Old Model Single Six problem with light strikes.....

You will be going without sleep Bill. Revolver was returned. Working properly. No experiments needed. On to my next project. David

Good luck

Bill

Well, here we go again! I have the problem back. My friend told me it had failed to fire. I tried it and it failed to fire for me as well so I am back searching for an answer. Sending it back to Ruger is not on my list as I am in Canada. So I am hoping for help. I have a second and third old model Single Six here so I started with the obvious. All firing pins appear similar and appear to protrude the same through the frame when the hammer is in fired position. I see a small amount of end shake so, holding the cylinder back as far as I can I am able to squeeze a .003" gauge in between cylinder and forcing cone. But, I also see a similar end shake in my flat gate SS and it shoots fine. Cylinders will not interchange or I would try that. Interesting that on the fail to fire I had I could not locate a firing pin mark on the unfired casing. Thoughts?

No mark at all on the case huh?
MAYBE,, the cylinder is not indexing all the way? That would cause the firing pin to strike a portion of the cylinder & not the ammo.

Thanks Contender. I am suspicious that the problem is associated with the cylinder and possibly end play. I have never disassembled a Ruger revolver before but am tempted. Is this a hard or complicated process? I did contact Ruger customer service and got an immediate reply advising me that I should contact the Canadian Ruger depot but.....they are shut down like everything else. I am wondering if anyone has the dimension for the cylinder of that period SS? I am hoping for some sage advise.

By your comment about no marks on the ammo, I doubt endplay will be the culprit. you say you have a .003 cylinder gap, and I can say that's NOT a lot. I see revolvers with as much as .012 and they still work. And a .005 to .007 is very common in many revolvers. So a .003 is NOT a lot.

Try this;
With an EMPTY gun,,, VERY, VERY slowly cock it. Watch the cylinder as it rotates. When it locks back, stop for a moment, THEN pull the hammer a bit more. It SHOULD actually move the cylinder a little more. The design is such, that the momentum & weight of the cylinder is supposed to rotate on over into the locked position. Very slow cocking sometimes prevents this.
And to see if it's only happening at one spot, when out actually shooting it, using a crayon, mark the chamber(s) that fail to fire. If it happens on all chambers at different times,, then you have a possible worn hand, or even a worn ratchet section on the cylinder. More common will be the hand problem, as it's a part some folks "gunsmith" on.

An OM Ruger is one of the easier handguns to disassemble & work on too. I have books on gunsmithing that show how to do a lot of disassembly & re-assembly, (Gun Digest publishes excellent books on this,) but you can most likely find a "how-to" on the internet.

Well, I jumped in with both feet. I printed off a set of disassembly instructions from Ruger. Then I started and I took photos of every piece that I removed. Not as hard as I expected. Now, the insides were just as greasy as could be. Most everything was stuck together with dried up oil. Grip frame and frame are soaking in thinner now. Pieces which I removed I will clean each separately. Question..... how do I remove the firing pin? I see a pin through the frame which probably holds it in place. Can I drift that out and, if so, in which direction? Also, I see a screw in the bottom of the frame which would be under the grip frame when assembled. What does that screw hold and is it necessary to remove it?

Contender.....I did try the method you described and did not see what you described.....probably because everything was so badly gummed up. So, I jumped to disassemble.

Confession time! I answered all my own questions. Why did I not do this years ago? It was badly gummed up inside. I sent two hours soaking and cleaning. Reassembly was a bit challenging but I took my time and was successful. Loaded it and went outside and it works as advertised. I do appreciate all of the advise and comments from members here. I drifted the pin out which appears to capture the firing pin and I could not remove the FP so I just drove the pin back in.

Good to know it was mostly in need of a serious cleaning.
Most of us know to NOT try & remove the firing pin retention pin. It's a PIA to get back in place aligned to where it doesn't show.

Dantforth---Now I can get back to a comfortable snooze

Bill

Well, Contender, I learned a lesson but did manage to get it back in place properly. I have no idea why the pin would not come out!

The cross pin you were trying to get out is a retention pin. The firing pin has a "cup like" piece that is pressed into place. (Look inside the frame, and you can see the circle where it goes into the frame.) That cup, a rebound spring, the firing pin. Look at the exploded parts diagram, & it will explain the parts.