blackhawk Bisley .45 locking up

[orion]

Hey All New to the forum,

Maybe you guys can give me some advice. I have a .45 lc bisley model. Occasionally when I shoot heavy 300 grain loads in it (1300 fps) the cylinder will jump forward halfway and lock up the works. When this happens you cannot move the cylinder or cock the hammer. I have a belt mountain base pin in it so I do not think that is the problem, as it does not appear to move. Does the loading gate spring have anything to do with this, or is there a seperate spring that can be replaced for the cylinder latch or lock beneath the cylinder that engages the detents in the cylinder?

Any thoughts or bits of wisdom?

 

[SAJohn]

Orion, welcome to the forum. You need to explain the meaning of the cylinder jumping forward. Do you mean the cylinder is rotating past the the cylinder latch stop?

 

[Aggie01]

Mehtinks when you say cylinder jumps forward, you mean loading gate jumps forward. This is a problem with heavy loads in NM rugers. Make sure you have a cartridge in all six chambers to ensure adequate loading gate support.

 

[flatgate]

Are you having trouble with the loading gate, base pin or cylinder latch?
Your description of the problems is somewhat vague. All three of these items are held in place via springs.

An ill fitting loading gate spring can often be fixed by a slight "tweek" of the short end of the spring so it engages the "cammed" surface of the loading gate stem.

If you have a locking style of the Belt Mtn. base pin then have you drilled a small hole in the barrel so the lock can be properly engaged?

The New Model's cylinder latch is held in place by a sometimes "pesky" spring that needs to be installed properly to function well.

JMHO,

flatgate

 

[orion]

Thanks for your responses,

The cylinder actually moves forward halfway towards the next unfired round. Somehow the clyinder latch (the metal pin or post that sticks up at the bottom of the frame that sticks into the cutouts in the clylinder) disengages and unlocks the whole thing or there is not enough engaement or something.

Honestly I cannot remember if this happens when there are always six rounds in the cylinder or not. Often times at the range I may only load a few and shoot them. Good point.

I have not made a hole or detent for the belt mountain set screw. Great Idea. I will do this. Although it did not appear that the pin had moved at all.

I have only dabbled in these single actions on occasion and am learning their mechanics. I have shot these guns for years but honestly never have had any problems with them. Thats why I like them. There is obviously a loading gate spring, and from what you guys are sayging and looking at the Midway catalog it appears that there is a clyinder latch spring. I am suspecting that the cylinder latch spring needs to be installed differently, stronger, maybe mine is worn or just weak. I have had the case where a bullet jumps from the next cartridge and lodges between the cylinder and the frame or barrel and that will lock up things but that is not what is occuring here. I will try to study a cut away diagram if I can find one on the web.

This is just a frustrating darn thing, because I want to hunt with this pistol and you just hate to have a one shot wonder. I can always load the thing down or use lighter bullets, but have never had this problem with others in the past shooting heavy bullets at these velocities. These guns are so darn fool proof and reliable that when you do get a problem it kind of freaks you out.

Any thoughts.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[tek4260]

Sounds like the cylinder latch plunger is gummed up somewhat. Remove the cylinder and shut the loading gate to return the latch to the top. When you press it down there should be good spring tension on it and no feeling of binding or sticking. A teardown and cleaning followed by proper oiling should fix the problem.

 

[flatgate]

tek426 gave good advice.

You might get lucky by sticking a Break Clean nozzle up through the trigger slot in the grip frame and blast the cylinder latch area. Another shot down in the front of a "cocked" hammer. Wear safety glasses when doing this. Blast with compressed air, if possible and then after things dry a bit add a few drops of oil....

Of course, a total tear-down is the proper way to inspect things.

flatgate

 

[Jimbo357mag]

That pesky cylinder latch spring and plunger sits in the gripframe in front of the trigger. If you take the grips off and loosen the gripframe screws, especially the one on the bottom in front of the trigger, you should be able to get some penetrant or oil in there to lube the spring and plunger. If that fails you can remove the gripframe. It is not all that easy to get it back together unless you know how. There are instructions in the owners manual and here on RugerForum.

...Jimbo

 

[orion]

Well I took the whole thing apart, and the latch and spring appeared ok. I cleaned it out anyway. Tried drilling a hole in the barrel for the screw on the basepin, to no avail, my bits are all dull and really need a drill press to do this. I cut a very small score with a round file which at least will sufice to keep forward movement from happening. I do not think the base pin was the problem.

Reassembled and took it to the range. No problems yet. We will see how things turn out?

thanks for the advise