Revolver Novice - Advice Wanted. But

[indiucky]

Avoid like the plague Smiths with the "Hillary Hole" key lock. They're known to seize under recoil and lock up the gun.

I felt the same way for quite awhile...INGO's BossHoss kind of helped me get over it....He disabled my lock, plugged Hillary's hole (ew!) and did an awesome trigger job on my 629....

 

[BehindBlueI's]

1. I'd listen to Denny as he is Yoda.*

*For S&W.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

The Ruger's are tough as nails - I love mine - but BOTH the Ruger and the S&W are over-engineered to safely shoot the hottest factory ammo.

So...sort of. It's not that a factory load will blow up a given gun, that's why SAAMI specs exist. It's how many they'll handle. To quote Wayne Dobbs:

I love the Model 19 myself and found that it's lighter weight and seemed to be fast handling. As a very young (21 YOA) cop, I carried and shot one a lot. It became obvious very quickly that shooting lots of Magnum ammo in the gun was very hard on it from the endshake, timing and forcing cone wear imparted. When you get a clue about the 19, you realize it's a .38 Special you can shoot a few Magnums through, but not many. Bill Jordan, the father of the Combat Magnum (the real name for the gun), said that from the start.

So your "golden era" revolvers certainly had a durability difference with hot loads. The Ruger Six series were stouter than the equivalently sized k-frame, but the k-frame trigger was quite a bit better. N-frames held up to magnum loads much better, but even then on the big bores Ruger held an edge. S&W introduced the Endurance package to address some of that difference. Now, again, this isn't about modern production revolvers. That's not where my interest lies and I'm not the guy to ask. BossHoss, Denny at Sand Burr, those guys are the ones I'd listen to if I were to want a modern production S&W.

What you see with "Ruger only" loads in loading manuals is cartridges that exceed SAAMI spec. Often considerably. .45 Colt's SAAMI spec is pretty low because it needs to be safe to fire in Colt SAA guns. A Super Redhawk will withstand pressures greatly exceeding what a Colt SAA will. So you end up with "Ruger only" loads. That doesn't mean *any* Ruger will withstand them. You can blow up a New Vaquero with loads a Super Blackhawk will happily take a steady diet of. So, you have to know what you're loading for. As a general rule of thumb "Ruger only" for big bore revolvers means Redhawk, Blackhawk, and the Super versions of each. Then you get "Super Redhawk only" loads.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

*For S&W.

Indeed.

 

[actaeon277]

I felt the same way for quite awhile...INGO's BossHoss kind of helped me get over it....He disabled my lock, plugged Hillary's hole (ew!) and did an awesome trigger job on my 629....

I have one gun with a Hillary hole. It's disabled, but not plugged.

 

[indiucky]

I have one gun with a Hillary hole. It's disabled, but not plugged.

Mine neither...I just couldn't resist poking BossHoss in the eye a bit...

 

[Bigtanker]

I’ll be back in Plymouth in a few weeks for a family reunion, may have to detour through Rochester on the way. Will make that weekend more interesting.

You could buy one (or two or three) while you're there.

 

[Areoflyer09]

You could buy one (or two or three) while you're there.

Ha! I’m not gonna hold my breath. While the wife has encouraged several purchases of mine and her own, I don’t think I’ll get away with buying soon. She may surprise me, but I’m not gonna bank on it. Something about my bday present being over budget. Dunno how that happened.

 

[PaulKersey]

Since carry is not the priority, I'm another vote for the GP-100 (of any flavor). The Match Champion is certainly a nice gun, but the plain jane GP-100 is still awesome. Along with others who have posted in this thread, I prefer Rugers over S&W from a strength perspective. However, if you buy a Ruger, I would get a stainless model, as I have seen uneven bluing on the GP line.

 

[Areoflyer09]

On the subject of the Match Champ/Performance Center options, are they worth the extra cost?

 

[BehindBlueI's]

On the subject of the Match Champ/Performance Center options, are they worth the extra cost?

I can't answer for the performance center, but for the Match Champion I'd say yes. Looking at Tombstone Tactical, there's about a $90 spread between the vanilla 4" GP100 and the MC.

I kind of wish I didn't check. Now I know this exists: https://www.tombstonetactical.com/catalog/ruger/1774-gp100-revolver-357-mag-2-5in-7rd-stainless/

A 7 shot 2.5" GP100 with compact grips. Kinda want.

 

[Areoflyer09]

The price differential seems vary by 100-150, not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. As long as the upgrades are worth it.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

The price differential seems vary by 100-150, not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. As long as the upgrades are worth it.

If you like the fiber optic front sight and the wood grip, there's your $100 already.

 

[mcapo]

Worth/Value etc. is subjective. I find the S&W Performance Center Revolvers "worth" the extra cost but I am also the type that forgets what he paid for something the second its bought.

Is the S&W "worth" the extra cost? To me it is, for a slightly better finished gun but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a Ruger....as a said in a early post; Ruger has a great price to value ratio.

https://www.tombstonetactical.com/catalog/ruger/1774-gp100-revolver-357-mag-2-5in-7rd-stainless/ - That is very nice!

 

[MindfulMan]

I can't answer for the performance center, but for the Match Champion I'd say yes. Looking at Tombstone Tactical, there's about a $90 spread between the vanilla 4" GP100 and the MC.

I kind of wish I didn't check. Now I know this exists: https://www.tombstonetactical.com/catalog/ruger/1774-gp100-revolver-357-mag-2-5in-7rd-stainless/

A 7 shot 2.5" GP100 with compact grips. Kinda want.

I like that too , but at 36 oz. (uploaded), it's a chunky monkey !

 

[BehindBlueI's]

https://www.tombstonetactical.com/catalog/ruger/1774-gp100-revolver-357-mag-2-5in-7rd-stainless/ - That is very nice!

Stop enabling.

 

[mcapo]

Stop enabling.

Hey....I still have the ad open trying to think of reason that I "need" one...what's fair is fair...

 

[MindfulMan]

Hey....I still have the ad open trying to think of reason that I "need" one...what's fair is fair...

They have 23 available .... one for all !!!

 

[BehindBlueI's]

Hey....I still have the ad open trying to think of reason that I "need" one...what's fair is fair...

Not the one I wanted, but profanity filter wouldn't let the other link display correctly.

 

[mcapo]

....then there is this...

https://www.tombstonetactical.com/c...e-center-revolver-357mag-2.5in-7rd-stainless/