Finagler 6853 Life Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 A fellow I know very well bought some Wranglers for his grandkids. He brought them over to me to take a look at and give him my opinion. I've been intrigued by the Wrangler model and was interested to see the current production. I had seen some early models and was not impressed. There was a gap between the handle and the frame, poor fit up, the loading gate needed a lever arm to open and the hammer pull was awful so it was going to be interesting to see how things have progressed. The ones that were presented to me, the fit up is much better but the loading gate was still very stiff and the hammer spring was way over done, yet. I had a chance to fire one and it fired fine but was not a lot of fun due to the heavy springs. So off to the man cave for some work. In the meantime, I ordered some Wolff spring kits, 17 pound hammer and 30 ounce trigger. The kit comes with the spring for the cylinder pin release but I didn't use that part. This is the same kit used in most Ruger single actions other than new model Vaqueros. I disassembled the handle, got the loading gate spring out and my trusty Dremel tool. I sanded/ground this spring down to where it felt "right". I don't have a spring rater so this was done by feel. I had to put the spring in a couple times until I got the loading gate to feel acceptable. Once I got the loading gate to where I liked it, I switched out the hammer spring and trigger spring. What a difference! These little guns really felt slick! They are going to be fun to shoot. I then turned my attention to the cylinder. I felt quite a bit of drag when rotating the cylinder with the loading gate open. I applied some oil to the face of the frame and turned the cylinder a number of times. I removed the cylinder and could see drag marks in a few places. I carefully used some needle files to remove the smallest amount of material in those places so that I could see just a sliver of light coming through all around the cylinder except for where the cylinder comes in contact with the frame at the cylinder pin on both sides of the cylinder. I took a black Sharpie and colored in the areas that had been filed. I can't wait to hear how these shoot now. The actions were greatly improved. I can't say how the sights line up or if they need some help or not. That is a different story for a different time. I'm not a gunsmith but I am a finagler/mechanic. So if I can do these modifications, so can you. Makes me think that I should get a set of my own as they would be a toy that would be a hoot to shoot. The Wrangler has come a long way. The Ceracoat finish is tolerable. Not any worse than the powder coat finish on those other economy .22s but it is built stout and should last for many years. For the price and with a set of springs, you wold have a toy you would be pleased to own. Straight out of the box, not so much but with these changes it will be fun. Just thought I'd share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster Ron Wayne Posted June 5, 2020 Share Posted June 5, 2020 Straight out of the box my two was great . Took one leg off the hammer springs so my Grandsons could cock the dang things . Other then that , what more can you ask for for under 180.00 otd each . Rooster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 8 hours ago, Rooster Ron Wayne said: Straight out of the box my two was great . Took one leg off the hammer springs so my Grandsons could cock the dang things . Other then that , what more can you ask for for under 180.00 otd each . Rooster Do you mean you cut a coil off the hammer spring or unhooked one leg of the trigger springs? My original trigger pull was pretty good but cocking them took two hands and a helper so I polished the internals and put in a shorter hammer spring (about 3/8 inch shorter) to try them out. Don’t know the poundage now but will get an occasional ftf with cheapo bulk 22. Waiting on my wolf spring kit to arrive in the meantime. regards Gateway Kid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 My son bought one about a month ago... it was just fine right out of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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