Diving Deeper into GP100 Shooting: The Journey Starts

[SwampDweller]

Gold dot is good, I haven't see short barrel in stock anywhere for awhile, but any flavor seems to work as advertised. I like it.

PDX-1 was good, I assume they haven't changed it. Make sure it's the bonded kind, I may be misremembering but I *think* they had a non-bonded version at some point. It's what I used when I couldn't find Gold Dot for awhile.

If I were not prohibited by policy, I would have zero issue carrying the mentioned LSWC round. It may not be the most modern load, but it'll do it's job just fine.

Yeah, it looks like TargetSports is out of the 135gr Gold Dot load as well. I’d love to find some. I have the LSWCHP so I guess that’ll be good enough for .38 needs.

For .357 I just got 175 rounds of the Critical Duty and I have a couple hundred rounds of Remington 158gr SJHP on the way. As mentioned before, I like the CD’s middle of the road approach to .357, but not sure I can find an adequate practice load to mimic it. Unless maybe I found a load that feels the same and sight in a dedicated trainer GP100 purely for said practice load, but that seems a bit impractical.

[Chuck Haggard]

Fairly small sample size, but I've yet to see one stay inside a human body when fired from a 4" or up barrel. Judging from the injuries and clothing, they came out expanded.

If that's a feature or a bug is up to the user and their needs.

The .357 version is very close to the 9mm +p in effect. Our troopers are carrying the 9mm on duty. From shootings I've got information on it appears that load dies what we saw with the 124gr +p Gold Dot, expands well, passes through even a large man sideways on a solid torso hit, might be trapped under the skin, but often exits.

A bullet exiting after expansion is not in my observation "over penetration", in that the bullet is not dangerous after the exit. We often found Gold Dots trapped in heavier clothing at exit, or on the ground a few yards away.

[SwampDweller]

The .357 version is very close to the 9mm +p in effect. Our troopers are carrying the 9mm on duty. From shootings I've got information on it appears that load dies what we saw with the 124gr +p Gold Dot, expands well, passes through even a large man sideways on a solid torso hit, might be trapped under the skin, but often exits.

A bullet exiting after expansion is not in my observation "over penetration", in that the bullet is not dangerous after the exit. We often found Gold Dots trapped in heavier clothing at exit, or on the ground a few yards away.

It sounds like there isn't any advantage to a Critical Duty .357 Mag 135gr over a 9mm 135gr +P out of equivalent service-sized handguns (such as a G19 and 4" GP100/Security Six) on a round-per-round basis. What about other loadings like the classic Remington 158gr SJHP full power load?

[JonInWA]

I've found Federal 158 gr HydraShok JHP to be very reliable in terms of ignition and accuracy, but I'll defer to others more knowledgeable in terms of bullet effectiveness.

Best, Jon

[BehindBlueI's]

The .357 version is very close to the 9mm +p in effect. Our troopers are carrying the 9mm on duty. From shootings I've got information on it appears that load dies what we saw with the 124gr +p Gold Dot, expands well, passes through even a large man sideways on a solid torso hit, might be trapped under the skin, but often exits.

A bullet exiting after expansion is not in my observation "over penetration", in that the bullet is not dangerous after the exit. We often found Gold Dots trapped in heavier clothing at exit, or on the ground a few yards away.

Through a driver's chest, side to side, through passenger's hand, into passenger door as an example. 9mm can certainly do the same, just send to me in a 4" and up the CD keeps on trucking more often than not. As said, small sample size, though, do with it what you will.

[SwampDweller]

I spent most of the day with my brother at the range today. We shot a lot of different guns, including both of my GP100s and his GP100. We had some issues with both of our 7-shot models. His had the issue since earlier this year but I wanted to see it myself, and then it started happening to mine.
His GP100: 7-shot polished blued .357 Magnum 4" barrel, some distributor exclusive.
My GP100s: 1 (One) Six-shot blued .357 Magnum 4" barrel standard model, and 1 (One) 7-shot stainless .357 Magnum 4" barrel

The first two cylinders through his was with Remington 130gr FMJ .38 Special, and there were no issues. Then I tried with Magtech .357 Magnum, and when trying to eject the spent casings, it was like the ejector rod was glued in place. Absolutely no amount of pushing on it with considerable strength was enough to even budge it. I let it sit for a while and then was able to poke the rounds out with a pen without any resistance (still wouldn't eject normally.)

Then I tried to load it with 7 rounds of Armscor 158gr FMJ .357 Magnum. The rims of some of the casings were overlapping and therefore the cylinder would not close. With some rearranging, somehow I was able to get it to. Shot 7 rounds and again, would not eject at all. Had to wait and poke the casings out.

So then I went to my 7 shot stainless GP100. I had shot this one before as documented in the OP of this thread with a mix of Specials and Magnums with no issues. I thought mine was fine. Well come today, I loaded it up with the same Magtech 158gr JSP .357 Mags, shot all 7, and the exact same thing happened as with his: the ejector rod would not budge even with considerable force. Then I encountered the same issue briefly with rims overlapping each other. Later I shot a cylinder of Remington 158gr SJHP .357 and it loaded and shot fine, but again, would absolutely refuse to eject until I waited a while and gave it a good smack on the shooting table's edge, which finally dislodged the casings but did not eject them fully.

I'm confused. I knew about earlier 7-shot GP100s having the case rims overlapping issue, but I thought they had fixed that. And then the casings being stuck in the chamber is something I thought didn't affect my example until today. I don't know if it's related to there not being enough room between the chambers for the rims not to overlap eachother with some manufacturers' ammunition, or if the chambers have to be made smaller, or a combination of both, but it is quite disheartening as I was very excited to have a reliable 7-shot .357 Magnum.

Now, my 6-shot GP100 with several hundred rounds through it of both Magnum and Special had no issues with any type and manufacturer of ammunition, which makes me suspect there is some sort of flaw with the 7-shot GP100's design. Unlike with the 686+, perhaps there's just physically not enough space to accommodate 7 rounds in the cylinder reliably. I'm interested to hear thoughts. I know I can send it back to Ruger and they'd make it right, but I don't think I'd be able to trust the 7-shot model again. Maybe they'd be willing to swap it out for another 6-shot SKU?

[mikey357]

Sounds like you DEFINITELY have an issue with the Magtech .357 Ammo in BOTH Seven-shot GP's--As far as the Guns not wanting to eject, I'd make sure ALL Chambers were squeaky-clean and DEGREASED--Not even any Oil present--And try again.
If the problem persists, I would Polish the Chambers a little bit and try one more time before sending the Gun(s) back to Ruger...

[SwampDweller]

Sounds like you DEFINITELY have an issue with the Magtech .357 Ammo in BOTH Seven-shot GP's--As far as the Guns not wanting to eject, I'd make sure ALL Chambers were squeaky-clean and DEGREASED--Not even any Oil present--And try again.
If the problem persists, I would Polish the Chambers a little bit and try one more time before sending the Gun(s) back to Ruger...

Apologies for not making it clearer in the post- it happened with four different manufacturers (two I didn't mention in my previous post). It happened with Magtech 158gr JSP, Remington 158gr SJHP (also Rem 125gr JSP), Barnes Tac-XPD 125gr .357, and Hornady Critical Duty (the last two of which I didn't mention as being a brand used). I don't think this is necessarily brand specific, and again, all worked fine in my 6-shot GP100 (as well as my brother's Colt Python), which were all degreased and clean. Both my 7-shot and 6-shot models shot the same Magtech and Remington ammo a couple of weeks prior without issue.

Just got home and we stopped by a steakhouse, so I'm still going over my notes and a good 12oz filet mignon makes me drowsy.

[gato naranja]

Apologies for not making it clearer in the post- it happened with four different manufacturers (two I didn't mention in my previous post). It happened with Magtech 158gr JSP, Remington 158gr SJHP (also Rem 125gr JSP), Barnes Tac-XPD 125gr .357, and Hornady Critical Duty (the last two of which I didn't mention as being a brand used). I don't think this is necessarily brand specific, and again, all worked fine in my 6-shot GP100 (as well as my brother's Colt Python), which were all degreased and clean. Both my 7-shot and 6-shot models shot the same Magtech and Remington ammo a couple of weeks prior without issue.

Puzzling.

If a variable like ambient temperature would be causing issues even with the same make/type of ammunition, that would be too fine a tightrope for me to walk very long.

[SwampDweller]

Puzzling.

If a variable like ambient temperature would be causing issues even with the same make/type of ammunition, that would be too fine a tightrope for me to walk very long.

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. No matter what the variable is that determines whether the 7-shot GP100 chokes or not, it's not something I want to deal with. I'm going to see if Ruger would be willing to swap it for a 6 shot model of some sort. Maybe a 3". Even if they did fix mine I still don't think I would be able to trust it. I strongly suspect it is a dimensional issue that simply isn't surmountable without a significant redesign.