Rugers break? What the...?

J

J.T.King

New member
I mean, I KNOWthat any gun can theoretically have a parts failure, but after years of preaching Ruger indestructibility (single six, blackhawk, multiple Vaqueros, etc...), I was embarassed in front of my father-in-law while visiting Ruger land (Prescott AZ).

I was firing my .45colt Bisley Vaquero at about one shot per second when I noticed that the cylinder was beginning to bind. I had just finished my 6th shot, and since I load my own I thought maybe (nah... couldn't be...) I had a high primer somewhere.

I opened the gate and tried to revolve the cylinder with no luck. Taking the pistol back to our impromptu bench I removed the cylinder entirely but found NOTHING wrong with any of these cowboy-loaded rounds.

Now I was confused. If there is nothing wrong with the cylinder (I checked) and there is nothing wrong with the primers, and if all the bullets have been fired, then what can make the gun bind???

I looked into the action itself and saw... an exposed firing pin! Wierd... I tried pushing it and it was SOLID. earing back the hammer, the firing pin disappeared. Again, strange. Everything looked fine, the transfer bar moved up and down... I was totally frustated. So I shook the gun scientifically.

tink!

Out falls the top of the transfer bar.

Well, at least now the firing pin is not exposed! :P

Seems that right at the bend i nthe transferbar, some flaw was revealed and the upper portion that slides up over the firing pin had broken off. just a hint of oil had kept it adhered to the firing pin itself and so it didn't matter if the trigger was pulled or not, the firing pin was engaged if the hammer was down!

Darn good thing I didn;t have a live round under it!

Needless to say I am a bit miffed. I am sure that this is covered by warrantee, but now I have to deal with the PITA of dealing with it!

Just goes to show, no piece of mechanical aparatus is trully "bullet proof".

JT
 
Jeez! And it failed in a "no safety at all but the gun can still fire" fashion...I didn't think that was even possible with transfer bars!

Hammer blocks, ya, but not transfer bars!?

Wow.

Anyways. If I were you, I'd buy another transfer bar from Brownell's and while I was at it, get a Power Custom freewheel pawl to install myself :). It's a homebrew-capable job, it'll give you backwards rotation and while you have it open, dropping in a fresh transfer bar will be no biggie.

Sure, the factory can fix it too, but the freewheel pawl is a cool mod :D. It's only about $35 I think?
 
I also recently had a transfer bar break, that particular SBH has had many thousands of 44 mag loads shot in it so I can't say it was a premature failure. Luckily my bud had a couple of them from left over parts and I was back up again quickly. Mine did look like it had a flaw in the casting but I never even bothered to notify Ruger. Just get a couple of them and if it ever happens again you'll be ready.

I like the term "shook the gun scientifically", that's exactly what I did, turned it upside down and shook it and out it came.

Topstrap
 
It's strange that there is very little stress on that portion of the part you are talking about. I'd check, just in case, all of the other parts for unusual wear patterns and irregularities.

Instead of just buying the part, I'd call Ruger and have the gun sent back to them for repair on their nickel. Off chance -- something can be binding or mis-shaped and creating an unusual force on the transfer bar.

More than likely, though, it was just a void in the casting process that manifested itself in a catastrophic fashion. Some magnifying glass work could probably give you some insight.
 
Well, I'm back in town now...

This week I'll take it by the retail establishment that I purchased it from (they also have a gunsmith) and see what they say. Hopefully they will just swap out/in a new transfer bar and call it a day.

On closer examination this part looks slightly pitted near where it broke, so I expect there was a casting defect.

JT
 
There was a thread about this problem over on the SASS board. Seems to be a not uncommon problem with cowboy shooters since they put so many rounds through their pieces. someone said that their smith told them that it was due to the basepin jumping/backing out of its retainer a bit, causing it to project just a bit further back so that the transfer bar has to flex over it when struck by the hammer. I had heard of the pin sometimes moving forward under recoil, but this was the first time i've heard of it moving backwards against the transfer bar.

This wasn't in the post referenced above, but I know some cowboys install an aftermarket basepin for a better fit and less chance of the pin jumping forward.

Regards,
Joe
 
Well if that's the case (base pin jumping back) there's two possible cures:

1) Wolff sells a stronger spring for the base pin release button.

2) The Belt Mountain pins are tighter, and most come with a "lockdown screw".

Given that Belt Mountain pins go for what, $35 or so, that seems practical. If you're not constantly swapping cylinders on a convertable model, I'd recommend their "Sheriff's Model" which has a shorter head allowing for a slightly longer ejector stroke, and it still has a lockdown screw.
 
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