Wheelgun Challenge I

[Zeke38]

Love the MC platform, I installed a Novak front night sight which is adequate, but you don't have a big green blob on the end of the barrel. I use the MC as a field gun primarily, so I like a narrower front sight.

[Totem Polar]

This whole Bruce Cartwright phenomenon is taking P-F.com down a good road. I like it.

[Bruce Cartwright]

Bruce

Awesome. I am a GP100 fan as well. I have several and have been thinking of adding the Match Champion to my little collection.

Can you post a close up picture of your front sight change?

I can only think of one change to your revolver. Consider a Bowen Rough Country rear sight. Put that on, zero for your load of choice and lock it in.

Great posts btw.

Houston

HoustonGP100:

In regards to the front sight of my Match Champion, I removed the fiber optic post. Then I used Tester's Model paint to repaint the entire post. I used a coat of white paint, then applied two coats of blaze orange paint. In the process the hole for the fiber optic rod filled in with paint. Here is a photo:
.

The reason I removed the fiber optic post was because I tended to shoot high with it because I was focusing on the dot as opposed to the top of the front sight. The fiber optic post did not give me a precise reference point and it obscured the top of the front sight post. I have done the same thing with other guns, namely shotguns. I dislike the bead Remington puts on their rifle sighted shotguns. Hopefully that clarifies things a bit.

Bruce

[Dagga Boy]

Must be a retired LE thing. Pulled the pin in ‘16 and my G17 has cobwebs in it. My several varieties of S&W wheel guns get 97% of my attention these days. Bruce, you are gifted writer with a solid foundation in revolvers. Keep your knowledge flowing to the masses.

Obviously I got bit hard by this. For me it was retirement, turning 50, and simply sick of much of what the plastic tactical world has become. For many of us those revolvers take us back to our prime....and then all those experiences that culminated with today’s wisdom. I also find that doing a lot of dry practice with them really helps me.

[Bruce Cartwright]

This whole Bruce Cartwright phenomenon is taking P-F.com down a good road. I like it.

Sideshooter:

Thank you for the compliment. I am trying to pass on a bit of what I learned (not that I have all the answers by a long shot). I saw Pat Rogers do that and was the beneficiary of a bunch of Pat's hard won wisdom. I work hard to emulate Pat's example. I am glad my posts have some value.

Bruce

[BillSWPA]

HoustonGP100:

In regards to the front sight of my Match Champion, I removed the fiber optic post. Then I used Tester's Model paint to repaint the entire post. I used a coat of white paint, then applied two coats of blaze orange paint. In the process the hole for the fiber optic rod filled in with paint. Here is a photo:
.

The reason I removed the fiber optic post was because I tended to shoot high with it because I was focusing on the dot as opposed to the top of the front sight. The fiber optic post did not give me a precise reference point and it obscured the top of the front sight post. I have done the same thing with other guns, namely shotguns. I dislike the bead Remington puts on their rifle sighted shotguns. Hopefully that clarifies things a bit.

Bruce

You make an interesting point about fiber optic sights. I installed fiber optic front sights on two different handguns, selecting the height to closely match the factory front sight. In both cases, I bottomed out the elevation adjustment on the rear sights without getting the rear sight low enough to keep the gun from shooting unacceptably high. In both cases, I reinstalled the original factory front sight, and was able to adjust the sights to a reasonable setting that worked fine. I wonder if what you described is what I experienced?

[OlongJohnson]

The triggers are factory tuned on MC guns. ...Sights are a cut above other Ruger offerings. Lastly, all of the strength enhancing engineering changes Ruger made in the GP100 series are present, but in a more svelte package.

Seventh, there is an intangible quality about my MC that resonates with me. I have seen it with other platforms. You can pick up two of the same model guns, one made right after the other, and often times you find one "feels" better than the other.

I have several and have been thinking of adding the Match Champion to my little collection.

I can only think of one change to your revolver. Consider a Bowen Rough Country rear sight. Put that on, zero for your load of choice and lock it in.

HoustonGP100:

In regards to the front sight of my Match Champion, I removed the fiber optic post. Then I used Tester's Model paint to repaint the entire post. I used a coat of white paint, then applied two coats of blaze orange paint. In the process the hole for the fiber optic rod filled in with paint.

Won't worry about sequence of quotes and responses, as it gets overly complicated.

@HoustonGP100, you should definitely get one.

The actions are advertised as tuned, but I don't see much evidence that that goes beyond including a shim for either side of the hammer in the bill of materials for assembly. Going through mine and deburring it, smoothing up what needed to be smoothed, etc. made a night-and-day difference. I'm sure there are S&Ws that are nicer, but I doubt that S&W will send one out the door of the factory in 2020 that comes close to my GP.

I also did not like the green blob on the front sight. It overhung the edges of the sight blade at the top and on the right side, and was not centered on the blade. So my brain had to try to decide whether to center up on the blob or the blade, an indecision that slowed me down. I cut it out and replaced it with a brass pin, which I like much better. I also did the Bowen Rough Country on the rear, and like that a lot better.

I changed to the Hogue no-finger-groove grip, and have made a lot of minor changes that add up to a huge difference in fitting it to my hand. Both shaving material away and building it back up with black cloth tape. I'm working on getting around to cutting some walnut to match the final shape.

It really does make me smile. Enough that I sold all my K frame police trade-in guns during the past few months, and don't miss them at all.

[03RN]

Obviously I got bit hard by this. For me it was retirement, turning 50, and simply sick of much of what the plastic tactical world has become. For many of us those revolvers take us back to our prime....and then all those experiences that culminated with today’s wisdom. I also find that doing a lot of dry practice with them really helps me.

Its much appreciated.

I just turned 36, was never a cop but carried an m9 in fallujah.

When i got home i spent months in the woods with .45 colt revolvers and levers. There's something therapeutic about revolvers.

I really appreciate all the knowledge you guys are sharing.

[Trooper224]

The older you get the more time you spend looking back. For those of us in our fifties, or older, that means a lot of revolver memories. When we started as cops the wheel gun was still king, although a graying one. We grew up on westerns and cop shows on television, all populated by revolvers. When I was a kid, you could walk into any gun shop in the country and most of the cases would be filled with revolvers. Most of the writers we thrived on were wheel gunners, like Elmer Kieth, Skeeter Skelton, Bill Jordan, Charlie Askins and Ross Seyfried. Revolvers were where it was at in handload experimentation, as they weren't subject to the vagaries of bullet shape and other technical features for their reliability. Revolvers are a reminder of a time that seemed to be simpler, or at least things seemed to posses a greater sense of clarity. They tug at our heartstrings and remind us of a time when giants walked the earth, when our joints weren't so creaky and our waistlines not so large. A modern plastic fantastic doesn't do any of those things for me personally and the older I get the more those things matter. I have a hard time finding a nice old Colt or Smith & Wesson in a shop and walking away from it.

[dogcaller]

I learned how to shoot a handgun on a 4” stainless GP-100. It was probably 1993 or so. I was interested in law enforcement, wanted a 686, but couldn’t quite afford it. The GP was probably ~$100 less, which was a lot, then, for me. Took the GP to the reserve sheriff’s academy and placed #1 in firearms. I will admit that I took some pleasure in being able to shoot six, reload, shoot six, reload and re-holster before some of the other students had finished their first reload with Glock 17s, and my groups were much better.


The courses of fire were revolver friendly and I took full advantage. Fast forward a bit and I had switched to a USP40 and was deep into fantastic plastic. I didn’t end up in LE, but I do appreciate what my GP taught me. When I took my son to his first shooting school I required that he use a P250. He did great, and understands the fundamentals of trigger control and sight alignment.

I now have a couple of LEO trade in DAO 64s. Tempted to carry one just for grins...