reverse engineering bubba

T

tahunua001

New member
ok folks please keep an open mind on this, this is not a bash against Ruger, and this is partially my fault. so a while back my brother in law was trying to sell a 357 and wasn't getting any offers and a fellow offered him a Ruger SR45 in trade. the guy was asking way more in cash than my brother in law was so I offered to pay the brother in law for the SR45 what he was asking for the 357, I didn't get a great deal but I figured it wasn't a big deal.

well the SR45 only came with one mag, instead of 2, the guy told BIL that it only came with one(lie number one), and that the gun was worth over $500(lie 2), and that he had never had a problem with it(lie 3). based on the amount of crud I cleaned out of it, I would be willing to guess that this guy has put far more than the 100 rounds he claimed through it(alleged lie 4). the one mag has an extremely weak follower, leading me to believe the moron tried clipping a loop off of the follower spring to make it easier to load and is probably the reason the other mag was not included(probably cut too mane loops off that spring, causing fails to feed). because of the weak follower the gun does not lock back on an empty mag. I bought a new mag and it does lock back so I'm not worried about it that much.

however in the one trip I have to the range, over 30 rounds I have one failure to feed and 4 light strikes. the FTF is likely related to the magazine, but I am extremely suspicious that the previous owner likely did something to make the trigger lighter and is the reason for the light strikes. I'm scared to send it to ruger because whatever it is will likely be called negligence and I have no idea what my out of pocket will be for the repairs. so here are my questions.

if a person was trying to lighten the trigger would he clip the striker spring?
would a lighter trigger spring account for light strikes?
anyone know where I could find a replacement for either of these and what is the likelyhood that a fellow with little mechanical prowess could replace them on his own?

I've removed the magout safety which is the leading cause of light strikes in SR series so that's not the problem. I was also using quality ammo that does not have hard primers, no issues in any of my other 45s.
 
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No telling what the guy did to it. Yes, clipping the striker spring would make light strikes more likely. I believe the SR45 uses a pre-tensioned striker so it probably wouldn't affect the trigger pull at all--but I wouldn't expect bubba to know that. In a partially tensioned design (like the Glock) a lighter striker spring would result in a lighter trigger.

A lighter trigger spring shouldn't have any effect on firing pin strikes but it could cause other problems.

Another possibility that may be causing the light strikes is that the gun was dryfired a lot without the magazine in place. The manuals says not to, but why would bubba read the manual? That can peen the firing pin safety and result in a partial obstruction to the striker during firing.

Call Ruger and explain the situation. There's a good chance they'll fix it at no charge. If they do charge, I would expect the charge to be reasonable.
 
I don't know that gun.I can't tell you how to work on it.
You are trying to resolve issues on a gun that may have been monkeyed with in the trigger-striker-safety mechanisms.
Amateur poke-and-hope solutions just aren't good enough.This stuff has to be right.It has to work right or somebody may get killed by an "accidental discharge"
Your kitchen table,a claw hammer,a nail ,a needle nose and youtube are not the path to follow.
Call Ruger,and send it to them.You just bought a gun.You did nothing wrong.You are doing the correct and responsible thing to get it checked out and fixed right.
I don't know Ruger policy,but firearms law wise,you can send in a gun for repair and have it returned to you with no ffl involved.Maybe it has to come fedex?
Ruger has a significant interest in the condition and safety of their products.
I think they will put it in original condition for you for a very reasonable charge.
 
Well CDNN is selling new in box Stainless SR45's for $399.99;

https://www.cdnnsports.com/ruger-sr45-45acp-4-5-sts-3d-adj-sgt-rail-2-10rd.html

So if your gun is working perfectly then it's worth between $200 and $275 to cut your losses & sell it to an LGS if a brand new one is just under $400.00.

An SR45 that hasn't been screwed over is as reliable as the day is long, so something is wrong with that gun. It might cost you a couple hundred to get it fixed by Ruger. Your best bet might be to take it to a good local gunsmith to give you an estimate to get it to cycle properly, if you can keep the repair cost to under $100.00, and you want to keep the gun anyway, that's your best bet to get the gun put right for the least amount of $.
 
Consider also that gunk in the striker mechanism itself could result in sufficient friction to cause light strikes. A detailed slide strip, cleaning and inspection might answer a lot of these questions.
 
The early SR45s had issues, could be a first run without the kinks worked out.

Also Ruger GP100s sell for about $500-$600 (excluding match champion) new, and the SR45 sells for about $425 new, so the revolver would be worth more unless in really bad condition.
 
My less than two months after introduction SR45 always had a mild case of the lightstrikes. Sometimes I could get it to stop by switching ammo, or maybe clean the striker channel. Sometimes it'd go 100 rounds without a light strike, sometimes 250. Sometimes it'd do 1 in a range session or it may give a string of 5 in a row. Finally I bought a sig 220 and put it in the safe.

I gave it another chance after 1 or 2 years of sitting in the safe. Cleaned it well, cleaned the striker channel and headed out. 3 light strikes in the first 10 rounds...which happen to be the last 10 rounds, it found a new home last weekend.
 
I'm scared to send it to ruger because whatever it is will likely be called negligence and I have no idea what my out of pocket will be for the repairs. so here are my questions.
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anyone know where I could find a replacement for either of these and what is the likelyhood that a fellow with little mechanical prowess could replace them on his own?
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I'm going to say, be up front and let Ruger fix it right. "I have a used gun, and I think a prior owner messed it up." ----edit to add---Looks like that's the general consensus.

if a person was trying to lighten the trigger would he clip the striker spring?
Click to expand...

Who knows what Bubba would do. Actually, we have gone over that in another recent thread.

"Why does that matter?", you ask--"I know better than the manufacturer!" I won't argue the point for a couple of reasons. First of all, I suppose it might be possible for someone here to know more than the manufacturer. Second, for those who don't but think they do, it would be futile because the first rule of Dunning-Kruger club is you don't know you're in Dunning-Kruger club.
Click to expand...
 
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