Ruger GP-100 .22lr 5.5”

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Finally broke down and purchased the gun I’ve been wanting since they came out. For $617 it’s more than I paid for my used GP100 4” 357 used but, I know it will last several lifetimes and that’s what matters to me. It’ll be a great one to walk around on the hip target shooting or on hikes.

Until I get it in my hands these pictures I found (which are great) will have to do.

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I just ordered it. Couldn’t find one around here, I’ll post pictures and a range report when I get it.
 
I was in between this and the S&W 617, but don’t like the lock in the new S&W guns and this will be lighter in the front without the full lug underneath like the Smith. I do like the look of the full lug of the Smith but there were three strikes against it; Lock, weight up front, and price.
 
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Congrats, beautiful top notch pistol you have there. I am getting ready to purchase the LCR 22lr. Since I one of the most fun guns I own is the LCR9mm, and it gets so much range time, I guess I just have to do it. Shot a friends yesterday and we had the time of our lives. Get fun for sure. Also shot my LCR with 40 moon clips of ammo and actually have more fun with the 9mm, but I am going through so much 9mm ammo with all my guns. Cost is getting up there.
You have a really fantastic revolver. Congratulations!!!
 
I know I'm going to enjoy it, a 22 revolver in general has been on my grail list for a while, and when Ruger came out with this it sold me, just had to wait for funds.
 
very nice, I've got the new syle SP101 22 and it is my favorite plinker for the range.
 
Nice! Love my GP100 357.

Vacillating between buying this or a sp101 in .22lr.
Do yourself a favor and just go straight to the GP. You aren't looking at much more money, it holds two more rounds, a full size grip is a benefit, and most importantly, the longer hammer allows for more leverage on the hammer strike, allowing for a lighter trigger pull. The hammer doesn't have to be sprung quite so hard.

I had a 22lr SP101 and I got rid of it due to the crap trigger. It had other issues too, but the trigger was the main issue.

I'm torn between this gun and an older 17-3. this is much more affordable though.
 
Do yourself a favor and just go straight to the GP. You aren't looking at much more money, it holds two more rounds, a full size grip is a benefit, and most importantly, the longer hammer allows for more leverage on the hammer strike, allowing for a lighter trigger pull. The hammer doesn't have to be sprung quite so hard.

I had a 22lr SP101 and I got rid of it due to the crap trigger. It had other issues too, but the trigger was the main issue.

I'm torn between this gun and an older 17-3. this is much more affordable though.

Well, I just ended up buying the Ruger LCR22 to go along with my LCR9mm which is one of the most fun guns I have shot. I am a big fan of pocket guns and so the Ruger LCR22 will get a lot of action for training.
I was thinking about another 22.rifle. However I am wondering how well the SP101 would be with a scope on it for distances up to 100 yards?
 
Well, I just ended up buying the Ruger LCR22 to go along with my LCR9mm which is one of the most fun guns I have shot. I am a big fan of pocket guns and so the Ruger LCR22 will get a lot of action for training.
I was thinking about another 22.rifle. However I am wondering how well the SP101 would be with a scope on it for distances up to 100 yards?

I would read @460Shooter post above. When researching the sp101 and GP100 .22’s there were lots of people complaining about the trigger on the sp101. And it makes sense like he said that the GP100 with the larger hammer can handle a lighter pull weight as it has more mass/momentum to hit the firing pin with.

If you do want the sp101 I would research how people’s results are after some trigger work. I know that some were working on the trigger trying to find a balance of lighter DA trigger pull and reliable ignition of the primers.

But as you state for a long range scoped .22 or revolver there are some limitations with the sp101 namely the trigger and the smaller grip. Both of which can probably be remedied, but will end up costing more than the GP100. But if you want the size and are willing to spend some time and money on working with the sp101, that’s for you to decide.
 
Well it arrived yesterday, so went and picked it up and snapped a few pictures. It came with a generic ruger plastic hard case, with cable lock and manual. I love the size and balance of it and feel it will be a really fun revolver to hone my skills, especially in DA. The trigger is horribly heavy in DA, I don't know what the pull weight is, and will find out when my trigger gauge gets here. I think it will be necessary to have the trigger gone through and lighten it up a fair amount, until then I'm going to put quite a few rounds through it and see how the trigger settles in, but I anticipate that there will be a trip to a gunsmith for some trigger work.

Overall, it's a $600 production gun, I nitpicked it below, but with some polishing here and there and some trigger work eventually it will be a really nice piece to pass down one day.

Trigger: DA: very heavy pull and a tiny amount of grit in the DA trigger pull but feel this will smooth out quickly with use. SA: smooth and crisp break, could be lightened a tiny bit in the end.

Fit: everything feels tight and the crane to frame reveal looks good, as well as the barrel to frame reveals on each side look symmetrical. The crown looks nice and has a nice recess for protection. There is a slight misalignment of the hammer spur to the rest of the hammer.

The sear alignment is off to the left by a 1/16" or so (see picture), don't know if there is any slight performance issues with that or not, I would think not but I'm no expert.

Finish: The finish has some polishing marks left, that I will try and lightly polish out, but overall looks good.

It came with a few firing pin marks on a couple of the cylinders (looks to be the test cylinders from factory), but not severe, need to get my snap caps out and dryfire the trigger a bunch.

The main concern with the finish is the trigger guard, there is very rough mill marks on each side of the trigger guard (see pictures) and on the underside of the trigger guard. The underside of the trigger guard will chafe on my middle finger as I handle and operate the hammer. The corners of the trigger guard were fairly sharp and need to be dressed down to a radius to match the inside edges of the guard. The rear corners of the hammer are a little sharp as well and will nee to be tuned up.

The bevel on the frame behind the hammer just above the grip (see picture) is not quite symetrical.

Grip: points well and fills the hand, don't know if I'll even change the grip as the standard grips on the GP100 line are pretty nice as they are. I'll shoot it and see how it works for me, my GP100 in .357 came with hogue finger grooved grips and the standard grips and I like both of those.

Sights: really nice and easy to pick up, like that they are adjustable as I'm hoping to do some target work with this revolver. The sights may end up being a little wide in the end for target work, but I'll cross that road when I get there. I think I will most likely be keeping the stock sights as this will be carried in the field on hikes and such with the family.

As you can see in the picture the rear sight is drifted to the left from center, will check sight alignment when I get out and shoot it.

Once I get time to get out and shoot it, I'll report back with my experiences.

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What would you recommend using to radius the inside and outside corners of the trigger guard?

My thoughts were just get some 3M oxide sandpaper and hand tune it while progressively getting lighter in grit as I go, and then finish it with some mothers polish, does this sound right? Didn't know if anyone has any tricks on getting a uniform radius on both the inside and outside corners.
 
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What would you recommend using to radius the inside and outside corners of the trigger guard?

My thoughts were just get some 3M oxide sandpaper and hand tune it while progressively getting lighter in grit as I go, and then finish it with some mothers polish, does this sound right? Didn't know if anyone has any tricks on getting a uniform radius on both the inside and outside corners.
That's what I would do.
 
What would you recommend using to radius the inside and outside corners of the trigger guard?

My thoughts were just get some 3M oxide sandpaper and hand tune it while progressively getting lighter in grit as I go, and then finish it with some mothers polish, does this sound right? Didn't know if anyone has any tricks on getting a uniform radius on both the inside and outside corners.

I'd just use the sandpaper followed with a Scotchbrite pad cut into small pieces. Polish will make it shiny, but the rest of that gun has a brushed finish. Scotchbrite pads replicate brushed finishes pretty well.
 
I checked out the GP100 in 22 LR and decided the S&W 617 was worth the extra money. Much better trigger in both double action and single. Much better fit & finish also.
 
Update:

Went out and shot the GP100 .22lr yesterday and here are some first impressions. I only shot one type of ammo Federal American Eagle 38gr HP, but I have about 10 different types that I will try at a later date, just shot what I had with me.

Reliability: Out of the 50 rounds I fired, I had 10 light strikes. When I rotated the cartridge and restriked them, they all went bang.

Shootability:
It points well for me, very natural. The fiber front sight is very easy to pick up, but quite wide for any target work, in the future I will change this out for a narrower fiber sight blade. The very stiff double action trigger that has some grit in the travel starts to wear on your hand over time. The SA trigger is nice, but could be better with some polishing no doubt. I wouldn't call this particular revolver a finished product in that regard, it will definitely need some trigger work.

Accuracy:
From 20 feet it was relatively easy to hit 1.5" spinners after figuring out the sights, these particular sights were set for POI=POA which made it a little difficult as the front post nearly covered the whole spinner at that distance.


I brought some Winchester 36gr HP to try out today, as I only have a little time after work to test.

If I continue to have light strike issues and given the fact that I'm going to have a gunsmith go through the action and trigger, do I even bother sending it back to Ruger for the light strike issues?
 
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I checked out the GP100 in 22 LR and decided the S&W 617 was worth the extra money. Much better trigger in both double action and single. Much better fit & finish also.

I was torn between the two and let the fact that I have a GP100 in .357, the S&W lock and the better perceived balance of the Ruger with the lack of full underlug persuade me into the Ruger, with the trigger I received, I'm not so sure I made the right decision. But after having the trigger work done, I'm sure it will be a great shooter, but I will have probably $50-100 more into this Ruger then I would a stock S&W 617, but I may end up with a nicer trigger in the end. I'll just have to wait and see.

But I don't blame you for considering the 617, as the Ruger's trigger on this is horrendously heavy and has several bumps along the way on the DA pull. Ruger needs to spend some time on their triggers before leaving the factory, I would pay an extra $50 easy on the MSRP for some fit and finish in that area.
 
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Reliability: Out of the 50 rounds I fired, I had 10 light strikes. When I rotated the cartridge and restriked them, they all went bang.


If I continue to have light strike issues and given the fact that I'm going to have a gunsmith go through the action and trigger, do I even bother sending it back to Ruger for the light strike issues?

Since you rotated the cartridges and they fired on the second try, I wouldn't blame the gun yet.

However, your pics show some dry fire hits from the firing pin onto some of the chambers. Do unfired rounds seat fully in those chambers? Or, do you think the ammo in those chambers don't seat all the way until the firing pin hits them?

Honestly, if your getting a gunsmith trigger job I'd let him sort it out and check out those dry fire hits. Might be worth while to have him polish the chambers as well.

My last Ruger revolver (Single Six) had rough chambers from the factory and ammo wouldn't seat properly after the chambers got fouled. It only took a few cylinders worth of firing to make ammo hard to seat. I polished them myself with a cleaning rod tip chucked in a electric drill and used a cleaning patch with polish on it to polish out the tooling marks.

The chamber polish job with a mild trigger job made that gun very nice to shoot.
 
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To be honest, the trigger on the 617 I got was kind of gritty feeling but after firing a few hundred rounds it did smooth right up
 
I handled one of those at the LGS a few months ago. The DA trigger on that one was very nice. Luck is a cruel mistress.
 
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