SR9 How-To (Multiple Inside) - Video Links Removed

[Sal1950]

I promised to post the result of my experiments with lightening the striker spring so here it is. Basically I've had little success going down that road in a way that kind of surprised me, it wasn't light strikes that became an issue, it was the failure of the trigger to return (reset) after firing? This was something I had not expected or heard of before from users here who had cut their springs, but I do know that user mattbren ran into a similar issue with his experiments using heavier trigger bar springs to lighten trigger pull.

After obtaining a few extra striker springs from Ruger I cut and re-flattened the end for a OAL of 1.460 (stock is about 1.610). While racking the slide and dry firing everything seemed fine but at the range the trigger would either be sluggish to return or actually need to be bumped forward manually to reset about every fifth shot or so. I then cut another spring to a OAL 1.530, splitting the difference. This resulted in reducing the sluggish return to only on rare occasions, maybe once in 23-30 shots but the issue was still there.

As to trigger pull weight, I have the gun fully polished as per Josh's instructions and a Ghost Rocket installed. This resulted in a very nice pull at just a hair over 5 pounds. The first cut brought the pull down to 4 pounds but was unusable due to the return issue. The second cut gives about a 4.5 pound pull but again I would never consider this a carry gun with even the limited issue that resulted. I'm going to leave it like this for a while longer to see if the issue goes away after another 500 rounds or so, if not it's back to stock.

There just seems to be a very delicate balance between the forces of the striker spring, trigger bar spring, and the over all friction the trigger has. There have been reports of many sr9 series weapons having either the trigger return issue or light strikes out of the box and being returned for service, so it appears that even Ruger has struggled with this balance issue. I was hoping to get my gun around 3-3.5 pounds but at this point it doesn't seem like that's possible, I can and do work around light strike issues in many of my weapons with the proper choice of primers, etc, when reloading, but this trigger return issue is a show stopper. I will continue to keep my eye open for further answers to the return problem and will test again if I run into anything that appears to be an answer but for now I think I'm done.

But hey, I'm open to suggestions.
All in all I still think a polished and Ghost Rocket installed SR9C offers the best striker fired trigger I've ever experienced, I'd just like to make it a little better yet. LOL
Sal

 

[jhearne]

Nice work and great info Sal, at least you got some good data! Sucks that you had reliability issues with it though.

Unfortunately, I don't know a whole lot about springs, a good deal of general stuff, but nothing specific to warrant technical discussion on the topic :\

You could probably play with springs if we had options for our Striker weight. I could see that with the Mag DC removed and no plans to put it back in, where you could remove a good bit of excess metal to lighten it, strategically of course. Then play with springs and such....all in all, a good deal of work for just 1.5 lbs or so....most definitely not intended for defense use.

Josh

 

[agentadam]

I guess yall have seen the skeletonized firing pins available for Glocks. I forgot the name but before the LighteningStrike and Glockworkz strikers were available one guy used to lighten the factory unit. Any good machinist should be able to port and flute one easily like this.

 

[Sal1950]

When I have some more time I'm going to look into what Gunsby Blazen found out about the trigger bar slop and his fixes,
http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=99342
Might be some answers here to a number of issues due to the slop there. IMHO Unless we can find an answer to why the trigger doesn't return with a lightened striker spring, any further work in the striker area will be fruitless.
Cheers,
Sal

 

[agentadam]

Ruger ended up having too add a +longer,but not necessarily heavier, firing pin spring. Shortening it wouldn't help much because the firing pin needs to firmly push itself back to the starting position. If it doesn't then it can't counter affect the forces of the two trigger bar springs to push the trigger bar down slightly and get behind it again.The firing pin spring could be lighter but not shorter. This would be done by using a spring with thinner wire but the proper amount of coils and length.

This is just speculation and I appreciate all of the research you guys have done with these guns. There is just such a wide range of "tolerances" in these guns and possibly even trigger bar,connector,and housing changes from v1.1 to 1.2.

The only bump/2nd stage I feel in my trigger is the trigger bar deactivating(pushing up) the firing pin block half way threw the trigger pull. However trigger bar flex is obvious and could cause problems in others . Allot of people thought there FP spring was making "sproing" stacking noises but mine is actually coming from the firing pin block spring.Seems like the firing pin block/plunger spring is very robust and could be lighter or even shortened a coil or two without problems.

To really diagnose a trigger you need an 'armorers' slide plate that is cut off and the bottom enough to still hold in all the goodies but see the trigger bar to striker lug interface and insure proper engagement.

 

[SR9freshfish]

I know this is quite late to the party, but I will throw this out anyway.

The SR9 is supposed to come with a 6.5lb trigger pull, and the SR9c is supposed to have a 5lb trigger pull. From what I have read, besides the trigger reset bar (Ghost), the striker spring/assy is the major player in the trigger draw weight arena, correct? How much different is the SR9 striker spring from the SR9c spring, and can an SR9c spring be placed in the SR9 to lighten trigger pull weight without inducing soft-strikes?

 

[jhearne]

The actual trigger pull values aren't disclosed by Ruger. The original SR9 (pre-recall) was advertised at 6 lbs, once the recall hit and people complained of heavier pulls, they removed that info from their media.

The Striker's Spring plays the most in the trigger pull weight values. The two springs do differ, but I don't have any figures (or an SR9c to compare with) to give you. You would need to talk to someone like Eric from Galloway Precision who has been dealing with the specifics of the internals.....I can help you get it apart, but can't give you the details of the parts or geometry.

However, I would highly recommend his trigger kit for the SR9. I have one in mine from testing and love it. Hands down the best thing you can do (drop-in!) for the SR9 IMHO. If it's not available on his website right now, it should be very soon. Last I heard (last week) he was awaiting the arrival of the remainder of the springs for the kits.

Josh

 

[SR9freshfish]

Thank you Josh. I have a Ghost Rocket coming, and thanks to your and Grendels videos am polishing out my trigger assembly for smoother operation (as per the video instruction). I am also going to attempt to use some of my chemical anti-friction coatings (from my aerospace job) to coat the inner slide rails and slide tangs with (maybe even the fire control bar after polishing). I really don't care too terribly much about pull weight (unless it is harder than dragging a Jenny Craig escapee through a doughnut shop), I am more interested in smooth operation. However, a lighter pull would be nice.

Do you think combining one of Erics springs with the Ghost trigger could yield a good combination of lighter pull rates?

 

[jhearne]

You're welcome! And that's just cheating!! j/k, that should be pretty awesome for the rails.

Polishing will get you a smoother pull, using the Rocket will slightly lessen it. Ghost recommends not polishing with a Rocket to get the best benefits, then polish as you see necessary after the part's been broken in some.

As for the hybrid Galloway/Ghost trigger, I tried it, but found the hybrid to not be as beneficial as a stand alone Galloway setup. For me (polsihed internals elsewhere) the Ghost Rocket yielded a 1 lb reduction in pull. From that, the Galloway had to drop another lb at least, if not more. Ghost saw no improvement in accuracy where as the Galloway shrunk my groupings drastically. I only plug the Galloway kit because I know it works, and works well.

Josh

Josh

 

[SR9freshfish]

I will practice with the coatings (for chemical resistance durability) on some scrap metal first! Don't want to get the gun innards all slippery just to have the cleaning chemicals start to flake the coating off!

I will let you know how the chemical testing works out when I get to doing some evals in the shop.

 

[fmcgraw]

Just want to say thanks Josh for your great how-to's on the SR9. I installed a new aluminum striker indicator and stainless mag release from Galloway last night and couldn't have done it so easily without your posts.

 

[Code-Red-1]

Ugh, I may have made a boo boo. I didn't check the guide on here out because I thought I could completely break my SR40 down without it. I could, I just couldn't put it together right I guess lol. Two things have happened. #1 mags won't drop free when mag release is pressed in. It will drop free from the latch (#39) but has to be pulled out. Second is that the safety is "loose" it kinda just goes up and down and doesn't lock into place.

Everything is flush inside so I don't know what's hanging the mags up. Does the safety lever have a spring I forgot or something?

 

[jhearne]

As for the loose safety, there is a spring loaded pin, it's pretty small. About 3/32" diameter, and maybe 5/16" long (guessing here) including the spring.

Here's that spring, it's the little black/grey part sitting below the FCH assembly:

You might have not put the spring pin in place, and you could have lost it altogether. Take the FCH apart to ensure it's not missing. When you swing the safety lever down after removing the FCH from the frame, that pin/spring WILL shoot out of there. If it's there, check and make sure all the other parts function well. You could have installed that spring/pin in the wrong hole. You should have to drop it in place then hold it flush to swing the Safety over it. If it's missing and you can't find it, call Ruger to order another one. That'll fix the Safety issue. It should snap to and from Safe/Fire.

As for the sticking mags, you might have something misaligned in the FCH causing something to add friction to the mag. Remove the slide and mag and see what the mag well looks like. See if there's any obstructions. With the ejector up, the FCH and attached parts should sit behind the smooth walls of the grip frame by a little bit. If anything overhangs that plastic, you could find your culprit. Your ejector might not be seated fully in the FCH, your Trigger Reset Bar might be dragging it. I don't know without having the gun here.

It's probably a small problem that might not be too obvious I'm afraid. Just have patience and take your time. Worst case you have to send it in to Ruger. Take some pics of the areas as you try to work on it, post them here and it might help me/us see what's out of place.

Josh

 

[Code-Red-1]

I think the spring loaded pin for the safety came out because I may of not seated it properly. As for the mags eveything appears to be flush and inline and working properly so its weird. On a side note after cleaning polishing and lubricating everything properly the trigger feels much much better. Also have 700 rounds in it now. But it feels smooth and no more stagey feel to it.

I wanted to send it to galloway for a Lil bit of work so if I can't figure it out I'm sure he can...

 

[waldo1324]

geez!! what the hll is that herne?? you guys seriously are magicians with these firearms... ive learned so much since hovering about..but man... you guys have some tinkering skill!!!

 

[Anonymous]

I've learned a lot, too...primarily that if I need trigger etc work it goes to someone who knows what they're doing. Between my lack of knowledge, and my lack of patience, I'd never see a spring that small, and then know where it went.

 

[this_is_nascar]

I just ran across your SR9 "How To" videos on You Tube. What a great help this will be to me. I'm planning on getting the exact same two-toned SR9 in a couple weeks. You videos will prove to be very helpful to me. I live in NJ, so I'm forced to get the 10-round mags. In NJ, 15 rounds is the limit. With the SR9 already having a 17-round mag, I don't ever see them making a 15-round mag. I've been told that we'd be able to use the 17-round mag, if someone outside of NJ would "pin" the mag to only allow 15-rounds max. Is that something that's easy to do? How would it be done? Anyone willing to "pin" a couple 17-round mags down to 15-rounds for me?

 

[jhearne]

Not something I'd do nor recommend. You might could find aftermarket 15s, but I wouldn't modify 17s outside of the state then brig them in.

Edited, iPhone screen protector/user error

Josh

 

[this_is_nascar]

To my knowledge, there are not aftermarket 15-round SR9 magazines. There's nothing wrong with modifying the 17-round mag to accept only 15-rounds. I'm just unsure how to do it in such a way that it's somewhat "permanent" and functional, nor would I be able to do it, since I'd have to have the 17-rounder in my position. Obviously, that's illegal and can't be done. Someone in a state that's allowed a 17-round mag, doing the modification and sending me the modded mag is certainly legal in NJ. The mag can't be capable of holding more than 15-rounds. That's the requirement/law.

 

[explorecaves]

To my knowledge, there are not aftermarket 15-round SR9 magazines. There's nothing wrong with modifying the 17-round mag to accept only 15-rounds. I'm just unsure how to do it in such a way that it's somewhat "permanent" and functional, nor would I be able to do it, since I'd have to have the 17-rounder in my position. Obviously, that's illegal and can't be done. Someone in a state that's allowed a 17-round mag, doing the modification and sending me the modded mag is certainly legal in NJ. The mag can't be capable of holding more than 15-rounds. That's the requirement/law.

The way that comes to my mind is to add a block of some sort to the plate that attaches to the end of the spring that would limit the total spring compression to the 15 rounds.... This block would be inside the spring so you would have the taper the block to allow the spring to pass between it and the wall of the magazine when being compressed.

(royalties from production of this modification shall be sent to me LOL)