Bad Crane Release Button

D

Doc Holliday 1950

New member
Well, my brand new in the box LCR 357 mag/CT grips is one week old and I cannot open the damn Cylinder release button. Tried lubricant. Nothing worked. and it's never been fired, I sent it back to Ruger today. They were very nice, emailed me a shipping label, Anybody out there have ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE CRANE RELEASE BUTON on any Ruger?? My GP 100's release isn't the best in the world either. But, that I can live with.
Respectfully,
Doc
 
Was it working and then stopped, or did it never work from the beginning, doc?

They have the reputation of having a harder release, but mine is just a little stiffer than most of my other various revolvers.
Maybe because the button is smaller?
 
That is a disadvantage of buying online. Seems like that is something Buds should have checked, but you never know. They may have not even opened the box. Frustrating but Ruger should have that fixed in a jiffy.
 
Actually. My wife picked it up at the FFL that we deal with. I got there late. My wife said the box was sealed when they opened it. She never tried to open the chamber & neither did I. My fault totally. This was not Buds fault. I spoke to them the next day they explained that the guns are shipped sealed to the FFL's and I should try lubricant in 2 spots. I did so, but the effects were marginal. So if I could barely open the cylinder to load and unload, this was totally unacceptable.
Ruger was very apologetic. They saw that I had registered the LCR a couple of days ago with them and I told them that we never tried to use it. I'm a novice and didn't want to take any chances that something else might be wrong. we'll see. I'm tracking it via FedEx label they provided.
I'm not worried, just mad at myself for not doing a thorough inspection.
YES EVERYONE. YOU ALL TOLD ME SO!!!! It could have been worse.
 
Doc - the cylinder release on the LCR that I had was on the
stiff" side from the get go. Perhaps "stiff" is not the correct description, hen pushed, I had to push on the cylinder to open it - almost like the latch was "catching" just a few thousandths. As I used it over time, it got better. I actually had no complaints about mine but it I did have something to find fault with it, it was the cylinder release.

I have handled a number of LCRs in various calibers - some opened as slick as my Smiths and others were a little "catchy". Don't beat yourself up though - Ruger will make it right. I don't know how the parts are made - i.e..die cast, stamped, etc. but I sometimes wonder if it is just the "combination" of the parts used if they are made in a multiple die?

One thing though . . . it should have been checked at the factory and not "passed" as far as QC but then I don't know how they work their inspections.

Good luck . . . let us know how it works when you get it back from Ruger and if you wee satisfied.
 
sorry bout that doc. sounds like a pain in the butt. luckily they had no issues footing the bill for shipping. good luck

it almost seems like opening the cylinder would have to be part of the QC process....
 
Where's the QC?
Good question. I think a lot of it has to do with the number of sales over the last couple of years. Let’s face it, they sell them as fast as they make them. That will contribute to worsening quality control but it shouldn’t.
I ordered a NEW S&W 69 in 44 mag. The quality was horrible, nicks on the barrel crown, poor casting, trigger pull in the +20 tons and several others. This is a 900$ gun. It was ridiculous. I will say that S&W fixed all the issues but it did take two trips.
 
This is probably an urban myth:

Back in the '70's it was said that the gun shops inspected all the S&W revolvers hoping to find a legitimate 'bad' one.

If they found one that really was bad they could send it back to S&W and if S&W agreed the gun was bad they would turn it over to the guys in what is today the performance center and those guys would do their 'standard' work on the revolver which would turn the sow's ear into a silk purse. That is, the gun would be shipped back with a performance center custom job for no extra cost.

Again this is probably just an urban myth that I heard about in the '70's.
 
it almost seems like opening the cylinder would have to be part of the QC process....
Click to expand...
It's quite possible it worked fine when they checked, and an errant chip of metal is causing all the problems now
 
In my business, I've seen a serious decline in QC since 2008 when the stuff hit the fan and the economy went south. My guess is that because of the huge increase in demand that the QC people are working way past their peak time for inspections and they are not paying as much attention to the little details that they would usually pick up on. I go to a couple of sites and I'm seeing that more people are having problems that didn't happen before. This of course is IMHO.
Yes Smith and Ruger and Taurus etc. all have very good Customer Service but I don't feel that getting a product like I bought should have to go back even before I used it. We older timers referred to these products as "Lemons".
Respectfully,
Doc
 
^^^ this. tired people make mistakes. are they working passed 8 hours per day? if so you might have found the answer.
 
Jerry,
We'll see. I posted on the Ruger site an email to the CEO outlying my critique
and what I thought might be one of their problems. Let everyone know if & when he answers. His name BTW is Fifer.
 
Okay. Just spoke to Ruger and they completely replaced the Crane Latch assembly. Even their people had a very hard time opening it. They received it Friday and it was sent out yesterday for tomorrow. That's pretty decent CS.
I'll post when it gets here.
Thanks,
Doc
 
Bad Crane Latch NO MORE

Ruger CS returned my LCR 357 in 6 days, including Saturday & Sunday. The Crane Latch assembly was replaced and now functions properly. So, with the bad come the good. Ruger's CS is very very good.
Doc
 
Rugers CS is legendary. Less than a week from shipping to getting it back is normal. A friend of mine got his dad's Six revolver when he passed. His dad owned that gun for more than 30 years and fired at least 20,000 .357 rounds through it. He was a reloader and rarely shot 38. So my buddy calls Ruger asking to send it in for a tightening up. Ruger pays for shipping, brings the gun back to new specs, and even reblued the gun, for no charge. He had the gun back in less than 3 weeks, and they shipped it in a factory plastic case. Gun is ready for another 20,000 rounds.
 
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