Anybody worked on a Ruby? Customer brought in 2 for work. One apparently has a broken firing pin. The other one is in way worse shape with missing parts. I read about these old pistols. They were made by all sorts of small shops in Spain to supply the French military. Although the basic design is the same, quality varies a lot, and part exchangeability is not to be expected. Of course parts don’t exist, and I will have to carve them out. In the process it would be nice to have guidance from someone who did it before. Thanks in advance. -TL
I have worked on a number of these and have made several firing pins, all different. I own one also. All the ones I have made new firing pins for had enough of the broken pins there to figure out the rest of pin and make it work. You are right that there are a bunch of very similar looking ones but they have a lot of subtle differences. RS
Question Follow Up
Thanks, Randy. The one I’m working one is in .38acp, and it has a 2-piece firing pin. The rear pin broke. I made one out of mild steel, and had it fitted to have proper protrusion and retraction. I just case hardened it. Test firing will tell how lucky l would be.
The next one will be harder. It is missing the sear, as far as what I can see. And it seems to have an oversized hammer wedged inside the frame. So it doesn’t even go “click” when the trigger is pulled. Will see, but I’m not sure the owner wants to fix it after how expensive it could be.
Answer
I will echo what others said here. You will probably have to fabricate the parts. Try all the usual suspects first then be prepared to make them. The gun will give you all the dimensions……I know I know, what a pain, so charge accordingly. Ken
