Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Ruger SA trigger work.

Looking for a lighter crisp trigger pull with no slop on my stainless Bisley, who would you send it to? I realize good work is seldom inexpensive, so don't let price color your advice.

Have you tried a poor man's trigger job? Sometimes that lightens the trigger up enough that no further work is needed. I routinely do that to all Ruger single actions and it never fails to help.

Remove one of the grip panels and just unhook one leg of the trigger return spring from its post anchor up near the top of the frame. Be sure to only unhook one side. If you unhook both sides it leaves a dangerously light pull and can fail to reset the trigger after firing.

If there is still unacceptable creep then you'd need a gunsmith for which unfortunately I don't have any good recommendations.

Last time I talked to Jack Huntington an action job was $100.

http://www.jrhadvancedgunsmithing.com/

By the time you ship the gun back and forth you're looking at real money, so you might as well have other work done at the same time.

I've found Wolff springs and lots of dry firing work wonders on a Ruger SA trigger pull. Cheap, too.

This works: http://cylindersmith.com/triggerspring.html

I've done various New Models for myself, so I have an idea what you're up against. Some are shootable as-is and only need a little spring work. FWIW I have never unhooked a leg of the trigger return spring and consider it a bad idea. You can bend that spring to a degree, to ease tension and there are plenty of aftermarket springs available.

Creep is a function of hammer notch depth and angle. I've seen a few NM's actually cam the hammer back a few thousandths and those are a beeeotch. You can reduce hammer notch depth roughly half as I recall, but this isn't even a rule of thumb because there's so much variance what you get from the factory. Each one has to be divined out and exorcised of its particular demons.

There is at least one better way, if you're willing to spend a few bucks. I recently handled a stainless Blackhawk that had it's hammer & trigger replaced with Power Custom components. Its trigger was crisp and light enough to be shootable. I was also at the shop the other day and examined some of their hammers & triggers. It appears to me they have sorted out the hammer notch and sear angle pretty well, when both are used together.

I am impressed enough that my next NM Ruger (probably a shortened blue 45 Bisley) will get a set. YMMV

I send all of my "shooter" handguns to Ahlman's in Morristown, MN, for their "smooth and tune" and "ream forcing cone" jobs. That work, less shipping, runs around $120 and their turn around is very quick.

www.ahlmans.com

I've already unhooked one leg. My main issue is that the pull is long and sloppy, with the the usual over travel.

I had Cylinder & Slide (local) do some work on another Bisley for me, but the trigger had already been taken care of by the previous owner.

I've got a Ruger SSM that was a personal gun of Jim Stroh, he did a pretty God job on that one but it seems his main line of work is auto pistols.

I'm originally from MN and drive by Ahlman's fairly regular.

Decisions decisions

C&S in Fremont, NE?

Yup, they did a nice job for me on a few things. Nice as they will call you when it's your turn, so you don't have to ship the pistol off 9 months in advance.

Tom Mason, 727 Lake Doniphan Road, Excelsior Springs MO 64024, Cellular Telephone 816-804-7135. Tom's shop hours are 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM Tuesday through Thursday. Feel free to call him during his shop hours to discuss what you want done. I am a totally satisfied customer.

Should be called bubba trigger job,not poor mans.


Have it done right.

I think that Ahlman's work is as good a C&S.

I had my Single Seven done in a local shop, Mid-Star Firearms in Middleton Id.

They used Power Custom parts for a free spin conversion, which was my primary request on this model as it is a bit of a pain to reload in the factory configuration. But they had to modify after market parts intended for a Single Six to do the job.

Any NM Ruger SA will have a bit of trigger take up in order to engage the transfer bar. The take up on my Single Seven is barely noticeable with live ammo and the trigger breaks like a target rifle.

I am extremely pleased.

How much did that conversion cost you? My Single Seven is a bitch to load also.

Have you had anyone do an overtravel stop?

Cut the hammer engagement to .020 - .025", bend the factory trigger spring arms upward until you measure near 3 pounds pull. I also like to add an Old Army hammer spring to the piece. Pretty is work with patience.