In the feature, “Ruger GP100 7-Shot: First Look,” http://www.shootingwire.com/features/232217, I had my first go-around with the updated 357 GP100 revolver. This was followed up in our Dec. 11th issue which told the story of shootin another sample of the same gun while at Gunsite Academy.
That experience was summarized thus – “The stationary Pepper-Poppers at either end of the backstop were huge; the center circles are 12” in diameter. After hammering one of them with Hornady 158 grain XTP 357s at 25 yards, I moved back to fifty yards. It was no chore to hit the steel from there either. A six-shot DA group on paper from 25 yards was just under three-inches – a fluke, since it was me shooting the gun.”
After my return, the short magnum arrived: the Ruger GP100 357 Magnum 7-shot with 2 ½” barrel. I’d asked for the snub magnum.
Why?
I “knew” from way back that short-barrel mid-sized revolvers made no sense. The snub barrel, far from being easier to hide when carrying concealed, was actually harder to conceal. The short barrel gave up performance – in terms of ballistics and in terms of practical accuracy due to short sight radius.
The snub mid-size gun weighs nearly the same as the regular belt-gun versions and are as big through the middle. Those TV cops and detectives carrying 38 M&P snubs, a Clint Eastwood movie detective with the snub Combat Magnum – they just did what they were told and knew no better.
While on my first police job, I’d headed out to the range for our yearly paper-punching exercise. There was a spot open on the pistol team that traveled to KPOA twice a year and the shooting competition there was well attended.
The match was 25-yard bullseye, something at which I wasn’t up to expectations, and PPC which included a snub side match. The evening shift commander was at the range and had been a long-time member of the team. He was unable to go to the up-coming conference but still had to ‘qualify.’ As I arrived, they’d just begun the 25-yard stage. His target had a coffee-cup sized cluster of bullet holes in the middle – no surprise. What surprised me was seeing what he drew from his standard police duty holster for his four-inch Combat Masterpiece: it was a two-inch Combat Masterpiece.
The gun with the short sight radius, making it inaccurate, had shot a group I was envious of. I’m thinking it was the shooter, not the short-gun, which made the effort possible.
That particular captain had arranged to be myopic his entire life: it was easier for him to shoot the snub accurately than a longer version of the same gun because he could actually still focus on the front sight. As I shared the malady, I tried shorter guns: the Commander over the Government Model 1911, for instance. I found I had the same results. Snub medium frame revolvers became my friends.
It was no different with the snub 7-shooter GP: I expected it’d shoot fine. The action was GP100 smooth, the sights were the same as on the pair of four-inch versions I’d shot as was the stock.
The standard GP100 stock that so many people seem to love, when combined with the size of the GP100, can put the proximal joint of the thumb on the shooting hand in a bad place if I forget and don’t compensate for it. When shooting 38s, it doesn’t matter.
When coupled with the gun, the shorter-stock matches nicely with the shorter barrel. I’d just have to train myself away from putting my thumb in a bad place or just carry it with 38s.
As to velocities with the snubbed barrel – and practical accuracy – our annual weather event, a thing called “winter,” precluded this old man from going out to check velocities between the snub, the four-inch and a 16-inch carbine. I’m hoping the weather will break and allow me some time to get that arranged, but I can tell you that the short Magnum will likely yield more-than-38 velocities but at the cost of blast and recoil.
You don’t get something for nothing. The four-inch version, with the lugged barrel, weighs four-ounces more and that means something when you’re shooting magnum ammunition. Even the 22 version of the GP100 weighs more than the snub.
As to carrying, it’s less the gun and more the holster. The four-inch guns are easier to conceal under a jacket because the longer barrel is pressed out by the wearer: the short gun has a shorter ‘lever’ than the standard holster gun. The longer the lever, the more the grip is pushed into the body consistent with holster design.
Enter Rob Leahy’s Simply Rugged Sourdough Pancake. Like the Roy Baker Pancake of old, the Sourdough wraps around the body and uses that lateral tension to bring the butt of the gun in. Simple.
Our evening shift investigator on my first police job, Bill Rushton (RIP), carried a snub Combat Magnum as his duty gun. It was close and tight to his side, invisible under a jacket, in Roy Baker’s Pancake holster.
The Simply Rugged Sourdough does the same but with vastly superior leather. It actually stays open when you draw the gun. That wasn’t the case in the ground breaking product of Magnolia, Ark. Made for guns up to the size of the Ruger Alaskan, it fits a broad band of revolvers and can even be configured for inside-the-waist when Rob punches the holes and adds IWB straps.
We had it get above single digits long enough for me to sneak out to the range to shoot the short cannon just a little. I took Ruger-branded ARX 38 +P, Cor-Bon 125 grain JHP Magnum ammo and Hornady Critical Defense 125 grain FTX along for the ride.
Shooting 38 ammo, even +P was pleasant, even in the cold. Recoil was brisk with both magnum loads – this was no surprise. As the cold quickly overtook my hands, I found that hitting anything was difficult. The target photo shows a ten-yard effort with the ARX 38s just standing and shooting double-action.
I figure I can cut that cluster in half, given just a little more comfort degrees and perhaps a different load.
Still, the gun has a nice trigger – double and single action, very visible sights and a decent (though not ideal for me) grip. Put that together with Rob’s Sourdough Pancake and I can see carrying this revolver after I get ‘on paper’ with it.
It’s quite the handful and everything I expected from a GP100.
- - Rich Grassi
Ruger GP100 7-Shot 357 Specifications:
Source: Ruger