My GP100 44 arrived with 2 issues

I picked GP100 44Special at my FFL's shop today and we discovered two issues with it when we opened the box and removed it from the plastic wrap.
1. The cylinder and frame had what appeared to be dried blood on it.
2. There is a visible gap between the front sight and and the barrel.
The dry blood I can clean up easy enough, but I am wondering if anyone else has noticed this gap between the barrel and the front sight on their GP100 44s.
*A clerk at the gunshop said that he wondered if maybe someone got pistol whipped with it at the factory before it was wrapped and shipped out!

Dried blood.... not surprising.
I bought an SBHBH that had sharp edges in the trigger region that actually cut me when I fired it. A bit of file work fixed that.

Cordite

Cordite said:

Dried blood.... not surprising.
I bought an SBHBH that had sharp edges in the trigger region that actually cut me when I fired it. A bit of file work fixed that.

Cordite

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I figured the technician that test fired the gun might cut his finger and was not very careful when he wiped it down before wrapping it up for shopping. I am curious about the front sight gap.

Looks like they milled the dovetail to shallow. Oe it could just be the sight itself. A replacement sight from Ruger will tell you which. 100 yard chuck could probably tell you what the correct depth of the cut should be.

The dovetail-slot was cut too shallow for that particular sight.
Once cut, the slot can't be deepened and maintain it's shape, but a different sight than was used may fit a lot better.

DGW

Gents,
Thanks for the information. Back to Ruger she goes to correct the front sight and do something about the very sharp edge around the trigger guard.

Pistolero it doesn't make any difference what it is out there, pistols to whatever. There are so many D minus people working in the manufacturing sector not giving a rats azz how things turn out. Its just a sad state of affairs in our country right now IMO. As my friend Thurgood would say, get some silver lick dub and fill up the crack and don't worry about it. If you send it back to ruger I'd be very interested in how they correct your issue.

Pistolero said:

Gents,
Thanks for the information. Back to Ruger she goes to correct the front sight and do something about the very sharp edge around the trigger guard.

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That is what I would do too. It could be the barrels dovetail or the sight,who knows without measuring ? These parts are made on automated machines. If the piece of stock or the barrel are not seated properly in the fixture it will end up out of spec. Ruger will make it right, even if they have to replace the barrel, you will be happy and it will be on their dime.
You have been without a Ruger GP 100 .44 SP for many years, another week or two wont hurt that much. If it does, we will send flowers.

JPGLSG,
I agree. The last two new Rugers I bought had to go back for corrections. This gun makes #3. This will be the last new Ruger that I buy. I have a number of Ruger revolvers and autos that I bought over the years and not one of them had to go back for corrections. I will treasure my old Ruger's but no more new!

No blood on mine,the gap under the sight is the same.

No blood on mine either (yet) but I have the same gap...

magpouch said:

No blood on mine either (yet) but I have the same gap...

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SBH4628 said:

No blood on mine,the gap under the sight is the same.

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Gents,
So far it seems that this front sight gap is just the way this particular gun was made. It will be interesting to find out from the new GP100 44 owners just how many guns have the same gap and how many do not.
Thank you for your feedback.

Interesting, mine also has the same gap, please let us know if they correct that,
Of interest I have the GP100 in .22 with the same sight and until reading this hadn't noticed til now it also has the gap

No, it's not a problem if those who bought these guns requested that their front sights be ill fitted about the width of 4+ Credit Cards out of spec :mrgreen:

I have the same sight gap on the one I got, but other than that the gun seems to be well made and fitted. Barrel gap is good, lock up is like a bank vault. Double action pull is much better than I expected and the single action pull is good. Crane to frame gap is also very good. The finish is good (no dried blood). I can live with the gap under the front sight.

Looking at the gun tested in the gunblast test it also seems to have the same gap.

John,
I appreciate your input.

Maybe the front sight gap is there to enhance cooling of the front sight? Ruger seems to know how you love to hammer these 44 Specials in hot double action sessions.

Very poor quality control!

The dried blood is probably from a newly hired QC person that tried to stop the gun from being shipped without first being corrected.

Be he/she won't try that again.

I just watched Jeff's review on Gunblast.com through my TV, you can clearly see when he's handling the gun that his front sight is the same way. I froze the video at 2:56 and you can see the gap, obviously that's the way they're made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTeD5WbOaGc