As mentioned in another thread, a short while ago I noticed a Ruger SP-101 in .327 Federal Magnum on consignment at a local gun store. It had been on the shelf for over 60 days so the owner was willing to deal, enough so that curiosity won out. I picked it up this afternoon and took it to the range tonight.
This is not the current model, it's the one from the first release several years ago. The main difference is that the earlier 3-inch version has a windage adjustable black with white outline rear sight, while the recent re-release has a fixed trough for a rear sight. There's also a slight difference in the grips, but mine had a Hogue grip on it instead of the original factory one. I like these better, I'm pretty finicky about revolver grips and this one fits my hand better than most.
First impressions: It's a Ruger, it's solid, in this case 28 ounces solid. It balances well, the sights are easy to see. The trigger pull, both DA and SA, is a little on the heavy side. More on that later. The previous owner told the LGS guy that only 50 rounds had been through this particular revolver, not sure I buy that but I could believe several hundred, wear is fairly minimal and mostly limited to a couple of minor cosmetic scuffs. In this caliber it of course holds six rounds instead of the usual five. One of the things that convinced me to take a chance is the ability to fire five different loads: 327 Federal Magnum, 32 H&R Magnum, 32 S&W Long, 32 S&W, and allegedly 32 acp which is semi-rimmed.
I was able to find a few loads on local shelves, the nearby Sportsmans Warehouse had 100 gr American Eagle soft point, at around 1400 fps from a three inch barrel; and a 98 gr Aguila S&W Long load at a leisurely approx 758 fps. A smaller local store had a few boxes of Speer Gold Dot 115 gr in 327 FM, which reportedly clocks 1356 fps out of a three-inch SP-101. So I started with those three.
The Aguila 32 S&W Long were extremely soft shooting, in a heavy for size revolver barely more recoil than 22 LR. They were also smoky and the soft lead bullets were less than elegantly formed. Accuracy (two hand standing/unsupported) was about 3.5 inches and every group had at least one flyer to open up what otherwise would have been more like a 2.25 inch group. About what I'd expect for $21/box of 50 retail, although they were fun to shoot. POI was about an inch high.
The American Eagle 327 load had a much stouter recoil, not 357 level but for sure you know it's there; and I couldn't consistently get it to group under about three inches, usually more like 3.5 inches with POI just a hair high. I had a couple of boxes of this load and at $27 per box of 50 I was willing to shoot some of it a little faster, that's going to take a little practice but the problem is that heavy trigger, the sights were settling back in place pretty well although the gestalt of it is a little different than I'm used to, different recoil pulse an I think it will flow better after a few more range trips. These groups mostly stayed inside six inches with a few fliers an inch or two beyond that and tended to pull right a little.
I only shot one cylinder of Gold Dots, only had one box of 20 at something north of $1 per round, this one was the star performer though. The group measured 1.73 inches and again hitting about an inch high and dead center. Recoil felt similar to the previous load but perhaps not quite as sharp.
Given the wide range of velocities, I was very surprised there wasn't a lot more spread in POI among the three loads.
Overall, I'm pretty happy so far. It's not as easy to shoot for accuracy as my older K-frames, and I put that mostly on the heavy trigger. Not sure how much or if that will lighten up with dry fire, swapping springs may be an option since I don't really plan to carry this one at least in town, maybe a little in the woods. We'll see.
Ammo: While it's around, variety is limited and most of the time there are just a few boxes on any given shelf. The LGS is going to order a couple boxes of the Buffalo Bore 130 gr hardcast (1400 fps approx) which is the closest thing to a bear round I've heard about so far. So I'm thinking about ordering some reloading dies and some 32 H&R magnum brass and some DEWC and SWC bullets and working up a range load.
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Originally Posted by OlongJohnson
