I have a brand new GP-100, I am concidering replacing the hammer/trigger spring with a reduced weight spring/ springs.  wolf sells kits, BUT which spring will still be reliable for lighting up the primer?
any thoughts from our readers.
tom

Try the lightest one and work your way up.

I have talked to a bunch of Ruger revolver owners (and have owned a GP100 for over 20 years).  The spring helps a lot, but what REALLY helps is to polish some of the rough innards.  What I plan to do with my SP101 (spring kit on order), is use the middle weight spring, and VERY GENTLY polish the internals based on instructions at rugerforum.net.  There are a LOT of folks over there who have mad experience doing this. I am more worried about a couple little "sticking points" in the pull than the absolute weight though. My old-ish GP100 never got a "trigger job" - it just got shot a TON.  It now has one of the best revolver trigger pulls I have ever felt, excepting maybe some really nice Colt's.  It certainly rivals my old Smiths.

-shooter

I bought a S&W 617 about a year ago and I love it but the DA pull is horrible.
I went to my ranges gunsmith (an Olympian) and he basically said that it takes a thousand trigger pulls to even begin to get the case hardened fire control parts to mate, break in and smooth out.
Jumping right in with a stoning on a new gun just invites wearing through the case hardening and ruining the trigger.
He said shoot it and dry fire it a lot and then come back for work if it doesn't smooth out.

People want instant results and springs are good for that but it really does take a lot of shooting to "break in" some guns.

This may be your best bet. Rugers are well known for burrs and rough finishes on the innards. Polishing the innards will, a lot of times, make the trigger pretty good.

One of the reasons I've heard and read (but don't know if its true or not) for the stiff Ruger triggers is that Ruger puts in stronger springs than really necessary to counteract the gritty trigger pulls from the rough parts. The springs are strong enough to make the gun work, where lighter springs might not, because of the burrs and roughness. If you don't take care of the roughness, lighter springs may not help much. You'll get a lighter trigger pulls, but they will still be rough and gritty and (if the trigger is gritty enough or there are enough burrs) the trigger may start failing to return, locking up the gun.

I detail stripped my 4" GP100 (and my 2 1/2" SP101) and went after the innards with the fine stones from my Lansky knife sharpening kit. I didn't really remove any metal or change any angles, just stoned off the burrs and some of the rough tool marks on the parts. Made a HUGE difference, even with the stock springs. The trigger now is a lot smoother than most revolvers I've shot, including some well-loved S&Ws. Its still a little heavier, but it is smooth. Made a huge difference for me when shooting it. I'm considering lighter springs, myself, but haven't yet because reliability is everything for me. Ruger parts are through hardened stainless (or, they used to be; they may be MIM now, I just don't know), so you don't have to worry about stoning through the case hardening layer, like you do with S&W guns.

Another thing you can try is to strip the gun and clean the crap out of it. I don't know how they are now, but a few years ago, when I bought my GP and my SP, they were disgustingly dirty inside. It seemed like Ruger was saving money by skipping trash removal and dumping the floor sweepings in the guns before shipping them. I found dirt, metal chips and lots of general crap in the trigger group and the cylinder. Just cleaning it out real well helped, although it was still gritty from the rough parts and burrs.

Good luck. Rugers are excellent guns, but they do sometimes require a "fluff and buff" or a little TLC.

Bub75

I generally agree with putting some rounds downrange before you mess with a gun - but there are massive differences in both the mechanics and metallurgy between S&W and Ruger.  Ruger uses cast stainless while Smith uses forged carbon steel. That carbon steel is then (sometimes) case hardened which impacts the strength of the outer layer of the steel.  The Ruger should be the same hardness all the way through. While a Ruger MAY get better with just dry fire repititions, sometimes they need a little help.  

-shooter

Dig it.

And I'm accumulating parts and planning on spring and action jobs for both my GP100 and my P89DC.
The P89 is getting a worked P95 trigger too.
Both those guns have been shot enough to be considered "broken in".

Mind if I ask about what vintage your GP is?  In my experience, the triggers on them have varied widely over the years.  There are many that had great triggers from the factory (or broke in that way), and a decent chunk that could use a bit of an intervention.

Are the P89 and P95 fire-control parts compatible?  If so, that was pretty clever of Ruger.

Mid-late 90's on the GP100. Not a bad feel, just excessively heavy, particularly in double.

The P series got several updates along the way. Mostly to the exterior.
The P95 trigger has different geometry and actually interferes with the barrel link on the earlier guns.
This is solved with some simple file work to cut a notch to clear the link.
Not difficult to perform and along with the lighter springs claims to make a very different much lighter pull.

Sounds like your GP is a good candidate for a spring-only trigger job.  I have read of a couple folks getting the DA pull down to 7.5 with a 9lb main spring and an 8 lb trigger return spring.  Personally, I don't want to go that light, but I would like to improve on what I guess is now about a 14lb trigger on my SP.

I think you have a pretty good handle on the mod to the P-series.

-shooter

There's a lot of stuff online about the P89 upgrade.
The P series guns are beloved ugly ducklings.
Mine is a tank but it's got a lawyer trigger.
I can't believe that can't be improved without sacrificing reliability.

The 14lb on the GP100 is just unreal.
Actually hurts my hand after a while.
Gotta fix that.

Also look into a complete shim kit.  In addition to smoothing out the action, it will reduce scratch/drag marks on the hammer.

Are you used to shooting revolvers? I started out on revolvers about 40 years ago. Those heavy trigger pulls were really the standard, and unless you had a 1911 to compare it to, as long as the pull was smooth, that's just the way it was. All of these 5lb pulls on semis may have wrecked a lot of younger shooters, expecting light triggers on revolvers. Maybe I lucked out starting on revolvers.

My GP with stock springs is my favorite gun to shoot. My wife likes to shoot it, and she is very accurate with it.

I used to teach firearms at a police academy, and we had females that had a hard time pulling the trigger on a SW model 10. Hand strength is really important with revolvers. If you hand gets sore you need to work on hand strength. Do that first. Polish the interior. Couple hundred rounds. Then you can think about lighter springs.

[size=6]Thanks to all who replied.  I have read each carefully and have dissembled my gp-100, and with a dremel and polishing compound I have polished and smoothed out the burs and rouph spots on the hammer strut.  I went with the lightest trigger return spring in the WOLF SPRING PACK and the middle weight main spring.  The trigger pull is much improved. So now it's off to the range.  I also Hand Load so I am bringing several boxes of .357 ammo loaded the same with the exception of primer.  I am trying WINCHESTER, CCI,AND FEDERAL small pistol primers.  I want to be sure everything goes bang.  If so I will change main springs to the lighter of the three and repeat the test.

More later.
Thanks to all

tom

Concur with the above.

Will lighter springs work in your gun? It depends. It depends on how smooth the internals are. It depends on what primers you are using. Federal primers have a rep for being the easiest to ignite. Springs too light to consistently set off harder primers will often work fine on Federal, then you switch primers and you are in trouble. My 625 had lighter springs that worked fine on Federal. I got some Winchester and had misfires until I replaced the mainspring with something heavier.

OK Hi to all,  I gave my blue steel GP-100 a complete disessembly, cleaned,, oiled, and using a dremel tool and polishing compound polished up the rough spots, then I installed the lightest trigger return spring and 8 lb main spring, and put it all back together.  the trigger is smooth as silk in DA and single action is wonderful.   I then loaded some .38 brass with primers only and fired into a bucket double and single action,  The primers were winchester small pistol.

12 rounds went bang.  so, its off to the range over the weekend to burn up a couple hundred rounds to be sure all is well before carrying the gun.  
Thanks again to all for the input
tom

I remember seeing a department application requirement that you be able to dry fire a revolver while holdng the barrel inside a ring, I think it was a 4" ring hanging on a string, without letting the barrel touch the ring.

Went with the lightest Wolff springs on my gp 100.  Worked great for single action, but has light primer strikes double action shooting.  Switched the main spring to the next heaviest and all is gtg.  YMMV, just my experience.