onemancoyote said:
This is the picture I was sent today.
Before:
After:
I told the tech that if the gun was in fine working order that I would accept the crane gap. I was more worried that something was out of line with the crane, but if it truly is a machining error on the frame itself I'm ok with that.
I know I'm a little late in this game, but when I look at this picture, it appears to me that the crane is not parallel and perpendicular to the frame. Notice the bottom right to top left cant to the left (look at the top left of the crane in relation to the frame.) Then look at the b/c gap in the photo, that's pretty tight from what is normal. If all they did was to file the crane to be parallel and then polish, the b/c gap may still be too small which is evidenced by your problem after shooting 50 rounds. Not just build up of material from firing but also the expansion of the metals due to the heat.
I would check not just the standard b/c gap but the top half b/c gap and the bottom half b/c gap. If different, then your cylinder is tilted and thus will probably start binding up quickly (which you have seen in your first range outing).
In coach's picture, the crane, although extending a bit at the front of the frame, is parallel and perpendicular, look at the rear of the crane in relation to the frame and look at the b/c gap (kinda hard to see but it appears to be larger than yours)
Your after picture from Oct 20 shows the crane in better shape but again look at the b/c gap, that is next to nothing and will cause binding pretty quickly. I don't see why Ruger said it was a large b/c gap.
If the gun shoots good, and apparently it does, and the cylinder is not tilted, the b/c gap problem fix is an easy one for any gunsmith or even yourself (with the right tools). For an idea of costs, for me to fix the b/c gap, I would probably charge the customer $20-$30 (max) to make it right.
The other thing you can check is the crane to frame (where the crane pivots). If you disassemble it to take the crane and cylinder out, then you can look at the face of the crane and the frame to see if there is any uneven rubbing where the crane and frame meet. If you see rubbing at the bottom and not the top, that tells me there is a slight cant of the crane and cylinder in relation to the frame. Any wear marks should be even top/bottom, and even if the wear marks aren't even, that isn't necessarily a major problem, but could contribute.
The above remarks are from experience when I get a customer in that says his revolver binds up or the cylinder doesn't quite rotate as smoothly as they think it should. These are the things I evaluate first before doing anything along with asking a lot of questions about everything leading up to the malfunction (be it a customers gun or one of my own).
Oops, forgot to add, when checking the b/c gap, check the end shake also. Even though it is a new gun, that doesn't mean that it might not have other problems with the cylinder and crane that caused it to bind.
