Hogue Cylinder Releases

[RangerMcFadden]

Just saw it in my email. Pretty cool.

[Fishbreath]

I appear to have missed the boat with my getting my 3D printed ones ready for sale, a bit! I haven't quite worked out how to keep them from breaking under the shock of the cylinder moving backward—even shooting ~130PF loads exclusively, they don't last for more than a thousand rounds or so.

 

I put in my pre-order (how could I not, as That Ruger Guy), but I'll be continuing development of the plastic parts anyway—where the paddle on the Hogue part cants outward from the frame somewhat, mine cants inward, which I think makes it easier to get a thumb onto it quickly.

 

The overall size of the Hogue paddle seems pretty nearly ideal for competition use, though. I'm glad they didn't skimp on the length, in particular.

[IowaNewbie]

On 11/22/2021 at 12:30 PM, Fishbreath said:

I appear to have missed the boat with my getting my 3D printed ones ready for sale, a bit! I haven't quite worked out how to keep them from breaking under the shock of the cylinder moving backward—even shooting ~130PF loads exclusively, they don't last for more than a thousand rounds or so.

Did you try it on the GP100 22lr ?

[CtYankee]

I put one on a GP100-10. It works fine. I would have put one on my 10mm GP, but I couldn't get the screw to back out. I think Ruger puts Lock-tite on them.

[Fishbreath]

I dinged up my latch screw quite a bit, running it in and out for testing. Eventually, I 'fabricated' a tool for it: I bought some cheap bits of the right thickness (0.04") and ground the width down with a Dremel until they fit the screw (about 0.1").

 

The screw does have Loctite on it, but it's relatively easy to get a soldering iron onto it to free it up.

[Fishbreath]

The Hogue part is, predictably, excellent.

 

 

I didn't expect to like the outward cant, but I find it's unobjectionable on actually trying it. It's a bit longer from stem to stern than my homebrew release, and large where it's important to be large, at the tail end. My strong hand thumb ends up directly below the paddle, so it's easy to find.

 

It's manufactured in two parts: the paddle attaches to the body of the cylinder release with a dovetail, and is locked in place with a set screw. I don't foresee any problems with that arrangement—there isn't much push/pull force on the paddle at all.

 

All told, a fine product that solves a serious weakness for the platform—the stock GP100 cylinder release is very hard to hit in a hurry.