sp101 problem

occasionaly , when firing double action, the cylinder starts to turn, moves about a half inch, then locks up. cannot move the trigger at all. Spin the cylinder to next stop , and it will continue to work normally.....

Could be some other things but is the transfer bar hitting the firing pin on the way up? When dry firing try pointing the gun up or down to see if it makes a difference.

Take her apart and see if anything was installed wrong, it's very simple gun to disassemble.

The trigger job site shows you how to disassemble and reassemble, click on the steps at the top of the page and it gives you lots of step by step pictures. http://www.sp101trigger.com/index.html

Dry firing, i am able to reproduce the problem pretty consistantly. If i pull the trigger really slow, it will hang 90% of the time. pulling it faster it seems to work 100% of the time

I have a gp100. Same thing. If I pull the trigger slowly in DA. It will sort of hang up. I've never been sure why...but it doesn't bother me too much. To big to carry,...

There could be a problem with the hammer dog especially if you polished that part. If you take off too much metal you can get that problem. See diagrams 11,12 and 13.

http://www.sp101trigger.com/steps11to20.html

I did polish the parts, but it was doing that before I polished. that is one reason I did it. Other than that the trigger is really nice now. Previously, it had one of the worst triggers I have felt on any revolver.. and I have a bunch

Are you sure the trigger is resetting fully forward? If it doesn't reset all the way it can lock the action up

On my SP-101 (March manufacture) the trigger stopped resetting fully after I dry fired it for 150 pulls or so. This was before I touched the internals at all. The trigger would stop about 1/8" from being reset. If you pulled it at that point it would start to turn just a fraction and then lock. I didn't try turning the cylinder but pulling lightly on the hammer would unlock the action.

Like yours, it was crazy rough on the DA pull and when resetting it made a loud obnoxious chirp like a grackle. After a lot of careful stoning and polishing it is pretty good now, but it still wouldn't reset when I tried an 8lb trigger return spring, I had to go back to the stock.

Among other things, the pawl had a really sharp rough spot on the outside just above the area that is machined at the foot. It was so small I didn't notice it the first time I went in and I don't like messing with the pawl except as a last resort but it was "ratcheting" against the inside of the frame. I even went so far as to stone the inside of the frame which helped some, then I noticed the bur on the pawl.

All in all it's fairly smooth now, but there is such a "hump" where the trigger plunger has to ride up over the cylinder stop cam (even after polishing as much as I dare) that with an 8lb return spring it hangs there almost every time. With the stock ten pound spring it works fine now. I'd really like to be able to take two pounds off the pull but on a carry gun reliability trumps easy.

I'm torn about the SP-101. I really like the design even if it's not as smooth as an S&W. It's very rugged for a small revolver. It's very easy to work on. If only they would do the fitting at the factory that used to be done. I guess these days I just have to be happy that it is easy to work on and thus easy to do those things the factory used to do.

On the plus side...the lockup is extremely tight and with almost no BC gap when locked. Since that's the one thing that's the most difficult area to improve without special tools (and the skills to use them) I guess I should be thankful that it is so good.

how free does the transfer bar move on yours? My GP100 it is nice and loose, on this SP, it is really sticky...........

OldePhart, I'm thinking the same thing as you. Reset is fairly sensitive on Ruger revolvers. Not sure why. Little muscle memory goes a long way.

it really does not appear to be a reset problem

Looking here at my SP101 I can't get it to do what your describing no matter how slow I pull the trigger.

first question did you change any springs in the gun?

is your transfer bar moving up and down freely?

Did you check the hammer strut and make sure it's not installed backwards?

Did you check the hammer dog and make sure it's not installed backwards and check the spring?

Did you check the pawl and spring and make sure the pawl is moving freely?

Did you check the trigger plunger and make sure it was installed correct?

Making sure no parts were installed backwards is first thing I check and I make sure all the springs are working and check for any obvious warn or damaged parts.

If everything is checking out put some lube an the parts, make double sure the pawl and transfer bar are not dragging and positioned correctly when you snap the latch shut.

jim8115 said:

how free does the transfer bar move on yours? My GP100 it is nice and loose, on this SP, it is really sticky...........

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Transfer bar was/is very loose. I did stone and polish the outside of it because it was rough and rubbing against the frame. I also LIGHTLY stoned both sides of the business end because it was rough and there were obvious drag marks on it after a couple of hundred cycles and you could feel that it was holding the hammer off from the fully lowered position. This is one of those areas that you want to stone very carefully because taking too much material off can make for light primer strikes.

I also used a stone to lightly round the outside corner of the bottom outside edge where it has to seat back into the trigger chassis when the trigger resets.

I was really surprised by how sloppy the "pin" on the bottom of the transfer bar fits in it's channel. The fit is so sloppy that the transfer bar can wiggle side to side quite an excessive amount, enough so that you have to stop when reinstalling the trigger assembly into the main frame and actually use a small punch or something similar to reach in and move the transfer bar to the side so it doesn't jam against the frame.

Once it's in place it seems to work okay, but it is like the pin is hundredths, instead of a few thousandths, thinner than the hole it mates with.

All in all after a lot of polishing and some stoning I'm pretty happy with the DA pull, but it's kind of annoying to have to do all that work on a brand new gun.

A call to Ruger for a shipping label is probably going to be the answer. I would bet you need some parts (hammer dog) re-fitted.

I doubt it's the hammer dog unless it got installed backwards.

I'm surprised it took so long for the "SEND BACK TO RUGER" posts.

This is not a target gun, this is a save yer ass revolver.
It has to work 100%.

JMHO of course.
CONTACT RUGER.

My Sp101 works 100% every time I pull the trigger,
YOURS SHOULD TOO!

@GhosT you are absolutely right...but I know that speaking strictly for myself I have more confidence in my own ability to tune a revolver action to be smooth and reliable than faith that Ruger will get it right. They already had one chance to get the action right and instead shipped a brand new gun with a trigger that was ratcheting noticeably on the double action pull and that actually got worse, to the point that it wouldn't reset, after some dry firing.

Obviously, if someone doesn't know what they are doing and what all "those little wedges and springs and thingies in there" do then they absolutely should return it to Ruger.

GhosT said:

I'm surprised it took so long for the "SEND BACK TO RUGER" posts.

This is not a target gun, this is a save yer ass revolver.
It has to work 100%.

JMHO of course.
CONTACT RUGER.

My Sp101 works 100% every time I pull the trigger,
YOURS SHOULD TOO!

Click to expand...

So do you send your car back to the dealer when it won't start or do you pop the hood and fix it yourself like a man? any good gun owner should be able fix their own guns long as it don't require some machining.

6gun said:

So do you send your car back to the dealer when it won't start or do you pop the hood and fix it yourself like a man? any good gun owner should be able fix their own guns long as it don't require some machining.

Click to expand...

That sure is a high horse you are on. You can't hand-fit a gun properly unless you have a bin full of parts. ...and that is exactly the problem I think we see here. On the assembly line there are assembly technicians. They put a gun together and see if it works. They are not doing any hand-fitting anymore until you send one back to them, then you might get a gunsmith to fix it.

Jimbo357mag said:

6gun said:

So do you send your car back to the dealer when it won't start or do you pop the hood and fix it yourself like a man? any good gun owner should be able fix their own guns long as it don't require some machining.

Click to expand...

That sure is a high horse you are on. You can't hand-fit a gun properly unless you have a bin full of parts. ...and that is exactly the problem I think we see here. On the assembly line there are assembly technicians. They put a gun together and see if it works. They are not doing any hand-fitting anymore until you send one back to them, then you might get a gunsmith to fix it.

Click to expand...

I take it you don't even know how to change your own oil on your car. :roll: