I am referring to the half moon marks in the picture. They are present on every chamber. This is a gp 100 .22 LR

 

Wow! Never saw anything like that. I don't think the firing pin should be coming in contact with the cylinder. I'd called Ruger Customer Service and possibly that question to them.

 

Snapcaps to avoid damage



Darn,looks that way. Snapcaps are available for rimfires and of course centerfires to avoid damaging firing pins, etc..

 

If that is a rimfire, as it looks to be, that is the firing pin mark on the outer edge of the cylinder chamber. You should not dry fire rimfire pistols as it will peen the front edge of the firing pin and the cylinder chamber edge. Most centerfire revolvers can be dryfired without damage.
Use snap caps or you can use fired cases to allow the firing pin to hit the case rim instead of steel to steel as you have done as indicated by your photo. If you use fired cases, you should rotate them after a few dryfires to give the firing pin a new area to hit on the rim.

 

It does look like that would be the exact location of the firing pin hitting rimfire. Check the pin and make sure it hasn't been damaged. I know some say that it's okay to dry fire Ruger rimfires but I still stick to the old age rule that it's not without snap caps.

 

Yes it is. Can't say about Rugers but S&W specifically says not to dry fire rimfire revolvers. I have seen pictures of several Model 617 S&W with identical markings after dry firing them. It may need to go back to Ruger. Those can cause chambering and extraction problems.

 

. I literally dry fired it about 50 times. I want to be upfront with ruger about this, trouble is I dont wont to immediately take on the liability of causing this unless it was for sure my fault. Didnt look at this area before I took possession of the firearm. Would the metal have been this soft to have this happen after approx. 50 dry fires? I know it doesnt do much but I had the yellow plastic caps that come from the factory in there when I was doing the dry firing also. Everything Ive read would suggest that dry firing isnt an issue with the way these rugers are designed (not suppose to make contact with cylinder face due to some transfer bars or somethin like that). What is the potential that its slightly out of tolerance?

 

The plastic "caps" will work for a single dry fire but, when impacted several times they offer little to no protection. For this reason they should be rotated frequently as you complete a cycle of the cylinder. The transfer bar offers no help once the trigger has been pulled as it drops to allow the firing pins to strike the case rim. Before you panic and call Ruger C.S., test the revolver by firing it. It probably will be reliable. If not, then call C.S for assistance..

 

@jnichols2 I bought it from grabagun online out of dallas area. Couldnt find any available out of my area. If this isnt normal Id rather have ruger take a look b4 I keep shooting it and take on more liability for the underlying issue. I shot about 150 rounds yesterday and I noticed the cartridges were very difficult to eject at times, that all ive shot through it though.

 

" Ruger 22 revolvers (Single-Six, SP-101, and Bearcat) have "in frame" firing pins identical to center fire Ruger revolvers except they are off set to hit the case rim instead of a centered primer. The firing pins are shaped somewhat like a nail with a thick head. The "head" is designed to contact the frame and limit how far the firing pin will travel ... far enough to strike the cartridge rim, but not far enough to strike the cylinder's chamber. Again, normal dry firing is not going to hurt Ruger 22 revolvers and the firing pin is the least of your worries.

It is safe to dry fire any Ruger rimfire rifle, pistol, or revolver with exception of the Model 77/22 bolt action rifle. Excessive dry firing will take it's toll in all the above and eventually cause damage." Here is a quote from forum member lowegan that leads me to believe that what I did shouldnt have caused those dings on the cylinder chamber, hence me just wanting to get in touch with ruger on the issue.

 

I don't dry fire rimfires!

 

Well if you ever shoot a 10/22 and don't count to 10 the next shot you will

 

Just got off the phone with Ruger and there saying its normal. If it doesnt inhibit the operation of the weapon they arent concerned from there perspective. I suppose its not a big deal. They said I could send it in anyways so they could take a look at it. What do u all think send it in or hold on to it?

 

I think it's time for a reality check. As they say "knowledge is power" so I'm going to whip some knowledge on you and make you more powerful. All Ruger firearms come with this silly paper thing called an "Owner's Manual" .... most people don't read them but they do contain some valuable information. Let's start with "dry firing". The index in the funny GP100 manual says dry firing is covered on page 12. On page 12 in big letters it clearly says DRY-FIRING followed by a short paragraph:
"Dry Firing is practicing the trigger pull of the empty revolver for practice and familiarity. The GP100 revolver can be dry fired without damage to the firing pin or internal components."
It just doesn't get much clearer than that! Just below that paragraph is another piece of wisdom. "Do not dry-fire the revolver with the plastic "safety disc" on the cylinder. Again ... RTFM.

It bothers me when people respond to threads when they don't even have the same model gun as what the OP was asking about. I looked at my own KGP-22-55 (GP100 22 LR) and found the extractor was machined just a tad short of mating with the body of the cylinder. It looks exactly like the OPs. This machining creates a very crisp line .... not dents from a firing pin. If you push the extractor rod in just a little, you will see exactly why there is a line. Further, this gun is a "rim fire" which means the firing pin strikes the very top of the rim .... not the center of the chamber where the "line" appears. So .... nothing in this thread has any merit .... meaning the gun is perfectly normal .... just as the Ruger Rep said and there is absolutely no reason to send it back to the mother ship unless there is something else that doesn't work.

Finally, I'd like to comment about "generic" issues like dry firing because it comes up quite often on this forum. ALL RUGER HANDGUNS ARE DESIGNED TO BE DRY FIRED WITHOUT DAMAGE TO THE FIRING PIN OR INTERNAL PARTS. That statement does not apply to other brands of rimfires or even centerfires so you really need to look in the owner's manual for guidance in that specific brand/model. If you are too lazy to read the funny manual, then by all means .... don't dry fire other brands of rimfires.

Just an FYI concerning dry firing any Ruger DA rimfire revolver .... the firing pin is designed for limited forward travel plus the chamber mouths are countersunk. This means when the firing pin is at its maximum forward limit on an empty chamber, it will not touch the chamber mouth .... it just hits air. SA rimfire revolvers are designed the same way. With centerfire SA or DA revolvers, the firing pin is in the center so all it hits is air when dry fired.

I do NOT recommend using Snap-Caps or wall anchors in any Ruger handgun. Why? Because of Ruger's design, they do absolutely NOTHING to prevent firing pin damage, however they do give the owner a false sense of security .... thinking they somehow protect the gun, which they don't. It's kinda like thinking an oil change in your car will give you better traction in snow .... totally unrelated. Spend the money more wisely on ammo or apply it to accessories like a holster or grips.

 

@lowegan thanks for the informative post! Ill admit Im bad about reading manuals. Im attaching a picture for more clarification of the area of the chamber that I am referring to. Ive circled it in red in the attached pic (i marked 3 red circles in the picture but its present on every chamber, just not visible in the pic), its toward the outer part of the cylinder face. It definitely looks like the firing pin was making contact in the area i circled in red. Does yours look like that?

 

Sorry didnt attach the pic here it is:

 

gomeybear, Sorry, I didn't see the marks on your first picture .... they just looked like reflections. With your "half moon" description, I thought you were referring to the line in the center between the chambers. No, my gun does NOT have marks like yours and yes, it appears they were caused by excessive firing pin travel. At this point, I doubt if it will affect the function of the revolver but if you continue to dry fire, it could damage the firing pin or make the chamber too tight. I would contact Ruger again with your photo showing the red circles .... I'll bet they interpreted your description the same way I did. It is indeed a defect .... if it were my gun, I would want it to be "right".

I realize it is hard to describe the situation but if you would have posted the photo with the red circles in the beginning, it would have been more obvious.

 

NEVER dry fire rimfire guns...

Peening will get to the point where the rim primer will not ignite...

There is even a tool for 'fixing' this issue, though sometimes it does not work...

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1007111192/menck-chamber-ironing-tool-22-rimfire

 

Im going to see what ruger will do. Ill keep you all posted on what happens, I am somewhat anal for these sort of things so Id like to see it remedied either by me or them somehow.

@lowegan I recall you saying that the firing pin on certain ruger .22 lr shouldnt make contact with the cylinder face at all. Did I interpret that correctly and does that include the gp100 model? If so, then this shouldnt have happend especially not for dry firing less than 50 times on a new revolver.

 

Believe your own eyes. The dry firing did cause damage to YOUR FIREARM. It appears to be more cosmetic at this point, but continuance can peen that cylinder wall and cause extraction problems or peen the firing pin causing ignition problems.

 

If this is caused by dry firing, then Ruger should cover any repairs needed. I do not have the expertise that Iowegan has, but the manual does specifically state dry firing will not damage a GP100. Note that the GP100 manual does not differentiate between the rimfire and center fire models, so just to see, I checked the LCR 22 manual, and it also states that dry firing causes no damage.

It would seem, there is something not exactly right about your firearm, as it should not have done this merely by dry firing it.

 

gomeybear, Let me repeat .... your gun is defective .... probably not bad enough to cause problems but like you, I'm anal about things like this. And who knows ... in the future it could break the firing pin or damage the chamber to a point where cartridges won't feed.

Yes, I did say "the firing pins on ALL Ruger .22 lr pistols and revolvers shouldn't make contact with the cylinder face / chamber mouth at all." This goes for ALL DA and SA revolvers plus all semi-auto 22s. If the firing pin does make contact .... something is wrong. MK Series pistols have a special pin in the bolt that restricts firing pin forward movement. Sometimes the pin gets bent or worn and allows the firing pin to strike the edge of the chamber. Simple fix .... replace the pin. For SA & DA revolvers like yours, you very rarely see one where the firing pin travels too far. Either the firing pin is too long, the bushing hole in the frame is drilled too deep, or the firing pin bushing is too short. These issues do NOT happen with wear .... they are factory defects. Bushings and firing pins are replaceable but frames are not repairable. Not to worry .... what ever is wrong, Ruger will repair it at no charge.

 

This . . . this, right here . . . is the real deal!

 

Thanks to everyone for the informative posts, especially to u lowegan. Ill update the thread when I get to a resolution.

 

I am confident Ruger will take care of you.

 

It may be or it may not be. I have the same gun and mine did the exact same thing. It wasn't dry fired and only had a few hundred rounds through it. I've also seen another gun, same model, on another forum that did the exact same thing and the owner hadn't dry fired it either.

My gun was deemed unrepairable and Ruger replaced it. The gun I saw on another forum was sent in and Ruger replaced the cylinder. Give Ruger a call, they will take care of you.

The picture is of the cylinder on my original gun after only a few hundred rounds being fired and no dry fires.



The new replacement gun has around 1K through it and so far the cylinder looks good, though it'll be going back to Ruger too at the end of the shooting season due to what I think is a way to big BC gap. We paid very good money for these guns and Ruger will have to keep at it until they are fixed correctly.

 

I have tater!

 

Cylinder indent

If they can't control their tolerances, maybe they should just mill out the cylinder like Uberti does for their 12 shot revolver.

I have several .22 revolvers both S&W and Ruger and I have never indented the cylinders on any of them from dry firing but I don't do it for practice, just for checking the action after cleaning. I just shoot them a lot to smooth them out.

 

+ 1,234,567 for Iowegan.

Dingode, thank you, on your old thread on the issue the last update was it was sent in to Ruger CS. This also closes out that thread with a happy ending.