Following my meandering post last weekend about carrying a revolver rather than a 1911, I was wandering about the Internets when I saw this little beauty:
I know, I know… “beauty” and “Ruger” are not often sentence-mates, but I think that this particular GP100 model qualifies. And as for Ruger’s ruggedness and reliability… we’re all on the same page there, I think.
Here’s the thing. I’ve actually owned a GP100 before, and I loved the gun, except for the trigger. Oh man, that trigger was awful: sticky, stiff (it felt like a 50-lb break), and it only sorta-smoothed out after over a thousand dry-fires. (Don’t laugh; in those days I was a lot more serious about testing guns, so I kept a fairly close count.) In the end, I got sick of the finger-cramp, decided it wasn’t worth the hassle, and traded it for a Ruger Blackhawk in .30 Carbine (a story for another time).
However, in reading the various comments from people who’ve recently bought this model, only a very few complained about the trigger. So maybe Ruger has fixed that problem. What I do know is that before I would actually drop the $900-odd on the gun, I’d bring along some dummy .357 snap caps, test it right there in the store, and let its trigger make the final purchase decision.
I do know, however, that I would have absolutely no qualms about strapping this puppy onto my hip every time I left the house.
Hey Kim,
Perhaps this:
https://www.budsgunshop.com/product_info.php/products_id/80159
I have a 586 in a six inch barrel. As soon as I can get together the money it will become my “BBQ gun”. Stainless is great for everyday carry but a deep rich blue — or even cerakoted — is just a plain beautiful.
@Parabarbarian,
When I scratch my .357 revolver itch, the 586 w/ 6″ bbl will be high on the list. I might consider a 4″ 686 but there’s something very classic about a blued steel wheel gun with wood grips.
How’s the trigger on yours?
My bedside revolver is a 4″ stainless GP 100, it’s been a great gun for me (and the trigger ain’t bad). The one thing I didn’t like is the grip as shown above, so I replaced it with a Pachmayr grip. Actually I learned about Pachmayrs when I got my .30 carbine Blackhawk (inspired by Kim, of course)–I bought it used, it came with them; I wound up putting Pachmayrs on nearly all my Ruger revolvers.
Here is the revolver you have been looking for
http://andersonwheeler.co.uk/the-gun-room/revolver/
Just don’t look at the price.
Oh, I know all about those bastards. I would have one of their bad boys in a heartbeat. None of that “swinging the cylinder out then tapping the ejection rod” nonsense; break it open and the casings jump out like frightened mice.
That Mk VII is so beautiful it makes my eyes water.
The prices of revolvers these days! That’s about $175 more than a Gen 4 Glock 19 (blech). But I do love them. And I don’t get the love for stainless revolvers. I mean I do, maintenance, of course, but all blued revolvers are so much prettier than any stainless, IMO, I’d think they’s sell more blued. But I guess the maintenance free wins out over aesthetics, big time.
Don’t get me started on the price of guns nowadays…
I don’t personally care for the GP-100. I owned one for years and I really tried to like it but it’s reliability just didn’t make up for the weaknesses. It did not fit my hand well and the trigger sucked (from my POV. I know people who think it’s the cat’s meow). If it fits your hand and you like or can fix the trigger then it’s a good reliable gun.
IMO, Ruger reached the pinnacle of it’s revolver prowess with the Security Six and the Blackhawk. I own three Security Six revolvers and on the sell-guns-to-buy-groceries list they are second to last. Just ahead of the S&W K-frames.
I believe Ruger has learned a lot about triggers, particularly dating from their introduction of the SR-9 – what a POS trigger that had, and they heard from the buyers of it about it.
Us retired folks cannot afford the prices of new fancy revolvers, SO, I like revolvers and wanted one and could not afford a fancy one.
Therefore, I went on gunbroker and found for $299.00 a well worn police trade in S&W model 15. 4′ barrel, K frame.
A set of cheap, (but nice) Ebay wood grips, a few hours of labor cleaning, polishing, smoothing and lubrication of the internal workins plus a Wolff spring kit yields an accurate, very smooth operating revolver. Single action trigger is excellent at about 2#, double action is about 9 #. A police trade in, the outside is scratched, worn and with some rust pits. The internal parts are (really) like new. The revolver was carried a lot and shot very little. This Smith saw a lot of coffee shops, donut shops and maybe a few crime scenes, but damn little shooting. Net investment: less than $350.00 including FFL fees, shipping, spring kit and grips. Labor is free for old men.
Worst Trigger Of All Time award — Kockler VP70z.
Pro — three (3) parts… frame, slide, spring. One (1) second take-down.
Con — pull up a chair, this’ll take a while.
Along with HK91 series, this was my bright idea as our group standard in the 1970s.
Double-action only, few folks could tolerate emptying the 18-round magazine.
Part-way through the second magazine, groups were barn-size because of fatigue.
I try to not exagerate much, but those trigger-pulls were likely in the range of a grossly over-fed house-cat.
And then, during the third magazine, the sears wore, so a trigger-pull was blessedly equivalent to a tuned 1911, but produced no satisfying ‘bang’… generally the preferred outcome of the whole endeavor.
So, back to the HK factory in Virginia(?) under warranty for the new improved sears.
We couldn’t trust the repairs, so they found new homes.
What a turd.