A friend of mine purchased a new sp101 last week. It arrived at his FFL with a rusted front sight. He accepted the transfer with the intention of replacing the sight. These pictures were taken after letting the front of the gun marinate in a bath of penetrating oil & clp for 2 days, followed by a scrubbing with a brass bristled brush.
During removal, he discovered the roll pin was also rusted to the point of no return. It made the process a lot more difficult than it should have been.
In the end he had to wrap the front of the gun with a piece of cloth, use a pair of wire cutters to clamp onto the sight and tap the cutters from the rear.
Now he is just waiting for new sights and had to buy a new roll pin which may have to be trimmed to length.
The gun also has some other issues, namely poor accuracy at anything past 5 yards, the hardest cocking hammer I have personally experienced and the yoke seems to grind on the frame when opening the cylinder.
Ruger piss poor QC strikes again.