SP101 - Trigger job or just keep shooting it?

TomJ said:

My question is whether continuing to shoot it and dry fire it will get the trigger to the same place a trigger job would.

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Not sure if it'd get to the same place as having a smith work it over, but I'd get close. Mine has many thousands of rounds through it and many thousands of dry fires. It's pretty decent now. However, the pull has not lightened up too much because like you, I don't really want to risk light primer strikes. It's a defensive gun, so reliability is foremost and I'll not put lighter springs in it.

My experience has been that a lot of dry (or live) firing can get a Ruger DA about as smooth as I can easily get it by doing a trigger job myself. The trigger job just gets it done faster, and of course a good smith could almost certainly do better.

Extensive shooting will smooth and lighten the trigger a slight amount. Tuning will smooth out the action but depends upon what all is done. I think one can put in somewhat lighter springs and still retain reliability. The trigger return spring is 10 lbs and the mainspring 14 lbs stock. One could use a Wolff 11 or 12 lb mainspring in the action. If the spring channel is cleaned out in the trigger guard and polished it is possible to use an 8 lb trigger return spring BUT trigger return is slowed somewhat. In my SP I run the 8lb trigger return and 9 lb mainspring and it works 100% but of course have not tested it in Alaska in the middle of the Winter.

For smoothing I tend to go with the trigger job approach. The burrs in the spring channel of the trigger guard are not going anywhere with use except to scratch up the inside. Getting rid of them will smooth the action somewhat. Another source of roughness in the action is the hammer strut which could use some extensive polishing.

In summary I think one can retain firing reliability running a 11 or 12 lb mainspring on a tuned action. If not address energy transfer to the firing pin by reducing the top step of the hammer 0.015" or so.

My experience is limited to one SP101 and 2 j-frames. But after 500 dry fires my j-frames had noticeably smoother triggers, and by 1000 they felt really nice. But my SP101 still had a ****ty trigger after 1000 dry fires and about 500 rounds of live fire.

It's impossible to answer your question with any certainty because every gun is a little different. I've installed hammer shims/ hammer dog shims to both of my GP100 357s, sanded and polished the struts and shot a couple thousand rounds through both. Both have stock mainsprings and one has an unbelievably smooth, seemingly light trigger and the other is good but not nearly as good. I put the same shims in my SP101 , polished the strut, and installed a Wolff 10# mainspring. It was 100% reliable through 800 rounds. I tried a 9# and had one failure to fire in 500 rounds and went back to the 10#. The lighter springs make a world of difference but if you're not comfortable with it I'd get a good smith to work on it. Before I changed the mainspring I was ready to sell the gun but now happy I didn't. Just my 2 cents and limited experience.

A few years back I installed a Wolff 10# hammer spring coupled with an 8# trigger spring on my SP101DAO. I also installed hammer shims.

The results have been amazing. The trigger went from stiff and gritty to light and glass smooth. I've put over 1000 rounds down the pipe since the installation and have had "0" light strikes. I can easily stage the hammer to help improve accuracy.

This mod has turned my SP101 into an enjoyable experience each time I visit the range. It has become my favorite shooter.

I have done trigger jobs and replaced the springs on 2 SP101's and have never had a single failure to fire in thousands of rounds. I used Wolff springs in one and Wilson Combat in the other with 10 lb hammer springs from each kit. If you want some more margin of reliability just use the wolff kit with their trigger return spring and the 12 lb hammer spring.

Here is a good guide on slicking up the sp101's action

https://www.sp101trigger.com/

I sent my SP101 to my gunsmith as soon as I got it. He slicked up the action and put a Wolf spring kit in it. He said the single action is about 5 lbs and the double action is over 8lbs and I have never had a problem with light strikes with it.
I don't exactly know which springs out of the kit he used but it was Wolf's standard kit.
This is a .327 FM not a .357 Mag.
I still have some factory Federal 100gr loads that were supposed to have the rifle primers in them and it fires them just fine.
I've never had a problem with it to date and my SP101 was one of the first ones to hit the market so it's had a few thousand rounds ran through it., mine has no MIM parts in it,
I don't know if that makes a difference or not.
I really don't see how it could.
If I get another SP101 I guarantee it will have a spring kit put in it also.

My SP 101 .38 has a stacky trigger that gets really heavy at the end of its arc. One of these days I’ll put in the Wolff kit and hopefully it’ll approach the trigger that my new model .38 Colt Cobra came with out of the box.

Stay safe.

I feel that if it bothered you enough to ask here, you would probably be happier overall just getting the trigger job done.


It will be a lot quicker than more dry firing, which it sounds like you've already done plenty of.
Probably more effective, too.

Depends on how much you want to spend. If the smith did a poor job, you could get a do-over. Myself, I did the "poor man's (or boys) trigger job" on my two and am very happy.

The trigger job on mine where he polished parts and put in the spring kit cost me $60.00. That included the $12.00 spring kit. I have a competent gun smith that I trust though, and he is reasonable.
I have heard of people that paid over a $100 and just got the springs put in, so you have to be careful who you use unless you learn to do it correctly yourself.

I hope you are happy with the results. The design of the SP101 does not lend itself to a smooth trigger unlike the GP100 which can be made very smooth. Not bashing, just saying what I have seen.

I put a lighter spring in mine. I think its a 10 pound. I also put in shims to center the hammer better. The mainspring strut on mine was rough as heck. I used 320 grit and smoothed out the strut. Have fired hundreds of rounds since then with no light strikes and the trigger pull is now pretty decent
I have no gunsmithing skills and only average mechanical skills but the shim job/ spring change was pretty darn easy after watching how its done on You Tube. Paid under $20 for springs & shims

It's be a year or more so I forget exactly what it entailed but I did change out the springs on my 3" SP101 .357 and the double action was greatly improved. The single action is a bit on the light side, perhaps a little uncomfortably so. Overall, I'm happy with the change. I also replaced the front sight with a tritium insert deal. It went easier than expected.

WheelGunMan said:

A few years back I installed a Wolff 10# hammer spring coupled with an 8# trigger spring on my SP101DAO. I also installed hammer shims.

The results have been amazing. The trigger went from stiff and gritty to light and glass smooth. I've put over 1000 rounds down the pipe since the installation and have had "0" light strikes. I can easily stage the hammer to help improve accuracy.

This mod has turned my SP101 into an enjoyable experience each time I visit the range. It has become my favorite shooter.

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When I got my SP101 I did the same thing. Amazing the difference it made and not a single light strike. SA pull is 2lb 6oz and DA is 8lb 2oz.

If you plan on owning it forever I would pay a professional. I have never liked the trigger on any sp101 and it has in fact turned me off of them for now. The home trigger job didn't do enough, in fact there was no consistency between them from the start, and I didn't want to swap springs either. Ruger LCR fills the role for me but my wife has kept an sp101 and likes it well enough. I never could shoot it well but took to the LCR very quickly.

Have a smith neutralize the sear angle, increase the hammer spring, bush/shim the trigger plunger, and decrease the trigger spring. Shim the hammer and trigger if needed. 11deg forcing cone, regulate the throats, and hone the cylinders while you’re at it. Add a Meprolight front sight to boot. It’ll feel like an entirely new revolver.

Something you may want to consider here. If the trigger isnt horrible (I know, that can be subjective), Id just leave it be and shoot it. What happens is, the gun will smooth out over time as it wears in, and youre muscle tone will increase and things will seem to lighten up even more as you gain tone.

I shoot all my DA revolvers and autos, DAO, and havent thumb cocked any of them in years. I shoot factory stock triggers, and have no issues doing so, and have only found a couple, out of a boatload of guns, that were what Id call "bad".

But then again, Im used to shooting that way, all the time, and my muscles are up to it. When I first learned to shoot that way, that wasnt always the case, and it felt like the trigger was horribly heavy. Now, unless of course something is very wrong, which is also very rare, the DA triggers feel fine, and I dont pay attention to them when I shoot anyway. I focus on the sights and shoot.

Im not saying some things cant benefit from a trigger job, but I just think a lot of that is unnecessary and more of a crutch than a help. Doing trigger jobs on everythng, just makes you need a trigger job on everything.

Learn to shoot them as they come, and have the muscle tone there, and you can pick up pretty much anything you might come across and shoot them well, and without bother.

At least thats how its been for me. In the close to 60 years Ive been shooting now, Ive only had a couple of guns that were bad enough I had to have a trigger job on, and one other old CZ70 that I didnt bother. That one had a DA trigger that took two finger to pull.

Varminterror said:

Have a smith neutralize the sear angle, increase the hammer spring, bush/shim the trigger plunger, and decrease the trigger spring. Shim the hammer and trigger if needed. 11deg forcing cone, regulate the throats, and hone the cylinders while you’re at it. Add a Meprolight front sight to boot. It’ll feel like an entirely new revolver.

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So almost build a new and better revolver?

ArchAngelCD said:

So almost build a new and better revolver?

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Not at all. The job I described above takes about 4hours in total.

My experience is limited to the S&W K-L frames. I tred to allow mine to work in 500-1K rounds but reach a point that I say "fudge it" and drop them off. From the factory they are decent yet a bit of stoning and polishing by the 'Smith made them far more fun to shoot early in their life. For the $125-$200 that was worth it to me.