Ruger is indeed using MIM parts

[gunman42782]

This is a letter a fella I know on another forum got back from Ruger:

Thank you for using the Ruger On-Line Customer Support Request Form.

This e-mail is in response to your question or comment of 05/08/2011
Request No: 95236

Comment / question:

is Ruger now using some MIM parts in the sp101 and gp100???

if so, could you please advise what parts?

Response:
Yes, the Crane latch, cylinder latch, front sight.

If you need further information, please visit our website at www.ruger.com or contact us at:

Revolvers, shotguns, rifles, 10/22 Charger Pistol: (603) 865-2442
Pistols: (928) 778-6555
Serial Number History Information: (603) 865-2424

Please note: This e-mail is sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this message.

Sincerely,
Ruger Firearms

 

[flatgate]

Ruger rear sights.......MIM, I think........

flatgate

 

[chet15]

Ruger rear sights.......MIM, I think........
flatgate[/quote]

Yes, definitely MIM. Note that Ruger wanted the shrinkage pit (as a result of MIM) covered by their eagle logo.
Chet15

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Has someone already asked the same question w/regard to the SR1911?

 

[Iron Mike Golf]

The G&A review said there were MIM parts, but not which. Based on other manufacturers, I'd expect slide stop and safety, due to complex shapes. Maybe trigger shoe?

 

[stantheman86]

I don't mind personally, there are still plenty of older used Rugers on the market for those who don't want the MIM. I don't want to see MIM triggers and hammers on Ruger wheelguns, but the rear and front sights or cylinder release button wouldn't matter to me. Almost all of my adjustable sight Sixes and GP's have aftermarket replacement sights anyway.

I personally don't see the logic, when the triggers and hammers are already cast.......is the savings of using MIM over casting really that much? I don't think a blued GP100 with MIM hammer and trigger would look right, the stainless cast parts are how it's "supposed" to look.

Ruger has already started using the pin-less "box" extractor, and got rid of the Lett grips in favor of cheaper Hogues..... using MIM parts was only a natural progression. I don't think it will be too long before most of the internals are MIM.

I have a feeling this is gonna turn out like it did for S&W fans, there will be those who will rant and rave and refuse to own anything with MIM in it, and will label all the new Rugers with MIM as "garbage" and totally turn off new Ruger buyers with rants on their "crap MIM junk guns" .........and prices for the "good older" ones will start to creep up, and Ruger wheelguns will start to be seperated into pre-MIM and MIM, and within 5 years the "pre-MIM" guns will be "collectible". Lett grips are already getting hard to find and "desirable" to the point where people are buying used GP100's and then having to search for Letts to make it "correct"..... This is EXACTLY how it started in the early 2000's with the S&W's. First the wood grips got dropped, and then a set of K-frame Magnas became a $50 item. S&W started with MIM thumbpieces, then just triggers,then the frame mounted firing pin, then hammers .....and the "die hards" will crap all over the idea if anyone mentions a MIM S&W...then all these "I know a guy who's freinds cousins roomate's uncle had a MIM hammer break" stories that will become internet and gun show lore........try posting about how you are thinking of buying a new 686+ on the S&W forum and you will get a bunch of pics and replies with older 686's with a lot of "just buy an old one" answers :wink: I won't even start on the whole internal lock debacle....... I own 3 MIM S&W's and never had a problem with any of them, and I shoot them quite a bit. I also own a lot of older ones. Just like Rugers, there's a lot still out there for those who don't like the new ones.

 

[k22fan]

stantheman86 wrote most of what there is to be said on MIM revolver internals. I've already seen a GP 100 advertised as haveing a pinned extractor to justify a higher price. I don't hesitate to buy a MIM S&W when they make a model with features I want but if the same features are available with both MIM or forged internals I'll buy the older revolver. I'm not recomendeding others do the same, I just like a more traditional appearance. It may be smarter to chose the MIM revolver because S&W is running out of parts to repair their older revolvers.

Getting back to Rugers, I wonder if they will keep all their MIM internals interchangable with the older parts. Now that they're MIM maybe Ruger can affort to make their rear sights out of steel. I never did understand how Ruger justified saving a nickel by making rear sights out of aluminum. Because repeaters are rear end heavy and especially top heavy, ordinarily dropped handguns rotate as they fall and land on their rear sight.

 

[dipper]

This is the same response I posted in another thread with some additions:

There is nothing wrong with MIM parts..... nothing at all.

Like with anything that is manufactured, proper QC is a must and yes, forged, cast, machined, PM and MIM parts can and do fail.

MIM is an advancement on PM ( powered metal ) technology, it has fantastic benefits and can eliminate the need for secondary operations.

Relax, there is a good chance that the car you drive has PM connecting rods and cam.
Case uses PM parts for the large gears in their heavy equipment transmissions.
Honda motorcycles have a great deal of the stuff in them and they are reliable.
Literally thousands of things you come in contact with contain some form of PM/MIM technology.... especially in the automotive world.
Ball joints, seat belts, bearings, gears, cam shafts, connecting rods, etc. to name a few.

PM and MIM parts are very capable of making your firearm go BANG every time.... but just like everything else, there will be failures from time to time...... proper QC will keep these to a VERY small percentage and do so with better fits and finishes than ever before on mass produced firearms.

Again, everyone here uses products everyday that contain PM/MIM parts... lawnmowers, weed eaters, cars, trucks, motorcycles, many if not all electric appliances.... etc. etc.

Don't be concerned that the firearms industry is using technology that has been used successfully elsewhere for decades.

Some day I can see complete firearms made from MIM.... with a steel or ceramic :shock: liner used as a barrel insert.

Think Ruger's LCR with expanded and refined technology.

 

[stantheman86]

The issue many Ruger fans will have is more about emotion and tradition. Most of us know MIM is perfectly fine, but with wheelguns there is a history and a dislike of change for many of us.

MIM parts, when made correctly, will actually wear longer than forged parts. It's just that many people don't like change, and I don't blame them. If you are a collector and a shooter of Rugers, and you are used to seeing them made more or less the same way since the 1950's, and then suddenly you see one with some "odd looking" hammer and trigger, there is going to be some emotion involved.

I can see the Single Action fans having a VERY hard time accepting a MIM hammer in a Vaquero or Blackhawk. I honestly don't think Ruger will sell many SA's with MIM parts......owners and shooters of Ruger SA's are VERY attached to these guns and the tradition behind them. They are much more than just "guns", there are guys who have a lot of pride in their custom Ruger SA's from the 60's. I would recommend to Ruger to at least leave the SA's alone.

DA revolvers are a bit different, this is my area of interest and I collect them because I like rock solid duty guns and service revolvers. If the MIM works better,lasts longer and makes the action smoother, I can deal with it in a GP100 or SP101. I will still be seeking out the older guns, but I will try a MIM Ruger DA.

I can smell it now.....the asking prices of DA Sixes, and older GP's and SP's just jumped $100 as sellers say "This is a REAL Ruger from back when they made them right........" as a justification to jack the price up. I will cringe when I see the day a used GP100 will cost more than a new one because it's "Classic" :roll:

My 2005 Dodge probably has MIM connecting rods and I trust it going 70 mph. down the highway.......it also has plastic doors and a plastic bumper and when I move around in the car I can hear plastic creaking, but this is the 2000's not the 1960's so I have to accept modern manufacturing.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Well, we don't actually HAVE to accept modern technology . . . but we might be missing out on some good stuff by not doing so.

I'm an Olde Pharte, and a Rugerphile from "way back". I have only a very few New Models, and even they are so old that I'm pretty sure they have no MIM parts in them. If they do, I have certainly been fooled.

I really don't "need" any more guns (yeah, I know), so the liklihood of me owning many, if any, MIM'd guns is slim . . . very slim.

And yet, having said all that, the SR1911 calls to me. We'll see.

The younger newcomers to the hobby/sport, however, will be faced with all the new technology in their later Rugers. With their experience with all the other new technology in their lives, I imagine they'll handle the situation with aplomb. As time goes on, there will be little other choice for them, other than waiting for us old guys to die off and then picking up our carefully hoarded Old Models.

 

[SteelShooter]

Bet same concerns were voiced when shooters saw those darned new fangled percussion caps replacing thier dependable flintlocks

 

[Pops 1]

What is MIM?

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Metal injection molding . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_injection_molding

A method of creating parts by injecting powdered metal and a "binder" into a mold and subjecting it to heat.

 

[Pops 1]

Ale-8(1) Thanks for the quick reply. Pops

 

[JNewell]

I think a great deal of the (mostly undeserved, IMO) bad reputation that MIM parts have in the firearms world comes from the (also IMO, and I'm neither an engineer nor a metallurgist) inappropriate use of MIM tech for 1911 extractors, which are actually a spring rather than a simple claw.

 

[flatgate]

Hah! Back in the mid 50's many, many folks said "CAST PARTS" on a traditional Single Action Revolver? Blasphemy!!!!!

Bill Ruger showed them they were WRONG. Dead wrong! Gee, who do you suppose Freedom Arms buys their Investment Cast "receivers" from?

I'll give one hint.... the best, up to date, Firearms Components Foundry in the U.S.

JMHO,

flatgate

 

[Chance]

Thanks for asking the question Pops1. While going thru the first half of this thread I thought yuse guys meant Made In Messico.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

While I admit I'm not enamored of the concept, I'm willing to wait and see what the field reports and long-term commentary reveal.

 

[stantheman86]

S&W has over 10 years of field use with the MIM parts, and I think the new Smiths look pretty good.

If the Blackhawks, GP's, SP's, Redhawks etc. stay more or less the same but just use MIM internals I won't be overly upset. I just don't want to ever see any full sized versions of the LCR in .357 and .44 :shock:

 

[jpickar]

I know the process is different but basicaly the MIM and investment cast are the same. Ruger has been using investment cast for most of thier parts for over 50 years!

John