Ruger-repaired 22/45 Mainspring won't fit back into gun

[Retread]

Tried to get the mainspring housing on my 22/45 (Mark II) back into gun after Ruger replaced the bolt stop. I'd sent them the mainspring housing and it came back with a new bolt stop later last year. Hadn't gotten around to reassembly until today while hoping to shoot.

The mainspring housing fits, but won't close. It stops short just a the point where the small end of the latch approaches (but doesn't reach) the grip frame. There's a real solid feel stopping the housing from entering the grip frame.

The same mainspring housing also stops at the same place on my other 22/45. That other 22/45's mainspring housing fits and closes properly in the gun from which the newly repaired housing came. So, it must be the housing that Ruger "repaired" that's the problem.

I'm sorry to say I'm really ticked off about it. I can't express how bad this is for me in a competition sense, because I must start serious practice for big matches coming up much sooner than they did last year.

The new stop pin they used doesn't look the same as the one that works from the other gun. The bottom of the pin nearby its attachment to the housing, is splayed or flanged out all around - not unlike the rim of a 22 case is flared out (for primer materials). It's this way all around. The functioning pin from the good gun, is perfectly smooth visually and to a finger or fingernail run down the stop pin and over its bottom end.

Damn to hell, I didn't need a non functioning gun at this time.

Does it seem to anyone like this bottom flaring of the stop pin is the problem. In any case the repair job replacing the stop pin must be defective because it works in neither gun, and the unrepaired mainspring housing and stop pin works in both guns.

 

[contender]

First,, calm down & think a little.
You sent them just PART of a gun,, so they could not check the fitting of the new part.
Could it be the flanged out piece,, yes,, it very well could.
Have you put it under a good light to see if you can tell where it is stopping? Are you getting the reassembly correct? Have you taken a set of calipers to the part to see if it's exactly the same as the one that does work?
These are questions I ask myself when things don't work like I think they should.
If it is the flanged pin you mentioned,, then a simple flattening of the flange may just cure the problem.
Most folks who I shoot competition with take thier guns apart a lot & know the inner works very well,, so diagnosing a problem isn't usually an issue.
If all that fails,, a POLITE call to Ruger,, explaining the problem,, could help,,, even if you have to send them the entire gun to make sure they fix it.
You can't blame them if they only got one part & it doesn't exactly fit. In fact a LOT of Ruger parts are NOT sold to the public due to fitting & liability issues.

 

[Retread]

Thanks, Contender. You're right about my attitude. I'm not feeling very polite towards Ruger repair right now. Of course, I've had this assembly for 2-3 months and could have tried to put it together at anytime. And I could've sent my main 22/45 to Louisiana for the action work I really want, and had it back by now. Having done neither and finding a match coming 2 - 3 months earlier than expected, makes me culpable - and angry at the first glitch. (If the #1 gun goes to LA now, I'd need the badly fixed gun to work in practice for a couple of months - and now that chance seems lost). Whine, whine, wine. Point taken.

I should have sent this whole gun in with the needed mainspring assembly/ bolt stop pin repair because the gun's also always had a problem in the grasp between the rear sight base screws (I've gone through 4 or 5) and the receiver. I'm just sure I need to practice now, and not starting 3 - 5 weeks from now. Steel plate shooting takes a lot of accumulated practice before you even start to get proficient.

The lip on the bottom of the bolt stop base is about the only thing that can be catching, as far as I can tell. You can't see, at the moment it stops from going in, up into the grip to see where, though. I've taken both these guns down all the way to thoroughly clean them numerous times (about every 3rd - 4th cleaning). And, in this case, I'm not missing a re-assembly step.

I don't have my micrometer and it may take a day or two to find it. That's an obvious first step. I'm going to try to post a picture, if I can get some help and figure out how to post it on the web.

 

[contender]

Trust me when I say I fully understand what you are feeling. I have been known to put things off when I shouldn't have only to find myself trying to play catch-up at a later date & screwing up even more.
And,, yes,, I do understand Steel Challenge,,, I occasionally shoot it too. Practice is critical,, fully understood.
And by all means,,, post a few pics & maybe we can offer a few more suggestions to hopefully get you shooting sooner. (I may have a part I can loan ya,,,!) Mic the housing,, check everything,, & post a few pics.. I'll try to help,,,!

 

[WMB30]

Check the bolt stop pin pivot. If it has backed out just a tad it will catch on the frame and prevent closure. Happened to me.

Bill

 

[Retread]

Thanks Bill and Contender.

The first thing I noticed when I handled the newly repaired mainspring housing was that the small pin securing the bolt stop was staked (hammerred) crudely with a different punch than had been used before and also different in every respect from the still original mainspring housing/bolt stop pin from my good, unrepaired 22/45. On the good gun, there was a shallow staking divit on each side of the small bolt stop pin itself. On the sides of the newly replaced bolt stop pin, there are 2 - 4 much smaller, much deeper divits that crossed the edges of the small bolt stop pin, gouging the edges of the holes on the mainspring itself. This could just be an alternative way to stake the bolt stop pin. But, on one side there was a sharp burr that protruded out a little distance. I thought this was the problem keeping the mainspring from closing into the grip frame.. I crudely filed it back to bring it flush, but that made no difference to the limited extent to which the whole housing refused to close into the grip frame of my gun.

I tried all week to get pics to post of the differences in width at the base of the bolt stop, between my original unrepaired mainspring housing and the newly 'repaired' one. But, the cameras and the operators, including me, weren't up to the task. I know it's no big deal, but I, and we, couldn't handle it.

I did measure the bases of both the good original bolt stop pin (at the base) and the newly repaired bolt stop pin base. The good base - that fits into both my 22/45's measures 3.05 - 3.06 inches diameter at its smooth, un-rimmed base. The newly replaced bolt stop pin measures 3.20 inches diameter at the same place at its base - where there is a rim which is the cause of this extra girth.

These are clearly design differences and I wonder if I've just got the wrong bolt stop pin installed by Ruger into my mainspring housing. This mainspring housing will not fit in either of my (Mark II) 22/45's, and the one good original (unrepaired) mainspring housing fits into both guns.

Anyone know what's going on here?

 

[Richbaker]

Sounds like a call to Ruger is necessary....

 

[Retread]

I called Ruger today and they wanted their most expert repair guy to call me back. When he did, he didn't add any useful information about the "rimmed" bolt stop they sent in my original mainspring housing. We both identified the area of the problem, simultaneously looking at our exploded drawings. But he wasn't aware of their being another kind of bolt stop - one rimmed at the base of its cylinder at the junction with the neck, and others (like the one on my other 22/45) with no rim at all. The rim looks like it's part of the design. It looks symmetrical and properly finished.

He wants me to send it to AZ, of course. When I asked if I should include in the address, Attn: (to him), he said no. I asked if he'd see it. He said he might, but that he's one of four repair technicians. He said if it comes to him, he's likely to remember our conversation. That doesn't sound right to me, unless it's a newer meaner (less friendly) bottom line crew at Ruger having taken over recently. I'd heard nothing but good things about the company and its personnel - and experienced good relations with them in the past. I've only been a Ruger owner since 2005, but now am on tilt, a little bit.

For those who noticed my being upset on an early post, I wasn't at all today. The conversation was normal and friendly - just not very accommodating at all. He said their turn around time is 1 - 3 weeks.

So far, it seems like I shouldn't have had a bolt stop break into two pieces, and then I should've expected a successful repair. Now I'm not sure the person responsible for the next needed repair is going to know what he's seeing because they don't communicate with one another. I wonder if I want to buy another Ruger pistol ??? Never expected to have to think about that before. I would've expected their best repairman to identify the problem and this guy couldn't do that, doesn't know how it's going to get fixed, and doesn't care to look at it, himself. Weird.

 

[Retread]

Trying to get photos of 22/45 onto this thread.

I'm not sure how this got done. It looks like a form of Picasa can be used to see the pics I've been trying to get posted for a week. The link works. The first of these three photos got duplicated by yours truly, the amateur Net guy. Whew ! But it can clearly be seen that there is a rim at the bottom of the bolt stop (pin) and I don't think it should be there. The neighbor who took the photos is a retired engineer, but not a shooter. It looks to him as though the cylinder of the bolt stop was not machined right. I wonder if it's possible there are two different forms of this bolt stop and Ruger put the wrong one in my mainspring housing. The rimmed bottom is blued and not rough.

It looks like a pretty lousy job of staking the cross pin, also.

Here are the 3 pictures of Ruger's repair job: Click on View All, to see the three photos. Thanks.


http://picasaweb.google.com/11590401011 ... 8977854386

I'm not sure how to handle this. It doesn't look right and doesn't work. Would appreciate any advice you might have.

Utahn

 

[Coop]

I am not a gunsmith. I do own several MK-II's dating back to 1995. I do not own any 22/45's.

Nonetheless, looking at your pictures, it appears to me the bolt stop pin has "upset metal" left on the pin and not removed during the pin's manufacturing process. It looks like the 'upset metal" is left over from when the pin's bottom rectangular section was fabricated, prior to the pin being staked onto the mainspring housing assembly. The extra diameter of the "upset metal" is preventing the bolt stop pin from fully entering the receiver, thereby not allowing the mainspring housing to fully enter the recess in the grip frame.

All the bolt stop pins on all my MK-II's are all uniform in diameter, right down to the rectangular end, and NONE have that lip of "upset metal" on them.

HTH

Coop

 

[Bearlaker]

It looks like you could file that off, RU.

 

[Retread]

It looks like it's going to be a little hard to get to because the mainspring 'portal'? that the neck fits into is never very far away no matter where I swing the bolt stop pin around it. But it looks doable. If the bolt stop pin where separate from the housing, piece of cake. And a flat file looks necessary - I hadn't thought of that but would've found out soon enough.

 

[Retread]

Well, Ruger got back in touch with me and wanted to see the photos of the blemished bolt stop. I think their interest is much to their credit. Then yesterday, I got a return e-mail saying they didn't understand what had happened, but they were sending a replacement mainspring assembly along with an envelope for me to return the original mis-repaired bolt stop in its housing assembly. I should get this early next week and not lose any more time in practice. Turns out that I can send only part of my match gun to Louisiana to get the action work I want on it. I mentioned that it sounded like the person I'd originally talked with was over-tired on the phone, and this was before noon on that day. Understandable that big gun companies like Ruger are stressed now with all the additional work, if that's what happened in this case.

If I'd understood that the 'extra rim' on the almost completely machined bolt stop was a blem and not another type of bolt stop, and had not been in such a hurry, all this would have gone more smoothly. I'm not an experienced tech person, though I can figure things out and like to accomplish small tasks on my own. I won't get the chance to do the work this time, but I should be able to feel confident the gun's in the best condition that it can be.

The e-mail from Ruger indicated they wanted the mainspring assembly back so they can examine it and figure what it needed that it didn't get. Again, a credit to them.

 

[contender]

I'm glad to hear progress is being made. Keep us posted as to what happens. (PS; I went to the Area 6 USPSA match this past weekend. Boy did I shoot lousy,,,!)

 

[Retread]

Well, Contender, sounds like no one got hurt .... and that's always good. I'm facing matches this year that I'm no where near prepared for, and am trying to avoid anxiety about finding new levels of performance. Early in the shooting season for big matches, though. Keepin' on truckin's all we can do. I love practice, but I seem to have a long way to go.

Ruger said they'd send me the replacement mainspring housing and it came when they said it would. Yesterday, I gave up my match gun for two months with the one mainspring housing I had, so the timing was just right. The replacement looks 100%. Nicely finished and ready to go. I'm also very glad that they came through. The earlier repair was mishandled, but Ruger customer service wasn't a problem. I have them to thank, which I look forward to doing after I test what looks like a perfect replacement part.

Thanks to all, including especially Contender, for helping guide me along a bit this time around.

 

[contender]

No problem,, now go out there & shoot some great matches!