GP100 running out of elevation adjustment

[Whiskey]

Hello all, I am fairly new to revolvers, but not new to shooting. I purchased a GP100 recently as my first wheelgun. The rear sight on it is adjustable for windage and elevation. I got the windage dialed easily, but both the 38 specials and 357 rounds I had with me were shooting about 2.5 inches high at 5 yards and just got worse at distance.

Do I need a shorter front sight? I know I've heard of people talking about just getting rounds that shoot to your sights on snub guns without adjustment, but I would really like to be able to shoot basic off the shelf American Eagle 357 until I am set up to load my own.

I appreciate any advice you all may have for me.

[Flamingo]

Dawson makes good sights and has a great tool (https://dawsonprecision.com/sight-calculator/) for figuring out the right height for your gun/load.

[vtfarmer]

Hello all, I am fairly new to revolvers, but not new to shooting. I purchased a GP100 recently as my first wheelgun. The rear sight on it is adjustable for windage and elevation. I got the windage dialed easily, but both the 38 specials and 357 rounds I had with me were shooting about 2.5 inches high at 5 yards and just got worse at distance.

Do I need a shorter front sight? I know I've heard of people talking about just getting rounds that shoot to your sights on snub guns without adjustment, but I would really like to be able to shoot basic off the shelf American Eagle 357 until I am set up to load my own.

I appreciate any advice you all may have for me.

A couple thoughts. If you change the front sight, to lower inpact, you'll need a taller sight, not shorter.

Since the gun has an adjustable rear sight, that should be the easiest route. The rule is "move the rear sight in the direction you want to move point of impact." In your case down. Is your rear sight adjustment already bottomed out? The GP100 rear sight has a wide adjustment range so that would seem strange.

[gringop]

If your hits are high and your rear sight is already adjusted all the way down, you need a taller front sight.

American Eagle shows as 1240 fps at 158gr. It may be worth trying some 38 special to see where that hits.

Gringop

[Whiskey]

A couple thoughts. If you change the front sight, to lower inpact, you'll need a taller sight, not shorter.

Since the gun has an adjustable rear sight, that should be the easiest route. The rule is "move the rear sight in the direction you want to move point of impact." In your case down. Is your rear sight adjustment already bottomed out? The GP100 rear sight has a wide adjustment range so that would seem strange.

Well I think you already solved my problem. I do believe I was going the wrong direction.

I’ll report back when I get back to the range.

[Whiskey]

Sighting issue has been worked out. I was indeed not doing it right. I guess that comes from shooting nothing but red dots for a couple years.

New issue is my GP100 seems to have an issue locking up after a day of shooting. Twice now I’ve went out to shoot, put between 50 to 150 rounds through the gun, then a day or so later I go to dry fire and the cylinder won’t rotate and the hammer and trigger will just get stuck. The first time this happened, I had cleaned the gun, this time I haven’t.
Again I’m very new to revolvers but I just can’t figure out what my problem is here.

Edited to add, my ejector/ extractor rod won’t even move now, and the cylinder takes more effort to swing out.

[Flamingo]

What brand of ammo are you running?

When I took Tom Givens' revolver class one of the guns there went down fairly quickly due to shooting dirty ammo.

Revolvers require a lot more maintenance than semi-autos. I keep a nylon brush/tooth brush with me to clean out the area under the star when I shoot a lot of rounds.

[JAH 3rd]

I bought a new Ruger GP-100 4.2" stainless revolver. Mine locks up too. And I haven't shot a single round through it, it's the same as when it left the factory. I can be dry-firing it and something is binding. Doesn't matter if I am using DA or SA mode. Pull the trigger or hammer back a bit and something binds. No further movement of the action is available. I then release the hammer/trigger. The next pull on the trigger/hammer works fine, and it works fine until it binds again. Can't predict the binding as it is so infrequent.

There is nothing externally that appears to cause the problem. Cylinder/barrel gap looks good. Ejection star looks good. Cylinder stop works fine. I haven't taken the action out of the frame.

The action works fine, til it doesn't.

[Flamingo]

I bought a new Ruger GP-100 4.2" stainless revolver. Mine locks up too. And I haven't shot a single round through it, it's the same as when it left the factory. I can be dry-firing it and something is binding. Doesn't matter if I am using DA or SA mode. Pull the trigger or hammer back a bit and something binds. No further movement of the action is available. I then release the hammer/trigger. The next pull on the trigger/hammer works fine, and it works fine until it binds again. Can't predict the binding as it is so infrequent.

There is nothing externally that appears to cause the problem. Cylinder/barrel gap looks good. Ejection star looks good. Cylinder stop works fine. I haven't taken the action out of the frame.

The action works fine, til it doesn't.

Just taking a SWAG but I think you likely have some, for a technical term, gunk in the action some where. It is pretty easy to break down a GP100. If I can do it anyone should be able to... I am not very mechanically gifted.

[JAH 3rd]

Thanks Flamingo. I'll look and see if Ruger has videos posted to takedown and reassembly of the GP. Haven't looked, but I suspect they do. They do have lots of videos covering their products.

[Flamingo]

Here is a video that really helped me out:


https://youtu.be/q4nJRKFN1CU

[JAH 3rd]

After watching the video, I am amazed at all the forethought it took in designing this revolver. It's like putting together a puzzle.

[gato naranja]

Sighting issue has been worked out. I was indeed not doing it right. I guess that comes from shooting nothing but red dots for a couple years.

New issue is my GP100 seems to have an issue locking up after a day of shooting. Twice now I’ve went out to shoot, put between 50 to 150 rounds through the gun, then a day or so later I go to dry fire and the cylinder won’t rotate and the hammer and trigger will just get stuck. The first time this happened, I had cleaned the gun, this time I haven’t.
Again I’m very new to revolvers but I just can’t figure out what my problem is here.

Edited to add, my ejector/ extractor rod won’t even move now, and the cylinder takes more effort to swing out.

I have long been a believer in detail stripping all Ruger revolvers - ESPECIALLY STAINLESS ONES - and checking for small burrs or toolmarks that can cause binding or grating, in addition to cleaning out any "factory" crud and re-lubricating everything with nice, clean lube. The crazy little things you can find in a new handgun are almost endless. A couple of spare hours and little more than a can of Gun Scrubber, your oil and/or grease of choice, plenty of rags or patches, and sparing, judicious use of a small, very fine hard Arkansas stone (and maybe a set of Swiss needle files) can do wonders on a GP-100 or SP101.

[Whiskey]

What brand of ammo are you running?

When I took Tom Givens' revolver class one of the guns there went down fairly quickly due to shooting dirty ammo.

Revolvers require a lot more maintenance than semi-autos. I keep a nylon brush/tooth brush with me to clean out the area under the star when I shoot a lot of rounds.

Its been a mix of American Eagle 357 and Winchester white box. 38s.

I also brushed out from under the star, and ran a brush through the charge holes (is that the term for where the bullets go?) every couple drills while my buddies loaded mags.

Thank you all for the help, I'll be taking it all the way to the frame soon to see if I can't figure it out this time.

[Crazy Dane]

https://www.kevinsworkbench.com/sp101trigger/


I use this guide, everything transfers over to the GP100.

You'll find where shims are mentioned, that's another rabbit hole to go down. I do have one GP that could benefit from shimming. I plan on doing that this fall.

[gato naranja]

https://www.kevinsworkbench.com/sp101trigger/


I use this guide, everything transfers over to the GP100.

You'll find where shims are mentioned, that's another rabbit hole to go down. I do have one GP that could benefit from shimming. I plan on doing that this fall.

The IBOK ("Iowegian's Book Of Knowledge") for the GP-100 was my favorite go-to guide, and some of the info it contained may still be available out there in internet archives. Alas, I can no longer find the copy I printed out many years ago.

[Crazy Dane]

The IBOK ("Iowegian's Book Of Knowledge") for the GP-100 was my favorite go-to guide, and some of the info it contained may still be available out there in internet archives. Alas, I can no longer find the copy I printed out many years ago.


I'm more of a picture book guy but IBOK is here Queue PDF - Iowegan’s Book Of Knowledge For The Ruger Gp-100 Revolver [5143m6vmygnj] (idoc.pub) (https://idoc.pub/queue/iowegans-book-of-knowledge-for-the-ruger-gp-100-revolver-5143m6vmygnj)

If that don't work I can probably email a PDF.