Trouble in River City

[Varmint Hunter]

I have a new Ruger SRH 454. It was accurate and reliable but the trigger was lousey. Single action was heavy and had noticable creep. I sent it to a pistolsmith to have the action gone over, trigger improved and barrel ported.

The gun just came back and I tried dry firing the gun to see how the trigger came out. Single action is crisp and breaks at 3.5lbs. I fired it at the range today with moderate loads (250gr @ 1,200 ft/sec). Intermittently, when just squeeeeezing the trigger, the triger would pull foward rather than break rearward. When this happened, the hammer fell about half way down. Out of the 25 rounds that I fired, this occured 6-8 times.  :x
When I got home I tried to get the gun to repeat this malfunction when dry firing, but couldn't. It fires perfectly every time while dry firing. :?
What's up with this? Do I need to send the gun back?
VH

[Henry Bowman]

Your "Smith" cut too much off the hammer hooks causing the hammer to short cycle falling into the double action notch.
Ruger don't sell those hammers anymore, hmmmm.
Your smith screwed it up therefore he ought to repair it, on the other hand, he screwed it up already and maybe to avoid a long drawn out ______, you could choose to return the gun to Ruger.

[Varmint Hunter]

The pistolsmith that I used is a Nationally recognized handgun builder and  I opted not to name the company because I wouldn't want to degrade it's good name over the internet based on this one problem.
I did call them and found them to be very concerned and eager to get the revolver back. UPS charged me another $40.00 to ship one way. :x
I'm confident they will fix the problem but either way I'll keep you informed.
Thanks for your response.
VH

[HoCoMDHunter]

Best of luck with your problem.  I have the same gun.  Curious about the UPS charges.  Why $40?  I am responsible for all the shipping where I work and I use UPS a lot.  Why not ship it ground and insure it for $1000.  At the $1000 level they take very special care of the package.  Even have a seperate group of folks that handle the package.  Should be able to ship that anywhere (assuming this smith is in the lower 48)for under $10.  Is there a law I don't know about?

[KN]

It's not a law but rather UPS policy. Hand guns must be shiped Overnight Priority. Unless your a Dealer. I believe thats how it goes.  On a similar subject, Try and send a rifle through Fed X . They wanted $85 to send one back to a manufactuer. I told them to shove it and went to UPS. $10 was all it cost.  KN

[detritus]

Even have a seperate group of folks that handle the package

worked for over three years in a UPS Air Ops facility, and part of that with a second Part-time job at the local ground hub.
 the "special handling" that "high value" packages received was a Supervisor being reqired to log them into the container/ sort bin that contained the High Value items and those packages that needed to be delivered before 9am.   sometimes they got hand carried to a particular belly compartment of the aircraft.   and in the Air system at least they were bagged in or wrapped with a portion of a bag that was red and white striped.  but the actual package handlers, sorters, loaders etc were the same schmucks who did everything else.

overall a fairly decent system.  but things STILL got lost, damaged, or out right stolen in transport.

we never DID find out what happened to that $18,000 (listed value) Diamond ring that was being shipped from South Africa, to Raliegh NC. :eek:  found it's HV bag and some of the attendant papers in the compartment, but not a ring in sight!!!  of course whoever shipped it was shipping it in a box not much bigger than the "clamshell" jewelry box it was fitted in.  and therefore REAL easy to slip in a pocket, Bag etc.   and before anyone gets ideas, NO!! IT WASN'T US!!!

i could go on and on about the BS and monkey business i saw in that job.  there is a REASON i try to double Box everything i ship if at all possible.  but i'd still go back if i could.   i moved and then by the time i decided that i wanted to try and get back into that line of work for awhile, it was just days before 9/11 and the hiring freeze, lay-offs in the ground handling contractor world, that came in the wake of that disaster.    

oh and  P.S.  if you ever need to get a departed loved one across country, even if they ARE in a crated casket, do yourself, the Mortician AND the ground handlers a favor an DO NOT ship UPS ok!??!   :eek:  :shock:  Bodies DO shift in transport.    but that's another story for another time

[kend]

I believe the policy is that handguns must ship via air but it's not required that it be next day air. We ship second day by either UPS or FedEx and the shipping usually runs in the $15 range.

[Varmint Hunter]

Here is the dope on shipping a hangun:

The US Postal Service will not ship a handgun for a non-ffl holder under any circumstances. Basically, its Uncle Sam who has denied us a basic service of the Federal government. This should be corrected.

UPS insists that you ship "NEXT DAY AIR", AKA red label service. The Ruger SRH in an empty box (min. weight) with only $500 of insurance costs $38 and change to ship. The actual value of the gun, with the work done was really $900, so I took a chance.
Another thing, "NEXT DAY AIR" doesn't guarantee next day delivery, but they "try"!

Rules at Fed X are similar.

VH

[HoCoMDHunter]

IMO it's none of the shippers business what they are shipping (so long as it is a legal product).  UPS has never asked me whats in the box - even when it is insured.   When I have had occasion to ship handguns, I shipped them ground but insured for $1000.  They don't ask whats in the box and it never occured to me that I should tell them.  I made an honest effort to find this policy in writing, but have been unable.  Please don't misunderstand, I don't doubt what you say is true.  But if this is policy, it should be plainly stated.  If I never looked at this post, I would never have had an idea that this was the case.
Ignorance is bliss.  :-D  

[8rounder]

A few years ago, I tried shipping some rifles to a smith thru UPS in Amarillo. The manager told me it was strictly forbidden to ship "any" firearm with UPS. I asked to see it in the rule book and he said that I would just have to take his word on it and refused to show me.

So, I went to anther city nearby and the people there asked me how quick did I want the guns to get there. They then informed me that it was up to the individual managers on whether to allow firearms to be shipped or not.

That may be the same way where you live today. Hope this helps.
 :grin:  :grin:  :grin:

[KN]

In my area only the main UPS terminal will ship firearms long or short. Meaning you cant take it to one of the mail and more type centers that do ups shipping. The ones that are located all over town. I have to go to down town KC to ship guns. I can still ship barrels and parts from the other locations, just not complete guns. Oh and around here they want whats in the package declared. What you tell them is up to you but they do ask here in my neck of the woods.  KN

[Varmint Hunter]

HCM Hunter,

I'd sure be interested to know what you put on the UPS shipping form in the "CONTENTS" box. If you leave it blank they ask what you've got.

Another thing; if you ship to a receiver who is obviously a firearm  dealer(like Smith &  Wesson, Magnum Arms or whoever) doesn't anyone ask you what you are shipping?
VH

[HoCoMDHunter]

HCM Hunter,

I'd sure be interested to know what you put on the UPS shipping form in the "CONTENTS" box. If you leave it blank they ask what you've got.

Another thing; if you ship to a receiver who is obviously a firearm  dealer(like Smith &  Wesson, Magnum Arms or whoever) doesn't anyone ask you what you are shipping?
VH

The business where I work is a UPS shipping center.  That only means that UPS stops by every day to see if we have anything to go.  The whole operation is done on the computer and there is nowhere to even enter the contents.  The UPS person comes and just scans the end of day printout.  Never looks at the boxes or addresses.   If there is a high dollar item (>$1000) they set it aside, but again, the contents are never an issue.  The only time they care about the contents is if it is being shipped internationally.   I have used several of the local shipping centers to ship different things and I've never been asked whats in the box.  Funny because there aren't many states that are less friendly to guns than MD.  There are thousands of businesses that are UPS shipping centers.  (Not a regular shipping center, just a business that has occasion to ship items out on a regular basis) If you know someone at one of these places you may be able to use them.