GP-100 Binding Up

Hi,

I purchased a GP-100 two months ago for home defense, and have been having a problem with the gun binding. Every 6th rotation of the cylinder, the gun will bind, and the cylinder will only rotate if assisted by hand, or if I squeeze the trigger with both hands. If the gun is fired several times, eventually this binding wills top and the gun will apparently function normally.

Oddly enough, this binding doesn't occur when the cylinder is unloaded. Dry firing has no catching or binding issues. However, even loading the cylinder with empty cartridges is enough to cause the cylinder to freeze up past every sixth-time.

I'm a new gun owner, but I watched some YouTube videos and read the manual, so I disassembled the gun, lubed it, and put it back together and took it to the range. It fired fine, but still would bind every sixth shot, until it seemed to "warm up."

I've really thought about this, and my best conclusion is that one of the slots on the outside of the cylinder is rough, and is catching on the trigger post which locks the cylinder in place from the bottom. Lubing each of the six outside cylinder locking slots, prior to firing, seems to greatly mitigate this problem.

I do not think it is the pawl (?), or the metal arm which rotates the star on the cylinder, though frankly I don't know for sure.

When I feel the locking slots on the outside of the cylinder, I do think one in particular feels a little rough, while the others seem smoother and more recessed.

I don't want to send the gun to Ruger right now, because I need it for home defense.

So my question is, should I get a metal file and try to smooth the cylinder locking slot which feels rough? Or should I just load the gun with 5 bullets, so that the weight of the bullet in the problem chamber won't cause the gun to jam? I'm not particularly handy or familiar with guns, but a couple passes of a file may be what is needed to fix the problem. However, obviously I don't want to interfere with proper alignment of the cylinder. Furthermore, this is a blued finish, so I suppose I would have to apply some cold blue afterwards to prevent rusting (which I don't mind, there is already a silver ring around the cylinder anyway).

Any thoughts from more experienced gun owners? Many thanks! Sorry for the long message.

Ruger-101

Welcome to the forum! Is this a new gun or a used gun, is this happening with .357 Magnum ammo or .38 Special, or both? You'll have no need to modify the gun, a polite phone call to Ruger and they will most likely fix the gun for free.

I agree that more information is needed, but if the drag is experienced outside the bolt (lock up piece above the trigger) going into or out of the notch, I would be looking to see if the gap between the cylinder and breech face is the same at every point in the cylinder's rotation.

Most commonly they "bind up" when crud has built up under the star.

Hi,

This is a brand new gun. The binding happens with either type of ammo, or even withe empty shell casings of either type of ammo. There is no crud built up under the star, but even so I have cleaned that area with solvent and a nylon brush a couple times now.

I do not think that the cylinder wobbles or has any kind of irregular spin or spacing inside the breech. I will look more closely, but I haven't noticed anything like that.

The people I bought it from suggested firing it about 500 times to work out kinks, but this is such a noticeable problem that I am worried it hurt the mechanisms to force it.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I will have to purchase a 2nd gun to cover while the first is returned to Ruger.

If it happens with .38 and .357 ammo, but is fine when dry firing then, without looking at the gun myself, you should call Ruger. The gun will be back before you know it.

Captain America said:

you should call Ruger.

Click to expand...

Yeah.....what he said.

And welcome to the Forum!

I had a similar problem with the same gun which I finally figured out. There was a very small burr in the flat area under the firing pin (not sure what that is called) which would occasionally catch on a cartridge as the cylinder revolved. You probably already looked there but just thought I'd throw it out there just in case. I sent gun back and it's fine now.

How tight or consistent is the barrel-cylinder gap, and does it change as the cylinder rotates?

I would totally agree with calling Ruger and sending it in on their dime. They will likely have it back to you in under two weeks door to door.

I would not start filing on it if you don't know exactly what is causing the issue.

This sounds exactly like the problem I had with my Redhawk. This is a b/c issue and Ruger will take care of it for you.

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=247745

I had the same issue with my 5" GP 100. Called Ruger, they sent me a shipping lable, gun was back in two weeks, they said it was something with the firing pin, not sure how that would cause what was happening but it works fine now. Thanks for excellent CS Ruger.

Thanks for the suggestions. I decided against doing any filing, and I am going to call Ruger about having them look at it. I'll let you know what they say!

Hi,

Thanks again for everyone's advice, and I said that I would post when this issue was resolved. The story has a happy ending. I ended up purchasing a Browning Hi Power 9mm as a backup handgun while I sent the Ruger GP100 in for servicing. My gun store was happy to handle the return for me. It took about two to three weeks before I received the Ruger back.

Man, it works like a dream now. Super smooth, no binding at all, none whatsoever. I feel super confident with this gun now. It's really fun being able to put the target way down the lane and still nail the bull's eye with this gun, as I have the 6" version.

I'm kind of glad this malfunction happened (though I wasn't at all at the time), because I love the Browning Hi Power, and I feel the two guns compliment each other really well. I have a photo below, just for fun.

I'm hoping tomorrow to go down and pick up a Benelli SuperNova, as I read some articles that convinced me that having a long gun is really crucial to home defense. Plus, I just really like the look of that gun.

Thanks again for the support and advice!

Nice pair of shooters! Ruger does a great job on the reruns!

Glad you got squared away. Did they say what they did?

Nice! See, because of Ruger's screw up you now own two nice handguns!

Hi,

Thanks for the comments!

Here are the notes Ruger sent back with the repair: "Fit new pawl, adjusted headspace, polished and refinished."

Tried out the Benelli SuperNova yesterday. Loved it! They say I need to work on my shotgun stance. Beautiful gun. . .now I just have California's 10-day waiting period. Except, that it will actually be a two week waiting period, because of ammo sales restrictions due to the 4th of July (I could pick up the gun but not any ammo for it). . .(sighs).

Thanks again!