Gap-100 fixed sights

[Dwane]

Found at a local gun show today a .38 special half lug blue with fixed sights. I have never seen a GP-100 with fixed sights. Anyone know anything about this? Rugers website shows a 2008 birthday. Serial number 175-513xx. Any help from the experts here would be great. Oh and finally meeting Mr. Don Findley today was a real treat.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

There have been runs of fixed sight GP 100's. I have a 3" .357. It is very accurate and well regulated for 158 gr. loads. They are not particularly rare.

 

[hittman]

I don't know when they quit making the blued 3 inch GPs but you sure don't see them around these parts. Stainless .... yes, but blued are pretty scarce here.

 

[Dwane]

Interesting, and thanks for the replies. I went and measured and this one has a 4 inch barrel. And this one is marked.38 special not.357. It is also the half lug model.It is also fitted with the newer hogue mono grip. I am under no grand illusion that its anything rare, just have never seen a GP - 100 with fixed sights. Thanks for your pictures as well very cool.

 

[eveled]

Mine is a four inch fixed sight too. But it is stainless, full lug, & .357

 

[hittman]

I think the story is that the blued 4 inch fixed site half lug GPs were originally meant for a foreign law enforcement agency. Stupidly, I passed on one a number of years ago. Lots of GP or Ruger double action collectors would like that one to fill an empty spot in their accumulation. I've never seen another one locally for sale.

Some folks look down their nose at a GP or Six Series double action chambered in .38 Special. I'm not one of those.

 

[k22fan]

Blued 4" .38 Special GP-100s were made both half lug and full lug. Neither are scarce but you would not likely find either quickly if you shopped for one. Since they were basically service weapons I don't understand why while Ruger's standard GP-100 grips were Lett rubber grips with wood inserts these 4 inchers got the small size. Compared to all other fixed sight revolvers that have the rear sight cut into the top strap these Rugers have the biggest easiest to see sights I've seen. I prefer blued fixed sight revolvers over stainless ones because light reflections can make the all stainless sight troublesome.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

I have a half-lug stainless .38 made in the early 1990s. The story I got with it (for free!) is that it was an over-run from a batch done for US Customs before it became ICE after 9/11. Since it has no LEA markings, I've always doubted that, but it's an excellent shooter, so I've kept it, history or no.

I BELIEVE that most GP .38s were either made for US government or LEA use when .38s were the issue caliber, or were intended for export to countries where .38 Special is the largest caliber allowed for civilians and a common private security guard weapon caliber. That doesn't make it true.

But I've seen GPs carried by private security AND government anti-terrorist cops in France and by security in Italy and Latin America. The French ones were .357s; the rest .38s, as far as I could tell. Asking a cop, especially the CRS in France, about his weapon is a kinda risky business....

Some of the recent .38s that have dribbled out from Ruger may just be a cleanup of existing parts, knowing that us "Jeep" nuts will scoop 'em up!

All of these early GPs are scarce in CA because of our stupid/insane "safe gun list" requirements. None of them are C&R, so they are too dangerous to "import" from other states (new ones aren't). BUT (the big butt), if you're MOVING here and own one, you can bring it in as long as you get a background check in a short period after you show up. And take the state gun safety test (a joke to any serious shooter), and pay the state for both.

Mine must have been "imported" before the stupid list went into force. It passed background check fine, and so did I. Our mandatory background check is called "DROS," rhymes with "gross." Nobody knows what that means.

 

[k22fan]

The story that came free with my blued 4" .38 GP-100 is not quite as good. The salesman said it probably (note: only probably) was surplused by a security guard company or prison system. Oh well. I guess I couldn't have expected a story asserted as absolute fact for $350. Considering the huge quantity of S&W Model 10s that ordinary folks bought for themselves I question attributing all of these to government and guard company purchases.

 

[Dwane]

Lots of great information. Thank you all for your wisdom. I like it I think it will join my collection.

 

[FergusonTO35]

I'm still kicking myself for not buying a brand new KGPF-840 (stainless half lug fixed sights 4" .38 Special) in 2002 for $400.00. That was high for a GP-100 back then but this is such an uncommon model I should have just swallowed it and been happy. Mike Armstrong, if you would ever like to part with yours give me a holler.

 

[NH Rugerman]

I don't know when they quit making the blued 3 inch GPs but you sure don't see them around these parts. Stainless .... yes, but blued are pretty scarce here.

Been looking for one of these with the Ruger compact grip for 15 yrs, always have been a day late or a few dollars short...I just like/prefer blued revolvers...

 

[FergusonTO35]

Ruger once made a bewildering variety of GP's, wish they still did. Every now and again they do a run of oddballs, like the 5" adjustable sight .38 Special awhile back.

 

[wolfee]

About 3 years ago Davidson's received a boatload of 4", full lug, blued, fixed sight, 38 only guns. They ran a promo at more than $200 below line item guns. The sale ran for 30 days and they sold hundreds. I bought one and have since put 1000's of trouble free rounds thru it. btw, I don't know if it is common to Ruger double actions, but after a lot of use the single action trigger pull has gone from not so good to pretty good with no gunsmithing. The gun arrived with the latest edition of Hogue grips which I swapped out for a set of Ruger "panel" grips. They aren't as good at soaking up recoil as the fat Hogues but this is a 40 ounce gun and just doesn't kick much with 38's. Most of the experts here surmised these were an overrun of a police contract.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

One of the many things I like about GP .38s is that they are very comfortable to shoot with .38 standard velocity loads and not bad with +P. You can shoot a lot and get really friendly with the revolver without shooter fatigue. And you don't have to scrape, scour, or blast the carbon ring out of in front of the chamber to reliably shoot .357s later....because they won't chamber anyway!

My GP .38s recoil about like a .22 handgun with the old 158 gr. roundnose loads the police made do with for about 50 years. Less with the 130 gr. FMJ that the DOD bought so many of (WHY?).

 

[wolfee]

Mike, one of the best things about a 38, for a plinker guy like me, is the endless variety of factory 38 loadings. My favorite hot rod load is a Magtech "First Defense" +P all copper job. Only 95 gr but I chronoed them way over 1200fps. Cabelas blew them out on special cheap enough to use as a range blaster. Now, I buy the Copper Only Projectiles 110gr from Midwayusa. These are +P and chrono just under 1200. But, the chrono shows wide standard deviation and makes me think they aren't being too precise in their production. Factory spec is only 1050. This stuff is priced cheaper than a lot of conventional lead loads.

At the other end I shoot Remington 148 wadcutters. You need to keep a sharp eye out to make sure these things make it out of the barrel! My sights seem to be regulated well for only the hottest loads. The wadcutters are about 6" low at 25 yards.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Thanks, Wolfee. I'll be on the lookout for some all-copper .38s since we are now apparently required to carry them if carrying a revolver on public lands! The USFS/CA LEA thinking appears to be this:

Recreational shooting (what we call plinking) is banned on most National Forests in Southern California (fire hazard).
If you are carrying a handgun on USFS land, you therefore must be hunting (and have a hunting license).
If you're hunting, you must carry non-lead ammunition (to "save the California Condor").

You can see how even the "best intentions" (which I very much doubt at least some of our legislators had when passing these laws) can lead to some apparently unintended consequences which make criminals of unsuspecting people.

 

[wolfee]

Here is the link:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/411810/copper-only-projectiles-cop-ammunition-38-special-p-110-grain-solid-copper-hollow-point-lead-free-box-of-25

btw, if you need non lead 9mm try the Winchester Super Clean NT. This is weird stuff. Conventional jacketed bullet but it is a copper jacket around a pure TIN core. Primer and powder are so clean the inside of fired cases looks like they had been polished with steel wool. They discontinued them in 38, but I used to use em to clean my gun! Primer material is a compromise chemistry (for non toxicity) that theoretically is not as reliable as regular ammo. Winchester cautions not to use for police or personal defense.

 

[FergusonTO35]

My GP .38s recoil about like a .22 handgun with the old 158 gr. roundnose loads the police made do with for about 50 years. Less with the 130 gr. FMJ that the DOD bought so many of (WHY?).

The best explanation I have read for the 130 grain FMJ .38 Special used by DOD is that way back in the day Winchester thought that the .38 Super was going to take off in sales for some reason and/or the military was going to switch to it from the .45 Auto. So they went on to produce something like a couple billion .357 130 grain FMJ slugs. Of course that never happened, but they worked well enough in .38 revolvers for DOD to buy them and of course we see them in cheap Winchester .38 Special ammo to this day.