Ruger GP100's aren't S&W 686's, but then again, the S&W's ain't what they used to be, either. I have owned a early production S&W 686 4", but traded it away and kept my Rugers. Still, I probably will have regrets one day. I have a S&W mod.65 in 3" bought in late 2000 that's pretty good, but the action out of the box doesn't compare to the older Smiths. To me, this narrows the differences between Rugers and Smiths.
I did go the Wolff spring route on my GP's, and I did this very carefully and I'm holding on to all the original springs. While I tested for ignition reliability using reloads with CCI primers (supposedly pretty hard compared to others) and had no problems, I'm still mindful of others' experiences. So far, so good!
The 3" fixed sight GP's are my favorites, but the 4" GP's are a real close second. I won't part with either!
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