Bending Ruger #3 Lever

[Rich/WIS]

Recently bought a Ruger #3 that has an aftermarket pistol grip stock on it. The finger lever clears the stock easily but is almost too tight for me to get the ring finger of my right hand under when shooting. Was wondering if anyone has bent the lever or seen it done. Doesn't need much, just open the radius on the last curve on the lever a few degrees. Contacted Ruger for advice but they were no help, basically said they don't recommend altering any of their guns.

[lefty o]

being as most anything metal on a ruger except the barrel is cast, id be leery of it.

[pietro]

.

Once upon a time, I bought a #3 that somebody had bolted on a custom PG stock that gave me the same problem.

I was fortunate that whomever installed the stock never removed any of the "extra" wood that most aftermarket inletted-only have.

The general stock-making rule is that the angle of the grip cap should create a line that intersects the heel of the stock.

(This changes with the degree of drop and is a good rule to keep in mind when evaluating the merits of a stock.)

I was able to reduce the thickness, and make the PG a lot shallower, leaving very ample room for my fingers, reshaping the angle of the bottom of the PG so that an extension of it's bottom line crossed the butt end at the top, like it should have been done in the first place.

Hopefully, your stock can be modified along those lines.

.

[RedJackson]

Just buy a No. 1 lever.

[Artful]

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q55/martindraves/Ruger3Lever.jpg
Cut and weld?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/Zermel/PICT0121.jpg

http://i47.tinypic.com/34j21iw.jpg

http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/uu138/Fluffy9lives/Ruger303-1.jpg

[indian joe]

dang that cut and weld looks ugly

[Rich/WIS]

Wood removal is not really an option, whoever did the work did not leave any excess. Cutting and welding is an option I suppose, but it is way beyond my skill level. I was hoping someone might suggest a smith who works on Ruger that I could send it to. Whoever did the work in the photos did a beautiful job.

Did not realize that the lever from a #1 would work, thought they had to latch closed on the trigger guard.

[contender1]

Why not find a replacement stock? Metal parts,,, like the lever are hard to find on a nice out of production gun like that. Replacing the wood is much easier. If you modify the lever,,, then it breaks or whatever,,, you will be hard pressed to find a replacement.

[725]

May or may not be related, but I just altered the hammer on a T/C ML. It's a cast hammer and I simply crafted a jig to hold the hammer against a metric (so I wouldn't bend it more than I wanted), heated it red hot and used pliers to gently correct it's shape. Let it cool naturally and bingo, it is actually better than new. In the same vein as a blind mouse finding cheese, I ended with a hammer strike absolutely centered on the nipple. I got just EXACTLY what I was looking for. If it were me, (and please refer back to the blind mouse thing), I'd heat it, shape it and let it cool.

[nekshot]

HEY Art ole Buddy, dems is some nice wood on those guns and I kinda like the mod on the lever! Works for me!

[John Taylor]

Heat and bend. Do not quench after bending.

[Rich/WIS]

Thanks John, that's what I needed to know.

[Blackwater]

I've seen at least one that was bent due to having a #1 Stock put on it. It was a very neat little gun! And FWIW, I had a #3 .45/70 that I slimmed up and ovalized the grip, and took the back of the comb and brought it back in a rounded shape (vs. the squarish one that was factory). I also cut the stock off and applied a Pachmyr Decelerator Sporting Clays pad on it (black) and sanded/fitted to the stock. Cut off the forend right behind the barrel band, and slimmed the forend up significantly, and gave it a modest schnabble front. Cut the barrel off behind that 10/22 front sight, and put a Lyman Shorty Ramp on it. Mounted a low powered variable scope on it, and it was a real beauty, and shot like a house afire, too! Kicked rather smartly with heavier loads, but .... no pain no gain, right? Recoil was tolerable, even with some pretty stout loads, with that recoil pad on it and the scope to help weigh it down a bit. A friend talked me out of that one, and it went to Chicago, where it was stolen. That really agrieved both me and the new owner! So far, it's never been found, eihter.

The slenderized grip and forend really made that a sweet handling little gun. I never changed the lever on mine, but Lee Shaver has done an 1885 Browning .40/65 for a friend, converting it to look more like an original 1885's lever, and it is truly a thing of real beauty. If it were me, I'd cut off what I didn't want and weld on a new lever on the bow of the trigger guard. That's what Shaver did with my friend's Browning, and it was truly great work. It's the best looking 1885 Browning I've ever seen, including my own. If I shot mine more, I'd send the lever off to Shaver to do the same thing on mine. And I'm a notorious penny pincher, so you know he did a great job on it. FWIW?