Wilson Combat's Ruger Revolver Trigger Spring Kit: Easy Upgrade

An inexpensive spring kit from Wilson Combat can improve your Ruger.

April 22, 2025 By Brad Fitzpatrick

Bill Ruger was indeed a brilliant gun designer, but Bill Wilson is equally adept at helping fine-tune and improve upon existing firearms. Wilson is known for producing superb custom 1911 pistols, and he was also an outstanding competition shooter. What fewer people may know about Wilson, though, is he is an ardent handgun hunter, having hunted big game around the world with a wheelgun. Wilson wasn’t satisfied with factory guns and components, so he began offering his own spring upgrades for revolvers like the Super Redhawk.

The term “reduced power” may not appeal to every .44 Magnum owner, but Wilson Combat’s custom spring kit with reduced-power springs might be just the thing you need to smooth out the rough edges on your Ruger Super Redhawk. This is an affordable and worthwhile upgrade, and it’s simple enough that you don’t need to be a gunsmith to do the job.

The double-action Super Redhawk is relatively simple to disassemble. Like the GP100 and SP101, it uses separate hammer and trigger return springs, both of which are easy to replace.

Wilson Combat’s spring kit for the Ruger Super Redhawk comes with three rebound hammer springs—nine, 10 and 12 pounds—and 10- and 12-pound trigger springs. These are considerably lighter than the standard Ruger springs, which are rated at 14 pounds for the hammer spring and 15 pounds for the trigger spring. The Wilson Combat coil springs are made from durable high tensile steel that should provide years of service.

Lighten The Pull

close up of spring differences — The 14-pound factory spring (l.) was replaced with the Wilson Combat 10-pound spring (r.). To the left is the strut, and below is the strut seat that holds the spring. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick)

Super Redhawk trigger pulls can be super heavy. The double-action pull on mine with factory springs measured 12.3 pounds on average for double action and 5.9 pounds for single action. The revolver itself was capable of excellent accuracy, but only when it was in a locked rest where the heavy trigger pull couldn’t move the gun off target.

I had previously replaced the Ruger factory springs in my SP101 with Wolff springs, and the process of changing springs on the Super Redhawk was very similar because the two revolvers share some architecture and design elements. The first step was to make certain the Super Redhawk was unloaded and to remove the grips. After doing so, the hammer spring is immediately visible.

To remove it you must compress the spring on the hammer strut and elevate the “seat” at the bottom of the strut. When you press up on the seat and compress the hammer spring, a round hole in the strut becomes visible. Insert the pin that is included with the revolver to maintain spring compression or, if you’ve lost that part, wire or a small-diameter punch will work.

From there you’ll need to depress the revolver’s trigger guard latch that extends through a hole in the grip peg. This compresses the trigger return spring, and the entire trigger guard and trigger assembly rotates downward and free of the revolver.

Taking It Apart

trigger and springs stripped down — The trigger return spring is behind the trigger and is secured inside the trigger housing. The 15-pound factory trigger is below while the replacement 10-pound Wilson Combat trigger is above. Note the tiny spring retaining pin. (Photo courtesy of Brad Fitzpatrick)

To access the trigger return spring you’ll need to compress the trigger guard latch and remove the small pin that holds the latch in place. This might be the most difficult part of the process and the step that prompts the most cursing. The retaining pin is very small, and you need to be sure that once it falls free it ends up somewhere you can retrieve it.

Once the pin is out, slowly release pressure on the trigger guard latch to prevent the stored energy of the trigger spring launching it like a missile across the room. You should also be aware that pulling the trigger while it’s removed will release the pawl, pawl spring and plunger and transfer bar. So don’t do that unless you want to add some time to your spring replacement job and do more cursing.

After you’ve replaced the springs and reassembled the revolver, you’ll immediately notice a difference when dry firing. With the lightest Wilson Combat springs in place, double-action trigger weight on my gun was reduced to 8.5 pounds, and the single-action weight was 3.5 pounds. That’s far better than what I got with the factory springs in place.

But before you fall in love with this new, lighter trigger pull, you need to make certain that the trigger/hammer spring combination in place will reliably ignite primers in the ammunition you plan to use. If not, you’ll need to either switch primers, switch loads or switch trigger spring weights.

There were no issues with either the Hornady Handgun Hunter or Fiocchi Hyperformance Hunting Handgun, both of which managed groups around an inch at 50 yards with the Ruger. That’s certainly good enough for hunting, but that type of accuracy is much easier to achieve when you’re shooting a gun with a manageable trigger.

In addition to handgun hunters and those who carry a revolver for bear defense, I think swapping to Wilson Combat springs makes sense for anyone who owns a Ruger SP101, GP100 or Super Redhawk. It’s not a difficult upgrade, and you don’t have to be a mechanical engineer to complete the project.

What’s the price for this custom-tuned trigger setup? Just $10. This might be the best value available for any handgun.