Sal1950
Blackhawk
SR1911 10mm Journey
Thought I would chronicle my journey with my new SR1911 10mm.
I been a Ruger guy for 40 years and have many in my safe. I'll disclose right off the top here that overall I was more than a bit disappointed in this one, at least more so than any other Ruger I've purchased over the years.
Part 1
OTB the trigger itself is very poorly fitted to the frame, with tons of up & down and side to side slop. This makes it impossible for the trigger feel and break to be consistent from shot to shot with the bow contacting the sear/disconnector at a different angle each time, unless a conscious effort is made to apply a consistent compensating pressure with each pull. OTB trigger break was horrid, with a ton of creep step to it, dry and gritty with a 5 1/2+lb break. Also the grip safety is very poorly fitted to the frame, very sloppy side to side so when you squeeze it, as it contacts the frame, it will make a click and a jump to one side. On the good side of the ledger the overall finish on the gun is great and the slide is as reasonably tight as I guess you can expect from a production gun.
After a field strip, clean and lube, and a lot of dry trigger firing, the trigger break dropped to 4 1/4 - 4 3/4 lbs, a little less gritty but still highly inconsistent and with that big creep-step before breaking.
Part 2
Next up was my first trip to the range. The good news is it cycled all my 180g FMJ handloads without a malfunction except for the slide stop locking the slide open on two occasions. I think it may have been operator error with me hitting it with a thumb during recoil, only some further range time will determine if it's me or the slide stop/magazine interface at fault. The sights only needed a couple clicks up to center shots on target at the 15 yard line and though I didn't do any serious bench resting, the accuracy seemed more than good enough at that point. Then about round 170 things went BAD wrong. The slide jammed and when I went to clear it, I noticed the from half of the slide lock with the pin laying on the bench and the rear half still captured in the gun. BIG BUMMER. End shooting day.
Part 3
Called Ruger about the issues, top of the list was the broken slide stop pin. Nice lady never questioned it and offered to send a replacement, or I could send the gun in for repairs. Not that I don't trust Ruger repairs but I'm not so sure I would get my other areas of concern addressed in a manner that would satisfy me. The sloppy trigger and grip safety fitments are probably SOP for off the shelf part spec's on a low to mid price gun. For now I opped to have them send me a new pin and list my other areas of concern. Since with my smaller hands I found the factory trigger a bit long for comfort anyway, I've ordered a medium length Nighthawk Custom trigger from Midway. They have pre-travel adjustments and should come a bit oversize for custom fitting. She's now totally disassembled and waiting for parts. I've completed a light touch-up on the hammer and sear interfaces and a little polishing here and there. I'm looking at a couple ideas to tighten up the grip safety, the way it ends it's travel is very aggravating to me, will post what I do at a later time. Hoping to end up with a competition quality trigger break somewhere in the 3 lb range.
More to come
Thought I would chronicle my journey with my new SR1911 10mm.
I been a Ruger guy for 40 years and have many in my safe. I'll disclose right off the top here that overall I was more than a bit disappointed in this one, at least more so than any other Ruger I've purchased over the years.
Part 1
OTB the trigger itself is very poorly fitted to the frame, with tons of up & down and side to side slop. This makes it impossible for the trigger feel and break to be consistent from shot to shot with the bow contacting the sear/disconnector at a different angle each time, unless a conscious effort is made to apply a consistent compensating pressure with each pull. OTB trigger break was horrid, with a ton of creep step to it, dry and gritty with a 5 1/2+lb break. Also the grip safety is very poorly fitted to the frame, very sloppy side to side so when you squeeze it, as it contacts the frame, it will make a click and a jump to one side. On the good side of the ledger the overall finish on the gun is great and the slide is as reasonably tight as I guess you can expect from a production gun.
After a field strip, clean and lube, and a lot of dry trigger firing, the trigger break dropped to 4 1/4 - 4 3/4 lbs, a little less gritty but still highly inconsistent and with that big creep-step before breaking.
Part 2
Next up was my first trip to the range. The good news is it cycled all my 180g FMJ handloads without a malfunction except for the slide stop locking the slide open on two occasions. I think it may have been operator error with me hitting it with a thumb during recoil, only some further range time will determine if it's me or the slide stop/magazine interface at fault. The sights only needed a couple clicks up to center shots on target at the 15 yard line and though I didn't do any serious bench resting, the accuracy seemed more than good enough at that point. Then about round 170 things went BAD wrong. The slide jammed and when I went to clear it, I noticed the from half of the slide lock with the pin laying on the bench and the rear half still captured in the gun. BIG BUMMER. End shooting day.
Part 3
Called Ruger about the issues, top of the list was the broken slide stop pin. Nice lady never questioned it and offered to send a replacement, or I could send the gun in for repairs. Not that I don't trust Ruger repairs but I'm not so sure I would get my other areas of concern addressed in a manner that would satisfy me. The sloppy trigger and grip safety fitments are probably SOP for off the shelf part spec's on a low to mid price gun. For now I opped to have them send me a new pin and list my other areas of concern. Since with my smaller hands I found the factory trigger a bit long for comfort anyway, I've ordered a medium length Nighthawk Custom trigger from Midway. They have pre-travel adjustments and should come a bit oversize for custom fitting. She's now totally disassembled and waiting for parts. I've completed a light touch-up on the hammer and sear interfaces and a little polishing here and there. I'm looking at a couple ideas to tighten up the grip safety, the way it ends it's travel is very aggravating to me, will post what I do at a later time. Hoping to end up with a competition quality trigger break somewhere in the 3 lb range.
More to come