Ruger GP100 for RCMP?

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jdr308

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At the local gun show today and came across a GP100 in 357 that was imported from Canada and a former RCMP revolver. Had a bobbed hammer, half lug. Never came across one of these before. Asking price of $725.. I have a feeling I should have picked it up?
 

eveled

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Curious. Was it fixed sight? Or adjustable? What grip's were on it? I think you're gonna regret not getting it. Especially if it had a 4" barrel
 
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I believe that the RCMP destroys their old firearms. The run of 5 inch barrel .38 Special Ruger Police Service Six revolvers that they had were all destroyed after they were done with them as far as I know. I would be suspect of a handgun marked RCMP especially one made after the Police Service Six. Also I don't think that they used the .357 Magnum. Perhaps Ron Lutz can shed a better light on the subject.
 

hittman

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I would suspect but don't know for sure, that most of the "RCMP" guns, whether they be Service Six or GP100 were production over runs and not former issued duty weapons.
 

Terry T

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These Candian DAO GP100s, imported by Century Arms, were used by the Montreal city police, not the RCMP. The RCMP never used GP100s.
Ruger made up a special run of 5" Service Sixs in .38 Spl. for a test to take the RCMP contract away from S&W but failed to get the contract. 15 (or 20) overruns were sold in the States. I have one.
 

T.A. WORKMAN

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Like this one ?
It was a DAO .357 Mag. model KGPF-340, #171-88807.Letters as made in January 1992 (?) and shipped to R. Nicholls Distributors,
Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. Nicholls is a supplier of firearms and police gear to Canadian PD's.

Note} The Ruger Reference page #13 shows that by serial number listings that this gun was made in 1989! But letters as made in 1992
and shipped in 1992. Got to be a mistake there.
Terry

E3Vx7bM.jpg
 

Stantheman1986

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I can't see the pic, but years ago I picked up two of these DAO stainless half lug .357 GP100's, one with a 3" barrel and one with the 4". I'm not good with the model designations.

These used to be cheap 5-7 years ago but what wasn't......they were all over the place for a time, no one wanted them because they were DAO but I love both of mine.

They were both definitely carried a lot, and show it. Both stamped with Import Marks, one is definitely C.I.A., the other may be too, or something different. I'll have to look when I get home.

I've read and been told everything from these being RCMP guns which , given the info above is incorrect....the Montreal City Police makes sense since , if I recall correctly a former Police Officer from there commented on the other Ruger forum about carrying one of these with one speedloader and 6 loose rounds in reserve. I can't recall what kind of holster but the Safariland holster made for the 4" fixed sight full lug GP100 makes sense.

I've also been told these were from a South American police contract, and I have read that Canadian used guns would not need an import mark but this is probably wrong too. There could have been two separate contracts for these DAO fixed sight revolvers? It also seems odd that any South American police or military agency, etc would care about the guns being DAO.

I also have 3" and 4" .38 Special fixed and adjustable sight stainless GP100's supposedly from a canceled Foreign Contract, the ones Davidson's sold about 5 years ago.
 

weaselmeatgravy

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A consecutive set of four of the blue 5" Service Six overruns was sold by one of our members about a month ago on GB, I think they went for $3K.

I have a few 5" Service Sixes.

This was the one retained by the Pine Tree Castings manager Stan Terhune (as I recall, the four that sold were consecutive to this one, 31, 32, 33, 34.
SDA-85H-161-00030-Full.jpg


This is one that was re-imported
SDA85-160-95548-1.JPG


They also made five guns in stainless .357 Mag
GF35-157-21051-2.jpg
 

Stantheman1986

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With a brand new GP100 being what, about $800 , I feel $770 for one of these is high unless you're a collector and need one to fill a collection hole.

5-7 years ago people were buying these to use as range beaters and glove box guns, they were like $300 . I know, gunflation....COVID, supply chain, production "getting back on track " but these are just a contract that Ruger filled, they're not rare or anything

I actually carried the 3" today in am Elite Survival IWB holster. That 1" makes a difference when you're sitting in a car.

I thought about putting Large Letts on the 4", just because.

Rugers are made to be utilized, and even Bill Ruger Jr used to pop into the various online forums before he passed, and low level bust our stones about "variants" and stuff like the top strap having 18 striations vs 15 and Bill Jr is like, they're made to be used and shot, just shoot them, carry them, beat them up, we'll keep making more I promise.....

I'm like, he's right , just use em , that's what they're for, they're not priceless collectibles

20230531_112518.jpg


20230531_112536.jpg


20230531_112827.jpg
 
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Stantheman1986

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The grips on most of these that I'v seen were in good condition, so they couldn't have been carried long.

The RCMP legend with these was probably propagated by dealers trying to sell them. Because "Mountie Guns" sell better than just Toronto Police guns which few people care about.

Did the SP101 not exist when these contracts were ordered?

I'd assume the 3" would be for plainclothes, detectives, etc but it seems odd to just use the same gun with 1" less of pipe for non-uniformed personnel and the 4" guns for the Patrol Officers but the NYPD and NJSP did the same thing so it must make sense to them.

The thing to do in years past was to buy these and drop in a spurred hammer, as people used to say "to convert it back to DA/SA" but there's nothing to "convert back" to, it left Ruger as a DAO, it is what it is. There's probably a few 1000 of these floating around with spurred hammers in them. These seemed to be all over the place and then one day, they dried up.

I also was lucky that I caught the wave of when many states relaxed their laws making Private Security companies use 6-shot .38 Special revolvers, and I picked up a few variants of the blue 4" .38 Special GP100's that were floating around cheap in about 2015 as companies like Wackenhut or Brinks dumped 1000s of S&W and Ruger revolvers on the market.

People also say there is "no market" for .38 Special 4" fixed sight revolvers anymore, when Ruger sold a bunch of 4" full lug stainless .38 GP100's with fixed and adjustable sights as a Canceled Contract run. A few State and County DOC's still use .38 revolvers and many overseas, mainly Asian police agencies use revolvers because 9mm pistols are "military" and not allowed to be used by police. Ruger probably still makes revolvers for these countries.
 

RC44Mag

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Maybe I'm in a small minority but I wouldn't want a full sized .357 revolver thats DAO. A small lightweight backup last ditch .38 sp sure but not that. I want to be able to hit targets or game at greater distances than DAO would likely offer. I've leave the collectibility talk to those here who know better then me.
 

Timbo23

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I bought one of the 3 inch versions (model 1719, KGPF-330, serial # 174-033xx) in 2007 for $320. I never really cared for it because I think it's a bit big for a snub nosed revolver and the compact grips felt too small for me, but it has grown on me.
I have three DAO Ruger 357 revolvers: this one bought used with CAI import marks, another GP100 with a 4" full lugged barrel and adjustable sights, and a SP101 both bought as new guns.
It's nice to know that they could be converted to SA/DA with a new hammer unit, if I so desired but they are fine as is.
 

Stantheman1986

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I bought one of the 3 inch versions (model 1719, KGPF-330, serial # 174-033xx) in 2007 for $320. I never really cared for it because I think it's a bit big for a snub nosed revolver and the compact grips felt too small for me, but it has grown on me.
I have three DAO Ruger 357 revolvers: this one bought used with CAI import marks, another GP100 with a 4" full lugged barrel and adjustable sights, and a SP101 both bought as new guns.
It's nice to know that they could be converted to SA/DA with a new hammer unit, if I so desired but they are fine as is.
I leave all my DAO revolvers as is

They're interesting as "ND resistant " duty guns and they apparently didn't expect the average Officer to hit anything past 10-15 yards

It's funny because up until the 1950s-60s many police revolver qualification courses of fire included 25 or even 50 yard shooting in Single Action and then only going to Double action at closer ranges.

A few police Officers shot people by accident and then some large PDs mandated DAO revolvers
 

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