Ejector rod screw shears

[single action]

Okar folks has anyone experienced a failure on the ejector rod screw where sheared off and the ejector rod falls off? This is on a low mileage 50th anniversary blackhawk with Winchester. 44 factory ammo? I have shot 1000's of .44 my other. 44's without mishap. Thanks Bob

 

[bigboredad]

Yup I have have it happen a couple of times. Both of them on .44 mags different guns but both .44's. It is usually the result of the screw not being tight. If you can get the screw call Ruger and they should send you a replacement screw. If you do call if you have your guns serial number ready it will speed up the process. me I have zero patience and took it to my local smith and he fixed for about 10 bucks

 

[Chris]

Had The same thing happen to me with a SBH 47, it's an easy fix and the parts are readily available

Chris

 

[RICHP]

Had it happen on my .41. Carried it to a local smith he said it should be a warranty deal so he sent it to Ruger. They fixed it, reblued the gun. Wish I had fixed it myself.

 

[David Bradshaw]

If the ejector housing screw shears off, you've got to remove the broken part before you can put in a new screw. I've never seen the screw break. As noted earlier, the ejector housing usually takes off as a result of the screw vibrating loose. (The forward grip frame screw and ejector housing screw are the first to loosen.) A drop of Loctite helps. Remember, heat is the method for breaking the bond of Loctite, particularly the red.

Early Rugers used a soft steel "nut" soldered in a countersink in the barrel. Ruger tried a hardened nut to resist thread deformation, but solder failed to hold the hardened nut, so it was back to the old method.

Ruger introduced the .357 Maximum with a thicker barrel with a blind tapped hole for the EH screw.

Loctite makes an especially strong adhesive, "360," I think it's called. You could try a drop of this between housing and barrel.
David Bradshaw

 

[flatgate]

Mr. Bradshaw's comments, as always, are "spot on". All I can add is that keeping a set of proper fitting and high quality steel screwdrivers in ones' "shooting bag" (and using them :D ) is paramount to this old geezer.......

flatgate

 

[Bob Wright]

Had that happen. I removed the broken stub by pressing a small Phillips head screwdriver afainst the stub and backing it out. I always keep a few screws on hand for such emergenciens.

Bob Wright

 

[bigboredad]

Mr. Bradshaw's comments, as always, are "spot on". All I can add is that keeping a set of proper fitting and high quality steel screwdrivers in ones' "shooting bag" (and using them :D ) is paramount to this old geezer.......

flatgate

I'm with Flatgate on the screw drivers I try to remember to check them before each session of primer poppin and the days I forget are the days I'm looking for parts gone airborne and spare parts.

I guess that's what I get for shooting Flatgate pressure loads out of my .45" :lol:

 

[single action]

Just strikes me odd of all the .44's I have shot from Ruger over the last thirty years with thousands of rounds through them that one would let go after about two hundred rounds and now I need to carry a screwdriver? So be it. Bob

 

[bigboredad]

I'd just clean out the hole real good and drop a bit of loctite in there then just double check it but should be good with a drop of loctite. Of course that depends on how much you shoot it and how hot you get the barrel

 

[Tommy Kelly]

I have never had it happen to me but did buy a ruger 44 mag once that had a ugly phillips head screw holding the erh on. My first thought was someone had lost the screw and just used a screw they had handy. And probably messed up the factory threads. I removed the ugly screw and looked at the threads. They looked fine so I replaced the screw with the proper screw from ruger and all has been fine since. I have shot several hundred rounds thru this gun since with no problem. The screw has remained tight all the time.

 

[Montelores]

flatgate, does your monofilament-line solution not apply to the ERH screw because of the difficulty of feeding the line through the EHR screw hole and then seating the screw?

Thanks -

Monty

 

[David Bradshaw]

My routine in IHMSA silhouette was to check revolver screws after 40 shots----the standard match. (With, as Flatgate says, the proper flat ground screwdriver.) During an 80 round championship, I checked the screws after 40 shots, again after the 80. (As a side note, I greased the locking lugs of a Remington XP-100 after 40 shots; thus, twice in an 80 round match. While the Remington may be the strongest bolt action out there, it is soft enough to gall easily.)

Side benefit: checking screws helps push DOUBT out of my pea brain.

Remember, the speed of sound through steel is somewhere on the order 14,000 to 16,000 feet per second. Stands to reason heavy recoil and vibration work together to loosen things up.

In designing the New Model single action lockwork, Bill Ruger replaced the hammer/trigger/cylinder-latch screws with pins, even combining the trigger and latch on the same pin. In designing the Security-Six and Redhawk, Ruger took advantage of the lost wax casting process to eliminate the sideplate----and its screws.

Today, the single action children of Sam Colt's 1836 Paterson maintain a tradition of compact-for-power simplicity which, however Old School, is never obsolete. That truth extends to the grip frame and ejector, held on by screws.
David Bradshaw

 

[bigboredad]

flatgate, does your monofilament-line solution not apply to the ERH screw because of the difficulty of feeding the line through the EHR screw hole and then seating the screw?

Thanks -

Monty

If memory serves me correct Flatgate does use the monofilament -line for the erh but Ihave been known to not have a memory

 

[David Bradshaw]

Gibson... the difference between hand grenades and throwin' lead is, your hand grenades have triggers on 'em. Your BFR reminds me of shooting a piece of cast iron cribbing called the Desert Eagle, .357 mag, no less. Brass ejection resembled an unbuffered HK G3/91. Except the HK throws brass 25 feet in the same direction. The Desert Eagle would just as happily scalp me as throw brass to the side.

When I chronographed that pig iron brick, it turned the same velocity as a 6" Colt Python, which always worked, possessed a beautiful trigger, shot super straight, killed deer without much fuss, drew fast, and carried light.
David Bradshaw

 

[Ruger36]

Not likely in your case , But my wife had a habit of releasing ER after kicking out brass ,After the ER slaming the ERH screw hundreds of times the screw and ERH started to show damage

 

[David Bradshaw]

Ruger 36... curious concept, your wife has----single action ejector as slide hammer. When we first tried the long ejector on the .357 Maximum, we used the standard spring. The standard spring was too short, with too little tension, and the ejector slapped back and forth on recoil. If the ejector doesn't find a chamber to slide into, it beats on the cylinder at the edge of the chamber. (The cylinder is harder than the ejector rod.)
David Bradshaw