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Thread: Might just keep this GP100 Match Champion...

  1. #1
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    Might just keep this GP100 Match Champion...

    Back in 2015 I purchased a GP100 Match Champion. The first few times out to the range resulted in a less than optimal set of experiences. On one of those trips I was practicing reloads with Comp-IIs and the small parts on the front lockup and extractor rod came apart and dumped on the ground. I found most of them, Ruger replaced a couple of small parts that are forever lost in the gravel of the range, and it's held together fine since then. Having put it all back together, I'm now a little surprised this doesn't happen more often. Lots of little stuff held in place by spring tension.

    I then took it to the first revolver roundup, and again had mixed experiences. The Match Champion is fast and smooth on reloads, with the chamfered cylinder and plenty of clearance for Comp-IIs. It continued to shoot erratically for me though, and by this time I was figuring out that the factory stocks were part of the problem. They look great, feel great, and apparently for many people they work just fine. They don't work so well for me, to the point that I talked to Darryl about it on one of the breaks and got the standard answer that revolver stocks are very personal things. So true. I went to my Smith & Wesson Model 19-3 for the rest of the day, and the GP100 languished in the safe for a long time after that.

    My average size hands apparently have unusual proportions, and I've since figured out through trial and error that smaller and especially narrower stocks just don't work well for me. Older K-frame target stocks I tend to do well with. I've had a similar evolution with semi-autos, I shoot better with big blocky USPs than with some of the newer more "ergonomic" alternatives.

    Then there are the sights, discussed at length by others here. The factory Match Champion front sight has a green blob for a fiber optic rod, overlapping the edges of the sight and resulting in a fuzzy sight picture at least for older eyes.

    I wasn't sure if the erratic performance was just from those factors, or something more serious. For quite a while I contemplating selling the gun. Recently though, I decided to dig in a little and figure out why it wasn't working for me. The start of that process was benchresting with various loads, and that happened last week.

    I tried five different handloads, mostly 38 special with one light magnum load. Everything from 125gr coated lead and JHP to 148gr HBWC to 158gr LSWC. And I ran those through three revolvers off a bag, including one of my pre-lock S&W 19s that is a known quantity and consistently shoots well for me.

    The results were a bit surprising. The S&W shot the smallest group and had the smallest mean group size, but just barely. The Ruger actually did pretty well, despite the S&W having a better trigger and better sights. The disappointment of the night was my brand new Colt King Cobra, and I attribute that entirely to the sights which were distinctly difficult to see in not very good range lighting. They might have worked fine for me a couple decades ago. That more than offset the fact that it has the best trigger of the three.

    So clearly the GP100 deserved a chance and a little attention. First step, a new front sight. A Novak tritium front sight arrived today and was a really simple swap, the fit on both old and new sights was not especially tight and all it took was a plastic-tipped punch and a small hammer and five minutes... I put a little blue loctite on the new one despite the fact that the old one hadn't moved even under some pretty heavy magnum recoil. Just to be sure.

    Big difference and well worth $54. The new sight is the same width (.125) and height (.265) as the old one, but the max height is at the tritium face, putting the dot a little higher on the sight. The old fiber optic is tallest at the end away from the focus point, closer to the muzzle, which may contribute to the reports of a fuzzy sight picture.

    I have a set of Altamont's on the way, should be here in a few days. In theory those should be a better fit for my hands. Range report to follow.
    Last edited by Salamander; 09-14-2019 at 04:34 PM.

  2. #2
    The R in F.A.R.T RevolverRob's Avatar
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    Do you have “farmer hands”? It sounds like you do if you prefer big squares. I do too, because I have XL-sized palms and M-length fingers (aka: farmer hands). I’ve tried and tried to love the VP9/P30/HK45 but the USP feels better. Similarly, only Glock 17s fit my hand. Some folks think the STI grip is yuge - fits my hand perfectly.

    For a GP100 the “Lett” Compact factory grip could be near ideal.
    Last edited by RevolverRob; 09-14-2019 at 09:28 PM.

  3. #3
    Funny... for whatever it's worth, front sight and grips were the exact two things I needed to change to make my MC more satisfying to shoot. I agree 100% on the stock fiber optic being too big and even a bit off-center.

    And I went with the Novak tritium and Altamont grip, too.

    To be fair, I also bought a Novak brass bead sight when they happened to be in stock one rare day. I would love an excuse to try it but I can't rationally make the case it would be superior to the tritium. Oh cooler for sure in an old-school kind of way... but not better.

    Mine is really a break-up-the-Glock-monotony gun and it's been great for that. The only bummer is how clean I have to keep it for it to run right. As soon as any grit gets under that extractor claw, it gets dicey.
    Last edited by Edster; 09-14-2019 at 09:54 PM.

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by RevolverRob View Post
    Do you have “farmer hands”? It sounds like you do if you prefer big squares. I do too, because I have XL-sized palms and M-length fingers (aka: farmer hands). I’ve tried and tried to love the VP9/P30/HK45 but the USP feels better. Similarly, only Glock 17s fit my hand. Some folks think the STI grip is yuge - fits my hand perfectly.

    For a GP100 the “Lett” Compact factory grip could be near ideal.
    Pretty much. Yesterday I was handing a neighbor something and she said "you have big hands." I started to say not really, and she said "right in here" and pointed to a particular part of the palm. So I went and looked it up. I'm right at that 7.6" for tip of finger to wrist crease, but the average breadth is 3.5" and I'm closer to 4". So I think it's that the palm makes up a bigger than typical proportion of that average length. End result, I was a lot better at baseball than basketball as a kid. Now there's a set of Eagle classics on my S&W 625 and since putting those big hunks of wood on there it's become easy to shoot.

    I have a set of the Ruger compact grips on the GP100 now and they're better, but I still need to consciously keep extra pressure on the lower section. So I'm trying the Altamont's that are the next size up, besides being about 0.25 longer they appear in the photos to be a bit more squared off than the version on the Ruger website, and they also have texture on the front and backstraps which the Ruger versions don't.

    This has been a good reminder that inherent accuracy and real-world shootability are two different things, and the fixes for each can be very different.
    Last edited by Salamander; 09-14-2019 at 11:10 PM.

  5. #5
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Edster View Post
    Mine is really a break-up-the-Glock-monotony gun and it's been great for that. The only bummer is how clean I have to keep it for it to run right. As soon as any grit gets under that extractor claw, it gets dicey.
    One of my GP100 revolver will do this, more than others. It is a 2002-era fixed-sight 4” non-lug. (Some would use “half-lug” to describe it.) Duty ammo, which burns much more cleanly, is not much of a worry; it is training/target ammo that fouls worse.

    An early-enough GP100 actually has grunge grooves, in the area under the extractor, that can accommodate quite a bit of powder fouling. I wish Ruger would again care enough to start doing this again.

    S&W revolvers can accumulate powder fouling under the extractor star, too. The one gunsmith I remember, who would cut such grooves in S&W revolvers, has passed away, IIRC.

    When shooting quals and in-service training with revolvers, one learns to keep a toothbrush in a pocket.
    Last edited by Rex G; 09-15-2019 at 10:10 AM.
    Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.

    Don’t tread on volcanos!

  6. #6
    Member Scal's Avatar
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    Rick Devoid at Tarnhelm Supply will do a “Powder Eater” modification to extractors so they operate with more fouling than normal.

  7. #7
    Member Zeke38's Avatar
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    I have followed a similar trail with my MC. Have finally got it dialed in and shooting good groups. I put a Novak Tritium front sight about a year ago and found the top of the front sight square. A set of Wolff 10/10 lb springs and the HOgue grip that Ruger puts on their 44 Spl. No misfires either 38s or hot magnums.

    The gun is now a shooter and it goes with me in the brush in lower country and it is accurate and reliable.

    To repeat--Try the Hogue grip that fits their 44 Spl model, no finger grooves.

  8. #8
    Member jtcarm's Avatar
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    I hated the original MC grips and switched to the plain ol factory rubber. I wish they were a bit longer & thicker so I could get more of my support hand in the game.

    My hands are funky: hands themselves are average size but fingers look like they’re missing the third joint.

    Even if they weren’t too big, the shape of the Hogues seems horrible with that hump where the stud meets the frame.

  9. #9
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scal View Post
    Rick Devoid at Tarnhelm Supply will do a “Powder Eater” modification to extractors so they operate with more fouling than normal.
    It is good to read this! Thanks!
    Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.

    Don’t tread on volcanos!

  10. #10
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    With the new sights and new stocks:

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    These are much better, only slightly taller than the Ruger compact grips (but shorter then the Match Champion stocks), quite a bit more girth around the bottom. They are very slightly more squared off, not much.

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    I actually wish they were a bit bigger. Will try to shoot it in the next day or two and see how they work.

    Net investment so far: $54 + $35 = $89 plus shipping.

    The Hogue 44 sp grips mentioned above appear to be a rubber version of Hogue's factory match Champion stocks, same hump on the backstrap, same reduced width and length at the bottom. Those don't work for me.
    Last edited by Salamander; 09-17-2019 at 08:04 PM.

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