SP101 Spring Weight

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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I picked up one of the re-import SP101 revolvers that was in French Police service. Nice gun, 3" barrel, lanyard ring, chambered in 38 Special.
I can't say the gun was un-fired but it had been used very little.

The DA and SA pulls were obscenely heavy! It reminded me of the very early GP-100's in the mid 1980's. It was actually difficult to even cock the hammer in SA.
OK, I've been down this path before; no big deal. I detailed stripped the gun, polished the key parts, cleaned up some of the rough areas, oil & reassembled. That didn't do the trick. So, I ordered a shim & spring kit.
The trigger didn't need shims and was properly fitted. The hammer dog (DA sear) got a couple of shims. I don't shim the hammer unless it's really bad because the hammer shims make re-assembly a pain.
Normally I leave the factory trigger spring in place to guarantee a positive trigger reset and just drop the hammer spring weight by a little. Not this time! This SP101 had truck springs in it. Both the trigger and hammer springs got swapped for lighter springs. (8# trigger spring & 10# hammer). I started with a 12# hammer spring and that was still too heavy. I've had a bunch of SP101's over the years but this one had the heaviest DA pull by far.

I don't know if the French police specified that heavy DA pull or Ruger just made it that way, but they were not going to have any accidental discharges with that gun ! Not only did you need the desire to fire that gun, you had to really work to make it go bang.
 
358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
Did you clean up the trigger return spring "tunnel"? Those usually look like they were threaded inside, and it really plays hell with the trigger pull. I usually break the edges on the trigger return plunger at both ends and polish them a mite too. It almost always makes a startling difference in the trigger pull.
 
hporter

hporter

Active Member
P&P,

Are those French SP101's being imported in quantity by some company, or did you just happen upon one? I have watched for them, and the Indian police versions for a while but have never gotten lucky.

I put a Wolf Spring kit and a shim kit in a Wiley Clapp SP101 that I have, and it is one of the sweetest shooting revolvers I have. On the other hand, I have tried different spring kits in my SP101 22lr revolver and have had nothing but troubles. Anything but the factory springs results in frequent misfires. I really wish I could sort that one out.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
358156 hp said:
Did you clean up the trigger return spring "tunnel"? Those usually look like they were threaded inside, and it really plays hell with the trigger pull. I usually break the edges on the trigger return plunger at both ends and polish them a mite too. It almost always makes a startling difference in the trigger pull.
Click to expand...

I did clean up the tunnel that the trigger return spring rides in, although it wasn't that bad to start with.
I polished the trigger return plunger a bit and tested it in the tunnel. It was pretty slick.
I also cleaned up several other areas, including the hammer strut the DA sear surfaces and trigger and several other areas.

In the end, it was just the insanely heavy springs.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
hporter said:
P&P,

Are those French SP101's being imported in quantity by some company, or did you just happen upon one? I have watched for them, and the Indian police versions for a while but have never gotten lucky.
Click to expand...

I can't say they are being imported in quantity.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Thanks.

This was hardly my first foray into the lockwork of a Ruger DA revolver.
I like the Ruger DA actions. They are very robust and reliable. However they tend to suffer from poor internal finish and excessively heavy springs.
They do respond very well to some polishing, lighter springs and sometimes shims. With a little work, the Ruger DA's are amazing revolvers.

I commented about this particular SP101 because the action was so ridiculously heavy. I've owned or worked on a small pile of Ruger DA Six's, GP-100's and SP101's over the years. This SP101 and a very early GP-100 were by far the worst of that pack.

I'm running the 10# hammer spring and it appears to be 100% reliable at this point but I really haven't put enough rounds through it to pass judgment. Based on my past experience, a 9 pound hammer spring is just a little too light. So I think I'm where I need to be now.
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
Thanks Ben,
Just read your post on the 101 spring change. Looks like something I need to do.
 
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Ben

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
John,

Hopefully it is something you could easily do.
I watched several YouTube videos prior to working on mine.

Ben
 
Glaciers

Glaciers

Alaska Land of the Midnight Sun
I watched one YouTube video on replacing springs in the 101, but it's been awhile.. I'll definitely will do some YouTube instructional vids first.
I really like the 101's, have a couple 357 3" and one 327 4" so it's time to order some kits. One of my 357's had a spring kit in it from the original owner, the extra springs are in the box as well. All are loose in the Ruger box and I have know idea what's what. So I'm hoping to get two kits and do some comparisons. Other wise I will probably order a third kit and start over.
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I still have the SP-101 Wolff kit sitting on my bench, uninstalled. It appears that Kalifornistan is going to apply the March House Arrest nonsense again, so I'll get caught up on garage projects during the Gulag Archipelago part of the silliness. Da, tovarichi--they pretend to rule us, we pretend to obey. Just like Old Country. Thank goodness I have an air-conditioned house, Jeep, or truck to retreat to as needed.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
If you need trigger shims and/or springs - I can HIGHLY recommend "TriggerShims.com".

Lance is GREAT guy to deal with. Their service is top notch. And he is a pro-gun, American !
 
Rick H

Rick H

Well-Known Member
I second TriggerShims.com
They walked me through shims for my LCRx3 and were most patient in talking me through measuring for shims in spite of my bullheaded insistence to do it wrong.
 
358156 hp

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
I buy mine from Power Custom, or Brownells. Its the same manufacturer, but I really like calling Power Custom and talking with Ron Power on the phone. The guys an absolute pistolsmithing legend, and is always happy to help a fella out whos having an issue. The last time I called, we were on the phone for over a half hour talking about guns, and he ended up making me one more of his discontinued tools because it was the best solution for my predicament. BTW, Power Custom calls them bearings, instead of shims. Tomato, tomatoe...
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
UPDATE -
Finally had some time AND the heat index dropped back into the double digits. Was able to put enough rounds through the SP101 to evaluate the reliability and accuracy.
I can report that I am very pleased with the outcome.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Shimmed the hammer dog (DA sear). Didn't need to shim the trigger, it was fitted properly. I typically don't shim the hammer because it becomes a bit of a pain to re-install the hammer with shims if you take the hammer out.

I did replace the hammer spring with a 10# spring. I also replaced the trigger return spring with an 8# spring. I often leave the factory trigger return spring in place because I like a fast trigger reset but the trigger return spring in this particular gun was like a truck spring, so it had to go.

I also cleaned up the action and polished a few areas.
 
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