GP100 3" 44 special first time out

[onelight]

First range trip with the GP100 fired 100 hi-tek 240 grain sized .430 on 4.6 of Red Dot.
I was a little concerned before going .430 is a little loose in the cylinder throats . My Bisley and model 29 both work well with .430 bullets .
Sure enough I got a little leading in the forcing cone and beginning of the rifling .
The trigger on mine was right at 10lbs DA and 4.5 lbs. SA . I stripped it and cleaned up the burrs inside weren't many on this Ruger , put in a 10lb hammer spring and 8lb trigger spring and shimmed the hammer it had .015 clearance put in shims totaling .010 , the trigger did not need shims it is now 7lb 14 oz DA and 2lb 12oz SA so will need some testing to make sure the 10lb spring is not to light.
I need to cast me up some 44s :smile:

253525

[sonoransixgun]

Sweet lookin gun....hope you get good results from cast boolits....

[onelight]

Sweet lookin gun....hope you get good results from cast boolits....

Thanks , it would be great to hear from anyone loading for the GP 44 and what is working for them.

[cwlongshot]

LOOKS GREAT!! This is a very good looking gun.

Im real close to just buying one. Its cost is a put off. I just dont think they are worth what they are asking. I would go 10mm but want a 41 Special. ;)


Merry Christmas

CW

[onelight]

LOOKS GREAT!! This is a very good looking gun.

Im real close to just buying one. Its cost is a put off. I just dont think they are worth what they are asking. I would go 10mm but want a 41 Special. ;)


Merry Christmas

CW
I looked at the 10 quite a bit it makes a nice package .
The only experience I have had with clips has been with a 1917 colt it worked good with them and a 4" Red Hawk 45 colt ACP convertible it would never fire a full cylinder of acp with out at least 1 light strike I should have sent it back to Ruger to see if they could fix the light strikes but could not adjust to the trigger so it moved on.
I have shot a Black Hawk 40 - 10 convertible quite a bit and is a great shooter with both rounds.
Sorry I'm doing my "old man ramble " If I can get this 44 Gp100 to shoot 240-250 bullets well at 850 950 I will be satisfied with it. I find Gp100 guns shoot really well for me DA. Time will tell.

[oldhenry]

You will enjoy that gun. I likewise performed the same improvements to mine + I shimmed the hammer dog. It is running a close race as my favorite handgun.

I changed out the grips (I think mine pictured are take-offs from my son's '90 era gun).

Pictured L to R are the boolits I use: Accurate #43-210A, Lyman 429421 & SAECO 441. All 3 do well with 5.0 of WST or 5.0 of Red Dot. With the #43-210A 5.5 of WST is good. I've loaded all 3 with 6.5 of Unique, but haven't shot them yet.

My favorite is the Accurate #43-210A with either 5.0 or 5.5 of WST.

I also have the 5" full lug blue model, but shoot the 3" SS much more.

Henry

[onelight]

You will enjoy that gun. I likewise performed the same improvements to mine + I shimmed the hammer dog. It is running a close race as my favorite handgun.

I changed out the grips (I think mine pictured are take-offs from my son's '90 era gun).

Pictured L to R are the boolits I use: Accurate #43-210A, Lyman 429421 & SAECO 441. All 3 do well with 5.0 of WST or 5.0 of Red Dot. With the #43-210A 5.5 of WST is good. I've loaded all 3 with 6.5 of Unique, but haven't shot them yet.

My favorite is the Accurate #43-210A with either 5.0 or 5.5 of WST.

I also have the 5" full lug blue model, but shoot the 3" SS much more.

Henry
A set of grips like that are on my list. :smile: I have a 4 cavity 429421 mold . and a Lee tl 240 GC mold . And I have red dot , my loading - casting will be stopped for a bit moving in a week. Soon as I can get set up I will cast some 429421 boolits I sized those .430 And don't remember what size drops from the mold will have to wait and see.

[bigboredad]

Those are really cool guns. I had know idea you could get the trigger pull so light. Now I want one even more. I'd like that 44 and the ten. Thanks for the right up. I also like the bullet from the accurate mold it looks like it should be a excellent shooter

Sent from my SM-T377V using Tapatalk

[onelight]

Those are really cool guns. I had know idea you could get the trigger pull so light. Now I want one even more. I'd like that 44 and the ten. Thanks for the right up. I also like the bullet from the accurate mold it looks like it should be a excellent shooter

Sent from my SM-T377V using Tapatalk
Yup I keep coming back and looking at oldhenry's grips and that 200 grain bullet very nice.

[oldhenry]

A set of grips like that are on my list. :smile: I have a 4 cavity 429421 mold . and a Lee tl 240 GC mold . And I have red dot , my loading - casting will be stopped for a bit moving in a week. Soon as I can get set up I will cast some 429421 boolits I sized those .430 And don't remember what size drops from the mold will have to wait and see.

The Hogue grips that come from Ruger are excellent, but with the replacements grips the gun is easy to conceal (important as it sometimes serves as my church gun).
I size mine to .431. I've never measured them "as cast", but they must measure somewhere North of .431. I probably could safely increase the powder charge, but I'm in it for the fun.

My two daughters are my frequent shooting companions. They both shoot the Accurate #43-210A with 5.0 gr. of WST well & are not intimidated in the least. Our game is "Combat Chickens" (IHMSA chickens @ 20 yds.) & they can put down 4 or 5 every time in quick order. They each have a Speed Six 2 3/4" as their personal gun (my wedding present to each).

[onelight]

oldhenry That is as good as it gets to getting to shoot and have a good time with your girls , your a lucky man.
My gp100 may see church duty as well I know I will CC it , the grips that came on it feel nice but are to long for me to CC.
So I need to look into some jhp loads for that , I do fret about over penetration in crowded places and my 240 cast just about guarantee it.

[Boogieman]

I replaced the Hogue grips with Ruger compacts for use as a church gun too. The 429421 SWC solid or HP work for me over 6.6 - 7.0 gr. of Unique I've used Lee's 200gr. RNFP with Titegroup, load from Hodgen's website. I need to find a good IWB holster for a 3" GP100. the p/n for the Ruger compact grips is 70084

[Boogieman]

oldhenry That is as good as it gets to getting to shoot and have a good time with your girls , your a lucky man.
My gp100 may see church duty as well I know I will CC it , the grips that came on it feel nice but are to long for me to CC.
So I need to look into some jhp loads for that , I do fret about over penetration in crowded places and my 240 cast just about guarantee it.

My 250gr.SWC HP cast Soft ,about 40-1, over 7gr. of Unique expands to about .75" in plastic gallon jugs stops in the third one ,about 18"

[onelight]

My 250gr.SWC HP cast Soft ,about 40-1, over 7gr. of Unique expands to about .75" in plastic gallon jugs stops in the third one ,about 18"
Do you know what velocity you get in a 3" barrel ? That is good expansion.

[Boogieman]

The 250 gr. over 7gr. of Unique gets 830fps. out of my 3" GP100. I have a 10lb main spring & 8lb trigger spring, close to 500 rounds with no FTFs

[bigted]

Great lookin guns! My 4 inch GP 100 357 needs a big brother with a 4 inch tube ... do they make the 44 spcl with a 4 inch barrel? Also ... are they all 5 shot?

[onelight]

The 250 gr. over 7gr. of Unique gets 830fps. out of my 3" GP100. I have a 10lb main spring & 8lb trigger spring, close to 500 rounds with no FTFs
Great to hear it's reliable with that spring set , thanks.
That expansion is very good at 830 FPS. I can't set up my crony at the range I go to most so the velocity reading was helpful.

bigted , they have made a 5" blued gp100 44 special . But I have not seen a 4" and the 44 gp100s are all 5 shot.

[Petrol & Powder]

GP-100 actions respond very favorably to polishing/shimming and generally cleaning up the internal lock work.
After you clean up the action, you can safely drop the spring weights a little and still have 100% reliability.
I've worked on a bunch of Ruger DA's over the years and after a lot of trigger time, I prefer to keep the mainspring a little higher than 10#. Dropping the mainspring down to 12# and dropping the trigger return spring to 10# works well. Often leaving the factory trigger return spring in place will result in a more positive trigger reset and still yield a good DA pull. I seek a smooth DA action - Not the lightest pull weight possible.

If you go too light on the mainspring you will get failures to fire and the lock time increases significantly. Both of those conditions are unacceptable. A light trigger return spring will also make the trigger reset sluggish.
A 9# mainspring is too light and will not be 100% reliable; a 10# mainspring is right at the edge and requires a the action be cleaned up in order to be 100%. For a self-defense gun, 12# is the minimum floor for me on GP-100 mainspring. YMMV

I'm very happy to see Ruger bring out the GP-100 in 44 Special - that was long over due.
The GP was practically screaming for that chambering.

[onelight]

GP-100 actions respond very favorably to polishing/shimming and generally cleaning up the internal lock work.
After you clean up the action, you can safely drop the spring weights a little and still have 100% reliability.
I've worked on a bunch of Ruger DA's over the years and after a lot of trigger time, I prefer to keep the mainspring a little higher than 10#. Dropping the mainspring down to 12# and dropping the trigger return spring to 10# works well. Often leaving the factory trigger return spring in place will result in a more positive trigger reset and still yield a good DA pull. I seek a smooth DA action - Not the lightest pull weight possible.

If you go too light on the mainspring you will get failures to fire and the lock time increases significantly. Both of those conditions are unacceptable. A light trigger return spring will also make the trigger reset sluggish.
A 9# mainspring is too light and will not be 100% reliable; a 10# mainspring is right at the edge and requires a the action be cleaned up in order to be 100%. For a self-defense gun, 12# is the minimum floor for me on GP-100 mainspring. YMMV

I'm very happy to see Ruger bring out the GP-100 in 44 Special - that was long over due.
The GP was practically screaming for that chambering.
Thanks that is good information , I have it all together so will shoot it with the 10lb main and 8lb trigger and slicked up it sure feels sweet . After our home move when I get my work area figured out I can experiment with different springs . I have only done 1 other GP100 for a friend and it is strictly a range gun it has been 100% reliable and shoots very well , but we are not the guys that can test a DA gun to the limit :p
I gotta say both the GP100s I have done required much less work inside than the sp101s I have done I found them to be better machined / cast than the smaller gun , may be luck of the draw.

[Petrol & Powder]

I've seen good and bad GP-100's and SP101's, it may be luck of the draw. Most GP's and SP's can stand a little attention to the lock work. It's not that they are "bad" from the factory, it's just that they can usually be cleaned up a little with excellent results from a little work.

After years of playing with the SP101's, I have found that leaving the factory trigger return spring in place is actually better than replacing it with a lighter spring.
The GP-100 comes from the factory with very heavy springs. (14# hammer and 12# trigger return) which makes the action rock solid reliable even if the parts aren't finished terribly well from the factory. Cleaning the action up allows the spring weights to be dropped a bit AND slicks up the action even if the springs are left original. A smooth action is more important than a light action.

The GP-100 and SP101 are fantastic platforms. You will not find a stronger gun in those classes.
I can't make a GP-100 action as smooth as an old S&W but I can make it rival a new S&W !

[marek313]

I like my GP100 Match Champion in 357 mag. When I compared it to the standard GP100 there was a big difference in trigger plus you get fiber sites, better grips etc etc. MCs have better triggers then standard GP100 since those get polished and shimmed at the factory. Pay the extra $150 (or at least thats what the difference used to be) and you will get a great gun out of the box.

From Rugers website in regards to GP100 Match Champions :
Polished and optimized internals, a centering boss on the trigger, and centering shims on the hammer produce a smooth double-action trigger pull and a crisp and consistent let-off.

[Boogieman]

When smoothing a DA Ruger don't over look the main spring strut And the hole in the spring seat. Round the corners of the strut , polish them and the end that rides on the hammer also polish the hole in the spring seat.

[onelight]

When smoothing a DA Ruger don't over look the main spring strut And the hole in the spring seat. Round the corners of the strut , polish them and the end that rides on the hammer also polish the hole in the spring seat.
Good advice , thank you.

[oldhenry]

It's the small things that add up. Another small benefit can be obtained by removing the hammer dog (don't loose the pin & spring) and polishing the face. I use a worn piece of 1600 taped to a glass surface. While you have it off, polish the lower end that curves back into the mortise. Don't change the contour, just polish (if you're carful this can be done on the 1600 taped to the glass.

You may consider checking side clearance on the hammer dog before removal to see if shims from www.triggershims.com will help here.

Good luck.
Henry

[onelight]

Great minds think alike :smile: , I buy my shims and spring kits from triggershims have always had great service from them. They have some good videos for installing shims.