C’Mon man! Caught a Ruger defect before catastrophe.

[Fuel Fire Desire]

I recently picked up a new New Vaquero from my LGS. I had been wanting one for a long time to use as a woods gun when I didn’t feel like lugging around the much larger Toklat. After the 100 rounds I put through it on day of purchase, I’ve been spending the last week running many snap-cap dry fires (over 1000 at this point) and draws/ reholstering to get acclimated to it and smooth out the action. While doing some draw/ dry fire just now, I noticed a new extra rattle out of it. Found out the ejector housing was just barely hanging on by a couple threads, the screw had backed almost all the way out.







I’m very glad I caught it in my living room instead of while shooting and launching the assembly, especially the polished screw, half way across my property.


Looking at it more closely, Ruger did attempt to loc-tite it with red, as it was smeared under the housing and on the tip of the screw, but the screw was just free floating. I’m almost thinking the tech put it on finger tight, and never torqued it down. I’m familiar with traditional Colt repros and their screws backing out often, but I don’t loc-tite those since I do full disassemblies on them to clean out BP residue. I’d be very surprised if this just backed out on its own with red loc-tite AND being properly torqued. Especially since the only load it should experience is the shock from recoil, which it’s seen very little of.


I’m just happy I caught it early. I’d be quite upset if I had parts flying off a brand new $800 gun and being lost in the leaves. I’m sure Ruger would have made it right, but this catch saved me a phone call and waiting a week or two for new parts.

[PeeDee]

I recently picked up a new New Vaquero from my LGS. I had been wanting one for a long time to use as a woods gun when I didn’t feel like lugging around the much larger After the 100 rounds I put through it on day of purchase, I’ve been spending the last week running many snap-cap dry fires (over 1000 at this point) and draws/ reholstering to get acclimated to it and smooth out the action. While doing some draw/ dry fire just now, I noticed a new extra rattle out of it. Found out the ejector housing was just barely hanging on by a couple threads, the screw had backed almost all the way out.







I’m very glad I caught it in my living room instead of while shooting and launching the assembly, especially the polished screw, half way across my property.


Looking at it more closely, Ruger did attempt to loc-tite it with red, as it was smeared under the housing and on the tip of the screw, but the screw was just free floating. I’m almost thinking the tech put it on finger tight, and never torqued it down. I’m familiar with traditional Colt repros and their screws backing out often, but I don’t loc-tite those since I do full disassemblies on them to clean out BP residue. I’d be very surprised if this just backed out on its own with red loc-tite AND being properly torqued. Especially since the only load it should experience is the shock from recoil, which it’s seen very little of.


I’m just happy I caught it early. I’d be quite upset if I had parts flying off a brand new $800 gun and being lost in the leaves. I’m sure Ruger would have made it right, but this catch saved me a phone call and waiting a week or two for new parts.

Ruger like too many gun co's has fallen into the trap of sloppy work in order to pump out the product as fast as possible,

They are still one of the most 'willing' to 'try' to fix a problem, but they often don't take the time to fix it properly the first time.

Now, i don't know if even a free shipping label from a mfg qualifies a non-FFL'er to send a gun back to any mfg.

[kris_loehr]

On a web search this is a common Ruger issue. I did not see a clear answer to address this. Send it back to Ruger

[Fuel Fire Desire]

On a web search this is a common Ruger issue. I did not see a clear answer to address this. Send it back to Ruger

There’s nothing physically wrong with the parts. They’ll just do what I did. I just believe the screw was never torqued. It had thread locker on it, but it was loose. I couldn’t find a proper torque spec for it, so I just gave it around 30 in/lbs. The last thing I want is to strip the threads in the barrel.

[JimA]

Now, i don't know if even a free shipping label from a mfg qualifies a non-FFL'er to send a gun back to any mfg.

Anyone can send their firearm to the manufacturer for repairs with a shipping label.

[pscipio03]

Anyone can send their firearm to the manufacturer for repairs with a shipping label.

As long as it’s not through UPS, USPS and maybe at this point FedEx

[denniscoon@aol.c]

I have two Vaqueros and one Super Blackhawk, I put locktite on all ejector rods screws and never take them apart, just clean with the rods in place, no problem.