over sized cylinder throats

[zacharoo]

I have written and called Ruger several times. My blackhawk has oversized cylinder throats. I have a few freinds that do gunsmith work. They tell me that since ruger made it wrong that they should pay the shipping and cylinder replacement like a recall. Any help. I figure if I pay to shipp to and from that I just as sone just send them a blank check. This is a problem that Ruger knows about and needs to address. I have written my last letter and am waiting on their repley. ??/

Zacharoo

[ole 5 hole group]

How large are your throats? and what size groups are you getting?  I haven't run across a Blackhawk of recent manufacture having oversized throats, so I'm either lucky or you're unlucky.  Some of the older manufactured NM's had 0.454/56 throats and it took a little doing to get them to shoot respectable groups. 

[tacklebury]

Mine were small.  I couldn't get Ruger to admit there was an issue, but they said if I wanted to send it back, they'd review it.  If there were any problems, they'd fix it also.  I got it back a week later with a new barrel installed and two new cylinders.  They guarantee only 3" group at 15 yards from a machine rest, but that was a lot better than I was getting.  It cost me almost 70 bucks to ship it next day air UPS, but it was worth it.  I can shoot clay pigeons, stationary - not flying, at 30 yards and have been grouping about 2-3" on paper at that range now.  Before, I could barely get it on paper at 15 yards with a 12" target, and some bullets, I couldn't even make hit the backstop which was about 2' x 2'.  lol  Good luck regardless of your decision.  My dealer told me after the fact to make sure to involve him and he'd guarantee they would get a shipping label sent. 

[Hopalong7]

      I too have heard a few stories about oversized Blackhawk cylinder throats...But...I've never seen or had one.  I've had several, old'uns, new'uns, and in-between'uns, and the few that I've had that weren't undersized were just right!  Guess I'm just lucky...course my wife tells me everyday that I'm the luckiest guy on Earth...and, of course, She's right!  BTW I've never had a problem with a Ruger that they didn't seem anxious to fix.  Good Luck with it.
Walt

[huntswithdogs]

The last time I was having problems with a firearm, I called the service dept  and asked to speak with a manager. The manager had a FedX call tag sent out to me. My brotherinlaw did the same thing when he had some problems with one of his firearms. Now both of the cases were with long guns, so it may not work with a handgun. As for the shipping, if you have to pay it, it's usually TO the manufacturer, not both ways.


HWD

[zacharoo]

Heard from Ruger today. They say that revolver is to old and that I should send it to them they will repair or replace and charge me the approprate amount. I don't know what that means but I think it means. BEND OVER HERE IT COMES!!!!!   I will not contact them again. But they got a piece of my mind so to speek. TEEDED OFF CAJUN!!!!!

Zacharoo

[irold]

zach ,

 I had a problem with a SRH.  Sent it to them not knowing for sure what to expect , money wise of otherwise.  Got it back in about three to four weeks , don't really remember now.  But when I got it back , it was a complete make-over as far as the action goes.  They replaced the cylinder , and in their words , " replaced or repaired various internal parts.  Not sure what they did exactly....didn't really care as long as the thing worked.  To my surprise they also did something to the action as far as the trigger ....maybe it was unintentional , but they really smoothed it up and took a few lbs of pull off.  All this at no charge to me........except shipping !  I did pay dearly to ship it to them...had to go overnite, or at least that was what I was told.    Maybe ya ought to give them a chance.   I won't bad mouth Ruger , least not to this date.

regards, irold

[gcrank1]

I expect they hear from more than a fair number of folks who insist they know exactly what they are talking about and that Ruger reps dont know diddly. Of course they wont 'know' what the situation is 'for sure' until they look it over. Neither does your car mechanic when somebody calls and wants to know what is wrong, from their description and 'analysis' and wants to know just how much it is going to cost.
Now, Im am not saying this is you, OK. But after having been in service I can tell you that I could just as well throw a dart at a dart board for as much good as most callers were at getting it right.
I say really give them a chance and if you get bad service or results where it counts, let us know.

[inthebeech]

I am still waiting to hear what Zack considers oversize for a cylinder throat.

[zacharoo]

. Three of them are .454 two are .456 and one at .457  groups run from about 8in with .454 cast bullets to hard to hold at a foot for hard cast .452 bullets at 25 yards. Jacketed are too expensive to shoot because I have trouble hitting an 8 inch pie pan at 25 yds. That is shooting from a rest.

[gcrank1]

That does sound like too wide a variation and too big for me too.
BTW, may I inquire what method you used to get those measurements?

[zacharoo]

I have a cheap micrometer. A .454 bullets is sort of close in 3 but falls through on two easily and the third just drops through . That is from the barrel side of the cylinder. I may be off some but they still are oversized.
Zacharoo

[Hopalong7]

      The variation is a bigger problem than the oversize...ouch!!!  If your measurements are as you say(I didn't mean to sound like they weren't), I can't imagine Ruger would not fix the problem for free.  Good Luck and let us know.
Walt

[Tom C.]

My Ruger .45s have all been undersized. I measured mine with a set of pin gages. Undersize is easy to take care of, just ream the throats to the diameter you want. Brownell’s has a .4525” reamer that does a great job. One of the side benefits of reaming is that problems in manufacture, in addition to undersized throats, like oval throats, or S shaped throats or tapered or anything else, can usually be cleaned up with the reamer. Between reaming the throats and recutting the forcing cone, mine were greatly improved.

An oversized throats is entirely different. The cure is a new cylinder. When last I got a cylinder installed by Ruger it was something around $150.

[Sharps-Nut]

Hate to kick a man but my cousin bought a used and very abused 357 blackhawk it was shot loose.  Too much barrel to cylinder gap and God only knows what else was screwed up, dad said it was a piece.  He sent it to ruger they repaired, replaced, reblued the unit unit free of charge.   This was less than a year ago, maybe its the guy you are getting a hold of or, approach?  Could be cuz got lucky but....

[inthebeech]

My Flat Top in 44 Spc is a bit more tollerable, with all six at .430 +/- .0005 which is at least consistent.  I have an order for some soft .432 dia bullets to see if this gets me in to a tollerably accurate revolver; currently it shoots horrible two inch groups at 20 yds off hand (tongue in cheek).

But when I called Ruger, they similarly responded.  I was told that if the gun went bang then it was ok since every gun gets fired at teh factory.  But again to the other gentleman's point, sometimes the kindest request of teh wrong person still gets you nowhere.  That variation is pretty large. Sorry to hear about it.

[leadman]

I would measure the bore of the barrel to see what it is. If it is on the large size I would ream the cylinder throats so they are consistent. Then buy a softer cast bullet, around 11 to 12 BHN to match the throats or .001" larger and load and shoot. Will probably do just fine.

That said I would sent it to Ruger first. I had an old New Model pre-warning that had many issues. Sent it to Ruger and had a 9mm cylinder fitted at my cost, but they replaced the 357 cylinder and installed a new barrel at their cost.

[zacharoo]

Found a dealer to send off my ruger. Will send it off in next few days. Will tell results later . May have to eat crow!!! Hope so.

Zacharoo

[zacharoo]

Sent my Ruger off through a dealer on Jan. 19th. Haven't heard anything. Cost me only $25 so far. I have gotten a lot of .454 dia. bullets for the oversized cylinder throats. If I get it back with undersized throats which I expect will happen. I hope other wise but. If so will I have to send off to get cylinfdersmith to get them right. If so what do I do with all the .454 dia. bullets I have. Some are hard cast some not. Can I reload them to hot ruger standards in a .4525 dia. cylinder throats safely?? Am I going to have to resize the bullets to .452 are are they safe to reload at there present dia. Seams I am in a lost for answers.