Ruger sp 101 2&1/2"

[wpm]

I would be interested in what people who have used one have to say about the sp101 short barrel 38/357 with hammer spur removed. I can almost conceal it as wells my J frame S&W but shoot it twice as well. I've been experimenting with a friends but have little experience with this revolver myself. What do people thing of it aa a concealed carry pistol (I know it's heavy but allows me to shoot it well). are they reliable? I've never owned a Ruger anything? My gunsmith says the trigger can significantly improved.
wpm

[Totem Polar]

A) very reliable. Best of the old-school 5-shot snub sight pictures as well (IMHO)
B) a good action job makes a huge difference on the trigger feel
C) very heavy, relatively speaking
D) soaks recoil well (see "C", above)
E) heavy.
F) easy to manipulate, great ejection of empties, solid lock up, durable. A proven option, if one wants an all-steel 5-shooter.

[Chuck Haggard]

The downsides are the weight and the capacity. Other than that it's a solid choice in guns.

[BobM]

I used to carry mine as a BUG in uniform. I also used it as an off duty gun in the summers before I learned to carry a bigger gun in summer clothing.

[Hizzie]

I have the Wiley Clapp SP101. It has a spur. The sights were the selling point. Although I would like to add the dao version to the safe. Here are my thoughts:

Better factory trigger than J frame.

Heavy.

Decent factory sights w/pinned front for simple swaps. Gemini Custom makes a gold bead front sight.

Less grip options than J. Speedloader clearance an issue with the Hogues.

Standard pressure 38's are laughable, +P's no big deal but hot 125gr magnums are still punishing - with the factory grip anyway. I haven't been back to the range with the Pachmayr Compacs yet.

The ejector rod is longer so you get more positive extraction. IMO it is also more hand friendly. After quals with my J my palm would have cuts on it from "spanking the baby" during reloads. Not a scratch from my Rugers.

Less holster options. Although the Dark Star Gear guy picked up a SP101 bluegun after I bothered him enough ;)

All the big gun manufacturers CS Depts have had more work since production ramped up a few years ago. There have been numerous threads on the Ruger forum I frequent about issues with their revolvers. My primary GP100 needed a trip back after the HiTS close quarters pistol class. It only had 700rds of magnum and 50 of special down the pipe. Ruger had to replace the hammer pivot and adjust b/c gap and endshake. GTG now though.

Not to deter you from choosing Ruger but have you checked out the S&W 640? All SS, DAO and a pinned front sight for changing.

[SAWBONES]

I've got several SP101s, all of them worked over by Marc Morganti at Gemini Customs, two of them with the 2.25" barrel, and just one of which has the hammer-bob.

It's action is really slick, it's spot-on for accuracy with 158gr JHP .357 Magnum, and has excellent precision. It's fitted with Marc's "Small Wonder" plain black sights, which are notably better than the stock sights.
I shoot nothing but heavy .357 Magnum in it, since all .38 Special loads hit quite low, as do the 125gr .357 loads (which are also fairly unpleasant to shoot). 158gr .357 Magnum is it's "preferred" load.

It's a weighty little five-shot revolver that I used to carry more in years past than I do now, since heavy .357 Magnum has become very difficult (actually, impossible) for me to make follow-up shots with quickly, and I'm also worried about possible over penetration, not to mention the problem of small ammunition capacity and slow reloading (especially being left-handed).

The SP101s are truly solid little revolvers, and Marc Morganti turns them into real gems. If I was going to carry a heavy compact revolver for daily CCW again, it's the only one I'd consider.

[Dagga Boy]

I carried one extensively for a lot of years, and sold a boat load of them when I owned a police equipment store. I was never comfortable with a J frame as a primary handgun, just like them as back ups. I often carried the SP-101 as both a primary and in aback up role. I really liked them for an easy to carry outdoors gun. I usually carried veeery stout .357 loads and could shoot them like the gun was a K frame Smith. Mine has been to Hamilton Bowen for a little work and sights. Great small holster gun. They are heavy, but very shootable. It is a gun a recommend to a lot of folks who are not really hardcore shooters as a good bedside, glove box, and back pack/purse gun.

[ReverendMeat]

When I first started carrying a gun concealed, it was a J-frame .38. I eventually traded it for the SP-101. Eventually moved to an auto but if I had to go back to a revolver for carry it'd be an SP-101.

[TR675]

I still carry a 90's vintage 3-incher as a belt gun occasionally. In a good OWB holster it is extremely concealable. The factory grips are too small for my hands, but larger grips seem like they'd affect concealability.

I like it better than a J but want Bowen or Gemini to work it over one day.

[Bigghoss]

Just like all Rugers before the SR's and LCR's came along, the SP101 is overbuilt. The extra beef is good and bad but the gun should serve you well. Really the only downside is the weight. Because of that I don't really carry it in town, I save it for out in the woods when I might have to tangle with 4-legged critters.

If anything should go wrong with the gun, Ruger is very good at making things right. I bought a used GP100 that spit particulate from the barrel/cylinder gap so I called up Ruger and shipped it back. The gun had the older style Lett grips with the wood inserts that I'm very fond of so I asked them to send them back if the gun couldn't be fixed, despite the panels being cracked. Turns out the gun was built in '89 and while I didn't explicitly state that I got the gun used they probably figured it out. The gun came back with a brand new barrel and a set of Wiley Clapp grips all at no charge to me.

[coldcase1984]

Based on Nyeti's recommendations I got several DAO SP101s for the unit my second stint in narcotics more than a decade ago. They're still in service.

Not yet stated, the revolver is stout enough you could beat an aggressor to death with it if you run it dry.

Famed brown bear guide Phil Shoemaker and his family carry SP101s loaded with 180 grain HCs for last-ditch defense, IIRC.

I had a personal 3-in. for awhile but it was too heavy for pocket carry so swapped it for NIB pre-lock 442 to a dealer who'd always wanted one.

[Moonshot]

Somewhat of a thread drift here, but I too am interested in an SP101, both the DAO 2" and conventional 3" (de-burred and DAO'd).

They are generally more available than the all-steel 640s, they are less expensive than the all-steel Smiths, and none of them have that goofy storage lock. On the other hand, I have heard that SPs and GPs are heavier because they are "beefier" than the forged Smiths, and they are beefier because they need to be in order to be as strong as the forged Smiths.

I'm not trying to make this a Ruger vs Smith debate, or a cast vs forged debate. I have always heard that Rugers were stonger than Smiths (SP vs J-frame and GP vs K-frame), but I have also always heard that forged was stronger than investment cast.

Are Rugers heavier than Smiths because they need to be, or are they truly stronger than Smiths because thats how Ruger chooses to build them?

[Dagga Boy]

My understanding is the benefit to the way Ruger casts is there is no internal stress like a forging. I know that their stainless is cursed by many gunsmiths due to breaking tools trying to work on them. The stuff is HARD.
Ruger is a stronger revolver by design. The GP100 was designed from the ground up as a "Mil-spec" revolver (in that you can take a 100 guns apart, put the parts in a bag, shake them up and build a 100 working guns). They were designed around modern hi-performance 357 Magnum ammunition that even the L frames have a hard time managing in when shot extensively. There is a reason the Ruger GP-100 won the contract for a very large agency that trained on full house .357 magnum back in the 80's and were having a ton of issues with the 686's. When it comes to strength, GP-100's are like N frames on an L frame, and the SP-101's are like K/L frames in a J frame. I spent a ton of time involved in this stuff back in the 80's when it was really relevant. I shoot both, but when it comes to my outdoor guns set up for protection against large animals and set up to shoot serious ammunition, those guns are Rugers in my house. Keep in mind as well that the Smith design is welll over a 100 years old, and ammo and use has changed extensively.
I am a big revolver fiend, and have a ton of Smith's, so its not like I am remotely a hater, but I am a realist in the area of which design is stronger.

[ReverendMeat]

If anything should go wrong with the gun, Ruger is very good at making things right. I bought a used GP100 that spit particulate from the barrel/cylinder gap so I called up Ruger and shipped it back. The gun had the older style Lett grips with the wood inserts that I'm very fond of so I asked them to send them back if the gun couldn't be fixed, despite the panels being cracked. Turns out the gun was built in '89 and while I didn't explicitly state that I got the gun used they probably figured it out. The gun came back with a brand new barrel and a set of Wiley Clapp grips all at no charge to me.

Ruger's customer service is second to none. We had a guy who cracked the frame on his GP-100 after shooting what he originally claimed to be factory loads. The Ruger CS rep wouldn't take the gun back until the guy eventually admitted to shooting his buddy's handloads. After he fessed up they sent a new gun back to him in a week. So not only did they fix it for free after he did something that normally voids warranties, but they also kept him honest. And out of all the major manufacturers they have the fastest turnaround time.

I know this has nothing to do with the quality of the gun itself but I respect a company that will bend over backwards to fix a problem.

[Hizzie]

I beat the snot out of the GP100 I took to the HiTS class. The pace of the class had the cylinder so hot I considered getting my spare out to let it cool. It was burn your fingers hot. The gun did require a trip back to the factory to address what I thought was just a trigger issue related to the hammer pivot. Ruger responded to my complaint quickly and decisively. They issued a prepaid shipping tag and turned the gun around in under three weeks at zero cost to me. Ruger also listed exactly what they did to the gun on the invoice. No secret fixes to hide their problems. I have no complaints. In fact I bought another Ruger revolver since then.

[vaspence]

I have 3 3/16 that i like a lot. Its a great gun and I've had no issues with it. A buddy has a 2.5 " that he keeps in his sea kayak. At night I think the muzzle blast will qualify as a visual distress signal! Nobody I know with an SP-101 has any complaints in the reliability department.

[Chuck Whitlock]

I recently traded a 3" SP101 with a bobbed hammer to a friend for his 2.5" factory DAO SP101. His CT lasergrips balanced out better with the 3 incher, and the smaller gun worked better for me for my uses. Win/win!

Since no one else has mentioned it so far, In addition to being "stouter", the Rugers can be field-stripped, as they can be taken down into sub-assemblies. this allows for better access for cleaning and lubing without having to be a trained armorer.

[Dave Williams]

There is a reason the Ruger GP-100 won the contract for a very large agency that trained on full house .357 magnum back in the 80's and were having a ton of issues with the 686's

Which agency was that?