Ruger SP101 trigger

[mrgaf]

Ordered an SP101, 4.2 barrel, from BUDS. pistol came in the other day and picked it up today. Pistol looks nice but the trigger is HORRIBLE. Single action not too bad but really gritty, double action pretty heavy and gritty as well but can live with it. What I do have a problem with is the trigger return after firing. Extremely gritty and it almost acts like it will not return to the ready position both in SA and DA. Little concerned. I know shooting the hell out of it will smooth things out eventually, is there something simple I can do without a total dis-assembly of the trigger? If it did not have the FO front sight, I'd pull the grips and give it a good long soak in Kerosene but that would mess up the FO insert in the front sight. Don't mind getting a trigger job done but there are zero decent gunsmiths who do good revolver work. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Another thing is the grip. While they look nice, they seem very small. Any suggestions for aftermarket grips

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

It sounds like a field strip and a good cleaning is in order. Often there is grit and crud left in the trigger group from manufacture. Your owners manual tells how to do it, not that dificult. I use Rem oil on mine .
Hogue makes a larger grip for the 101, I have them on all four of my SP's.

 

[6gun]

I did my own trigger job very easy to do the SP101 is a very simple gun to take apart and reassemble, I also installed a Wilson Combat spring kit, my trigger is really nice now.

Follow the steps on this web site it will show you how to do a trigger job: http://www.sp101trigger.com/index.html

I put the Hogue Monogrip on mine and like it real well.

http://shopruger.com/SP101-Rubber-Monogrip/productinfo/84138/

 

[Jimbo357mag]

If you don't want to take the trigger group apart you can spray and clean it with 'gun scrubber' and then oil it. If you get a Wolf spring kit you can reduce the trigger pull and get a better handling gun. Experiment with reducing the main spring and the trigger return spring without having misfires. Also dry firing will help break the gun in but there is nothing like lots of live fire to make the gun run better.

Do you really think the front sight could be effected by solvent? I don't. Coffee can of kerosene sounds good to me. Work the action while submerged. I bet you will be surprised at what comes out of your gun if you do that.

+1 on the Hogue Monogrip. That is what mine wears.

Trigger job guide. http://www.sp101trigger.com/index.html
...oops I see 6gun done posed that.

 

[G2]

When you pull this gun apart you will be surprised how much junk is in there.
Lots of good advise has been offered above.
Houge Grips in either the inexpensive rubbers or the wood are nice 3 finger alternatives.

Now after you go thru all the cleaning, smoothing, polishing, de-blurring, spring kit, it will be a totally different gun. :wink:

The chirping on the return of the trigger,,,, is the transfer bar,
I'm still working on trying to get the CHIRP out. :roll:
I understand you didn't ask .... Yet.

 

[6gun]

When you pull this gun apart you will be surprised how much junk is in there.
Lots of good advise has been offered above.
Houge Grips in either the inexpensive rubbers or the wood are nice 3 finger alternatives.

Now after you go thru all the cleaning, smoothing, polishing, de-blurring, spring kit, it will be a totally different gun. :wink:

The chirping on the return of the trigger,,,, is the transfer bar,
I'm still working on trying to get the CHIRP out. :roll:
I understand you didn't ask .... Yet.

Mine had no junk in it when I took it apart it was spotlessly clean and no chirping either.

 

[mrgaf]

Well did the disassembly and cleaning that you guys recommended. Followed the manual along with a little help from you tube. Was surprised how easy it was! Came apart real easy. Removed all the parts indicated in the owners manual and gave them a good cleaning, brushing and rinse with gun scrubber. Also removed the trigger link plunger, spring and latch gave them a good cleaning and, using a 1/4 new drill bit (with oil and hand turned (found that trick on you tube that a gunsmith recommended doing)) de-burred the "hole", then polished it and the latch, making sure all burrs were removed from the edge. Did the same to the hammer, transfer bar, pawl and the top/sides of the transfer bar (towards the top where the bearing surface interfaces with the hammer). removing the rough edges was done with jewelers rouge and a dremel tool at the lowest speed. Polished and smoothed things up really nice. Hit everything with a brush and gun scrubber to clean off any remaining rouge and lightly lubed everything (also cleaned and lubricated the crane assembly and cylinder). Reassembled everything without any trouble and functioned tested. The trigger is like butter, no grit; nice and smooth without any hang-up. Wow I was impressed! Totally different. Not sure if I'm going with the Wolfe springs or not since the trigger is greatly improved BUT now I know how and where everything is so it should be easy.

Here is the grip I went with:

https://www.hogueinc.com/store/products/sp101-lamo-camo/3538

Reason I went with the laminate is here in Hawaii the weather and heat has a tendency to "melt" the rubber and make it sticky. Got a decent price on Amazon and free shipping. Hope it looks ok though.

Thanks to everyone who responded and helped me along with this. Mahalo Nui Loa ("thank you so very much" in Hawaiian). Will post pics of revolver with the new grips......

 

[6gun]

Well did the disassembly and cleaning that you guys recommended. Followed the manual along with a little help from you tube. Was surprised how easy it was! Came apart real easy. Removed all the parts indicated in the owners manual and gave them a good cleaning, brushing and rinse with gun scrubber. Also removed the trigger link plunger, spring and latch gave them a good cleaning and, using a 1/4 new drill bit (with oil and hand turned (found that trick on you tube that a gunsmith recommended doing)) de-burred the "hole", then polished it and the latch, making sure all burrs were removed from the edge. Did the same to the hammer, transfer bar, pawl and the top/sides of the transfer bar (towards the top where the bearing surface interfaces with the hammer). removing the rough edges was done with jewelers rouge and a dremel tool at the lowest speed. Polished and smoothed things up really nice. Hit everything with a brush and gun scrubber to clean off any remaining rouge and lightly lubed everything (also cleaned and lubricated the crane assembly and cylinder). Reassembled everything without any trouble and functioned tested. The trigger is like butter, no grit; nice and smooth without any hang-up. Wow I was impressed! Totally different. Not sure if I'm going with the Wolfe springs or not since the trigger is greatly improved BUT now I know how and where everything is so it should be easy.

Here is the grip I went with:

https://www.hogueinc.com/store/products/sp101-lamo-camo/3538

Reason I went with the laminate is here in Hawaii the weather and heat has a tendency to "melt" the rubber and make it sticky. Got a decent price on Amazon and free shipping. Hope it looks ok though.

Thanks to everyone who responded and helped me along with this. Mahalo Nui Loa ("thank you so very much" in Hawaiian). Will post pics of revolver with the new grips......

See you didn't need no stinking gun smith
The wolf spring kit is only if you want a lighter trigger pull so if your happy with your trigger as is there is nothing wrong with that, nice choice on the grip, not sure about the color but it looks just like my Hogue grip only wood instead of the rubber, nice job you have now mastered the SP101 and can fix it yourself should anything ever go wrong. :mrgreen:

 

[mrgaf]

Yea I wasn't really excited with the color but the price was rite and being retired gotta pinch pennies gonna save up some mad money and get better looking grips later on. I can always save the green goblin grips hahahaha

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Good job, nice grip, congratulation on a fine little tank of a gun. There aren't many 'little guns' that will shoot 357 magnums.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Good job!

 

[mrgaf]

Got the new grip in today. Feels great (much better than stock). Verdict still out on the color but it's a shooter, not a looker :wink: :shock: :roll:

 

[mrgaf]

Hope this works.....

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah84/taiboku/f9202f42-8057-4510-96ef-978588bf4c7c_zps20w5cegp.jpg

 

[olm911]

I purchased the same gun about two weeks ago and I had the same experience with the trigger. Not bad in single action but horrible in double action. Due to some recent medical problems I knew I was going to be off work for a few weeks so I decided, with so much time on my hands, to see if I could dry fire it enough to smooth it out. After about a week and untold thousands of dry fires it is now smooth as butter. I also put a Hogue monogrip on it as the stock grip is so small it is hard to hold with hot .357 mag rounds. Now it is one of the sweetest shooting handguns I own.

 

[6gun]

Hope this works.....

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah84/taiboku/f9202f42-8057-4510-96ef-978588bf4c7c_zps20w5cegp.jpg

That's not a bad color, I like that better than the green one you showed us at first.

 

[mrgaf]

Hope this works.....

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah84/taiboku/f9202f42-8057-4510-96ef-978588bf4c7c_zps20w5cegp.jpg

That's not a bad color, I like that better than the green one you showed us at first.

Yea, I was somewhat "relieved" when it arrived I think I'm gonna like it the more I see it. Definitely looks different. The way it feels in the hand was totally worth it compared to the factory grip. Felt like a different gun. Gonna bust the cherry this weekend. :shock:

 

[TINCANBANDIT]

I purchased an SP101 a couple of years ago and wasn't very happy with the factory trigger. I did my own action job including trading out the springs. The gun is butter smooth now and the trigger pull (both DA & SA) are lighter.

I detailed the work here: http://tincanbandit.blogspot.com/2013/12/trigger-job-for-ruger.html

 

[Prescut]

Here's another vote for the worst trigger ever shipped:
Ruger SP101.

Ruger must have no pride to ship this. Makes me question all of Ruger.

 

[6gun]

Here's another vote for the worst trigger ever shipped:
Ruger SP101.

Ruger must have no pride to ship this. Makes me question all of Ruger.

Once again:
Follow the steps on this web site it will show you how to do a trigger job: http://www.sp101trigger.com/index.html

 

[GunHawk]

I found that pushing on the hammer while pulling the trigger will help to smooth it out. Read this on the interweb.
OLD POST, SORRY.