SP101 Problems

I bought an SP101 Wiley Clapp Edition last month. Fired it for the first time two days ago. What a major disappointment! I did manage to fire 20 rounds of 38's and 10 rounds of 357's but the spent rounds were next to impossible to extract and the cylinder would get hung up occasionally preventing the next round from being fired. I called Ruger as soon as I got home and made arrangements to send it back for "repairs". I hope all it needs is a new cylinder with the proper clearances. I also have a Glock, two Smith's and a Ruger Blackhawk SA 357. I was not expecting this kind of performance from a DA revolver that is supposed to be built like a tank and run trouble free for a hundred years firing hundreds of thousands of rounds.

Got my SP101 back from Ruger yesterday. They repaired the pawl, cylinder and ejector and they replaced the strut hammer. Fired 40 rounds of 357's today without problems. I feel a lot better carrying this gun for self defense. :wink:

Welcome to the forum, good people here and lots to learn.
Sorry to hear you are having problems with your 101 . Were you able to find the cause of the problem ?
Let us know what Ruger repairs.

Welcome. If you have already sent it in I am sure Ruger will go over it and make sure the chambers aren't rough and that there are good clearances where needed. Sometimes shells can be a little hard to eject with a new revolve because they need a little break-in. Sometimes a little oil will help, other times the chambers might need cleaning. If you shoot 38 specials first they can leave a carbon ring in the chambers that will hang up the longer 357 mag brass. If you shoot 38 specials first it might be a good idea to run a brush through the chambers to remove the carbon rings before shooting 357 magnums.

What Jimbo said. Shooting .38s first will sometimes make the .357s hard to seat and then extract. Have owned a SP101 for years and years and have shot the holy crap out of it. It just begs for more!

Got my SP101 back from Ruger yesterday. They repaired the pawl, cylinder and ejector and they replaced the strut hammer. Fired 40 rounds of 357's today without problems. I feel a lot better carrying this gun for self defense. :wink:

Excellent!

Glad to hear that they took care of it, definitely had to be a big disappointment for you. I think you just got the unlucky draw as I did once with a new S&W a few years back. They also took care of the problem. For what its worth, my SP101 has been problem free for many years and its a keeper for me.

I had issues with my SP101 .22, had the same experience as you sent it back to Ruger and now it is fine.

My only other SP101 concern is the small lip on the frame behind the cylinder. It sometimes hinders the ejection of spent rounds. Does it serve any real purpose? Can it be removed?

I've onl;y used Ruger service once in 35 odd years.

My last LCR 38+P that they fixed quickly by replacing the
entire trigger control assembly.

Does anyone here have on of the new Black SP101s?

Have you heard anything negative about them?

A friend just picked up a Ruger SP101. First outing he fired some 38's and then 357's. The 357's were hard to eject. I told him to polish the cylinders with a brush, or even put the brush in a dremmel to do this. Also to shoot 357 out of it first to avoid a ring from the 38's.

He shot it again and had no issues.

jbart999 said:

My only other SP101 concern is the small lip on the frame behind the cylinder. It sometimes hinders the ejection of spent rounds. Does it serve any real purpose? Can it be removed?

Click to expand...

Yes, without it, your cylinder would fall off the crane assembly.

jbart999 said:

My only other SP101 concern is the small lip on the frame behind the cylinder. It sometimes hinders the ejection of spent rounds. Does it serve any real purpose? Can it be removed?

Click to expand...

Do you have calipers? How far does it extend beyond the frame? It should not interfere with ejection...