Ruger Hunter Super Blackhawk Stainless Steel - Ejector Rod Housing Screw sheered off.

Brassman66

Brassman66

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My Ruger Revolver Super Blackhawk in Stainless Steel Cal. .44 Rem. Magnum sheered the Ejector Rod housing Screw off during shooting. Last week I noticed the Screw was loose so I re tightened within reason. The Tread end is still stuck in the hole and needs to come out before a new Housing Screw can be installed. Hopefully I can get one from Ruger.

I purchased this Gun new from a Fort St. John Gunstore around 2006. I am assuming there is no longer any Warranty on it.

Just talked to a Gunsmith he said this problem is not uncommon. He says the Stuck Stud has to be machined out which would cost me about 100.** Shipping both ways would probably cost me another 100.** Gunsmith says he is 6 month behind.

I am inclined to attempt to get the Stud out myself, mainly because I don't want to wait 6 Month which we all know could turn into a year. I do have a Milling Machine but I am only a Hobby Machinist.

Any advise / pointers much appreciated.

Cheers
 
So the 'smith would drill a hole in the stud and then screw/tap something like a screw/driver in it to unscrew it?
 
I am curious why it happened?
And if it just sheered it should come out easily. Im wondering if maybe it was out of time when it fired and put an odd force on the rod. I would put it in the freezer over night and then try, then add a little heat to cylinder and try. Spray with lube and let sit overnight, Kroil is good.
 
cooperod said:
I am curious why it happened?
And if it just sheered it should come out easily. Im wondering if maybe it was out of time when it fired and put an odd force on the rod. I would put it in the freezer over night and then try, then add a little heat to cylinder and try. Spray with lube and let sit overnight, Kroil is good.
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2 days before that happened I put about 80 Rounds trough this Revolver, Gas checked Lead 240 Grain definitely not a hot load. When I cleaned the Gun I noticed the Ejector Rod Housing Screw was loose so I just re tightened not thinking there could be an issue. Then on the Day it happened I had just fired about 36 Rounds (same Load as before) and when I wanted to eject the spent Casings that is when I noticed the entire Ejector Rod Housing was gone and laying in the Gravel. Thanks God I found the Spring too and the sheered off Screw Stud.

Looking closely with a Magnifying Glass at the sheered off Stainless Steel Stud, it does not appear there was a previous crack. The Material of the Stud is Magnetic Stainless Steel which is quite tough and I would think should handle the recoil forces easily if the Stud was still tight. In hindsight I feel if I had put Lock Tight onto the Stud that problem would have never occurred.

Well see if Ruger can/will give me an answer, I will update here soon I know more !

Cheers

Cheers
 
It sounds like you probably over torqued the small screw when you tightened it, or it was over torqued at some point in the past and eventually failed.

If the screw was a bit long or the threaded hole was not cut deep enough or had some debris in the hole I could see a situation where the housing would be loose even when tightened down and then a little extra torque would only put stress on the small screw.

Tricky job to remove it but if your going to try see if you can source a reverse left twist drill bit that is small enough and then do all the typical things like penetrating oil, heat, tapping and vibrating... what ever it takes to try and get it to break free.

If you can't get it to move and thread back out somehow, I'd say $100 is a fair price to get a smith to remove it as it's pretty easy to mess it up and make it worse.

Is the shaft of the screw flush or recessed in the hole?

Sometimes people have success with larger diameter studs using a punch and hammer to coax it in the right direction to back it out but in your case you would likely have to use a pin sized punch. Depending on the shape of the broken metal and how tight it is in the hole you might be able to coax it our with a stiff needle and a bit of luck! Hard to say from here... :)
 
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Can-down said:
It sounds like you probably over torqued the small screw when you tightened it, or it was over torqued at some point in the past and eventually failed.

If the screw was a bit long or the threaded hole was not cut deep enough or had some debris in the hole I could see a situation where the housing would be loose even when tightened down and then a little extra torque would only put stress on the small screw.

Tricky job to remove it but if your going to try see if you can source a reverse left twist drill bit that is small enough and then do all the typical things like penetrating oil, heat, tapping and vibrating... what ever it takes to try and get it to break free.

If you can't get it to move and thread back out somehow, I'd say $100 is a fair price to get a smith to remove it as it's pretty easy to mess it up and make it worse.

Is the shaft of the screw flush or recessed in the hole?

Sometimes people have success with larger diameter studs using a punch and hammer to coax it in the right direction to back it out but in your case you would likely have to use a pin sized punch. Depending on the shape of the broken metal and how tight it is in the hole you might be able to coax it our with a stiff needle and a bit of luck! Hard to say from here... :)
Click to expand...

I contacted Ruger Repairs by email in Montreal/Canada. Company respondent almost immediately which is good but also said Sorry no Warranty because of 16 year old Gun and circumstances. I bought this Gun New and this Revolver is in near new condition, certainly no more then 1000 Rounds trough it, but Fair enough.

Fellow said they see this problem from time to time Would cost 250.**+ of which 150.** or so would be the Shipping/insurance portion both ways. Yep we are in Canada that is what mailing things can cost here.

Replacement Screws are available so I ordered 2.

Would prefer to use a good Gunsmith but I think I have more time then he to setup the Milling Machine so I will try to get the remaining Stut out myself.
Plan is First flatten the Stut Surface with 1/8" endmil with Barrel precisely set up firmly in Mill Vice. Then milling a 1/16" elongated hole Hole into Stut which would allow me to use a flathead Screwdiver to firmly insert and turn. Should work because the remaining Stut is hardly longer then 1/8" I am guessing. I don't want to use a easy out because Easy out could expand the Stut making it even harder to turn.


Will take my time to set up but could use all the Luck I can get.

Cheers
 
Right on, sounds like you have the right attitude as far as taking a careful methodical approach!

I've never used the reverse drill bits but apparently they often will turn out the stuck stud as they bite into the metal during the drilling process and if not you now have a pilot hole for trying an extractor or if it won't back out, stepping up the drill bit size and drilling out the stud all together.

It's such a small screw that I imagine an elongated 1/16 hole won't leave much meat.

I bet there is someone here on the forum that has done this operation successfully..... hopefully they will chime in...

Good luck!
 
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I've had a similar experiences on two of my Super BlackHawks. One, the thread of the bolt that holds the ejector rod assy. to the barrel, stripped and the whole thing fall off, while shooting. On the other the bolt sheared right a the barrel - same as yours, I assume. I used a 3/32" drill and drilled into the stump that was left - don't go too far - from the shoulder of the bolt, to the end of the thread is only .170". I couldn't find an EZ-out small enough to fit, so I got a bit of 5/32" drill rod and ground a three sided taper onto it - took a bit of fiddling to get the taper right. Small hammer and tapped it into the drilled out stump and grabbed it with a small pair of vice grips (probably didn't need that much clamping power) and it came out fairly easily. The bolt tightens on its shoulder, not the bottom of the thread - so it shouldn't be in there too tight. - GFL.
 
fire@will said:
I've had a similar experiences on two of my Super BlackHawks. One, the thread of the bolt that holds the ejector rod assy. to the barrel, stripped and the whole thing fall off, while shooting. On the other the bolt sheared right a the barrel - same as yours, I assume. I used a 3/32" drill and drilled into the stump that was left - don't go too far - from the shoulder of the bolt, to the end of the thread is only .170". I couldn't find an EZ-out small enough to fit, so I got a bit of 5/32" drill rod and ground a three sided taper onto it - took a bit of fiddling to get the taper right. Small hammer and tapped it into the drilled out stump and grabbed it with a small pair of vice grips (probably didn't need that much clamping power) and it came out fairly easily. The bolt tightens on its shoulder, not the bottom of the thread - so it shouldn't be in there too tight. - GFL.
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Thank you for your input and info how you removed the broken Pieces. I have not started the broken Stutpiece removal process yet, not really looking forward to it either plus there is no rush as it may take awhile until Ruger (Snapshot-Montreal) sends me 2 Stuts I ordered last Friday, they informed me today there are non in Stock.

Cheers
 
I think the reason it sheared was because it was loose... allowing movement on recoil... I would install the new one firmly with blue Loctite...
 
guntech said:
I think the reason it sheared was because it was loose... allowing movement on recoil... I would install the new one firmly with blue Loctite...
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I've done that with all my big bore Rugers. Good idea. We used to just ship our Rugers south, as dealing with Montreal for anything except a good ####ing was useless. The politicians screwed that up though. - dan
 
And now the Good news.

Yesterday "Snapshot" emailed an Invoice for 1 (one Screw). I replied please send 2 Screws as I had originally requested and adjust Invoice accordingly. The Screws are cheap but the Shipping is almost 18 Bucks. Works for me not spending a bunch of time making a Screw.

So last night I managed to take the remainder of the Screw out and she came out much easier as I expected.

A) Clamped Revolver securely less Cylinder into adjustable Angle Vice padded with a 1/16" Plastic.
B) Adjusted Angle so that the surface of the remaining Screw was now Level.
C) With a very sharp Center Punch I punched carefully a Point just inside where I imagined the Threads end.
D) With a sharp but much thinner and longer Center punch Point in the Hole Center Punch in a 45 degree angle and tapping with a very light Hammer the Screw started immediately turning and came out no damage on the Barrel whatsoever, "Haleluya".

Doing some measuring after.

Debt of Screw hole---------.103 inch
Barrel Wall thickness------.180
Length of the broken piece from the Stut-----.087

Looks like there are only 3 Threads for a intact Screw to fasten the Ejector Housing to the Barrel.

Anyways, I am glad this piece is out and ready to put a new Stut in as soon I have her and this Time will Locktite her as some suggested and will talk to Gunsmith about installing a Lug against the Ejector Housing.

Thank,s to all for Ideas & helpful suggestions !

Cheers
 
Beauty!
$18 shipping for something that would easily fit in an envelope and ship for regular letter rate is..... snapshot!
 
Well it actually gets even Funnier,

Snapshot just emailed me telling me they made a Mistake in there original Invoice but will sent 2 Screws shipping includet for $ 30.45 which I just paid by EMT.

Lets hope the Screws show up soon or better at all and they don't change there mind again and want US Dollars in the same amount !

Cheers
 
They did the same thing for me on some Rossi screws years ago.... wanted like $20 to ship a $3 item but then finally agreed to slip it in an envelope if I was willing to take a chance that it didn't get lost in the mail.
 
A well experienced Gunsmith suggested using Blue Loctite on the Screw and I am leaning towards taking his advice. However I should mention I been looking at this Screw from 23 or more angles and measuring and measuring and are 90% sure she was not loose when she broke. Material seems to be SS 304 (magnetic) which is quite tough as we know, but there is of course always the possibility the Screw had faulty material.

Last night I had this perhaps dumb Idea why not Glue the Ejector Housing full length to the Barrel before finish fastening with the Screw. If the Ejector Housing stays Glued put when shooting on the Range a Box or two, I would assume the darn thing stays on the Gun when the Revolver gets only carried in the Bush around in its Holster, unlikely getting fired. I will check each time before I head out for work.

Thanks
 
I suppose some blue loctite underneath the housing wouldn't hurt but gluing it down seems a bit excessive.... maybe I'd consider it if I ever had a loctited screw fall out or break and it caused me to loose my ejector housing in the bush.

It would be cool to see a slow motion clip of the extractor rod under heavy recoil and see how much it moves against the spring during recoil and if there is any battering going on?
 
Can-down said:
I suppose some blue loctite underneath the housing wouldn't hurt but gluing it down seems a bit excessive.... maybe I'd consider it if I ever had a loctited screw fall out or break and it caused me to loose my ejector housing in the bush.

It would be cool to see a slow motion clip of the extractor rod under heavy recoil and see how much it moves against the spring during recoil and if there is any battering going on?
Click to expand...

Interesting Thought so I checked and you are correct,there is in fact a noticeable Battering Mark where the peened Rod hits the Stut Head. I am going to try a little "Bush fix" and punch me a 1/16" Leather Disk and push it in there so the ejecting Rod will hit the Leather which should take the hard knock out of it. I would attach
a Picture but dont know how to get it in here.

P1060732



Good thinking !
Cheers
 
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