Ruger GP100 44SPL--New Thread Here to Update My Old One

As I'm sure many of you saw, I started a thread recently on my new Ruger GP100 in 44SPL. That gun was giving me some accuracy issues so I contacted Ruger and a replacement GP was sent. This new one has half the cylinger gap and a better double action trigger. The single action may be just a smidgen heavier but it is still pretty crisp and should be easy enough to work with.

I don't have but a handful of rounds through the new gun but initial results appear to be positive.

Here is five rounds of the CCI Blazer Gold Dot load from 25 yards. This chronographs in the 825fps range from my barrel.



I didn't use this ammo in the old Ruger so I don't have any comparison.

And here is ten rounds of the plated bullet loaded by Precision One. Much better than from the other gun! No chrono data.



I have a few of my loads using the GT 220gr cast HP and also a few rounds loaded with a 180gr XTP that I'll try to shoot over the weekend. In addition I have 20 rounds of the Underwood Bulldog load. This is loaded just a tiny bit lighter than the full power load. The label on the box says 975fps as opposed to the 1100fps of the full power stuff. Will this be slow enough to stabilize? Hopefully...

On a related note, I recently shot a few rounds of the hot loaded Underwood 200gr Gold Dot through a vintage Taurus 431. This gun is similar to the Ruger in that it has a 3in barrel and what appears to be a 1x20 rifling twist. Well, the Taurus didn’t like this stuff any more than the Ruger did. This stuff keyholed like crazy. So we can only assume at this point that the Gold Dot just can't be properly stabilized by a 3in barrel when pushed to higher than factory CCI velocity.

Tony_the_tiger said:

I've shot the Underwood 200 grain .44 special Gold Dot out of S&W 296 with no issue. Out of the 2.5" barrel it had a 10 shot mean velocity of 916 ft/s.

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Which load? And have they changed the specs on the load since last you've shot it? Also do you happen to know the twist rate on your snubbie?

Thanks.

Just to clarify; the stuff I've shot in the Ruger and the Taurus (both 3in barrel 1x20 twist) has been the 1100fps Gold Dot load.

I have just recently bought a box of the Bulldog load and have not shot yet in either gun. The flap on the box still says 975fps. I haven't shot any of this "reduced power" load yet. Fingers crossed that it'll shoot.

Tony_the_tiger said:

Thanks for clarifying. I'd be interested in an update when you find a moment to get that bulldog load running. I had a favorable impression of it.

Another member here reported case fragility in the blazer aluminum cases so keep an eye out. I stick with brass.

Happy to hear this GP appears to be a finer specimen.

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I've had Blazer cases crack in 9mm but haven't noticed that in 44SPL or 45ACP. But I haven't used Blazer all that much.

I need to experiment with handloading Speer #4427. I could load a few light loads and test for accuracy followed by a few hot loads. This should help determine if the problem is one related to velocity. Brian Pearce has a very stout Gold Dot load listed in his works from 2006 or so when he did a pretty substantial writeup on loading for the Special.

But before I mess with all that I want to see if the Underwood Bulldog load will shoot.

Tony_the_tiger said:

You might consider loading and comparing the 4427 vs the 4428 (210 grain .44 mag boolit) and see what they look like through some gel or water. As I mentioned above the 4427 starts to break up at 900 ft/s in water and if you push it any harder I would expect fragmentation on bone.

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That might be fun to mess with later on down the road. At this time I'm more interested in seeing if I get accuracy problems at higher velocities with the 200gr.

Wouldn't it be interesting if the 4428, being a tougher bullet, actually works well at +P velocity?

Here are today's shooting results.

I am happy to report that Underwood's "Bulldog Only" load seems to shoot okay. I only bought one box (twenty rounds) and shot five on paper at 25 yards. I was very pleased with the group and will try the remaining fifteen rounds on the chronograph and into my block of ballistic gel. If these show good penetration, expansion and consistent muzzle velocity I'll get another couple boxes to play with.



Next up was a Speer 200gr Gold Dot (4427) over 5.9gr of Red Dot. This is a max load according to Speer but it is nice and mild. Feels pretty similar to the factory Blazer stuff. This load appears to be outstanding choice for accuracy. I definitely need to play with this load some more!



Next up was five 200gr Gold Dots loaded with a hot charge of Unique. The powder charge is over max depending on which book I looked at. Note that I had four rounds impact quite closely to the Red Dot load but then one round went way high above the bullseye. This helps reinforce my belief that the hot Underwood loading is just too hot for this combination of twist, barrel and bullet.




Last was a Hornady 180gr XTP. This is also with a pretty decent charge of Unique and again may be above max depending on the source.



No doubt about it. This gun wants to shoot.

I still want to play with some various cast bullets and some factory stuff. I'll get there eventually.

460Shooter said:

Hey glad Ruger took care of you man. The results you were getting in the first thread were a bit disturbing to be sure.

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Was there any doubt? Ruger has always had outstanding customer service.

Auto426 said:

Quick question for you. I noticed on one of the Ruger forums that owners were complaining of their front sight dovetails being a little shallow causing a gap between the barrel rib and the front sight blade. Does your new gun exhibit the same phenomenon? I'm very interested in picking one of these bad boys up, but I'm thinking of waiting for Ruger to work out all of the production kinks before dropping the money on one.

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Yep. Slight gap under the front sight on both old and new guns.

Here is another 25 yard group with the Blazer Gold Dot. This new gun certainly wants to SHOOT!

Good stuff!

MrBorland said:

USBP379, in the interest of completeness...can you provide more info on how you shot these groups? Are they shot from a rest or are they shot unsupported? Double action or single action?

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25 yards from a seated position using a rolled up jacket as a shooting rest. All groups fired single action.

Here is a group with a 250gr (253 +/- on my digital scale) Keith-style cast hollow point from GT Bullets. These are sized .432" as available from the GT website.

Seated. 25 yards. Single action.

Here's something I shot this afternoon. This is five rounds loaded with Unique and Speer's 4428 210gr Gold Dot for the 44 Magnum. I blurred out the load data because it isn't anything published. I don't think it is necessarily a hot load and is under some published data for other 210gr bullets.

Anyway, this one really bares further messing with. I've loaded up 20 of this same load and will get some chrono data and shoot into gel ASAP.

I have a 245gr plated flat point and a 255gr RN LHP loaded with 4.5gr of Titegroup. The 255gr are sized .432 to better fit this revolver's throats. The plated bullets measure .429 so I'm curious to see which if either of these will shoot.

I don't know if I can shoot today or not but I'll update once I have a chance.