Post by bigbore5 on Dec 25, 2023 14:38:53 GMT -5
I also have a 4.2" SP101, but in .22LR. There was a gap in the crane to frame lockup, the revolver spat lead at me like an angry cobra, and the hammer was very sloppy. Unfortunately, it was only my first DA revolver and I did most of my research after buying it that revealed these as problems.
I sent it back, they fixed the cylinder alignment, I fixed the trash trigger by deburring the internals, polishing the action surfaces, swapping out for a lighter trigger rebound spring, and shimming the hammer. After that, it was a great plinker but not all that accurate with any given ammo. The rear sight was always basically unscrewed all the way up out of click adjustment to get close to zeroing it with any given load.
One day I realized that the rear sight had a really gross amount of lateral play. Seems to be a common issue with this gun because my buddy's has the same issue. Since I changed out my SBH's rear sight it got the cogs in my brain turning. I couldn't put the SBH rear sight on the SP101, but the springs did fit. So I swapped the rear sight spring with one from my SBH. That tightened it and gave me a useful amount of click adjustment. Then I remembered I had spare action shims, so I cut one 0.005" (or 0.003"?) and pressed the halved shim in alongside the rear sight, eliminating the lateral play.
Now the little revolver is actually decent. It has a very smooth and crisp action, though I left it pretty heavy for reliable rimfire ignition. It's reasonably accurate with ammo it likes. With its favorite ammo, I was able to get just under a 1.9" 8-shot group with it at 25 yards with CCI 40 grain subsonic, shooting benchrested.
The sights on my 4.2" 357 are sloppy too. I've even considered welding up the sides and recutting it properly. Just another project for "when I get time".