Ruger Loading gate

[Old Doc]

Just got a  stainless .44 Spl Ruger Blackhawk. The action is fine but the loading gate is very stiff. I dropped a little oil in the hinge but didn't seem to do much. Any ideas short of sending it in for work.

[Pettifogger]

First we need to have a base line.  Do you have other Rugers?  If you do not, Rugers are not Colts.  The gate opening is heavier.  Or are you saying it is heavy compared to other Rugers?

Here's a photo of the gate spring.  It serves three functions.  First, it tensions the gate.  Second, when the gate is open it retracts the bolt so you can turn the cylinder.  Third, the lower curved part fits over the bolt/trigger pin and retains it.  The upper left part of the spring, with the bevel, is what sticks through the frame and bears on the gate.  You can see it if you remove the cylinder and look at the bottom of the gate.  There really isn't much to adjust.  Sometimes you can stone the bevel to make it smoother and sometimes the spring itself is binding on the bolt/trigger pin.  Once in a while the round projection on the bolt will bottom out on the lower part of the spring before the gate is fully open and make opening difficult.  No way to tell without looking.

[Old Doc]

First we need to have a base line.  Do you have other Rugers?  If you do not, Rugers are not Colts.  The gate opening is heavier.  Or are you saying it is heavy compared to other Rugers?

Here's a photo of the gate spring.  It serves three functions.  First, it tensions the gate.  Second, when the gate is open it retracts the bolt so you can turn the cylinder.  Third, the lower curved part fits over the bolt/trigger pin and retains it.  The upper left part of the spring, with the bevel, is what sticks through the frame and bears on the gate.  You can see it if you remove the cylinder and look at the bottom of the gate.  There really isn't much to adjust.  Sometimes you can stone the bevel to make it smoother and sometimes the spring itself is binding on the bolt/trigger pin.  Once in a while the round projection on the bolt will bottom out on the lower part of the spring before the gate is fully open and make opening difficult.  No way to tell without looking.

Appreciate the input. Let's see, I have a Vaquero, a New Vaquero, a 50th Anniversary Blackhawk and a Montado. It's stiffer than any of those.

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[Pettifogger]

Then you need to pop it apart and see what's going on in there.

[Old Doc]

Then you need to pop it apart and see what's going on in there.

What's involved in popping it apart?

[Pettifogger]

If you haven't worked on one before Ruger has a good starting video.  Since your problem is the loading gated you only need to remove the grip frame.  The gate spring is then visible.  You have to put your finger on it to keep it from popping up, but you can open and close the gate and try and see where it is binding.

http://www.ruger.com/resources/videos.html

Click on Tech Tips and scroll down to the single action revolvers.

[Old Doc]

If you haven't worked on one before Ruger has a good starting video.  Since your problem is the loading gated you only need to remove the grip frame.  The gate spring is then visible.  You have to put your finger on it to keep it from popping up, but you can open and close the gate and try and see where it is binding.

http://www.ruger.com/resources/videos.html

Click on Tech Tips and scroll down to the single action revolvers.

I did that. They stop short of anything having to do with the loading gate.

[Pettifogger]

Once you remove the trigger guard, the spring in the above photo is in plain sight.  What I was suggesting is that once you have it where you can see it you can put your finger on the spring to hold it down (it's normally held down by the trigger guard) and then open and close the gate and see if you can see if it is rubbing on anything.  Once you remove that spring, the gate just falls out of its hole in the frame.  Once out you can check it for burrs, etc.

[Old Doc]

I just compared it to my Montado. On the Blackhawk, the gate is harder to open and on closing it, there is some scratchiness not present in the Montado. Thanks for all the advice. My choices are tear it down myself. Send back to ruger. Pay my gunsmith a few bucks to look at it. Last option may be the least hassle.

[Fox Creek Kid]

[Pettifogger]

I took a tour of the Ruger Prescott plant a few weeks ago for an article for the Cowboy Chronicle.  Pretty amazing.  Here's one shot of the bar stock used for the LCP barrels and a finished barrel.  The LONGGGG bars are fed into a CNC machine and fully formed barrels drop out in an amazingly short time.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Pettiforgger, did they make you walk through a metal detector upon leaving including a complete and thorough pat down with body cavity check?