Ever since Ruger announced this gun last year, I've been waiting to try one out.
I've had the SP-101 in 22LR, but wasn't really happy with it, mainly due to the terrible trigger pull on it. I also had the LCR in 22LR, but really never really found a use for it. Too inaccurate for plinking and too underpowered for carry.
I do have a nice High Standard revolver, but the operative word there is 'nice'. It's in way too good condition to make it out as a plinker or range gun.
So when they announced that one of my favorite revolvers, the GP-100, would be coming out in 22LR I was really excited. That was last October and ever since then I've been asking at every gun store I go in whether they had seen any yet. Until last week the answer was always 'no'.
I went by AO last week to check on powder, and as usual walked by the gun counters just to window shop. The guy at the Ruger counter wasn't busy, so I asked him for the thousandth time if they had gotten and of the GP-100s in 22LR in. This time he said "let me check, I think we just got in 10 of them".
I played with it a bit at the store, bought it, and have taken it out to the range a couple of time now. This review is more my first impressions than an ultimate review, but I'll add in more as I get more experience with it.
So without further delay...
The specs on the gun are kind of interesting. As you can see in the first picture, it's got a longer barrel than my 'standard' GP-100 in 38/357, just under 6 inches (5-1/2" according to the specs). It's actually heavier than the 38/357 model as well, at 42oz. You can see that a lot of that weight is up front, in the barrel itself, since area's like the top-strap and such are thinner than the 357 model.
The grips are interchangeable with the existing models, and they come with the nicer 'old style' rubber and wood parts all the GPs used to have. I have a pair of Altamont grips (same as on the 357 in the pic) on the way though, since I like having the checkering.
The external giveaway that this isn't a 357 model is the number of flutes in the cylinder. You can see from the picture below that this gun hold 10 rounds, making good use of all that space available. The flutes and the "22LR" stamped on the barrel are really the only indication that this isn't a normal GP-100.
The sights are a nice setup, with an easy to track green fiber-optic up front, and the typical Ruger windage and elevation adjustable rear units they use everyplace. The front sight does not use the same quick-release system as the standard model though, and has a much smaller dovetail.
I was looking around to see if Ruger uses this same sight on other guns, but I couldn't find an example of that, so it may be unique to this revolver. That would be too bad, since that means there won't be much, if any, after-market support for front sights on this gun if you want something different.
The action out of the box, before cleaning was kind of gritty. Lots of metal-on-metal contact in the feel. In fact I almost passed on it at the store because of that.
However after cleaning it out with liberal blasts of Gun Scrubber, and applying some Royal Purple gun lube (good stuff) it felt a whole lot better, and after dry firing for a few evenings and two range trips it's as smooth as my 357 GP-100 now.
The trigger as it stands now is almost exactly the same as on the 357 model, It's smooth and almost perfectly consistent except for the slight drop in resistance you feel when the cylinder stops turning and is locked in place.
The only real difference I can feel is that the trigger is definitely heavier in the 22 model than in the 357 model. It's not as bad the SP-101 was, that seemed to be designed to meet NYPD trigger guidelines, but it is noticeably heavier.
I've heard that the more holes in the cylinder, the harder the trigger pull will be, because the mechanism has to do the same amount of work in a shorter distance.
That sounds suspect to me, since a large part of the the 'work' is rotating the cylinder, and with more holes the rotation is less (36 degrees for a 10 shot versus 60 degrees for a 6 shot). Whatever the case, it always seem to be true. My High Standard is only a six shot, and that has a much lighter trigger.
At the end of the day the trigger is a little heavier than a 357 GP-100, and a lot lighter than an SP-101 in 22. It's very useable and if it's like my 357 model, will continue to improve over time.
BTW, the manual is basically the GP-100 manual with an insert. They don't mention whether or not it's OK to dry-fire this gun without snap caps, so to be safe I used them anyway. I'm planning to call Ruger and ask, and I'll post the result here.
Next up... Range report. But first a couple of more pictures.
I've had the SP-101 in 22LR, but wasn't really happy with it, mainly due to the terrible trigger pull on it. I also had the LCR in 22LR, but really never really found a use for it. Too inaccurate for plinking and too underpowered for carry.
I do have a nice High Standard revolver, but the operative word there is 'nice'. It's in way too good condition to make it out as a plinker or range gun.
So when they announced that one of my favorite revolvers, the GP-100, would be coming out in 22LR I was really excited. That was last October and ever since then I've been asking at every gun store I go in whether they had seen any yet. Until last week the answer was always 'no'.
I went by AO last week to check on powder, and as usual walked by the gun counters just to window shop. The guy at the Ruger counter wasn't busy, so I asked him for the thousandth time if they had gotten and of the GP-100s in 22LR in. This time he said "let me check, I think we just got in 10 of them".
I played with it a bit at the store, bought it, and have taken it out to the range a couple of time now. This review is more my first impressions than an ultimate review, but I'll add in more as I get more experience with it.
So without further delay...
The specs on the gun are kind of interesting. As you can see in the first picture, it's got a longer barrel than my 'standard' GP-100 in 38/357, just under 6 inches (5-1/2" according to the specs). It's actually heavier than the 38/357 model as well, at 42oz. You can see that a lot of that weight is up front, in the barrel itself, since area's like the top-strap and such are thinner than the 357 model.
The grips are interchangeable with the existing models, and they come with the nicer 'old style' rubber and wood parts all the GPs used to have. I have a pair of Altamont grips (same as on the 357 in the pic) on the way though, since I like having the checkering.
The external giveaway that this isn't a 357 model is the number of flutes in the cylinder. You can see from the picture below that this gun hold 10 rounds, making good use of all that space available. The flutes and the "22LR" stamped on the barrel are really the only indication that this isn't a normal GP-100.
The sights are a nice setup, with an easy to track green fiber-optic up front, and the typical Ruger windage and elevation adjustable rear units they use everyplace. The front sight does not use the same quick-release system as the standard model though, and has a much smaller dovetail.
I was looking around to see if Ruger uses this same sight on other guns, but I couldn't find an example of that, so it may be unique to this revolver. That would be too bad, since that means there won't be much, if any, after-market support for front sights on this gun if you want something different.
The action out of the box, before cleaning was kind of gritty. Lots of metal-on-metal contact in the feel. In fact I almost passed on it at the store because of that.
However after cleaning it out with liberal blasts of Gun Scrubber, and applying some Royal Purple gun lube (good stuff) it felt a whole lot better, and after dry firing for a few evenings and two range trips it's as smooth as my 357 GP-100 now.
The trigger as it stands now is almost exactly the same as on the 357 model, It's smooth and almost perfectly consistent except for the slight drop in resistance you feel when the cylinder stops turning and is locked in place.
The only real difference I can feel is that the trigger is definitely heavier in the 22 model than in the 357 model. It's not as bad the SP-101 was, that seemed to be designed to meet NYPD trigger guidelines, but it is noticeably heavier.
I've heard that the more holes in the cylinder, the harder the trigger pull will be, because the mechanism has to do the same amount of work in a shorter distance.
That sounds suspect to me, since a large part of the the 'work' is rotating the cylinder, and with more holes the rotation is less (36 degrees for a 10 shot versus 60 degrees for a 6 shot). Whatever the case, it always seem to be true. My High Standard is only a six shot, and that has a much lighter trigger.
At the end of the day the trigger is a little heavier than a 357 GP-100, and a lot lighter than an SP-101 in 22. It's very useable and if it's like my 357 model, will continue to improve over time.
BTW, the manual is basically the GP-100 manual with an insert. They don't mention whether or not it's OK to dry-fire this gun without snap caps, so to be safe I used them anyway. I'm planning to call Ruger and ask, and I'll post the result here.
Next up... Range report. But first a couple of more pictures.
