Ruger GP 100 in .357 Mag - What's your opinion?

[Mr. T]

Just wondering how many of you own or have owned the Ruger GP 100 in .357 Mag and what your thoughts are on it? I have owned mine now for about 5 years or more and recently at the range I was shooting targets and noticed the cylinder wasn't rolling as smoothly as it usually did. It was almost like it's timing was off or there was something interfering with the cylinder's actuation. Just curious as to how many of you might have experience the same thing? I took it home and cleaned it up and the last time I shot it it was fine; I'm still just wondering if there's something to be concerned about internally...maybe something more is wrong. I don't want to take it to the field to rely on it if something more might be wrong. Any advice would be welcome.

 

[W.E.G.]

Lots of Break-Free and detail cleaning.

Have you ever fully stripped your gun?

If this guy can do it, anybody can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnTeSxRppiI

 

[rswartsell]

You need to be a little more specific about the malfunction. From what you have said it would be easy to believe some fouling under the cylinder star that cleaned off. Could be other things also. Go to the sticky that says revolver check out and perform the tests and report here the results as a start.

 

[Mr. T]

I've never taken it completely apart like the guy in the video. I'll give that a try and a thorough cleaning; hopefully that will do it. I guess I'm an idiot I always thought that all you had to do with a revolver is give it a regular cleaning. I kind of feel like an idiot now. Thanks for you help W.E.G.!

 

[rswartsell]

You are not an idiot. Many shooters own revolvers for years and many 1000's of rounds and NEVER disassemble. I hope the cleaning does it for you. What kind of ammo are you using?

 

[David E]

What it sounds like is that you have unburnt powder underneath the extractor star. Either on the cylinder and/or under the star itself.

Push the ejector rod fully and brush out those areas. I suspect it'll start working right again.

If not, time for a detail strip !!

 

[T191032]

What's my opinion? Best handgun I ever owned (KGP-161), and like a dummy I traded it off. :banghead: Now, to buy new or used, I think they've gotten a bit too pricey for me to look for one again.

Hope you get your situation resolved.

 

[BridgeTooFar]

Best revolver I've ever owned. No ideas on the issues you're having, but I love mine. Carry it whenever I'm hunting and it'll ride shotgun in the truck on occasion.

 

[Legionnaire]

Yeah, sounds like something a detail cleaning should fix. I have a couple of GPs (3-inch and 4-inch) and think they are great guns! Have said elsewhere that if I could only have one handgun (heaven forbid), it would be a stainless 4-inch GP100.

 

[aka108]

Had a SP101 in 9mm that did the same thing. Cyl. would almost lock up. Had it worked on 2x and the problem would come back after less than a box of ammo went thru it. Was not filled with dirt and none of the primers were not fully set. I sold it.

 

[jhansman]

Yeah, I had one and let it get away. Dumb. :banghead: Can't afford one now, but when I had it, it was a great revolver to own. Never had the problem the OP mentioned. Mine just worked and worked.... Sigh.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Best handgun I ever owned (KGP-161), and like a dummy I traded it off.

Me too brother. Traded mine for a Winchester auto shotgun. I'd give two of those shotguns now to have it back.

 

[RUT]

>>if I could only have one handgun (heaven forbid), it would be a stainless 4-inch GP100.<<

Were it to be a revolver, I agree! I like my 4" so much I went out and ordered a brandy new 3" "Compact" today!

 

[461]

Sounds like a good cleaning is needed. My GP is one of my "Cold Dead Hands" guns.

 

[L-Frame]

Great guns. I've had 2 gunsmiths, who were very good friends of mine so they didn't have any economic interest, tell me that the average Joe need never (and probably shouldn't) disassemble their revolvers. They both said that could do a decent business just reassembling revolvers that people couldn't put back together, lost parts, etc. Of course this was before you could watch someone do it online.

 

[GP100man]

clean under the star good , then a lite oilin at the front end of the cyl , Ive seen enuff carbon blown in there to slow cyl. rotation.

I blast mine with a good brake kleen blow it out with compressed air then relube .

I`m startin to lean towards Hoppie`s regular gun oil for this task , 1 drop works & does`nt attract carbon & grit too bad .

The 3 revolvers that get shot regularly are : GP100 4" SS, GP100 6" SS & a Redhawk 7 1/2" SS.

I can`t even get the yougens to shoot the 22s anymore!!

 

[harmon rabb]

I have a 4" in .357. Love it. Accurate, nice trigger, .38spl feels like a .22, .357 isn't that bad. If I could only own one handgun, it's the one I'd keep.

It looks mean and intimidating just sitting there. Plus, if you run out of ammo, you could truly do some damage using the thing as a bludgeoning weapon

 

[Rexster]

My oldest GP100 was purchased new about 1990-1991. My newest is from a recent special run of 5" sixguns, and has yet to be fired. Best all-around .357 DA sixguns on the planet, in my opinion. (S&W L-frames of just the right vintage can be almost as good. )

Gunk can build up under the extractor star, and cause any revolver with that type of extraction to gum up. Notably, my two older GP100s have concentric grooves milled into that spot; "grunge" grooves to mitigate the effects of dirty ammo. Life is good.