SP101 cylinder freely rotating

[Rich Miranda]

I have an SP101 that I use for CCW. It's always been a good gun and I shoot it regularly and have never had a problem.

After my last range visit (during which the gun shot amazing groups), I cleaned the gun thoroughly since I had not cleaned it the prior two range visits (I know, I know..). I used GunScrubber and before I lubed it up again, I closed the cylinder and it spun freely instead of locking up tight as it always has. I looked it over and found that the little dealybob (that's a technical term) that comes from the bottom of the frame and engages the cylinder, was staying down.

I didn't panic or do anything rash. I knew that I had sprayed GunScrubber around that opening, and likely in, so I figured it needed re-lubing. I lubed with Hoppe's oil, and then worked the action. It seemed fine.

Of course, this being a CCW gun, I am concerned about reliability. So, some questions:

• Should I take the gun apart to check and clean/relube the inside? (I've never done this).
• Should I have shot GunScrubber in there at all?
• Is the GunScrubber what caused the problem?

Any comments are welcome. Thanks!

- Rich

 

[drail]

Your little dealybob spring is broken or jammed. Seriously I just read a post on another forum from a guy with this exact problem. That spring resides in a tunnel in the trigger group subassembly. (under the cyl. stop) I have seen several of these with nasty burrs in that tunnel that either jammed the spring or cut into it. The little dealybob is called a cylinder stop. Your manual (if you have one) has a diagram. Look for burrs and clean them off with a file or stone. Ruger is getting pretty generous with these lately.

 

[gwnorth]

Field stripping a Ruger DA revolver is pretty simple and will easily let you see if something is broken or just gummed up. Google for the YouTube video of how to take an SP apart - it takes about 2 minutes to do.

here ya' go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRrTQ1vNjFo

And no, you should never spray solvent or cleaner into an undisassembled revolver. It just gums up everything. Either field strip it and properly clean, dry and lubricate the parts, or just put a small drop of oil down the cylinder latch hole, either side of the trigger and hammer, and then work the action a few times to work it in. The insides of a revolver will stay remarkable clean for a very long time - not much gunk actually builds up in there. And just spraying in cleaner like that just serves to add gunk, not remove it.

 

[Webleymkv]

My guess would be that your gunscrubber broke a piece of crud loose and that caused the "dealybob" to get stuck down. Disassemble it if you feel comfortable to do so and have a look at the internals. If nothing seems amiss, clean, lube, reassemble and enjoy.

 

[pinetree]

It is very easy to drop the trigger group out and inspect. I would. I hope it is gunk... I love my SP, hate to think something would break.

 

[jmortimer]

One thing that is hard on the gun is swinging the cylinder closed with a snap of the wrist rather than closing it with the off hand. Last time I was in the gun shop they showed my a J frame from an undercover officer who had a freely rotating cylinder which they said was caused by the "wrist snap" closure of the cylinder.