Ruger SP 101, will trigger smooth out?

[crazyphil]

Like Cajun says heavy isn't that important. In fact, if I get a trigger job,
I have it written on order that I want smoother, not lighter, and keep a
copy for liability purposes. In my crazy imagination I can hear that
attorney asking "is it true crazyphil that you had your gun altered to
give it a hair trigger?"

 

[Collo Rosso]

Bought a SP101 in the mid 90's. Very heavy trigger DA, livable in SA. Dry firing and springs didn't do much to help. Finally gave it to a professional gunsmith that got it "not bad". That SP101 lived in a couple trucks for 15 years or so. Got interested in revolvers again a few years ago when a friend let me shoot his 686. I asked what trigger work he'd done to it for such a nice trigger. Told me all he did was a lighter trigger rebound spring. I sold the SP101 and bought a 686. That 686 has of course led to buying more S&W revolvers!
I have nothing against Ruger firearms and own more than a few. I just couldn't see owning one of their revolvers with a heavy trigger that couldn't be improved. Now a couple gun shows ago I picked up a special edition GP100 and had to ask the vendor if this was the factory trigger. It had a butter smooth, light DA trigger that rivaled any of my S&W's. Has Ruger improved their triggers? Would be nice if they have.

 

[Bugkiller99]

Update:
Installed Wolff Springs and shims. Polished up surfaces. Just a touch of lubricate. MUCH smoother trigger.
First time working on a Ruger to that degree. "Bit of a fiddle", but nothing time, patience, and a clear plastic bag couldn't take care of.
I'll be curious to see how it shoots. As long as I don't have too light of hammer strike, I'll be happy with the improvements.

 

[Bugkiller99]

Last update:
Fired multiple types of ammo, from my reloads, 85 and 100 gr American Eagle, 32 H & R, and finally, some SD rounds. Fired in both single, then double action.

All went bang.

Trigger is nice and smooth, with a reasonable pull.

An amazing improvement for just a small investment of time and money.
Thanks to all for your suggestions and comments.

 

[BigBill]

I lube all my ruger revolvers with a moly paste. Then dry fire it while watching tv. The trigger will breakin and smoothout.

 

[Autonomous]

The application of some Mill-Comm TW-25B grease made a small but noticeable improvement to the trigger of my older SP101.

 

[ScottN]

Good job on making that SP101 the way you want!

I had a SP101 for a while and was able to get good results with Wolff springs. I experienced no problems with the 9 or 10 lb hammer spring. Either one fired any ammo I had and was 100% reliable. I ended up using the 9lb hammer spring with the 10 lb return spring. That resulted in a DA pull of around 9.5 lbs. The trigger pull was pretty nice but it never felt as nice as my GP100 Match Champion or LCR 357...so I ended up trading it off for a lever action rifle. Kind of wish I still had that SP101.

Enjoy your SP101 and be safe!

 

[tug700]

Be patient, dry fire until you almost pass out. The trigger gets smooth but not much lighter. I have had mine since 1990 and really enjoy it. I also have some smiths.

 

[gnystrom]

I have a 3" Sp101 that received a trigger job by the previous owner. Smoothing and springs. The only better revolver trigger I have ever felt came on the new stock Kimber K6S.
Do research on Ruger trigger jobs.

 

[oddshooter]

I've been shooting my whole life and am now a senior. I handload most all calibers and shoot mostly 100 yard plus gongs and bells. I think I have one of everything.

Till I'm dead, I will always hold a grudge against Ruger because of the new SP101 I purchased. Too many guys here write using qualitative terms without measurement. Good triggers, light triggers, and sweet triggers.
My SP101 trigger measured over 15 lbs in DA and over 8 lbs in SA. It was gritty. It wobbled. After days of attempting to tune, it is now passable.

A 15 lb pull is the most irresponsible design I have ever seen. I live in Prescott, with the Ruger plant, and have listened to the staff complain about the lawyer designed SP101. I tried to get Ruger to tune the action and they refused, even if I paid. They said 15 lbs is within specifications.

After 20 years and thousands of complaints, they have done nothing. I talked to one gunner who claimed to have gotten a nice one by reviewing a dozen. His comments about one in a dozen being nice is what I think the odds are of getting a good one.

I love my other Rugers, but this gun and Rugers attitude is unacceptable. And Ruger will hear about it forever. Not that they care.

 

[ScottN]

One other bit of information I failed to mention...

I also tried the 9# hammer with the 8# return spring. It functioned great. Not one light strike and the trigger measured about 8.5-8.75 in DA and just over 2.75 in SA. The only problem was the sluggish feeling on the trigger return. I feared "short stroking" problems so I went back to the 10# return spring which added about a pound back to the DA trigger pull.

 

[gman51]

Ruger has recently brought out the SP101 357 in Match Champion. It supposedly has a much better trigger, has adjustable rear sight and better front sight.
Ruger® SP101® Match Champion Double-Action Revolver Models
It is around 2-$300 more than the standard SP101. But it might be worth it.

 

[Bugkiller99]

Ruger has recently brought out the SP101 357 in Match Champion. It supposedly has a much better trigger, has adjustable rear sight and better front sight.
Ruger® SP101® Match Champion Double-Action Revolver Models
It is around 2-$300 more than the standard SP101. But it might be worth it.

Ha. 2-$300??? For a new set of grips and what I've already done for $25 in material and a little time? That's a bit much.

But I guess if you want it to run right out of the box, there ya go.

 

[ScottN]

The SP101 MC is only $90 more MSRP as shown on Ruger's website. You get a target crown too. If one likes the grips then I'd get it over the standard 4.2 inch barrel. I'd throw a 9 or 10 lb hammer spring on it and be done with it. If you don't like the grips then I'd skip it and do my own trigger work as the OP did.

The GP100 MC was a nicer upgrade imho than this new offering. It also has a slab side barrel, half underlug and the option of fixed Novak sights. I picked up a barely used fixed sight model and it's awesome. After installing the 10 hammer/8 return springs it is the best revolver trigger I have shot.

 

[gnystrom]

I've been shooting my whole life and am now a senior. I handload most all calibers and shoot mostly 100 yard plus gongs and bells. I think I have one of everything.

Till I'm dead, I will always hold a grudge against Ruger because of the new SP101 I purchased. Too many guys here write using qualitative terms without measurement. Good triggers, light triggers, and sweet triggers.
My SP101 trigger measured over 15 lbs in DA and over 8 lbs in SA. It was gritty. It wobbled. After days of attempting to tune, it is now passable.

A 15 lb pull is the most irresponsible design I have ever seen. I live in Prescott, with the Ruger plant, and have listened to the staff complain about the lawyer designed SP101. I tried to get Ruger to tune the action and they refused, even if I paid. They said 15 lbs is within specifications.

After 20 years and thousands of complaints, they have done nothing. I talked to one gunner who claimed to have gotten a nice one by reviewing a dozen. His comments about one in a dozen being nice is what I think the odds are of getting a good one.

I love my other Rugers, but this gun and Rugers attitude is unacceptable. And Ruger will hear about it forever. Not that they care.

I completely understand your frustration. I have two friends that bought the GP100 Match Champion. One had a trigger to die for and the other was like dragging a bag of rocks through a beach.
Rather than hold a grudge and let this bother you forever as you state, sell the gun and move on.
I have never kept a gun that did not exhibit exemplary performance and met every one of my standards. Life is way too short to keep something around that makes you sick every time you look at it.

 

[mg357]

I have a ruger chambered in .357 magnum with a 2 inch barrel, and the trigger is stiff i would Not monkey around with the springs inside at first.

I would how ever recommend that when you go to the range take it with you and shoot it as much as you can, when you can't get to the range dry fire it as much as you can.

That may help smooth it out.

But if after a while it does not help talk to a good gunsmith about changing out the springs or monkeying around with the guts.

 

[white cloud]

These guys have the right idea. New springs and some polishing and presto, you have a nice revolver. SP101s are rugged and well made. I put nicer grip panels on both of mine.

I had left one of my SP101s with my mother in law who lived in Ft. Worth. She was a fine Christian lady who I miss a lot. I took this revolver back to S.C. last week and had a chance to shoot it a bit today. This is the DAO bobbed hammer .357 version. I had done a bit of polishing, put in Wolfe springs, added a tritium front sight and some elk horn grip panels. I had forgotten how nice a gun these revolvers can be. Easy to shoot even with 125 grain Golden Saber .357s, reliable and a good looking gun to boot. I get a nice snag free draw from a Lobo horse hide offset clip holster. What's not to like?

 

[crankyoldlady]

No, the SP101 trigger will not get lighter without addressing the 14# factory hammer spring. Ten thousand dry or live fires may smooth the action but the trigger will be no lighter.

The coil spring in the Ruger rides on a stamped hammer strut that is usually quite rough. Sometimes it can be so rough that the coil "snags" adding to the gritty feel.

If you are feeling brave, remove the spring and hammer strut. Polish out all the rough spots on the strut where the spring rides and break the four edges so they scrape less on the inside of the coil.

 

[Wee Hooker]

A little late to the party here but figured I'd weigh in since I just got done doing some spring and polishing work on my new (old stock)2", 357 mag. SP101. FWIW, this is the third SP101 I've owned and reworked. Here are my thoughts and results.
First, these are pretty easy revolvers to break down and work on. There is lots of youtube guidance available to get anybody through the process. It's a good thing it's easy too as the internals can be screaming for attention. The factory DA trigger was off my Lyman scale (i.e. over 12#). The SA was just about 5# but inconsistent.
I went with the wolf spring kit ( 8# return and 10# main) . I also bought a shim set from triggershims.com but only used part of the kit as mine as fit fairly tight to start. . Beyond the new parts, I basically polished everything that moved against anything to get the grittiness out. Some parts (like the main spring strut and inside the trigger return spring hole in the trigger guard, were very rough and required me to start with 400/800 grit. Other parts only took a few swipes with a patch and some mothers mag polish. While I had it apart, I relieved the edges of the trigger itself as they were almost sharp. (This improved trigger feel all by itself.)
In the end, the trigger now pulls ALLOT smoother and at 3#3 oz in SA and 9# 12 oz in DA. There is still some stacking (unlike my S&Ws) and a touch of creep but it's 1000% better. If I need to go back up to to a 12# spring, it only takes 3 min to swap out. As I recall though, the 10# should work fine.
Now to do something about these terrible grips

 

[colkid]

"Has Ruger improved their triggers? Would be nice if they have. "
I bought my SP-101 327 about two years ago. If i made guns i would say this gun was an "Ishiwaka or something other then my real gun name.
I will never shoot this gun. Will probably sell it as new,unfired.