom-Tune Spring Kits for my 3" and 4" GP100s a couple of weeks ago. I installed the 12lb hammer strut mainspring and the 10lb trigger guard latch spring in the 3" revolver. The springs are definitely an improvement over the stock springs. Single action pull dropped from around 4lb 5oz to 3lb 12oz. Double action pull dropped from around 10lb 7oz to around 8lb 10oz. I shot a bunch of factory Winchester 125gr and 158gr JSP loads and a bunch of reloads (180gr LFP/H110 powder/Federal No.200 primers) this past Friday without any issues. I'll try the 10lb mainsrping next since the double action pull could still be a little lighter. Single action is just about perfect though.

 

[Big Bill]

I have a great gunsmith who took my gun apart and smoothed the trigger parts. Then I dry fired it lots. I also use a hand exerciser every day to strengthen my lower arm muscles and hands. BTW, congratulations on your purchase.

 

[herkyguy]

i'm just not good enough to notice much of a difference. I love my SP101. it does seem to smooth itself out after a few hundred dry fires though. i haven't felt the need to tinker with it just yet.