Scooter1942
Bearcat
Hello all,
I've been lurking here for awhile, but this is my first post. I've been a S&W guy for quite some time and I've had a handful of Ruger revolvers over the years but have only recently started to grow my Ruger collection. Recently I purchased a couple of stainless Blackhawk's and a New Vaquero and have found the fit and finish to be outstanding. I've also recently purchased two Ruger made Marlin's and would argue that they are nicer than any of the original JM Marlin's. Beautiful deep bluing, gorgeous black walnut furniture and some real attention to detail.
But, I haven't had the same experience with the SP101. I've owned probably four of these over the years. I had a 9mm that shot fine but it looked as if it had been pieced together from different guns. Fit and finish was so bad that I had to ask Ruger if it was even safe to shoot. I currently have a 2" SP101 that's a little older that is just fine after an M Carbo trigger job. No complaints there. A month or so ago I got a great deal on a .357 3" SP101. The trigger was decent out of the box but it grouped horribly and only hit to point of aim with Federal HST. Everything else was so far off as to be unusable. I sold it. Then I noticed the Wiley Clapp 3" models with Novak sights. While not fully adjustable, they'd give me some "windage" adjustment and would provide a better sight picture. I ordered one on-line at full retail and the first one arrived last week. I refused delivery...the barrel was out of time, so much so that the front sight was canted heavily counter-clockwise and the flat top of the barrel was clearly not parallel with the top of the frame. We're not talking just a little off...I'm talking "how did this get out of the factory...off".
I reordered another Wiley Clapp which arrived today. The sights were straight, fit and finish initially looked great, trigger was crisp but heavy. However, once I got it home I discovered something that I mistook for grease on my cursory inspection. On the left side of the top strap, there's what looks to be a milling mark where the tooling that was intended to make contact under the top strap actually hit the side...or, the milling created an indent/crack in the frame. While the end result might be purely cosmetic, again I have to wonder about the QC on the SP101 assembly line. And in this case, I also wonder if this is safe to shoot for the long haul. I realize Ruger's tend to be overbuilt, but it is almost as if a stress fracture has been built into the gun. Provided this one shoots to POA, I'd like to keep it and I'll just live with the imperfection, provided it is safe. But, I also wonder if I should send it back to Ruger before shooting it and hope they can send me a flawless example. I do shoot reloads and don't want them to come back at a later date and refuse to warranty it based on that fact, when it is imperfect straight out of the box.
I've attached a pic. What would you do? Shoot the crap out of it or keep pushing until I get a revolver worthy of full retail?
I've been lurking here for awhile, but this is my first post. I've been a S&W guy for quite some time and I've had a handful of Ruger revolvers over the years but have only recently started to grow my Ruger collection. Recently I purchased a couple of stainless Blackhawk's and a New Vaquero and have found the fit and finish to be outstanding. I've also recently purchased two Ruger made Marlin's and would argue that they are nicer than any of the original JM Marlin's. Beautiful deep bluing, gorgeous black walnut furniture and some real attention to detail.
But, I haven't had the same experience with the SP101. I've owned probably four of these over the years. I had a 9mm that shot fine but it looked as if it had been pieced together from different guns. Fit and finish was so bad that I had to ask Ruger if it was even safe to shoot. I currently have a 2" SP101 that's a little older that is just fine after an M Carbo trigger job. No complaints there. A month or so ago I got a great deal on a .357 3" SP101. The trigger was decent out of the box but it grouped horribly and only hit to point of aim with Federal HST. Everything else was so far off as to be unusable. I sold it. Then I noticed the Wiley Clapp 3" models with Novak sights. While not fully adjustable, they'd give me some "windage" adjustment and would provide a better sight picture. I ordered one on-line at full retail and the first one arrived last week. I refused delivery...the barrel was out of time, so much so that the front sight was canted heavily counter-clockwise and the flat top of the barrel was clearly not parallel with the top of the frame. We're not talking just a little off...I'm talking "how did this get out of the factory...off".
I reordered another Wiley Clapp which arrived today. The sights were straight, fit and finish initially looked great, trigger was crisp but heavy. However, once I got it home I discovered something that I mistook for grease on my cursory inspection. On the left side of the top strap, there's what looks to be a milling mark where the tooling that was intended to make contact under the top strap actually hit the side...or, the milling created an indent/crack in the frame. While the end result might be purely cosmetic, again I have to wonder about the QC on the SP101 assembly line. And in this case, I also wonder if this is safe to shoot for the long haul. I realize Ruger's tend to be overbuilt, but it is almost as if a stress fracture has been built into the gun. Provided this one shoots to POA, I'd like to keep it and I'll just live with the imperfection, provided it is safe. But, I also wonder if I should send it back to Ruger before shooting it and hope they can send me a flawless example. I do shoot reloads and don't want them to come back at a later date and refuse to warranty it based on that fact, when it is imperfect straight out of the box.
I've attached a pic. What would you do? Shoot the crap out of it or keep pushing until I get a revolver worthy of full retail?
