Single Six Repair

Help Support Ruger Forum:

Sin6Sec63451022

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
482
Location
Rainier, WA 98576
The hammer plunger broke on my 22/22mag single six. Got a new one and, after a bunch of head-scratching, got it put in OK. But, not on the first try- I found that the new plunger was too long. So, I compared it to the old one and whittled the new one down to that same size and it works great. I know it's after the fact now, but two things came to mind: I'm glad I didn't lose the broken-off piece so I had something to compare to and, second: did I get the wrong part sent to me, or are they all one length for any single6 and then you have to size it to the particular gun? If one size fits all, and you had nothing to compare to, how would you know what length to make it? Also, since it broke once maybe it will break again. Seems to me it should have some wiggle room since it is spring loaded. Any one got any ideas?
 

G2

Hunter
Joined
May 8, 2006
Messages
2,491
Location
UT/AZ
Where did you get the replacement? I have allways thought they were the same size with the exception of the new one with the lock in the GF. I have never had one break.
 

flatgate

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
Messages
6,784
Location
Star Valley, WY
Too long? Hmmm, it's a generic part on the Ruger single actions.

Many folks fit "extra long" hammer plungers so they hold the cylinder latch open "longer" during the cylinder rotation sequence. This, if done properly, can prevent the dreaded "cylinder ring" evident on virtually all New Models (except those with modified timing).

Are you certain you understand what/why you did what you did?

flatgate
 

Sin6Sec63451022

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
482
Location
Rainier, WA 98576
I got the part last week from Numrich. I made sure the hole and spring were both clean and free and the plunger has full travel on the cut-out slot where it's held in by the cross pin. About all I know and understand for sure is that the full length plunger wouldn't let the hammer go back. It caught about midstream and quit. I then shortened it up to the same length as the old (original?) one and it runs great. Maybe Ruger had Ford Motor Co. make a batch of guns for them. I have an old Ford PU that I have to modify just about every part for, too. Or, maybe I'm just a crummy mechanic!!!!!!
As I said, it's all after the fact and if it breaks again I'll just shorten another one, but it definitely has my curiosity up.
 

Sin6Sec63451022

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
482
Location
Rainier, WA 98576
I'm bringing this back up. After reading everyone's responses I got to thinking about it some more and I found that although it works great, it does, in fact, have cylinder drag, so I bought several more plungers from Ruger and went after it some more. Still the same thing, except I was able to leave the plunger a little bit longer as long as I rounded off the end where it rubs on the cylinder latch. This got rid of the worst of the cylinder drag, but the cocking action is alot stiffer than I like (or should be). I thought maybe I had a wrong cylinder latch, but the Ruger info says "one-size-fits-all" for single sixes. I thought maybe someone put a latch in from some other model, so I checked out the part numbers for a Blackhawk and it's the same number! Somethin' ain't right! And I'm outta ideas. Anyone know anything about this. Oh yeah; I did break one of the replacement plungers in all of this, so something is up. Any info would be appreciated. Yeah, I know: send it to Ruger, But anyone can fix it that way!!!
 

flatgate

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
Messages
6,784
Location
Star Valley, WY
Extra length hammer plungers can indeed cause a bind in the lockwork.
Are you sure the "timing" is OK? If the pawl tries to rotate the cylinder prior to the dropping of the cylinder latch then the gun will bind in a big way.

Personally, I like to weld up the leg of the cylinder latch and leave the plunger as is......

Polish up the inside of the hammer plunger's hole the best you can and and also polish/taper the end of the plunger a wee bit so it is able to slide in and out of it's bore easily.

flatgate
 

DGW1949

Hunter
Joined
Apr 10, 2005
Messages
3,916
Location
Texas
Just from reading, I'm guessing that one of three things is going on here.
Either there's something up inside the hammer's plunger-hole that you're missing...or the hole aint deep enough.
Might also be that the plunger itself aint riding just-right on the latch-leg and is slipping-off the side at some point of hammer travel.

T'were it mine, add IF it turns out that the plunger is riding-right, my next step would be to deepen that hole by about .060

Of course, that is assuming that you are using a genuine Ruger plunger. All replacement parts aint created equal....if you get my drift.

Hope this helps.
DGW
 

Sin6Sec63451022

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
482
Location
Rainier, WA 98576
Well, i couldn't leave it alone, so I dinked wth it some more. At this point it "works" pretty good, but it just ain't right.

Flatgate:Timing is good; the latch drops before the cylinder starts to turn and pops back up just as it drops into the divot on the cylinder. Not what it should be, IMO, but livable. The plunger moves free as a bird full lenght of it's travel.

DGW1949:I thought the same as you so I got this batch of parts directly from Ruger. They appear to be exactly as the others, though.

Iowegan: What you said- It occurred to me that the cross pin is in the wrong place (too low)which is why the original plunger that broke on me was shorter than the replacements.The plunger travels freely the lenght of the crosspin cutout, but the cutout ends right at the edge of the hammer so there is no lateral support beyond the cutout, as though the crosspin should be farther up the hammer, exactly as you said with your BH problem.
I polished up the cylinder latch and the plunger and it seems to be working quite smoothly now and cylinder drag is tolerable, although it should possible to eliminate it altogether. But, what really has me bugged is that there is no proper support for the plunger. I know it will break again. It's gotta be the crosspin in the wrong place. I don't have another hammer to compare to, but it seems to me that Ruger should have this all scienced out by now! Would Ruger (or anybody else) have specs for this?
Anyway, thank you all for all the info so far- I will keep this updated as I go. It's been kinda fun, in spite of the frustration.
 

Sin6Sec63451022

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
482
Location
Rainier, WA 98576
Well, I'm dredging this one up one more time: I was gonna send the gun to Ruger for repairs, but after I recovered from learning what the shipping charges/hassles were gonna be, I instead opted to just buy a new hammer from Ruger. As it turned out, my suspicions were correct- the plunger crosspin hole on the new hammer was drilled farther up allowing use of a full length factory plunger. I put it all together and it works smooth as a baby's butt except the latch drags pretty bad. But, the plunger has very good support now, so it shouldn't break again.
Well, again I couldn't leave it alone, so I dinked around and extended another plunger by about 3/32" and it's now at the point that it is on the verge of hanging up, but cylinder drag is only slightly improved. So I put it all back with the new hammer assy. for now.
So, it's still gnawing at me and I'm thinking of mods to the cylinder latch. Flatgate, you posted earlier that you like to "weld up" the latch leg. As in add some material to the surface of the latch that the plunger rides on? That's what I was thinking of trying next. Then I guess it would be a matter of trial-and-error, guess-and-by-gosh to arrive at the correct configuration. Seems to me that I would want to add the most weld more at the top of the latch leg.
Any ideas. Thanks....
 

SAJohn

Hunter
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
2,300
Location
Terrebonne, Oregon, USA
I made one of Iowegan's extended plungers for my new 50th .44 flattop. It turned out the the .835" overall length was a tad long and it binded. When I reduced it to .820" and slightly rounded the bottom everything worked slick and no cylinder latch drag. So you mileage may vary. Still it is a wonderful fix for those of us without a TIG welder.

Thank you one more time Iowegan.

SAJohn
 

flatgate

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
Messages
6,784
Location
Star Valley, WY
I use to do the extended plunger trick, which came to me via "Odie's Master" (only old school Ruger Collectors will know whom I'm talking about
biggrin.gif
). I never have been happy with the geometry of the extended plungers as they seem to require a lot of fitting.
I got inspired by a post here on Ruger Forum back when I first signed on. This pic told me what to do:
128518571.jpg


Your gun may need something different, but, this technique has worked flawlessly for me since that time.

flatgate
 

Sin6Sec63451022

Single-Sixer
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
482
Location
Rainier, WA 98576
Flatgate:
I like it! That's about what I had in my mind to do. It appears that you extend a factory part. Do you splice on a piece or just build it up with weld material?
Thanks much for the picture- truly worth a thousand words!
 

bryon

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
2
i have broke 5 of the hammer plungers,i have tried everything,besides a new hammer,so i give up,does anyone want this POS before i throw it in the dump?
 

MOUNTAIN WILLIAM

Blackhawk
Joined
Jun 25, 2011
Messages
544
Location
Moline, Il.
bryon said:
i have broke 5 of the hammer plungers,i have tried everything,besides a new hammer,so i give up,does anyone want this POS before i throw it in the dump?
Try another hammer first and if that doesn't work, I guess you can send it to me. :wink:
 

flatgate

Hawkeye
Joined
Jun 18, 2001
Messages
6,784
Location
Star Valley, WY
You are probably using a "too long" of a plunger....... I've never broken one but I've seen them bind up when they are too long...

JMHO,

flatgate
 
Top