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 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.