New Owner of a GP100

Hello all!
I am brand new to this board as well as a brand new gun owner. I just purchased a brand new GP100 SS 6". I have yet to fire it as I just got it yesterday. I have tried to buy one for a year, but they are very hard to come by used and at a decent price. I purchased this one brand new from a dealer for $602 after tax.

I have two questions which I'm sure have been covered before, but hopefully they aren't too dumb, I'm just trying to educate myself.

1. Do I need to do anything to my gun first before I take it to the range to shoot for the first time?

2. What is some good, but cheap .38 ammo I take to the range and shoot targets?

Gibson said:

1) Not a thing.

2) Walmart, Federal or WWB.

Nice going on what seems to be a fine gun. Just got mine last night, still cleaning and shining. I'm obsessive. . .

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Good advice. I might add a brief cleaning, but not required; just run a patch to make sure your barrel is clean and unobstructed.

Congrats on your new GP!

Welcome to RugerForum!

Thanks for the welcoming and quick answers....my next question was about cleaning....what all do I need to get for cleaning? I saw a lot of different cleaning kits. In fact Gander Mountain.has an Liters 62-piece kit onsale for $29.99 is that good?

Congratulations! The GP is a fine weapon. Hop on the Saddle grab the reins and take her for a ride. Let us know how she shoots

Don't overdo it. For the barrel, just a stiff nylon brush (of correct size) with a bit of Hoppes, then a couple of patches. I usually just run a clean dry patch thru the cylinders if there is no visible gunk. You will soon discover some ammo is clean, some is filthy. The PMC stuff I like so well left my bore looking like it had been copper plated! I ignored it and it eventually went away after shooting some others brands.

One thing. If you shoot 38's mostly, and also expect to shoot 357's, you have to be aware of the slight "ring" you can burn in at the very front of the chamber (front of the chamber, not front of the cylinder). This has to be cleaned very well or you risk you 357 cases being stuck on ejection. There are now some 357 loads loaded as light as 38's (like Black Hills Cowboy Action) if you want to just stick with 357 ammo.

killowatt59 said:

Thanks for the welcoming and quick answers....my next question was about cleaning....what all do I need to get for cleaning? I saw a lot of different cleaning kits. In fact Gander Mountain.has an Liters 62-piece kit onsale for $29.99 is that good?

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A decent rod and brush, a pack of patches, some Hoppes and a good oil and you'll be fine!

You will soon learn why Ruger owners are such fanatics. Don't forget to try some .357 mags (if that's the caliber you got) to appreciate the heft of that thing in your hand, absorbing all the recoil.

Gibson said:

killowatt59:

You must have started in negative numbers. You've got two posts in this thread and are sitting at "0" on your post count on my screen.

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I noticed that too. :shock:

Killowatt59, welcome to the forum. The GP-100 is a very good and accurate gun. .38 specls will feel like .22 out of that gun. I generally don't shoot .38's out of my.357's anymore, and I don't own a .38 anymore. I reload so I use 13.5 grs 2400 with 158 gr LSWC for plinking and woods carry in mag cases. I envy you I sold my GP-100 when I needed money 10 years ago, it was replaced with a Redhawk in .44 mag. The GP shot better.
gramps

Welcome to the forum! Giving a new gun a thorough cleaning is not a bad idea. I have flushed incredible amounts of gunk out of new guns, and that's not only Rugers. Not all assembly areas are kept spotless, and there's always some assembly grease in there.

If all you have is that one gun, you don't need one of those "multi-caliber" cleaning kits. A cleaning rod, a couple brushes for ".38", an old toothbrush, a pack of patches, a bottle of Hoppe's and a small bottle of gun oil (I like Rem Oil) will do. The rest is some clean cloth (I use old t-shirts) for wiping.

Mke sure the gun is unloaded, and remove the rubber grip before cleaning the gun. I don't trust the cleaning products' claim they won't harm the rubber, and a bit of prevention is better than having to buy a replacement.

Enjoy that GP100. It's a really fine gun. I know. I shoot one at least once a week.

Thanks for all the responses guys they have been a big help. I am definitely looming forward to my first trip to range Saturday. When searching for what gun I wanted the River was the most consistent gun out there. People just didn't have any bad things to say about the GP100. Which is why they are hard to find used I guess.


I've got the cleaning part down after you guys comments and watching the ruger video.
I'm still trying to figure out what brand of type of .38s to use. .38s are just cheaper for range shooting than the .357. There are so many types, does it really matter? I don't want to hurt the gun. Also has anyone used Georgia Arms? Seems like a pretty good price though they are reloads.

you won't hurt your gun with any .38 spec factory ammo. Or any .357 factory ammo. The GP !00 is bult like a tank. If you shoot mostly .38 ammo just clean the cylinder so you don't get the carbon ring in the cylinder from the shorter .38 case. Don't buy any ammount at one time. Try one brand at a time and try it. Sooner or later the gun will tell you what brand it likes. I don't know about Georgia Arms, I load all my ammo. I would recommend factory fresh ammo.

Sax.45 said:

Don't buy any ammount at one time. Try one brand at a time and try it. Sooner or later the gun will tell you what brand it likes. I don't know about Georgia Arms, I load all my ammo. I would recommend factory fresh ammo.

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+1 to that.

The Winchester USA, Remington UMC and Federal American Eagle are all so cheap there is no need to shoot reloads (unless you loaded them yourself). Avoid the exotic personal defense and law enforcement specialty stuff for now. It is wildly expensive. I also like PMC and Magtech.

btw, to put 38, 38+P and 357 magnum into perspective for you. Consider the SAAMI standard loading specifications:

38 = 17,000 psi max average operating pressure.
38+P = 18,500 psi max average operating pressure.
357 Magnum = 35,000 psi max average operating pressure.

Both the 38 loads are pipsqueak compared to the magnum. The difference in blast and recoil is not small. It is quite large. There are a lot of guys here who just don't think they have been shooting unless they spent the day creating as much boom and recoil as possible. I'm on the other side of the fence. I prefer the dinky loads.

There may be some factory oil in the action, that Ruger puts on to prevent rust during shipping and storage. There is usually a coat of oil on the external of the gun too, and probably in the bore. In case the gun sits in Rugers store room for years they don't want them rusting up.

I would break it down and give it a quick wipe out. You don't have to do this, I bought my 2008 production GP100 brand new in box and took it out and fired it before I even got inside my house 8) I didn't break it down to clean it for almost a year, and there wasn't a lot of factory oil in the action.

I use Eezox for rust protection and cleaning and haven't had a problem. The power went out at my house for several days once, and my dehumidifier wasn't on.......several of my "beater" rifles had some rust on them, but my Eezoxed blued revolvers that I store in Bore Store cases were fine.

+1 for sax.45
After a while, if you shoot enough, you might want to try reloading, even if on the cheap with the Lee Loader (whack-a-mole). If so, then one can reload .38 spl. loads in .357 mag cases, resulting in no more carbon rings in your cylinder.
I shot some .38+P power level (loaded in .357 mag cases) in my GP100 today, and it was exactly like shooting my Mark I target .22 rimfire. At least that's how it felt. The GP is so heavy and steady it feels like a Tiger tank from WW2.

Okay, I lucked out and got a box of 100 Remington UMC .38 +p at Walmart for $36.00 total . Then I bought a box of .357 mags of Blazer at Gander Mt. I am going to go to range this weekend for my first shoot, so hopefully that will go well.

I also picked up a Hoppe's pistol cleaning kit for $9.99 and I got some patches. So hopefully I should be taken care of there. Can't wait to get out on the range!

Please, please tell us of your experiences with your new GP after you return after the range.
Of course, that's assuming you can negotiate this new "upgrade" to the forum, which conveniently forgot everyone's password, and assigned new ones.

huh? Mine still works. It DID con me into posting the same post about fortyleven times though. Seems stable now.

wolfee,
Good for you.
Not so much for me.
Works now, though.

I really love mine it's a fun gun to shoot especially with .38 loads, and hardly any recoil, even for me, a female!