Ruger SP101 4"

[frontstuffers]

Went to the Fort Worth gun show today. Ended up selling 3 pistols and buying one. I sold an SP101 3" and bought the new 4" version. Don't really know if it was a good price, but it was priced at what I could live with so that made it a good deal. So, what is the first thing you do when you get a new pistol? Nope, you don't clean it, you get it to your vehicle, cut the tie off of it that keeps it from being loaded and fondle the he!! out of it. I know that some don't like the 4", but it just felt balanced to me. Now when I got it home the first thing I did was clean it. I broke it down to all of it's major components and scrubbed it. That brings me to the point of this thread. Does anyone know what is going on with the new hammer and trigger? In the pics below, the new hammer is (obviously?) on the right and a standard hammer is on the left for comparison. The second picture shows the back of the new trigger. I tried swapping out the hammers and the "old" version fits and functions just fine. Was Ruger trying to lighten the hammer for faster action? Not even sure what's up with the trigger. The newer trigger doesn't really seem to have any reason for the cut out in the back. Anyway, if anyone here knows what the change is all about would sure like to hear from you on it.

This is the two hammers side by side.

This is the new trigger.

 

[Montelores]

Are the pieces possibly MIM (metal injection molding)?

That's a process whereby sintered metal (powder) is combined with a binder (plastic) and heated and injected into a negative mold at temperature to form a molded final object.

It is a relatively new process and has become quite controversial among proponents of "traditional" metal-crafting (forged, machined, etc.) as far as gun parts are concerned.

S&W (among others) has replaced some parts (hammer, trigger, slide stop, safety) with MIM parts, and some "traditionalists" don't like it.

The process seems to produce exact-fitting parts which don't require machining and hand-fitting, and there seems to be a very low rate of failure.

If the MIM-parts are destined to fail, they seem to fail very early in their lives.

"Works good, lasts a long time." (Old aviation expression )

Monty

 

[mattsbox99]

Yes, they are MIM parts. My .22 SP101 has them. I guess it doesn't really bother me much.

 

[DPris]

Old news.

My first Ruger with 'em was the SP .22 last summer. Had a MIM trigger & Ruger said it'd soon have the MIM hammer, too. Which they now do.

The hammer, trigger, and cylinder latch/bolt stop are all MIMs now.
You should be seeing the same on new GPs.

Nothing to do with lightening the parts.
MIMs are cheaper to produce than cast parts that still have to be machined.
Denis

 

[frontstuffers]

Well that's as good a reason as any I guess. Do the injected parts all have those "cut out" areas in them? I know that the hammer spring feels heavier on the new one than my old one. I also noted that the checkering on the new hammer is not as sharp as the old one also.

 

[mattsbox99]

You didn't mention if you got the .22lr or .357 version. I plan on getting the 357 as soon as my dealer gets one.

I never had an SP101 before this, but the hammer does feel better than my GPs and the spring feels heavier too. I'm not really a fan of harder trigger pulls. I put the Wolff kit in mine and its about 99% reliable, but some of that could be due to the .22lr.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I know a lot of us thought the knurling on the hammer spur was too sharp and we had to spend time making it dull. The MIN hammer spur has solved that for us unless you liked it razor sharp. 8) 8)

...Jimbo

 

[Pocketfisherman]

Lowering the mass of the trigger will help the lock time improve and that is an area where Rugers have always lagged their competition.

 

[polseszczyk]

I purchased a SP in December and it does have the "MIM" hammer and trigger. Not a issue, but I don'y like the way they look. Where did you get your parts.

Samuel

 

[loiblb]

I think I like the old style hammer for a reason. It has less locations for the dirt or debri to collect in.

 

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

If somebody like wildwest came out with it and marketed it as a "skeletonized hammer and trigger" people would pay $200 for them. :shock:

I prefer what I have, but I don't see the MIM parts as a big deal.

 

[Triggernosis]

If somebody like wildwest came out with it and marketed it as a "skeletonized hammer and trigger" people would pay $200 for them. :shock:

You're exactly right!

 

[frontstuffers]

Sorry about that, I got the .357 version. I did try out a solid hammer and it seemed to work just fine. I did notice though that if you cock the hammer and then pull the trigger real slow, like you are testing for trigger creep, that the old hammer will catch like it is in the double action mode. When this happened you can continue to pull the trigger and it cycles in the d/a mode. Of course I can't think why you would do this if you were shooting normally.