SR9 - Trigger Reset Issues

[ScottH]

Got my SR9 back from the factory this week after an extended stay to fix a host of problems. Cleaned it thoroughly and took it to the range today to see if the problems were resolved. Well the spent casings all don't hit me in the head, face and upper torso any longer, so that's an improvement; it doesn't have failure to feed or other related issues multiple times for every magazine of ammo, so that's an improvement; but it has a new trick; the trigger fails to reset at least once on almost every single magazine of ammo (asked an employee at the range to fire the gun to see if it was me: it wasn't) when there are just a few rounds left in the clip, though sometimes it occurs when there more than a few rounds left. I ran 300 rounds (WWB and Blazer Brass) through the gun today, split into two sessions, with a throrough cleaning between sessions. That didn't resolve the problem. I did have one failer to fire, the round dropped out of sight when I cycled the slide so I don't know it there was a light strike since I couldn't examine the primer. And on one of the trigger reset failures the empty casing was still in the chamber when I cycled the slide. I have no idea what happened there.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[hawkeye]

I assume you have the exploded SR9 parts diagram that came with the pistol and you're somewhat familiar with the inners of the SR9. With that said, I would check to see that item #43 Trigger Bar Lift Spring is installed correctly. When the gun is fired, this spring helps to force the trigger bar up to engage the striker tab when the slide returns after a shot. If for some reason the trigger bar doesn't engage the striker tab, the trigger will not reset.

Also make sure the ejector is pushed all the way up in the normal position. If it's not, the trigger may not reset properly. Hopefully this will help but it's hard to tell without actually looking at the pistol.

Check out the sticky that was posted by jhearne that illustrates how to disassemble the SR9. That might help to ID where you're problem might be. Hope this helps.

 

[ScottH]

I assume you have the exploded SR9 parts diagram that came with the pistol and you're somewhat familiar with the inners of the SR9. With that said, I would check to see that item #43 Trigger Bar Lift Spring is installed correctly. When the gun is fired, this spring helps to force the trigger bar up to engage the striker tab when the slide returns after a shot. If for some reason the trigger bar doesn't engage the striker tab, the trigger will not reset.

Also make sure the ejector is pushed all the way up in the normal position. If it's not, the trigger may not reset properly. Hopefully this will help but it's hard to tell without actually looking at the pistol.

Check out the sticky that was posted by jhearne that illustrates how to disassemble the SR9. That might help to ID where you're problem might be. Hope this helps.

hawkeye,

Did as you suggested and everything looks as it should. With the slide off (and with and without an empty mag in place) I manually reset the trigger and the trigger bar lift spring looked to be in place and funtioning properly. With the gun fully assembled and the magazine out if I slowly cycle the slide I can see the bottom face of the extractor engaging the extension on the top of the trigger bar as it resets the trigger.

As the problem seems to happen mostly when there are only a few rounds left in the mag there must be some other dynamic involved that doesn't show up when trying to recreate the problem manually with an empty gun. Wish I knew what I did with my 9mm snap caps. I burned up the last 300 rounds of 9mm that I had in those two session the other day so the snap caps would be helpful right about now. I suspect that something isn't aligning right when the slide is returning to battery as it strips a round from the mag. Maybe the bottom of the extractor is slightly off and is sliding past the extention on the trigger bar.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Anyone else feel free to chime in, and thanks in advance for any ideas on the subject.

Scott

 

[Vecco]

Pre Recall I had to send in my Sr-9 one of the earlier ones because the trigger would not reset often. I talk to Joe K and he sounded like he knew what was up and sent me a label and back it went, has never happened again.

 

[jhearne]

I assume you have the exploded SR9 parts diagram that came with the pistol and you're somewhat familiar with the inners of the SR9. With that said, I would check to see that item #43 Trigger Bar Lift Spring is installed correctly. When the gun is fired, this spring helps to force the trigger bar up to engage the striker tab when the slide returns after a shot. If for some reason the trigger bar doesn't engage the striker tab, the trigger will not reset.

Also make sure the ejector is pushed all the way up in the normal position. If it's not, the trigger may not reset properly. Hopefully this will help but it's hard to tell without actually looking at the pistol.

Check out the sticky that was posted by jhearne that illustrates how to disassemble the SR9. That might help to ID where you're problem might be. Hope this helps.

hawkeye,

Did as you suggested and everything looks as it should. With the slide off (and with and without an empty mag in place) I manually reset the trigger and the trigger bar lift spring looked to be in place and funtioning properly. With the gun fully assembled and the magazine out if I slowly cycle the slide I can see the bottom face of the extractor engaging the extension on the top of the trigger bar as it resets the trigger.

As the problem seems to happen mostly when there are only a few rounds left in the mag there must be some other dynamic involved that doesn't show up when trying to recreate the problem manually with an empty gun. Wish I knew what I did with my 9mm snap caps. I burned up the last 300 rounds of 9mm that I had in those two session the other day so the snap caps would be helpful right about now. I suspect that something isn't aligning right when the slide is returning to battery as it strips a round from the mag. Maybe the bottom of the extractor is slightly off and is sliding past the extention on the trigger bar.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Anyone else feel free to chime in, and thanks in advance for any ideas on the subject.

Scott

Something with the Trigger Bar Reset or the ejector could be off....The Ejector has a path that the Trigger Bar moves back and forth in, and the Trigger Bar can ONLY (well it's designed to) work if the Ejector is up, and with a Magazine in place the Ejector should be up, everytime. If some of the holes in the ejector aren't right it could cause an issue with it resetting.

But I think the problem is more with the Trigger Bar Reset. If the Reset isn't made right it could fail to keep a reset. The Reset itself isn't just a part that sits at a right angle, it's a spring, it applies force away from the Fire Control Housing, it's kept from springing out too far by the Safety Levers. I'm no Gunsmith, but I'd like to think I know how the internals work with and around each other. Proceed at your own risk!! If you are hesitant about proceeding do not feel bad, call Ruger and have them take care of it, it's a legitamate problem that they CAN fix, mine is a guess at best, you won't hurt my feelings .

To adjust the Reset if you feel up to the task, take your gun down per the instruction in my sticky Hawkeye referred you to earlier and get your gun down to the Fire Control Housing assembly, push the Safety Lever Assembly to the bottom of the FCH and see how far the Reset is sprung out, it should spring out to some degree, if it sits very close to the Fire Control Housing, like there isn't hardly any spring to it then that could be why it's failing to reset. When you push the Safety Levers away from the FCH the detent plunger/spring should come out, maybe under force, do not loose these parts, they are small.

If the Reset is bent too far inwards you'll need to lift it and bend it out some. To bend it out some, remove the Reset and install it on the other side of the FCH, with the long end facing down and to the front as opposed to its original orientation of pointing up and to the rear of the FCH. Make sure that it sits secure in the FCH, and then GENTLY pry it away from the FCH, giving it a slightly larger degree of angle off the FCH. Remove the Reset and reinstall it where it belongs and reassemble the internals and the rest of the gun. You can bend it too far out, the reset will work but it may sound like it's resetting harder, or louder, you will probably have to repeat the process and bend it IN a little to find the sweet spot.

This pic is one I pulled from my How-To it shows the Reset on the FCH after the Levers were pulled down. The Reset springs away from the FCH just a bit, but it needs to in order to function properly. If you need me to let me know and I can go about getting you a better shot of what mine looks like from a better angle, would be after 5 today for me, got a few errands to run first.


If it resets every time afterwards but it feels as though it resets more noticeably then the Reset is bent too far outwards, repeat the above steps but bend it back inwards just a hair. If you don't think your capable or it doesn't do anything for the problem a return to Ruger will probably be what you'll need to fix the problem.

Josh

 

[ScottH]

I assume you have the exploded SR9 parts diagram that came with the pistol and you're somewhat familiar with the inners of the SR9. With that said, I would check to see that item #43 Trigger Bar Lift Spring is installed correctly. When the gun is fired, this spring helps to force the trigger bar up to engage the striker tab when the slide returns after a shot. If for some reason the trigger bar doesn't engage the striker tab, the trigger will not reset.

Also make sure the ejector is pushed all the way up in the normal position. If it's not, the trigger may not reset properly. Hopefully this will help but it's hard to tell without actually looking at the pistol.

Check out the sticky that was posted by jhearne that illustrates how to disassemble the SR9. That might help to ID where you're problem might be. Hope this helps.

hawkeye,

Did as you suggested and everything looks as it should. With the slide off (and with and without an empty mag in place) I manually reset the trigger and the trigger bar lift spring looked to be in place and funtioning properly. With the gun fully assembled and the magazine out if I slowly cycle the slide I can see the bottom face of the extractor engaging the extension on the top of the trigger bar as it resets the trigger.

As the problem seems to happen mostly when there are only a few rounds left in the mag there must be some other dynamic involved that doesn't show up when trying to recreate the problem manually with an empty gun. Wish I knew what I did with my 9mm snap caps. I burned up the last 300 rounds of 9mm that I had in those two session the other day so the snap caps would be helpful right about now. I suspect that something isn't aligning right when the slide is returning to battery as it strips a round from the mag. Maybe the bottom of the extractor is slightly off and is sliding past the extention on the trigger bar.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

Anyone else feel free to chime in, and thanks in advance for any ideas on the subject.

Scott

Something with the Trigger Bar Reset or the ejector could be off....The Ejector has a path that the Trigger Bar moves back and forth in, and the Trigger Bar can ONLY (well it's designed to) work if the Ejector is up, and with a Magazine in place the Ejector should be up, everytime. If some of the holes in the ejector aren't right it could cause an issue with it resetting.

But I think the problem is more with the Trigger Bar Reset. If the Reset isn't made right it could fail to keep a reset. The Reset itself isn't just a part that sits at a right angle, it's a spring, it applies force away from the Fire Control Housing, it's kept from springing out too far by the Safety Levers. I'm no Gunsmith, but I'd like to think I know how the internals work with and around each other. Proceed at your own risk!! If you are hesitant about proceeding do not feel bad, call Ruger and have them take care of it, it's a legitamate problem that they CAN fix, mine is a guess at best, you won't hurt my feelings .

To adjust the Reset if you feel up to the task, take your gun down per the instruction in my sticky Hawkeye referred you to earlier and get your gun down to the Fire Control Housing assembly, push the Safety Lever Assembly to the bottom of the FCH and see how far the Reset is sprung out, it should spring out to some degree, if it sits very close to the Fire Control Housing, like there isn't hardly any spring to it then that could be why it's failing to reset. When you push the Safety Levers away from the FCH the detent plunger/spring should come out, maybe under force, do not loose these parts, they are small.

If the Reset is bent too far inwards you'll need to lift it and bend it out some. To bend it out some, remove the Reset and install it on the other side of the FCH, with the long end facing down and to the front as opposed to its original orientation of pointing up and to the rear of the FCH. Make sure that it sits secure in the FCH, and then GENTLY pry it away from the FCH, giving it a slightly larger degree of angle off the FCH. Remove the Reset and reinstall it where it belongs and reassemble the internals and the rest of the gun. You can bend it too far out, the reset will work but it may sound like it's resetting harder, or louder, you will probably have to repeat the process and bend it IN a little to find the sweet spot.

This pic is one I pulled from my How-To it shows the Reset on the FCH after the Levers were pulled down. The Reset springs away from the FCH just a bit, but it needs to in order to function properly. If you need me to let me know and I can go about getting you a better shot of what mine looks like from a better angle, would be after 5 today for me, got a few errands to run first.


If it resets every time afterwards but it feels as though it resets more noticeably then the Reset is bent too far outwards, repeat the above steps but bend it back inwards just a hair. If you don't think your capable or it doesn't do anything for the problem a return to Ruger will probably be what you'll need to fix the problem.

Josh

Josh,

I spent some more time going over in my mind the trigger reset problems and it occurred to me that I failed to mention that the trigger reset failure did not occur in isolation. In each case the striker failed to pre-cock as well, if that is even a vaild term when referring to a striker fired pistol. I know this because manually pushing the trigger forward after each of these reset issues and then pulling the trigger wouldn't fire the gun. That would also explain the one time when it left the spent shell casing in the chamber without jamming a live round behind it. Would that alter your opinion of the possible root cause? When the gun was recently at Ruger for repair the two items that they listed as "repaired" were the barrel and the ejector.

By the way I really appreciate all the effort you went to to put together that very useful sticky post on the SR9.

Scott

 

[jhearne]

I really can't think of anything that jumps out at me. I'd give Ruger a call in the morning sometime, sounds a bit more than what I was thinking.

Josh

 

[ScottH]

Well I ended up calling Ruger this morning (was actually first in the queue) and after talking to a very pleasant woman on the phone she put me through to a service tech. We discussed the previous problems that had kept the gun at the repair facility for about six weeks and the new problem that showed up when the gun came back from the initial repairs. The tech said I could try shooting some heavier loads through the gun to see if that had an impact on the trigger reset/striker not cocking issues or I could just send the gun back in for another look. I explained that the gun has had 700 rounds through it and that I had manually cycled the slide hundreds of times in addition and so I would just let them take another look since it didn't have this problem until it came back from the first round of repairs. They emailed me a shipping label and I dropped it off with UPS after work. All in all they were very polite and when I expressed some disdain about having the gun gone for another six or more weeks the tech indicated that guns in for a second repair usually received a quicker turnaround. I certainly hope that is the case.

Scott

 

[hawkeye]

Scott,

Let us know what happens.

 

[waterwolf]

Scott:

I had some the exact same problem with my SR9 (among others) after I got it back from the trigger recall in Sept. I had 2400 flawless rounds up to the recall.

A round would chamber, and the trigger did not reset, pushing forward on the trigger did not help. Sent it back to Ruger in October.

Sent it back again in Feb and they replaced the "barrel, trigger, trigger pivot spring, trigger bar, and trigger bar reset spring, test fire". This did not fix anything.

Sent it in a fourth time, and received a new gun 2 weeks later, which has been flawless for 700 rounds. You can only hope.

The trigger upgrade did something bad to the original design, IMO.

 

[ScottH]

Scott:

I had some the exact same problem with my SR9 (among others) after I got it back from the trigger recall in Sept. I had 2400 flawless rounds up to the recall.

A round would chamber, and the trigger did not reset, pushing forward on the trigger did not help. Sent it back to Ruger in October.

Sent it back again in Feb and they replaced the "barrel, trigger, trigger pivot spring, trigger bar, and trigger bar reset spring, test fire". This did not fix anything.

Sent it in a fourth time, and received a new gun 2 weeks later, which has been flawless for 700 rounds. You can only hope.

The trigger upgrade did something bad to the original design, IMO.

I remember reading your thread and wondering what the underlying problems were. I'm just hoping for a quick resolution to the problems.

Scott

 

[sr9florida]

I had the same problem with my SR9. I sent it back and they had it for 4 weeks. They replaced the barrel and the ejector and the trigger bar reset. The gun now works great. It's like they fine tuned it. I just ran 200 rounds with it with not any problems. The trigger is much better also.

Mike

 

[ScottH]

I had the same problem with my SR9. I sent it back and they had it for 4 weeks. They replaced the barrel and the ejector and the trigger bar reset. The gun now works great. It's like they fine tuned it. I just ran 200 rounds with it with not any problems. The trigger is much better also.

Mike

Mike,

Well it's encouraging to hear that they were able to get the issue resolved for you. I'm hoping for a faster turnaround this time and a final resolution to the issues. I really like all the features of the SR9 and the handling characteristics. It is a very pleasant gun to shoot (when it works) and pretty accurate to boot. I've owned a number of Rugers over the years from a standard Mark I to a Red Label Sporting Clays and it was only with my last two purchases that I've been troubled with quality issues.

Scott

 

[ScottH]

Life has been busy and I have been away from the forum. That said, I received my SR9 back from Ruger in April. It was a quick trip this time with Ruger receiving the gun on April 16 and releasing it for shipping on April 24.

The packing slip enclosed with the gun indicates that they replaced the barrel, camblock, striker assembly and trigger bar. Additionally after the repair the pistol was function-fired 60 rounds without malfunction.

Reasonably priced ammo was not to be found when I got the gun back so I cleaned it up and stuck it in the safe and in the interim life got way too busy and complicated for me to give the gun much thought, let alone take it out and shoot it.

Well, anyway I finally took the gun to the range today and fired 100 rounds of Monarch 115 GR FMJ (inexpensive Serbian made ammo sold at Academy Sports) through the gun. I am glad to report that there were no malfunctions of any sort and none of the quirks remain after this trip to the factory. There were no misfires, no jams, no trigger reset issues, no spent shell casings hitting me in the face and after the session no indication of barrel peening was evident when I stripped the gun.

Once I get the gun cleaned up and have time to take some pictures I will be posting it for sale in the Classifieds section of the forum now that I know that it is fixed and functions correctly.

Scott

 

[jhearne]

Hey Scott, been a while lol, glad it came back fine, sucks your gonna sell it though. I know the situation with the ammo/range time though.

Josh

 

[ScottH]

Hey Scott, been a while lol, glad it came back fine, sucks your gonna sell it though. I know the situation with the ammo/range time though.

Josh

Josh,

Shortly after purchasing the SR9 and one other Ruger this spring we took a series of financial hits. We were managing them fairly well and I thought that I'd keep the SR9, but an outpatient surgery my wife needed on short notice that didn't go well and ballooned into a week in the hospital, 3 ambulance rides, a second procedure at a second hospital and at least one more procedure coming up in October destined this gun for the classifieds.

Scott

 

[jhearne]

No need to explain anything man, nothing involving the hospitals are reasonably priced. Had to go in for a CT Scan in January and my folks were able to help me out, but it put a serious dent in my pocket for a good 6 months. Hope your wife's procedure goes well and I wish her a speedy recovery.

Josh

 

[gun smith]

Got my SR9 back from the factory this week after an extended stay to fix a host of problems. Cleaned it thoroughly and took it to the range today to see if the problems were resolved. Well the spent casings all don't hit me in the head, face and upper torso any longer, so that's an improvement; it doesn't have failure to feed or other related issues multiple times for every magazine of ammo, so that's an improvement; but it has a new trick; the trigger fails to reset at least once on almost every single magazine of ammo (asked an employee at the range to fire the gun to see if it was me: it wasn't) when there are just a few rounds left in the clip, though sometimes it occurs when there more than a few rounds left. I ran 300 rounds (WWB and Blazer Brass) through the gun today, split into two sessions, with a throrough cleaning between sessions. That didn't resolve the problem. I did have one failer to fire, the round dropped out of sight when I cycled the slide so I don't know it there was a light strike since I couldn't examine the primer. And on one of the trigger reset failures the empty casing was still in the chamber when I cycled the slide. I have no idea what happened there.

Anyone have any ideas?

I am writing this post to help those sr9 owners who, like me, have experienced the very dreaded sr9 failure to reset the trigger issues. I have spent a very long time on studying this problem and I want to share with you that there is light at the end of that long dark tunnel. First, (believe me) the sr9 is best fitted to a smaller handed shooter ( very well fitted to women) so, if you are a man especially with large hands, the small grip on the sr9 will be very loose in your hand and you will probably end up " limp-wristing" the gun and the recoil energy will go in to moving the gun instead of moving the action. Second: I am going to try and short version this: focus on parts 43 trigger bar 44 trigger bar reset and 37 trigger bar lift spring¿. Note: there are loads of very good videos on how to break down the sr9 also google sr9 parts diagram too. So 37 trigger bar lift spring has to be installed correctly and it is a bit tricky but just get it in there correctly as it wants to pop out during the install. Get it right and it will help but probably will not be the fix all by itself. Next, look at 43 and 44 these two parts are the problem: the trigger bar needs to slide back and down in the trigger bar reset as you pull the trigger. It is the downward movement that pulls the sear down and away from the striker and allows the striker to freely travel forward to fire. As the slide travels rearward under recoil you will notice a " bump" on the inside rear of the right hand side of the slide; it is this "bump" which as the slide travels rearward pushes inward on the trigger bar release 44 and causes the trigger bar release 44 to flex inward just enough to allow the trigger bar 43 to pop up under the spring tension of 37 and now as the slide comes forward on its return trip the striker hook grabs the sear plate ( which is lifted up high by the now elevated trigger bar) and the striker pulls the trigger bar 43 along with the sear plate and the trigger mechanism including the trigger itself all forward and the fun is ready to refire. If that "bump" pushes on the trigger bar release 44 and the trigger bar does not pop up then you have a failure to reset trigger. That bump is most certainly pushing on the trigger bar release 44 in your gun every time that you experience a failure to reset trigger: so ask yourself why. ? Get yourself a Dremel with variable speeds and polishing wheels with polishing compound, disassemble your trigger assembly from your gun (necessary step). And polish the beejebers out of the round end of the trigger bar 43 and the inner surface of the trigger bar release 44. Do this about 4 or 5 times returning to the range following each polishing and you will notice that your gun will slowly begin to work beautifully and will continue to work the way that it was supposed to work (just like a brand new Glock) for years to come. And, you will own one of the only and very few properly functioning sr9 s around. And, by the way, when you finally get it releasing/ resetting properly, you are really going to like this gun: it is nice, has a stainless slide and is maybe a little fancier than a Glock. One more thing regarding the sr9: don't bother purchasing Winchester white box ammo : the wwb ammo is dimensionally much longer than Remington green box and pmc bronze. ( measure a wwb bullet and compare for yourself if you have doubts). Wwb will jam up when attempting to auto load as you are shooting. For this gun just forget the wwb it doesn't work smoothly in sr9. Remington green box works like a charm. No joke. Feed those wwb in to your Glock, it will eat em right up. Well, now you have everything you need to get your sr9 working smooth as pie and maybe even smooth enough that you just might even begin to entertain the idea Of relying on it in a self defense situation once again. Maybe, that is , after you take it to the range for the 20th time. But you go ing to have to take it there about 5 of those polishing trips just to get the thing working like it should have worked when you first bought it any way. Yes there is light at the end of the tunnel, but when you finally do actually complete the journey, you are going to have realized that the only way that you were ever going to have arrived at the point of a properly functioning sr9 was because of your own individual talents understanding and ability, and pathetically, it is not going to have had much to do with Ruger. And don't get me wrong, I like Ruger. Wear your safety goggles and cup your hand over those parts on disassembly so you don't shoot your springs across the room!