GP 100 Vs Old Six series

[Ruger1nut]

I am not a huge DA guy but have picked up a couple old Six series guns recently. It got me thinking about the differences between them and the new GP series

I know or have heard the old Six series was costly to product. aside from that what are the pros and cons of each?

Dave

 

[hittman]

I've only got one GP and haven't shot it yet 'cause it's a "D" serial number. However, I've got ... well ... a "few" Security, Service and Speed Six's.

For me, being a Six Series lover, there was just never any reason to jump to the GP's My first ever gun purchase was a 4" blue Service Six in about 1977. The Six Series are true classics and I like the older stuff with character. To me, newer guns are too much like a cookie cutter.

I doubt anybody could ever wear out either one even on a heavy steady diet of full house .357 loads. There's lots of threads here on the Six Series guns and anyone with a complaint is darn few and far between.

 

[stantheman86]

The GP100 was an "update" to the Six series, I don't know the technical term but Ruger changed the way they did the casting to cut costs, and the frame was more of an "L" size as a result.

The main weakness, if it is one, is that the Six used the extractor rod as the front locking point for the cylinder, and heavy magnums, over time would loosen them up in the crane and bend the rod if the loads were REAL hot. I have a couple well used Service Sixes that have some play in the crane on lockup, and one that had a bent rod I had to straighten. The GP100 eliminated these issues with the crane lock.

I have plenty of both the Sixes and GP's, I must have about 10 of each and love them both for different reasons. I heavily favor the fixed sight versions of both. The Service and Speed Six are classic service revolvers and always will be, and are strong and durable enough for 99.9% of us and wearing one out would be a real challenge. The GP is IMO the epitome of modern revolver design, combining affordability and durability. Both of them are fighting guns, first and foremost, the Six was born to be a police duty gun and compete with the S&W K-frame Magnums. People say the Rugers aren't as "slick" or "pretty" as S&W, but they never tried to be.

 

[roaddog28]

I am a huge Six fan too. I still feel the Six series was the best DA revolver Ruger ever made. A lot of theorys on why Ruger discontinued them. Some say it was because Ruger never made any money off them. But the reported sales was well over a million of them. Some how I can't believe a company would make and sell over a million of any product and claim "they did not make any money" and discontinue them.

My take on why Bill Ruger discontinued them. S&W introduction of the L frame 586/686 series of revolvers. This was done to address the weaknesses of the K frame magnum shooting 357 magnums. So Ruger copyed the same size revolver and called it the GP100. I don't think there was any reported weakness in the Security Six and I believe Ruger just did not want two medium size revolvers in there line. I also believe if Ruger once again started production of the Six series they could not keep up with the demand. I still feel the Six series would out sell the GP100 2 to 1.

My take.
Regards,
Howard

 

[mattsbox99]

I like them both, but I prefer the GP as its a tough as a brick house. I run the GP in competition and have one being turned into a 10MM by Clements now.

 

[FergusonTO35]

On the other side of the fence, I like and own both of them but prefer the Six. Nearly all my centerfire revolver shooting is with .38 Special +P and the Service Six is the perfect gun for that cartridge.

 

[stantheman86]

I still treat my Sixes like I do my S&W K-frame .357's......I shoot mostly .38's out of my Sixes, when I shoot magnums they go through my GP100's. Not that I feel my Sixes can't handle .357's, but I see no need to shoot a round I rarely use for carry in my Sixes. Plus, .357's are harder on ANY revolver, regardless of what it is. Even the mighty GP100 can be loosened with hot .357, I bought one used that was beat up from hot handloads, it can and will happen eventually. The Six and GP100 will last forever if you shoot mostly .38's.

For the rare times I carry a .357 actually loaded with .357's it is also a 4" GP100 that gets the job.

If you like the Sixes, start buying them now, the prices are creeping up on them.

Sadly I think we'll be waiting a LONG time for Ruger to gear up and start putting out more DA Six revolvers. The SP101 has taken over as the small frame multi purpose carry .357, and the GP is the medium frame "all purpose" .357. I do miss the fixed sight 4" full and half lug GP100's, those being dropped left a huge hole in the lineup, but Ruger says police dept's and security companies don't order them anymore, so they dropped them. I wish Ruger would bring back the 3" GP's, which they make very sparingly if at all anymore.

 

[FergusonTO35]

Heck, I would be happy if they just shrunk the GP to the size of the Six series.

 

[Anonymous]

I had a Security Six in the late Seventies. Stainless, 4 inch barrel. The only improvement I see in the GP is the crane lock (very good), and the more easily changed front sight (minor, how often do most people change a front sight, once?). The problem I have with a GP is the "tang" the grip goes on. I prefer the traditional two panel grip design.

I often pester the "Tell The CEO" section of Ruger's site that I would love for them to reintroduce the SP-101 in .22LR, without the tang, please!

 

[FergusonTO35]

I agree with you 100%. I think Ruger should've just added GP-100 mechanicals to the Six series and called it good, or at least kept the Service and Speed Sixes in .38 Special on a limited production basis like they do with the .38 Special GP-100.

 

[stantheman86]

It all comes down to budget, Ruger can make the GP for less then the Six series, while still offering a medium frame .357 in blue and stainless.

People have been screaming for the .22 SP101 to come back but Ruger refuses to listen. As much as I love Ruger they have a knack for watching a huge market pass them by. I have been asking them to consider a pump 12 ga. shotgun for years, and they always respond they have no plans at this time to produce a pump shotgun......I always thought a rock solid, tank tough Ruger 12 gauge pump would sell like hotcakes. People are paying above list for S&W 617's because there is no other comparable DA .22 on the market. K-22's are getting collectible and priced accordingly, and .22 SP101's are also collectible.

 

[roaddog28]

It all comes down to budget, Ruger can make the GP for less then the Six series, while still offering a medium frame .357 in blue and stainless.

People have been screaming for the .22 SP101 to come back but Ruger refuses to listen. As much as I love Ruger they have a knack for watching a huge market pass them by. I have been asking them to consider a pump 12 ga. shotgun for years, and they always respond they have no plans at this time to produce a pump shotgun......I always thought a rock solid, tank tough Ruger 12 gauge pump would sell like hotcakes. People are paying above list for S&W 617's because there is no other comparable DA .22 on the market. K-22's are getting collectible and priced accordingly, and .22 SP101's are also collectible.

You are right on with this statement. Ruger stop making the Security Six line in 1988. When S&W came out with the 586/686 they did not stop making the K frame magnum. They made K frame magnums all the way up to 1999. Even though the L frame Smith was popular the K frame magnum enjoyed good sales for a long time. Again Ruger missed out on a hugh market of regular medium size revolvers because they "did not make any money on the Security Six". I feel if they would of continued making the Security Six line just like S&W continued making the model 19 Ruger would have had great sales. Not every person is going to like a heavy and somewhat bulky revolver. At least S&W kept make the K frame magnum and history will show it was still popular after there introduction of their L frame.

I will always feel Ruger made a huge mistake when they stopped making the Security Six line. Too me the Security Six was a standout in design versus what was being made back in the early seventies.
Regards,
Howard

 

[stantheman86]

That's a good point, that S&W kept making the K-frame .357's for almost 20 years after the L-frame came out, and also the K-frame .38's which are still produced. S&W still makes the Model 10 in small amounts, people have said that Smith would drop the 10 for years but it still hangs on in the "Classic" series. The 64 and 67 are still widely available, despite the fact that "gun experts" say a 4" .38 revolver is totally obsolete. S&W doesn't seem to forget the guns that made them, and K-frames were S&W's bread and butter since 1899.

Ruger has a habit of trying to "clean up" it's catalog, by deleting certain models. There has been recent talk of dropping the standard Redhawk, because the Super Redhawk is cheaper to make since it's basically a GP100 on steroids, and fills the large frame big bore Magnum hole in the lineup. It seems standard Redhawk production is in "batches" now, and I haven't seen many of those super neat 4" Redhawks for sale.

I guess we should be glad Ruger made over a million Sixes, and they still circulate on the used market. If they had stopped making them after only a 100,000 or so they would be $1,000+ guns.

Ruger also dropped the .454 Alaskan right after "Faster" came out, with The Rock using one for the entire movie. Ruger would have sold quite a few just because of the movie, since it's been proven that movies sell products. Guys would have bought one just because The Rock used it in a movie, but now you have to find a dealer with one in stock or a used one. There's also that picture of the guy who killed a 900 lb. Brown bear with a .454 Alaskan when it charged him while he was bowhunting.

Ruger has dropped some great guns, and then people scream for them to come back. Ruger has said that the SP101 fills the role for a smaller .357,plus the small amounts of 3" GP's that come out, and thus the Six series was not needed. Maybe someday Ruger will start a "Classic" series like S&W did and make some Six series guns........we can only hope.

 

[Chris]

I agree......least we not forget how long it took them to produce the Blackhawk in 44 special.....

In my mind the GP 100 is only second to the python, I prefer the older model early 90's as compared to the new. Have to love the full underlug, great balance, looks sharp and always on target.

 

[Anonymous]

I was looking at the gp100's late last year, both the 4" and the 6". As luck would have it both were on sale at a $100+ bucks off.
I almost bought the 4"gp till I see this really great looking stainless 6" Security six with wood target grips, red insert front sight and the barest sign of a ring on the cylinder.
It turned out to have a 159-4xxx serial number(82-83?), as tight as any of the gp's I handled.
It's gotta have 14 pound double action but the single is a nice smooth 4-5 pounds which is about the only way I'll ever fire it so I'm happy as a clam. :D

*Oh, also accurate as he!! and I finally found a center fire hand gun I can actually hit something with! 8) :mrgreen:

 

[wproct]

Interesting thread. To me, this all boils down to personal preference and the use for which the revolver will be intended. I have a sp101 for when a compact revolver is needed, a S & W model 19 for an intermediate size revolver, and a stainless GP100 5"bbl when wanting to shoot a heavy handgun. It's funny, the L frame 686 S & W is a highly popular revolver and I've owned several, but just never cared for them, prefer the K frame. I've also owned a couple of Security Sixes but never kept them, just seem to really prefer the GP100. Like I said, lot of it is just the personal preference thing. Glad they made pleny of all of them!

 

[stantheman86]

I have used my 6" full lug GP for concealed carry, in an IWB holster.......let em tell ya, it makes sitting down a little uncomfortable but it's easier to carry one of my 4" Speed Sixes.

I have little use for revolvers with barrels below 4" since I can make a 4" medium frame fixed sight revolver dissapear under a loose T-shirt. I only use my S&W 60 snub for deep concealment in the summer time. I had a 3" GP100 but I gave it to my Dad who absolutely loves it.