Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns GP-100 Problem

I started shooting a GP100 recently that has sat in my safe for years. Acquired in a purchase and just never shot it.

My son loves shooting 38's in it now so it is seeing some use.

Problem I am having is that it seems really tight when advancing to one particular chamber whether firing DA or cocking the hammer. Now, I am not a revolver guy. Shot lots of semis, but just never had tons of experience with revolvers.

When I pull the hammer back partially, the cylinder rotates freely with no evidence of catching or drag. When I am cocking on that particular chamber, if I slightly rotate the cylcinder with my fingers, it appears to move freely. What I am getting at is it seems the catch is in the mechanism that rotates the cylinder, perhaps with how it is mating up on the cog, for the lack of a better term. Or maybe just binding slightly internally.

Any ideas?

Does it do it with the gun empty?

After firing all 6 chambers, if you leave the empties in and rotate the cylinder, does the problem persist?

If you remove the cartridges and put them all back in different chambers, does it continue? If so, does it the stickiness follow the chamber or the cartridge?

Since the cylinder turns freely by hand, it's not what I'd first suspect. Brownells makes a tool for tearing down a Ruger cylinder when they get gunked up with a mix of powder soot and oil but when that's the problem generally the cylinder won't turn by hand.

My guess is this: ultimately you'll have to send it back to Ruger for service (free give or take shipping) or take it to a pistolsmith (not free) for assessment and possible repair.

Tom

Make sure there is no runout/ bending of the ejector rod. I had a smith that did this and the end of the rod would rub the barrel for one or two chambers and make the action much more difficult to cycle. The knurled end of the rod rubbed the finish off the barrel where it made contact.

First thing I'd do is make sure it is clean under the ejector star, and the underside of the ejector star.

Yup.

And...if you decide to have a 'smith work on it, contact Ruger first. When I had a squib load with a factory round, I called them to ask about the best way to make sure that it was still safe to shoot, and the customer service rep said, "Well, let's just be safe and rebarrel it. You pay to send it to us, and we'll cover the new barrel and return shipping." I think I said something really witty like, "Uh...OK."

Ruger enjoys a pretty good customer service reputation.

This does not apply to the GP or SP series (or Redhawk and Super RH for that matter).
They were designed with a 2 piece ejector specifically to avoid this problem.

hand loads or factory?

Factory.

O.K. Can you tell I have never owned a Ruger DA before? I had a buddy that had a nice GP when were kids, but I never played with it much.

See if the cylinder spins freely with it swung out. If not remove the cylinder from the crane and clean both where the cylinder rotates on the crane. I had this happen with my first 629.

If you can't diagnose the problem from suggestions here, try the question on the "Revolvers" forum on www.rugerforum.com Many GP nuts there, and a pretty polite website.

(Just don't admit you let a vintage GP sit for all those years. Somebody will either be offended or want to buy it off you....or both!).

Send it back to Ruger. Owned one since 88 handloads sometimes, factory never.

Cylinder spins freely when swung out.

I will clean under the star now and see if that helps free things up a bit.

If the cylinder is spinning freely when open close it and hold the gun sideways up to a light so you can see light through the cylinder/barrel gap.

Cock the gun slowly and let the hammer back down six times while watching the gap. Often the cylinder is not square with the barrel and one or two of the chambers will rub on the end of the barrel.

If that isn't it check the star. You may have a worn spot or chip that is causing the hand to bind on.

Bob