A screwed up barrel?

[fishnbob]

I bought this Ruger BH the 4th of July. It is a convertible, 45Colt, 45ACP. I shot it a few times, around 15 shots and I noticed leading right away. I had slugged the barrel @ .4502 and sized my casts to .452. I checked the cylinder throats and found them to be .4495 and less. So off to cylindersmith for a reaming, got them back in a few days and shot some more casts and voila', no more leading in the barrel. However, after cleaning I put a light in the bore and there appears to be some ringed looking marks from one end to the other, scored in the bore and looks to be through the rifling also. The grooves look to be consistently spaced as if machined in there. I e-mailed Ruger and they advised me to send the ENTIRE gun back to them to be checked. BTW, my groups really sucked, and I can do better with my S&W .40 Sigma, offhand. Now to my problem. If I send the ENTIRE gun back to Ruger along with my 2 cylinders that cost me $71 to open the throats and they decide to send me a new gun, I will lose 2 good cylinders that handle cast boolits perfectly. They may change the barrel and I may get them back but I know the existing barrel is not repairable and if I were Ruger, I would just ship back a new gun an I will lose 2 cylinders & $71. How should I handle this? Just keep the 2 cylinders and ship the rest? Or call customer service and try to talk to someone? Something has to be done, I can't hit a barn door with it.:-(

[felix]

Tell them exactly what you told us. ... felix

[Racer X]

I had a nice trigger job done on my GP-100 that cost about $80 (several years ago). Some years later, I sent the gun to Ruger because of a bent crane. While Ruger had the gun, they "fixed" my trigger job.

[44man]

Send it with ONE cylinder. Chances are they will leave it alone, they do not know you had it reamed and don't tell them.
I would send it with the ACP cylinder only. Your complaint is the barrel.

[pdawg_shooter]

Why should anyone have to rebuild a new firearm, (or mold) before it is usable?

[tek4260]

I have the same issue in an early NM Blackhawk I traded for. I have sent about 70 firelapping boolits down the bore and nearly have it fixed. It also has .455 throats, but a Bisley cylinder is on the way and after I fit it and ream it to .4525, I hope all will be well with it.

[cabezaverde]

I have one I have thought about sending of for a reblue. I just don't want them to fool with the trigger, so I will probably pass.

I agree with Felix.

[NoZombies]

Is the gun new or used?

I would send the gun back without the cylinders, and a note explaining that if they replace the gun, they don't need to send a new cylinder, since you kept yours.

[bhn22]

They'll need the cylinder to test fire the gun when it's done. They won't just screw a barrel on an send it back untested because of liability issues.

[pdawg_shooter]

Ruger test their products? Coulda fooled me!

[44man]

Ruger test their products? Coulda fooled me!
Oh yes, pressure and function tested, same as all makers. Others have a copy machine to send group targets and European guns have actual groups.

[fishnbob]

Thanks for all the info guys. When I talked to a customer support rep. he told me that they would need the cylinders to test fire the gun. I like the idea of sending only the .45acp cylinder, but I don't think they will send it back without test firing the .45 colt cylinder. I wrote a two page letter explaining the situation as per the c.s.'s advice. I hope it will work.
BTW, I just put the gun in a vise and put a bore light in it and used a 4X magnifying glass and the grooves look like scored circles, evenly spaced and they are deeper in the bore and shallower in the cut rifling, suggesting that someone machined these in after it was rifled. How the h--- could that happen? They are so perfectly done that it could only be done by a machine tool. And yes, the gun was sold to me as N.I.B. Any thoughts? I thought that they may have drilled the bore and did not polish it out prior to rifling it. But the grooves are not spiraling, I can't see how it could be done unless it is a new rifling process and nothing I have or have seen looks like that! I haven't tried J-boolits and it doesn't shoot cast well at all. I bought it specifically to shoot cast. Again, any thoughts?

[44man]

Worn tools at the factory I guess. Tools are VERY expensive and the most must be made from them. It does not make sense to cut one barrel with one cutter and the next with a new one.
Ruger will make it right.
Ruger used to farm out barrels and had trouble. They are much better now.

[pdawg_shooter]

Oh yes, pressure and function tested, same as all makers. Others have a copy machine to send group targets and European guns have actual groups.

Yep, it went bang and didnt blow up so they shipped it.

[tek4260]

firelap :)

[dragonrider]

As said above I would also firelap, but forgetting that for a moment I was under the impression that if you sent a Ruger back that had been "changed is some way" they will change it back to stock but will return the parts removed, is that true??? Bare in mind that I have never sent a gun back to Ruger and therefor have no firsthand experience, just hearsay. For some reason lost long ago in the depth of my memories I was supposed to sent back my P-85,, but it shoots just fine so I did not. That was almost 20 years ago.

[tek4260]

I started a thread about firelapping today on my BH that had the same exact issue as yours. I sent another 24 downrange today and the marks are completely gone except for maybe the last 1/4" at the muzzle, and are very faint there. Maybe another 6 will completely take them out.

[shotman]

I sent last 3 rugers back Never will have a new model again One 454 was sent back with the brass in the cylinder. couldnt drive them out. HOW did they test fire it ?????

[tek4260]

Easy to eject one, not so easy with 6 :)

[Char-Gar]

Anytime you send a firearm back to Ruger they will replace any parts that have been modified and it will come back to you in full factory trim. They do this for liability reasons.

They are good about replacing defective barrels which happens all to often. I have had to send two back to them. I think the advise to send the pistol back with just one cylinder and keep you mouth shut was good advise.

[PacMan]

The base pin hole in the cylinder of my 44sp loohs like it was cut with a dull corkscrew and the base pins shows it. Will look at calling Ruger about a replacnment.

Question seeing as though the throats are .432+ will they replace witha properly throted cylinder or is that within their specs?

[Char-Gar]

The base pin hole in the cylinder of my 44sp loohs like it was cut with a dull corkscrew and the base pins shows it. Will look at calling Ruger about a replacnment.

Question seeing as though the throats are .432+ will they replace witha properly throted cylinder or is that within their specs?

Ruger has some funny notions about what is in spec and not in spec. I had an OM Blackhawk in 41 Magnum with a .413 groove barrel. Two trips back to the factory and all they was was replace the ejector rod spring..twice!!!. All of my letters and phone calls about the funky barrel were for naught.

This is just the long way around of saying that Ruger will replace the cylinder with one from their parts bin which will most likely be wrong.

[fishnbob]

Ruger has some funny notions about what is in spec and not in spec. I had an OM Blackhawk in 41 Magnum with a .413 groove barrel. Two trips back to the factory and all they was was replace the ejector rod spring..twice!!!. All of my letters and phone calls about the funky barrel were for naught.

This is just the long way around of saying that Ruger will replace the cylinder with one from their parts bin which will most likely be wrong.

Oh $#1t, now this makes me feel confident. If they just look down the barrel and can see any better than I, they should suspect something.:roll:

[pdawg_shooter]

I sent a BH back to Ruger because the throats varied for .449 to .4535. They returned it with a note that it was within specs. Ended up fixing it myself, at my expense to keep the customer. Hated to sell a Ruger, knew I was gonna have a p****d off customer.

[fishnbob]

Well, it's going about like I expected. I FedEx my Ruger Blackhawk to Ruger on Tuesday August 2, 2011 with arrival at Ruger on Thursday August 4. I get a notification today, Thursday August 11 that they received it on the 4th, a week later. I thought they would be through with it by now. I guess I am impatient.

[leftiye]

Bob, Thas Ruger's proprietary "bore file cutter" machine made them grooves. This is why a lotta folks say that them there Rugers are rifled with a hoof rasp.

[fishnbob]

I called Ruger today and asked about the progress. They referred to it as "Bore Chatter" and they must have addressed that problem because they said it was now in the Bluing Room awaiting to be reblued. Evidently they did something to it to have to reblue it. They could not give me a projected ship date.

[fishnbob]

Well today is the 22nd and here comes the UPS man with my Ruger. They test fired it and didn't bother to clean it so I swabbed it out and the bore looks great and shines like a diamond in a goat's @$$!! I reslugged it and it was originally 0.4502"" and now it measures 0.4505" with a tight spot right where the barrel and forcing cone come together. It measures
0.4432". Can that be firelapped out or what?

[tek4260]

I feel sure that they replaced the barrel and did not "remove the chatter" then reblued everything. That tight spot can easily be firelapped out.

[fishnbob]

I feel sure that they replaced the barrel and did not "remove the chatter" then reblued everything. That tight spot can easily be firelapped out.

Thanks tek4260, I guess I need to read what is available on firelapping and get to it!:brokenima

[Silver Jack Hammer]

Bore chatter sounds like the employees were talking about their weekends when they should have been paying attention to the machining job instead.

I've had a lot of problems with Blackhawks in the past but got all the bugs worked out eventually. Thanks for sharing.

[tek4260]

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=126549

Did it look like the second picture in this ad?

Mine looked similar to this before firelapping1