GP100 action binding

[Fishbreath]

I'm not an expert on gun springs, but this seems wrong to me, and a plausible cause of the issues I've been seeing.

 

 

The bushing was barely finger-tight and doesn't appear to have any threadlocker on it, contra reports I heard at rugerforum.net. The Bowen Classic Arms tool was the perfect one for the job.

 

This also opens the door for reduced-power rebound springs or an extended firing pin, if I really want to push the platform as far as I can on the trigger weight front.

[Cherokeewind]

I'm sure that spring is fine, just reassemble it and press on:)

[pskys2]

1 hour ago, Fishbreath said:

I'm not an expert on gun springs, but this seems wrong to me, and a plausible cause of the issues I've been seeing.

 

 

The bushing was barely finger-tight and doesn't appear to have any threadlocker on it, contra reports I heard at rugerforum.net. The Bowen Classic Arms tool was the perfect one for the job.

 

This also opens the door for reduced-power rebound springs or an extended firing pin, if I really want to push the platform as far as I can on the trigger weight front.

I've had a couple do that on my 625.  Once during dry fire everything locked up!  Turned out the FP was stuck in the empty case I was using.

[MikeBurgess]

16 hours ago, Fishbreath said:

I'm not an expert on gun springs, but this seems wrong to me, and a plausible cause of the issues I've been seeing.

 

 

The bushing was barely finger-tight and doesn't appear to have any threadlocker on it, contra reports I heard at rugerforum.net. The Bowen Classic Arms tool was the perfect one for the job.

 

This also opens the door for reduced-power rebound springs or an extended firing pin, if I really want to push the platform as far as I can on the trigger weight front.

look at your firing pin before you get the Bowen one, on my gun the factory one was flush to the breach face, the Bowen one was going to need a bunch of shims to get it to sit flush so I ended up turning it down, I still couldn't go down from the 9lb spring to a 9lb with a coil cut off.

[Fishbreath]

On 5/25/2021 at 10:30 AM, MikeBurgess said:

look at your firing pin before you get the Bowen one, on my gun the factory one was flush to the breach face, the Bowen one was going to need a bunch of shims to get it to sit flush so I ended up turning it down, I still couldn't go down from the 9lb spring to a 9lb with a coil cut off.

 

The pin's a little ways below flush in mine, but I may skip it anyway, until I've tried with the cylinder shim. I'm currently running the 10lb or 11lb spring (don't remember offhand). I'd consider even an unclipped 9lb spring perfectly acceptable.

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given Ruger's reputation for customer service, they're sending me a replacement spring gratis, with a note to ask for an RMA number if it fails again.

[RangerMcFadden]

I’m surprised it worked as well as it did with that “spring”.

[Fishbreath]

4 hours ago, RangerMcFadden said:

I’m surprised it worked as well as it did with that “spring”.

 

One person I showed it to called it a "sprung", and another proposed "spron't".

[Fishbreath]

Curiously, the Super GP100 spring from Ruger isn't the same as the GP100/Super Redhawk spring from Numrich. Factory spring (wider, shorter) on the bottom, Numrich spring on top. I'm not sure if it's reduced power out of the box, or if the screw-in bushing uses a different spring than the old-style pin-retained bushing.

 

At any rate, time to give the barrel and chambers one last scrubbing, and resume my testing for a load that doesn't lead up the gun something fierce tomorrow.

[Fishbreath]

With the new firing pin spring, I had zero trouble with the action freezing up on me through 150 rounds, so it looks like that was the problem. I'm surprised I never noticed it sticking in dry fire. I think that just about closes the book on the original issue.

 

With the cylinder shim (in addition to the firing pin spring), I had good ignition on all 150 grounds as well. I'll leave it be for a little while before I start thinking about more spring reductions.

 

The next thing to do is find a load that isn't quite so lead-happy (although it doesn't seem to be a contributor to problems, beyond its effect on my health).

 

SNS Casting 160gr in .38 Special wasn't bad by recent standards—a bit of smoke, a bit of soot, but largely dark powder residue rather than light lead residue. SNS in .38 Short Colt didn't smoke much more, but did leave some lead residue.

 

My previous Ibejiheads loads (the over-crimped ones) smoked a whole lot more and left the gun extremely dirty. Some Hornady hollowpoints in .38 Short gave me (as you'd expect) near-zero smoke and zero lead, but I can't afford to be shooting those on a regular basis.

 

I ordered a 500-pack of SNS bullets to get me through the next match or two, at which point I'll re-evaluate. I also have some Rocky Mountain Reloading 158gr RNFP FMJ, but hitting reloads with those is much harder. I mean to try them at some point, to see if I should bother looking for some 147-158gr round nose FMJ bullet in the future.

 

Thanks again for all your insight on the action freezing—it was a huge help.

[SSGGlock]

Glad you got that sussed out.