GP100 Question

[RugerBH103]

I hope this isn't a big hassle for you guys. Can you help me figure out what I have. I picked it up a little while back and haven't shot it yet. It is a GP100 with a blue finish, half shroud, and fixed sights. It has a blue finish and is .38 special only. Are these common? I don't recall having seen one before. I don't know if the trigger has been worked on or not, but the double action pull is very light and buttery smooth. The single action pull is a little stiff and gritty but ok. From what I can find on Ruger's website I think it was made in 2002. It has a few small spots where the finish is worn off, but looks pretty good. I think I got it for a fair price, but it is hard to tell now days.

I am going to put together some loads with trail boss and lead SWC's. Does any have one, what can I expect from it. I would think it would be a pretty strong 38, I'm hope it is accurate to.

Thanks for any responses.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

I have a stainless .38 special GP with 4" barrel, adjustable sights and a 3" .38 with fixed sights. They are both very accurate with cast bullet loads. A 140 gr. bullet over 4.0 gr. Trail Boss is just SWEET!! And cheaper to shoot than .22 long rifle at todays prices. (trail boss is one of the more expensive powders today). I have switched to Red Dot for cowboy action.
I seldom shoot .22`s any more because you can load most center fires with cast for less money and they are more fun to shoot besides. I just bought a 4 lb. jug of red dot from Sportsmans Whse. for 71.00. That is 7,000 loads of 4.0 gr or 1 cent per shot.
Cast your own bullets and the major cost is the primer at about $30 per K.
I just bought two bricks of .22 LR from Graff and Son`s for 56.00 per 500 plus shipping. I wont be shooting much of that just to plink with.
Have fun!!

 

[RugerBH103]

Thanks, I just took it outback. It will only fire about half of the cylinder. The hammer doesn't seem to be falling with much force, and the firing pin is barley coming out of the frame. I pulled it apart and it looks like someone has cut the main spring. I have a new one on order, hopefully that solves the issue.

 

[RoninPA]

I'm assuming it is a 4" barrel. You can lighten the pulls on a GP by changing the springs and doing some smoothing of the internals. Any time you start cuttring springs, you don't know what will happen. As for the SA trigger, as well as the DA trigger, the GP is very easy to smooth up. Take it apart and look at the hammer notches and the trigger. You can smooth them up with a stone. Just remember that you aren't trying to take any metal off, just smoothing out and nicks, bumps, burrs. (that said, even though you are "smooting" the parts, you are actually removing a very, very, very little bit of metal, but not like taking a file to the surfaces.)

I built (in 1991) two PPC guns from GP100's (one a stock 6", one a full blown PPC gun) when 99.8 percent of PPC guns were highly modified S&W model 10's (another 0.18% were Colts). I had a lot of snide remarks about building competition guns from GP100's....until they got to shoot it (the "stock" gun). Then lots of compliments on the trigger pull and relaes and the balance of the gun.

So, you can make this gun a really slick shooter and a lot of people prefer the half shroud or the full (I'm particular to the full shroud, I like the extra barrel weight ).

I'm now on the lookout for a 4" blued half shroud to go with my 6" blued half half shroud that I just got. Then I'll start looking for stainless half shrouds. I don't know (need to check the Ruger Reference book) if they ever made a 3" half shroud.

 

[hittman]

Ron, I do think Ruger made both a full and half shroud on the 3 inch GPs.

It's very difficult, for me at least, to tell the difference though. "Half" shroud isn't really an accurate description on the 3-inchers. Seemed to me more like a "slant" cut .... if that makes sense.

 

[RoninPA]

Yeah, I know what you mean, you'd probably have to look pretty close to see the difference unless you had two right together. Dang, more guns to look for, what a great dilemma to be in :D

 

[RugerBH103]

Well I changed to the factory main spring. Still getting at least one round that fails in each cylinder. All the primers look well hit to. I'm going to buy a box of factory rounds and see how that goes. Maybe I got a bad batch of primers or otherwise screwed up this batch of reloads.

Good news is that what it did fire was very accurate. Now to search for reliability.

 

[RoninPA]

If the primers look like they've been struck well it could be one or two things. One, it could be a bad primer. This does happen but not as often as one thinks. Two, the primer may not have been fully seated. When that happens the firing pin will hit the primer but the primer will move forward a bit because of not sitting completely down and thus the primer anvil doesn't get the force it needs to fire the primer. I have found that when I seat my primers correctly, they are just below flush in the primer cup. If they protrude above the cup, then they will be "cushioned" a bit when the hammer falls and not fire.

The other thing to check is if there is any end shake in the cylinder. The complete cylinder could be moving forward slightly when the hammer falls, thus cushioning the primer. Again, a possibility that doesn't typically happen very much unless the gun has really been abused (or used a whole lot).

 

[RugerBH103]

Thank you for the tips. I just started reloading so I am leaning towards me being the problem.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Federal primers are the softest and easiest to ignite. Cowboy Action Shooters who use very soft springs prefer them for that reason.

 

[RugerBH103]

OK, tried a box of American Eagle practice ammo and all was well.

I have noticed that no matter what I have shot in it that the barrel and one cylinder look very fouled. There is some yellow substance in them. Almost looks like pollen if that makes any sense. Any ideas? Could that one cylinder be to tight? This has happened with the factory FMJ ammo today and my cast reloads.

Again thanks for all the help. The guys I shoot with no nothing about revolvers.

 

[RoninPA]

It could be. If you have the tools, mic the chambers to see if that one is smaller. The yellow is probably the residue from the powder and primer that is in that particular brand of ammo. Also, when you shoot it next, use the same brand of ammo (doesn't matter what brand but don't mix brands). Mark the chamber that is the "small" one and shoot a cylinder full and see if that chamber changes the impact point of the round as compared to the other 5. Try to do this from as steady a rest as you can get. If there is no discernable difference then you should be ok. There are ways a DIYer can make the chamber a bit bigger if needed.

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Sounds like unburned powder or remnants from burned powder.
A tight chamber would not let a loaded round enter if small enough cause trouble. A small throat ,on the other hand , SHOULD increase pressure and cause a more complete burn. One can not tell witch one is causing the issue by firing a cylinder full and looking. You would have to clean and inspect the chamber and bore after each chamber has fired a round.