Opened throats on my Son's GP100

[jh45gun]

i guess there are ruger lemons out there. but i have never run into one. i shot expert with a unmodified ruger. beat more then one race gun with a stock ruger.

what i do see more and more in a forms of shooting is some one gets a new to them firearm and right away they want to improve it. before they even try to shoot it.

I have never had the urge to improve a good gun but I expect that I do not have to either as it should be improved from the factory which is my main complaint with bad guns there is no excuse for it.

[leftiye]

Doan matter what itis - you jus' abou hafta rebuild them to have thangs right. Nunna them manufacturers have good QC. They've gotten used to making guns that get by because their guns have always "gotten by".

[dsmjon]

Factories are doing their best right now to keep up with demand. It's only to be expected that a certain percentage of otherwise "borderline" specifications get passed on down the line. The same reason why the last set of 9mm dies I bought had a 45cal sizer die, and 9mm expander and seater dies.

[outdoorfan]

Maybe Obama will give us a Cash For Clunkers program where we can get "fair market value" for our clunker firearms so that we can upgrade to something more reliable? LOL

Kinda funny. But some people would be stupid enough to do it. Remember, there's always "strings attached".

[jh45gun]

Doan matter what itis - you jus' abou hafta rebuild them to have thangs right. Nunna them manufacturers have good QC. They've gotten used to making guns that get by because their guns have always "gotten by".

I don't agree with that completly Henry has good QC and if something does slip by they have the best Customer Service in the business to make sure they correct the mistake. They take a lot of pride in the guns they make.

[StarMetal]

First, when did Ruger start using 5 groove rifling?

Okay, let's clear this up. You all believe the gun companies care about you and the product they put out. Talking to big industry leaders it has come to my attention that all it is to the gun manufacturers is...making money. I know what you will say to that...how can they make money by making inferior products and we don't buy them. Fact is many still do buy them. Here's what started it. Most the big gun manufacturers don't own themselves. Some big non related company or money structure buys them up. Good example is Cerus (spelling) own Remington, Bushmaster, DPMS, and I believe RCBS, Speer, and Federal. They are a big money business, don't care about guns. They are after the bucks. It was also brought to my attention that as soon as S&W screws up Cerus will buy them too. That's what they do, they buy companies that are failing and hurting.

All the Ruger revolvers I've owned and have are among some of the best. I've been lucky with them. I'll tell you honestly I haven't bought any "new" firearms lately because I feel the price of them are ridiculous and I won't pay it. I'll make do with the many that I own. Either that or I'll build my own such as rifles. Little harder to build your own revolver, which doesn't include the semi's like the 1911. One can build those from scratch cheaper they you can buy a match grade one.

Joe

[jh45gun]

Well Joe glad you have had some good ones So have I but I also have had some very POOR ones which soured me on Rugers I do not own any and unless I could shoot it I would never buy an other. Considering that you cannot shoot new guns unless you buy them that lets them out and as far as used goes most folks are not going to mess with letting you do that either.

[Newtire]

You can get a "chucking reamer" from any of the big hardware outfits like MSC. They run $15.00 or so dollars and are sized by the thousandth. If you are careful you can get the same sized throats in every hole.

Not to steal the thread but was wondering how to go about using one of those chucking reamers. My concern would be that it wouldn't have a way to pilot and the throat might come out not concentric. Is this a problem? If not, I will try that next time.

[theperfessor]

Bret offers good advice. If you've only got a few thousandths to take out then the hole will come out as concentric as the original hole was. The bevel on the leading edge of a reamer is designed to center the reamer up in the existing hole. Secret is to make sure the reamer is square to the cylinder face/parallel to the existing chamber. Run it at moderate RPM, use a few drops of good cutting oil, and take the time to set things up right before you cut metal and you'll be fine.

[jh45gun]

Factories are doing their best right now to keep up with demand. It's only to be expected that a certain percentage of otherwise "borderline" specifications get passed on down the line. The same reason why the last set of 9mm dies I bought had a 45cal sizer die, and 9mm expander and seater dies.

Rugers have had issues long before this latest rush to make guns to fill the demand. But you make a good point maybe the current crop of guns might be even more prone to stay away from.

[Dale53]

jh45gun;
We all know that you hate Rugers (you have posted this on all of the forums).

However, my experience has been a bit different. Yes, I have had some "less than perfect" guns from Ruger but also from Smith (I now have an S&W Performance Center revolver that won't reliably use Winchester primers - this in a Premium Hunting revolver, no less). I will correct this by "detuning" the action a bit with an original mainspring and a longer firing pin. All WILL be well.

I recently became the owner of a Ruger 50th Anniversary .44 Magnum and a Ruger .44 Lipsey Special. Other than both needing a trigger job, the are close to WONDERFUL. Both have proper dimensioned cylinder throats and both will shoot under an inch at 25 yards. These are just superb revolvers, no two ways about it.

FWIW
Dale53

[9.3X62AL]

I've come to almost expect the need to finish building a lot of the new firearms I buy. I am VERY cautious about new firearms, and it has been a few years since any new ones have landed at my house. I can understand how disgust with a given armsmaker's wares can manifest itself in these times of questionable (absent?) QC and the pressurre to satisfy a demanding market whipped into frenzied buying due to political perceptions. I also understand corporate laziness and bean-counter management. CAVEAT EMPTOR, in other words.

[wallenba]

i guess i have missed something i have oened and still own a lot of rugers and never had to work them over just shoot them a lot.

Me too. Never had a real problem, just griped recently that my newest one came out of the box new, fired and not cleaned. But never a real problem.

[bisley45]

love them rugers how bowt you love them rugers yes I dooooooo

[jack19512]

love them rugers how bowt you love them rugers yes I dooooooo

I have to admit that even though I have had to send a couple of them back recently I still like them.

[Heavy lead]

I've had one Ruger lemon, and that was a 77 mark II in 257 Roberts. Quite a *** actually. Mostly all my Ruger handguns have been excellent although I'm a Smith and BFR fan. The one rifle I will never ever buy another, unless I plan on rebarreling from the get go is a Winchester 70, all post 64 push feed and classics I've had were simply junk, pretty, looked like a rifle should but nevertheless garbage rebuild projects one and all, with the exception of one, out of 7 purchased.
I guess I'm plagued with bad Winchesters like some are bad Rugers. Oh well. I am going to spring for one of the new Win 70 featherweight's that FN is putting out, hope I'm not disappointed.

[Down South]

I have a GP-100 and I had to open the cylinder throats up on. I went the more expensive route and bought the reamer and bushings from Brownells. I also did an Ibok trigger job on the GP-100. Some may bash Ruger but my GP-100 is one of my favorite revolvers even if I did have to do some minor work on it. But I’ve had to work on some of my Smith’s too.

I had to open the cylinder throats up on my S&W 629. I used the dowel and fine sand paper on this one. I have a set of pin gauges so getting each throat uniform was an easy chore.

I have another Smith, a 460V and the Cylinder throats are .451”. I may send this one to Cylindersmith to open up. I haven’t decided yet. The barrel slugs at .452”.

[jh45gun]

jh45gun;
We all know that you hate Rugers (you have posted this on all of the forums).

However, my experience has been a bit different. Yes, I have had some "less than perfect" guns from Ruger but also from Smith (I now have an S&W Performance Center revolver that won't reliably use Winchester primers - this in a Premium Hunting revolver, no less). I will correct this by "detuning" the action a bit with an original mainspring and a longer firing pin. All WILL be well.

I recently became the owner of a Ruger 50th Anniversary .44 Magnum and a Ruger .44 Lipsey Special. Other than both needing a trigger job, the are close to WONDERFUL. Both have proper dimensioned cylinder throats and both will shoot under an inch at 25 yards. These are just superb revolvers, no two ways about it.

FWIW
Dale53

I have good reason to dislike them (I would not use the word hate) and believe me I have given them their chances I have owned a lot of them over the years. In all fairness I have also said if you get a good one it is a good gun. However I think buying one is a crap shoot and that to me has become unacceptable. It is also unacceptable to me that if you buy a gun you should have to send it back or send it to some one else or if your capable yourself to fix the issues that Ruger should have taken care of in the first place. Just read how many guys here have had to either fix them or get them fixed for one reason or the other and this is only one forum. That should be unacceptable to every one who cares and is probably the reason Ruger gets by with it as enough folks do not complain.

[jandbn]

I have been away from shooting and for over reloading 20+ years. Back then, I was a Ruger fan and still am now. Up to the end of the 80's, out of the dozen firearms I had owned, all except three were Rugers. Ruger was it for me.

Less than 2 weeks ago, I took ownership of a new Ruger Bisley 5 1/2 SS 45 LC. I was some what disappointed in the quality compared to what I used to own back in the 80's. The trigger wasn't horrible but was what I had expected with all the reading and research over the past 6 months. Exterior marks where it looked like metal had been hit with metal were not sanded off and buffed out of the frame in a couple places. One front corner of the top strap was not buffed out. There were quite a few very small nicks on sharp squared edges such of the cylinder window (most of which have been stoned away). The grip frame where one of the grip panels fit has a high spot that was not machined off so the panel rocks until grip panel is tight. I have yet to remove the high spot. There was a slight (less than .001) constriction in the bore at the barrel frame junction. But, the cylinder throats were a surprise. They were all the same at .452! I was expecting variations, but not on this out of production revolver. The trigger has been taken care with more than a few hours of careful judicious honing which I really enjoyed! I don't mind the other extra "work" either shaping things up. In fact I enjoy it. It sure beats the heck out of surfing the net and TV time.

I can sit and nit-pick all I want, but it is a Ruger, I love the aesthetic appeal (all in the eyes of the beholder), and best of all, it is MY Ruger!

[Ugluk]

Randyrat,
How did this turn out?
I'm trying to get used to the idea that I will have to do this on my S&W14-2, as it measures 0.3565 at the cylinder throats and .358 half an inch into the barrel, and no amount of trying loads or different boolit shapes have produced 18-shot groups under 1 1/2 inch at 28yds from a ransom..

Did you (your son) get improvement in accuracy?