Ruger Single Seven 327 Federal Magnum

[Star43]

First of all, I don't own one. I have only seen ONE ever. That was about a good 6 or 7 years ago. It was at a gun shop down Fresno way. I was down there on business and just walked into a nice gun shop. I saw this beautiful 5 1/2 in. Stainless Single Seven, and it was beautiful. I got to pick it up and I thought: This Is Nice !!! I didn't know much about the .327, but was thinking 7 shots of a formidable round that could also shoot 32 Longs, etc....The salesman told me: "Now this is a gun to have" You can shoot from mild to wild!! All in a trim Single Six frame package !!! Needless to say I wasn't prepared to buy a gun that day and walked away. I thought about all the way home. 2 weeks I was back and the gun was gone. So was the salesman....I think i missed out on something special. I have Never seen one Since !!! For those of you that have a Single Seven, please tell me of what I missed out on. Do you like the gun ???

 

[Bad Barlow]

I very much enjoy my Single Six in 32 H&,R,with adjustable sight. They are more available than the Sevens,and it might scratch your itch. If you handload, you can make some hot,but safe loads.

 

[codebreaker]

I have one of the blue Single Sevens with a 4 5/8" barrel and adjustable sights. I took it shooting one time and it has been sitting in my safe ever since. There isn't anything wrong with it but I prefer .45 Colt and .44 Special single actions. I think I might like the .327 Fed in a 3" adjustable sighted version of the LCRx. I, unfortunately, stocked up on 327 Fed but never bought any of the other calibers it will fire. It is the only Single Six "type" I have ever fired. I don't hate it but it also doesn't interest me anymore.

 

[Star43]

I agree 100%, as I do have the 32 H&R in 5 1/2 that I bought new in 86. The serial number says it was made in 1985. Anyway, I love the gun and the Single Six frame size......that is the main reason I didn't buy the 327 then, thinking I already had the 32 H&R.....but I hardly shoot it because of the ammo cost and I want the gun to kind of stay looking like new I also don't handload. In my kind of warped thinking I was thinking to get the stainless 327 and then get into reloading at that point for the 327 and also the 32 H&R. To me it made sense to get involved in handloading if I got the .327.......I have gone to gun shops all around and basically get told it is a Lipsey's distribution deal. The crazy part is the shops I asked aren't affiliated with Lipsey's and aren't interested in doing so ?? Sounds weird to me

 

[bigbillyboy]

I have heard that Ruger is going to be making Single Sevens again ....... . So keep on the watch ......

 

[Star43]

I have one of the blue Single Sevens with a 4 5/8" barrel and adjustable sights. I took it shooting one time and it has been sitting in my safe ever since. There isn't anything wrong with it but I prefer .45 Colt and .44 Special single actions. I think I might like the .327 Fed in a 3" adjustable sighted version of the LCRx. I, unfortunately, stocked up on 327 Fed but never bought any of the other calibers it will fire. It is the only Single Six "type" I have ever fired. I don't hate it but it also doesn't interest me anymore.

That is the only Single Six gun you have fired !! Get the 22 and the 22 Mag combo and maybe it will change your mind about the Single Six ?? Just saying .......

I have heard that Ruger is going to be making Single Sevens again ....... . So keep on the watch !!

Thanks bigbilly, I will do that !!

 

[contender]

I have one of the Single-Sevens,, in .327. It is a wicked small game killer. I also own a few of the .32 H&R mags. BOTH have their place.

 

[Star43]

Thanks,. Yeah I think I should have bought it when I had the chance......and 7 Rounds of being able to shoot "from mild to wild" I will never forget that line he used. He must have heard it from someone, but it sure sounded good !!

 

[Star43]

I very much enjoy my Single Six in 32 H&,R,with adjustable sight. They are more available than the Sevens,and it might scratch your itch. If you handload, you can make some hot,but safe loads.

I think that would be my logical thing to do.

 

[trapperon]

I have a 7.5 incher and love it! Super accurate with 100 grain jacketed american eagle ammo. That unfluted cylinder and small frame make for a handsome and well handling revolver.
Go find one! I vote yes!!
Ron

 

[Star43]

I have a 7.5 incher and love it! Super accurate with 100 grain jacketed american eagle ammo. That unfluted cylinder and small frame make for a handsome and well handling revolver.
Go find one! I vote yes!!
Ron

Unfluted cylinder ?? Sounds intriguing.... Somehow I didn't remember that......now that's on me....that does sound good...more strength.

 

[Rclark]

I only bought my 5 1/2" SS Single Seven ... because I couldn't find a Single Six .32 H&R Magnum. Had to have shop send the first one back as loose (unable to tighten) front sight (noticed before signing papers) . Next one was better. I've only hand loaded and shot .32 H&R Magnum out of mine. Back when .22LR was unobtainium, I wanted something close to .22 that was reloadable. Of course not long after that I started running into normal .32 SAs . Now I have a few. So it goes. Mine shoots well when I get out with it.

 

[Bruce51]

FWIW I will tell the story of my own Ruger Single Seven so this information is available to others considering purchasing this model.
Having wanted a Single six .32 H&R for a long time and watching them priced out of reach the new model Single Seven was going to be the revolver for me.
It looked great right out of the box and some range time with various .32 ammunition was going to be great fun.
Well right from the start the cylinder was hard to load as it had to be indexed perfectly to insert cartridges. This problem was well known and the fix for mine was to relieve the gate opening until there was enough clearance for loading and ejecting.
The next problem was every single primer on any round less than full power .327 had the primer pierced. As you might imagine that was very disturbing to see .
The next problem occurred while shooting .327 Federal factory loads. While shooting the gun would jam up on the sixteenth round. At the time I was not sure why this was happening but the reason would become clear later.
After the above problems I sent the gun back to Ruger to see if they could determine why it was jamming and piercing primers. Upon return of the revolver a range test resulted in the exact same problems. I'm pretty sure Ruger did not shoot sixteen rounds until the jam nor did they shoot .32 SWL to note that the primers were pierced.
At this point I'm not happy with my purchase and I needed to figure out the problem on my own.
First back to the range to shoot .327 Federal until the jam. Bingo it jams up on round sixteen. During disassembly it is very apparent that the firing pin is stuck into the primer and with some wiggling of the cylinder it lets go. What has happened is the firing pin has pierced the primer and has been spot welded to the metal.
Ok why did this happen?It is because the firing pin is way to long. I found this out when I ordered a new firing pin and bushing but the only parts available were for the Single Six. The SS bushing is much deeper but the FP is exactly the same. When Ruger opened up the frame and shortened the barrel they also removed metal at the rear. However they used the same length firing pin as the Six.

 

[Bruce51]

Ready for part two?
Ruger .327 Federal tests regarding firing pins, springs and results.
Note with the original firing pin on the sixteenth round the fp would spot weld to the primer and tie up the cylinder. Original firing pin is .449"-.450" with approximately .044" protrusion.
Original firing pin would pierce every single primer on a 32 swl ammunition.
The 32 swl case rim is slightly thicker than the .327 Federal.
With rifle primers the .327 Federal was ok.
Cut the firing pin down to .444" with .038" protrusion. At this length some primers were pierced.
The firing pin length was reduced down to .438"with .032" protrusion.. At this point it did not pierce .the 32swl ammunition.
Shorter pin was not reliable with rifle primers. A .440" fp with
.034" protrusion was installed.
Shorter pin was ok until there was a build up of carbon and soot inside the fp bushing.
The bushing gets very dirty on this round.
After cleaning some FTF still did occur.
Tried a Wolf #26 pound hammer spring with the .440" fp and the bushing still dirty.
There were FTF with the 32swl and .327 Federal.
Cleaned fp bushing and using the #26 spring the .327 Federal fired but two out of seven 32 swl would not fire.
Replaced the wolf spring with the original hammer spring. The .327"s all fired and there were some FTF with the 32swl.
11/9/2023
Installed the .443.5" fp with .036 protrusion and the Wolf #26 pound spring.
Seven rounds loaded with Winchester rifle primers all fired normally.
Fourteen rounds loaded with Aquila spp primers all fired but there were 12 pierced primers.
Fourteen rounds loaded with CCI spp all fired with one pierced primer.
Seven rounds with CCI SPPM all fired with one pierced primer.
Seven .32swl with Aquila spp all fired with five pierced primers.
Firing pin was pitted from the primers that pieced. Was able to clean it up.
My guess is the fp is now .443"
11/16/2023
Testing .443" fp with .036" protrusion and the Wolf #24 spring.
Seven rounds with Winchester small rifle primers all fired normally.
Seven rounds with Winchester small rifle magnum primers all fired normally.
Seven rounds with CCI small magnum primers one pierced six fired normally.
Seven rounds with CCI small pistol primers four pierced three fired normally.
Seven rounds in .32 long fired with CCI small pistol magnum primers.
Three rounds had pierced primers four fired normally.
Seven .32 long fired with CCI small pistol primers.
Five rounds had pierced primers.

 

[Star43]

What can I say......I still haven't digested all of this, but I thank you for taking the time to write it all down....now I will go back and slowly read it.

 

[Bruce51]

Part three. I know this is long but I promise this is the last page.
I replaced the shortened FP with an original length pin. This was so I could test Wolf variable power springs #24 #25 #26 as they are different than the Ruger hammer spring.
Started at #24 using only CCI SPP.
Every round in .327 and 32 SWL fired and the revolver did not jam at any point.
There were about two pieced primers out of every seven rounds fired.
That was the end of my testing as good as the Single Seven has ever performed.
Fun to shoot when it works except for the seven year trials to eliminate the problems.
My advice get the Single Six I wish I had one of those instead.

 

[Star43]

I don't really know what to say Bruce. The other posts were positive and by old time members with experience. It seems they are firing both factory loads and hand loads with no apparent problem. The only thing I can say is maybe you just got a lemon. I mean the way you wrote down and documented the work you did and messing around be with different firing pins etc,. And the part about every 16 rounds, time and again..I kind of agree with you that when you sent it back to the factory, that they probably did not fire it 16 times. At the most even with 2 complete cylinders, that's 14 rounds. The tech working on it or basically looking at it is maybe thinking it just needs to be "broke in"....Who knows, but it sure sounds like it has been one big pain in the you know where. When one buys a new Ruger, that should not happen. I'm a Ruger guy, but this doesn't make sense. Personally I would send it back with all of the documentation you wrote here, and tell them to "Fix" it or send you another new one. You have a possible safety concern here too, and I would tell them that too. And tell them to at least run 3 full cylinders 21 rounds and let them see what it is doing. Even now as you say, it is the best it has been for 6 years worth of this testing it, but it still ain't 100% right. It's all up to you as it is your gun. Be safe and God bless ya.


.

 

[Bruce51]

I also had to replace the center pin spring with an aftermarket extra power spring. Seems that the center pin would walk forward after a few full power loads. This is by far the most problematic unreliable handgun that I own.

 

[tbone]

I bought a used single 7 in 327 off GB just a couple weeks ago. I have put 50 rds of factory ammo and 50 rds of my loaded ammo through it without cleaning it yet. No problems of any kind so far ? I also have a GP100 in 327 , seven shot also. I haven't shot anything but paper and steel with them. But I just love shooting them. Both very accurate. The 327 has double the snot of the H&R Mag. Shooting 32 longs are like shooting a 22 rf. I did just fit a bisley grip to the single 7 with buffalo horn grips. But haven't shot it yet. I like the 327 so well I ordered a new SP101 in 327. Should be here by the end of the week. My local shop has 327 ammo in stock right now , but they want 45.00 a box for it.

 

[contender]

Bruce51,, first off,, "Welcome to the Forum!"

I read all of your posts with great interest. I applaud your tenacity in working with this gun. You are correct about some of the earlier ones having a very narrow space in the loading gate where you had to perfectly index the cylinder to load & unload. Unless I'm mistaken,, Ruger has corrected this issue.
And you are most likely correct in that Ruger didn't test your gun with .32 SWL (which I'm assuming is S&W Long) ammo. The gun is chambered in .327 Mag, and I'd bet that's all the ammo they tried.
Plus,, if you used reloads,, Ruger has a disclaimer about only using factory ammo.
And the center pin,, which I'm assuming you are talking about the base pin,, walking out has happened on many guns over the years. Many people have approached this issue in various ways. Some replace the base pins with aftermarket, some add an extra power spring, some have deepened the groove in the base pin to allow it to be gripped better. And heck,, I've seen some that were installed backwards.

But back to the pierced primers & the welding & jamming.

This is not right. And a POLITE phone call to tech support,, expressing your issues, and all you have tried etc and your dis-satisfaction, (at both the previous return AND the issue not being resolved) will most likely get you another return authorization. If not,, I'd be very surprised. They do strive to fix problems.

I've used .327, .32 H&R mag, .32 S&W Long, and even .32 Shorts in mine & haven't had any issues with the gun itself. I have had the Federal factory ammo split brass, but that's not a gun issue. And I've shot a LOT of handloads. My .327 was taken on a ground squirrel hunt in Idaho several years ago,, and trust me when I say a lot of ground squirrels hated that gun!

Call Ruger,, be polite,, but firm. I'll bet they fix things.