My hated GP100!

[Byrd]

I've had this pistol for about 10 years, and I did hate it! The trigger was horrible! Double action was hard and single action was off the chart. I don't have a trigger pull gauge but suffice it to say it was unshootable. In the safe it went.

Being winter and bored, I watched some Youtube videos on slicking up the action and found an excellent one my MCarbo. I was impressed enough to order their spring kit and them hammer, hammer dog and trigger shims from Triggershims.com. After a couple hours of work slicking the triggergroup up and installing shims I was surprised to find that the action was now slicker than snot! The improvement was substantial! So I then ordered a Hi Viz front sight, installed it and hit the range.

I had 1,000 148 grain .358 DEWC's loaded over 2.7 grains of Titegroup and proceded to blast away with my slicked up GP! Fun was had until I got home and proceded to clean the revolver...the thing was nasty with lead! On the outside of the forcing cone! Clumps of it! I hated it again! I had to scrape it with a pocketknife and a smashed .556 case to get it off.

I did some research and found that a .357 jacketed boolit would not go through the the front of the cylinder. they were way undersized, and also found that the Ruger forcing cone was a 5 degree one that does not play well with lead! So I rented an 11 degree forcing cone reamer from 4D rentals, and sent my cylinder to Doug Guy to be reamed to .3585.

I got the forcing cone reamer while Doug Guy had my cylinder and slowky reamed and checked with the guage until it was perfect. Doung had my cylinder for about a week turnaround and what a beautiful job (at a reasonable price) he did!

Assembled and off to the range! slick action, good sights, properly set up for lead boolits and boy howdy! At 15 yards over a rest I got a ragged hole!

So thanks to MCarbo, Triggershims, 4D rentals, and Doug Guy plus a bit of labor I turned a revolver I was going to sell into one that is now my "Watch this" pistol! I love it when a plan comes together!

[Wheelguns 1961]

Good deal! It is a shame that it took ten years though.

[slim1836]

My abilities would not have allowed me to do what you did. Were it mine, I would have sold it 9 1/2 years ago and bought something else. Glad it worked out for you.

Slim

[Static line]

Things must have really turned around for the GP-100. I just bought one most recently and it is all I could ask for. It's good that you are back into a loving relationship with it.

[poppy42]

I had a GP100. It was the best shooting hand gun I ever owned. Wish I still had it.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Congrats to you for doing the work to make it into a shooter. They are very good revolvers and worth the effort.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I had a GP100. It was the best shooting hand gun I ever owned. Wish I still had it.

Me too.........

[Beagle333]

I love my GP100. I bought it back when they first came out and we have been friends since. (that was 1986)

[TNsailorman]

Yes I made the same mistake about a 4" 100 in the early 80's and sold it to a friend who only wanted it for a bedside revolver. He still has it but I do wish I had been more patient and looked around for a solution to the action stiffness. I was not very patient in my younger days, mores the pity. I sent several rifles and revolvers down the road that would probably been great shooters with a little patience on my part. james

[Byrd]

I'm glad now that I didn't sell it. I was prepared to take it to the LGS and put it on consignment. I figured I could get at least $500 for it to put to another gun. Over the years I'd been shooting a S&W M28 and an SP101 as well as 1911's and different 9MM's. I honestly forgot about this one and how bad the trigger was. I love to tinker with guns so that's what started this project. I had never reamed a forcing cone so I wanted a challenge. Just happy the story ended well!

On a side note, at the range I shoot at no one shoots revolvers, and I'm kinda tickled that this project came out so well. It's satisfying to crank a good target back and have another shooter come over to see what I shot it with! When they see the big 100 most don't know what it is. A poor commentary on today's crop of shooters I'd say.

[toallmy]

Glad you got your GP 100 shooting , your patience paid off in the end .

[Shawlerbrook]

Bought mine used and the trigger is great. And they are pretty much bomb proof.

[VariableRecall]

What exactly do those trigger shims do? Do act kind of like a washer spreading the load between the parts? Personally my Model 10-5 has a fantastic trigger for its age and wear, and I suppose I'm a tad spoiled on it. I think the worst double action trigger I've dealt with was a friend's J-Frame revolver, and while it wasn't nearly as good, it was acceptable.

[Gtek]

Is it not a shame that when we purchase with our hard earned money it ends up being a kit gun. Glad to hear of your success story and finishing your kit, I guess they would cost a whole lot more if they were correct and slick!

[Shawlerbrook]

A lot of it is lawyer tuning.

[Byrd]

The shims tighten up the tolerances between parts. When assembled slide an automotive feeler guage between the parts to see how much play you have and divide it by two, that will show you the size of the shims you need. They have to be smaller than the gap to allow the parts to freely move. For example on my hammer, it was showing rub marks on the left side indicating it was rubbing on the frame. The guage showed .015 of play, so I put 220 wet or dry paper on a flat surface and polished out the marks, the re assembled using a .006 on each side of the hammer. This eliminated the play and did away with the rub marks. I did the same with the trigger and hammer dog as well. It tightens up the action and adds to the smoothness of the revolvers action.

[DougGuy]

Good! I love to hear it when a plan comes together!

At least Ruger, in their quest to produce product affordably saves money by using less expensive tooling that wears, which as the tooling wears smaller and smaller. leaves enough metal that we can hone, ream, shim, and polish until it suits us individually instead of one size fits all. What's that old saying about Ruger being the best loved kit gun in America?

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I too, had a Ruger “kit”. My SP101 needed a crown job, throats reamed and honed (fine job by Doug!), replacement springs, cylinder shim, and some light firelapping. Now it’s my go to gun for everything. Thanks to the to the folks here I was able to learn about all this, were as years ago, the info would have been gunsmith knowledge or buried in a book I didn’t know existed.

[dannyd]

Some people think I like Rugers, not really

[megasupermagnum]

What exactly do those trigger shims do? Do act kind of like a washer spreading the load between the parts? Personally my Model 10-5 has a fantastic trigger for its age and wear, and I suppose I'm a tad spoiled on it. I think the worst double action trigger I've dealt with was a friend's J-Frame revolver, and while it wasn't nearly as good, it was acceptable.

Like any shim, all they do is take up space. There are three areas that are usually shimmed in a Ruger double action. Most common is the hammer, specifically between the hammer and the frame. Then there is the trigger. Finally is the hammer dog. Things work better when they are in alignment. Out of the box, all of my Ruger's have been very good. I've worked on 3 GP100's, 2 SP101's, a Redhawk, and an LCR. I did not use any shims in the LCR, it is a bit different, and I decided the triggers was so good I did not need to mess with it. All 3 GP100's came with decent double action triggers, and decent single action triggers of about 4 pounds. Two of the three did have a bit of takeup.

I can't recall what size shims I used, but the triggers in the GP100's fit pretty good, I recall using .002" shims in two of them, and none in the third. Honestly for the effort it takes to align the pin, trigger, and shims, if I ever take it apart, I'm going to leave those shims out. The trigger has raised surfaces so friction is almost non existant. The hammer dog is the big one. In every Ruger I have seen, the hammer dog has been loose as a goose in the hammer. I probably used .010"+ on each side of it. This is a critical component to the double action pull. Finally is the hammer shims. The sides of the hammer are flat, so if it is one side or the other, it will drag inside the frame. You will definitely feel this in a double action pull. It doesn't take much shim, I think I have .002" shims on each side of both mine, and .003" on the third GP100. You don't want a tight fit with any of this, just enough to keep things aligned, and not rubbing. The only other thing I would like to do is add a stop screw for trigger over travel.

Shims alone don't do a ton, but they do set you up for great improvements. With a little work with a stone, a GP100 trigger can get out of this world smooth that will put a S&W to shame. Along with the smoothness, lighter springs do a ton to help lighten the double action pull. In the GP100 there are two springs, one for the trigger return, and one for the hammer. The trigger return spring sits inside the trigger group, inside a bore, and pushes a plunger. The problem is a lot of these have a burr and other junk inside that bore. If you run a drill bit through that bore with your fingers, you will fix that. Then a light cleaning with some steel wool, and that plunger will move free as a bird. You can then use the lightest trigger return spring with 100% confidence. Even if you don't change springs, you should do this. The Hammer spring depends somewhat, but all of mine will work with a lighter spring. If you really want to get deep into it you can shorten the hammer block so it transfers more energy to the transfer bar and firing pin, allowing a lighter hammer spring. I've even seen some skeletonized hammers for increased hammer velocity. There is a ton you can do to a Ruger trigger.