Any must-do mods or upgrades to a GP100 357mag?

[teddy12b]

Many years ago I had a 6" GP100 357mag and had to sell it. I recently just purchased a new 4" 357mag and I was wondering if there was anything I should purchase along with it. I'm going to get one speed loader of every kind for the variety, but I'm thinking more like spring kits or polishing anything on the gun that'd actually make it shoot a little more accurately. I love Hogue tamer grips that come with it and all I can think about is a lighter crisper trigger pull or something similar. It's been a long time since I've owned a revolver besides my tiny S&W snubbie. This is something I'm looking forward to shooting on the range and may even let it tag along while hunting.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[obijohn]

Were it mine, I would have the cylinder machined for moon clips. That and slick up the trigger a bit. Done.

 

[Hopper]

I've had good luck with Wolff spring kits for the GP100 and SP101, as well as the same from Wilson Combat. Just did a check on Midway and the Wolff kits are out of stock, but the Wilson kits (I've had great luck overall with Wilson springs) are available for just about the same price:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/862056/wilson-combat-custom-tune-spring-kit-ruger-gp100

Plenty of YouTube videos are out there to walk you through the process, it's not hard. The only other thing that would be kind of nice to add are some hammer shims like they use in the Match Champion. It keeps the hammer centered so it doesn't rub on one side or the other of the frame, but I can't recall where you might get those from.

Good luck, I'm sure it will serve you well before it's passed down to the next generation!

 

[BehindBlueI's]

There's nothing I'd consider a "must do". A light polish and shim kit will marginally improve the trigger. A Wolff kit will lighten it, but I'm not really sold it makes it any better. I didn't notice any difference on the target or timer with my 3" GP100 after installing it.

I'd also not cut it for moon clips if it's to be a carry revolver. You may gain a bit in reload speed, but speed loaders are more robust and don't introduce a point of failure. Bend a moon clip and it can lock your cylinder. For a game gun or play gun, then I'd be more open to it.

 

[Vigilant]

Software upgrades are a must before any hardware upgrades.

 

[teddy12b]

I really doubt I ever get it machined out for moon clips. If it were for competition that'd be one thing, but this is going to be primarily used to help me get my revolver fix every once in a while.

For hunting it wouldn't really add anything and if it ever goes hunting it'll be more just for fun.

 

[throttletony]

Yes... upgrades needed are:

1) Springs (wolff or similar, i like the medium strength for both trigger return spring and main hammer spring .. that way the trigger keep up with me [no weak resets] and hammer still lights every primer)

2) Also, get trigger shims, hammer shims, and hammer dog shims. Pack available from triggershimsDOTcom. a $20 pack from a guy in Michigan is a great value. Check out the online vids for these

3) Finally, follow the instructions on sp101triggerjobDOTcom -- great website with pics and detailed instructions.

It will be awesome when done with these upgradss. About 2 hrs total, and approx $40 gets u a lot of improvement in the trigger on these Rugers

 

[teddy12b]

I've watched a couple videos on those spring kits and trigger polishings and honestly I could probably do it, but I think I'm going to better off finding a local guy who's done a hundred of them. That seems to be a little notch above what I'm used to and I'm not 100% sure I wouldn't goof something up with a rookie mistake. I haven't gotten the gun in my hands yet, so it may not even be necessary.

Does anyone have a holster for a gp100 that they're pretty happy with?

 

[Whip_McCord]

Except for my Redhawk and Alaskan (44 mags), all my DA revolvers are S&W. I can tune S&W revolvers pretty nice, but no recommendations for Ruger.

My suggestion is to keep all your speedloaders the same. No reason to have one of each kind for variety. That will not help you get smooth consistent reloads. You won't need very many is you get a good loading block.

Also, do not mess with moonclips. I have a few guns with moonclips and they are great for steel and other games. For your purposes, it would only be a bigger expense and more hassle. If you want to play some games and want to use moonclips, get an 8-shot revolver already cut.

 

[teddy12b]

My intent with the variety of speedloaders is more or less to use them to get refamiliar and then buy more of my favorite. I'll also use the variety when showing new shooters how they work. I do a lot of into's to guns for people in my backyard.

I agree completely on the moonclips. They have their place, but it's not what I'm looking for on this rig. If I was to get into them I'd buy the higher cap wheel gun already cut for them by the factory.

 

[Skullglide]

Where are you located?

 

[Drail]

The first thing to do with a new Ruger DA is to remove the housing for the trigger return/latch spring. That tunnel will be full of burrs. All of them are. Clean all that crap out before you play with springs. Oil the spring when you put it back in. If you have a compressor blow out the entire frame. There will be tiny metal chips everywhere. Reduced trigger return springs will slow trigger reset noticeably if you plan on doing fast DA shooting. You will have to wait for the trigger to catch up with your finger. If a Ruger DA trigger is not allowed to fully reset the action will bind and can lock up until you let the trigger reset all of the way. On a Ruger the trigger has to travel all the way forward - most of the way won't cut it. As an Instructor I constantly see new Ruger owners struggling with the action binding only because they are not letting the trigger come all the way forward. I usually keep the stock trigger return spring or cut one coil off. I want the trigger to snap forward quickly. The other requirement I have is to soften the edges of the trigger. Ruger DAs usually have very sharp square corners and they will chew you up in DA work. Use a Dremel and a sanding drum and finish with paper wrapped around a dowel. Lube it up and shoot it.

 

[throttletony]

I'll fully agree with the above.
Check out that website mentioned earlier - sp101triggerjobDOTcom since it has pics and instructions for all of this.
If you didn't know, the mechanics between the gp100 and sp101 lines of guns are identical.

 

[teddy12b]

Where are you located?

North East Indiana around Fort Wayne.

 

[dsol]

I installed Wolf springs in my SP101 and lightly stoned some of the contact surfaces in the trigger just to make sure there were no burrs. Then I filled the action with toothpaste and dry fired it (with fired brass in the cyl) over 1000 times. Rinsed it out with hot soapy water, little bit of synthetic grease we use on turbine engines and a drop or two of synthetic oil and it damn near feels like my tuned S&W 586 (which has an incredible trigger).

 

[jzwhts]

Williams Fire sights!!!! They are fiber optics. Best move I made on my 6 inch GP100.

 

[teddy12b]

I installed Wolf springs in my SP101 and lightly stoned some of the contact surfaces in the trigger just to make sure there were no burrs. Then I filled the action with toothpaste and dry fired it (with fired brass in the cyl) over 1000 times. Rinsed it out with hot soapy water, little bit of synthetic grease we use on turbine engines and a drop or two of synthetic oil and it damn near feels like my tuned S&W 586 (which has an incredible trigger).

Part of me is curious to what would happen if I broke it apart and put some flitz or other metal polish all over the inside and did a long dry fire session like you're talking about and then the other more frugal part of me says heck no to that.

 

[Drail]

No, don't do that. Toothpaste won't cut steel - it will just make a mess. There is no fast easy way to do a trigger job.

 

[Tombs]

Not sure how different Super Redhawks are from GP100s internally, I assume they're very very very similar.

I stoned everything to perfection, polished every surface, cleaned up any roughly machined surfaces that contact each other, and put some nice lube in it.

All it resulted in was making the double action a little smoother. The single action was already smooth. I'm not sure there's much that can be done to these guns without some changes in springs. They don't seem to have as much play as a smith does, so I doubt a shim kit would do much for you.

It's never going to feel like a smith because of the way the trigger works. It can be made exceptionally smooth but it's not going to have the same feel through the DA pull as there's a lot more going on. To be honest, I kind of prefer it as it's far easier to stage the double action on a ruger than on a smith.

 

[deviljunkie]

I did this with mine. Awesome results

Wolf spring kit. Followed directions on shims and a Polish job.


Unless you have good sights now I'd get some decent fo sights