3" Ruger SP101 is on the way

It's a good solid revolver that handles full power 357 loads comfortably. It's got a poor trigger from the factory. With some work the trigger can be made mediocre, IMHO. But it is a great, (relatively) lightweight, trail gun that packs a punch. I sold mine in favor of a 3" 686. I had a Simply Rugged holster. It is just what the name claims: simple and rugged. IMO, the holster is a bit over-price for what you get. But it does the job well. BTW, before you buy is a better time to collect opinions.:cool: I highly recommend you upgrade to the hogue rubber grips. Good luck and enjoy your new iron.
 
The "trigger job" I did on mine was to buy some reduced power Wolff springs and install them. It was a very sweet trigger after that. No problems with primers with any brand or round that I fired after that.

It's the cheapest route and probably what most gunsmiths would do anyway.
 
I have an SP101 .357 3" and it is a good revolver. The trigger out of the box is mediocre in my opinion, but can be improved greatly. I got the Wolf Spring Kit installed, and the trigger was remarkably better.

The grip it comes with is very good. I improved the looks of mine with a Chigs insert.

I also added a Tritium front sight, which improved the gun immeasurably in my opinion.

 
So many of you regard a "trigger job" as just replacing springs . A real trigger job is the smoothing of the action.Smooth is more important than light. Many guns just need careful honing of the action [a job for only people with some knowledge !] After that is done then think of lighter spring . :p
 
So many of you regard a "trigger job" as just replacing springs . A real trigger job is the smoothing of the action.Smooth is more important than light. Many guns just need careful honing of the action (a job for only people with some knowledge !)...
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If you don't know how to do this, find a good local smith. SP101 triggers are pretty terrible out of the box but can be improved quite a bit. There are other benefits to having a good smith going over your gun. I took my last SP101 in for a trigger job right out of the box and as part of his normal new gun checkup, he noticed that the crown was off!
 
Congrats!!! I love my 101; I went with some Hogue grips as my pinky felt left out with the stock grips. Beautiful guns....

IMG_20160806_230704_zpskmx2wtm4.jpg
 
Pretty envious of you guys 3 inch SP101's.
Since I am a 327 mag guy and did not get one when I should have.
I have had to get by with the 4 inch version.
Like it allot though. Not a CC piece but for woods carry it great.
But still the 3inch 327 mag version just looks the part.

100_9717_zpsknmuzepf.jpg
 
Pretty envious of you guys 3 inch SP101's.
Since I am a 327 mag guy and did not get one when I should have.
I have had to get by with the 4 inch version.
Like it allot though. Not a CC piece but for woods carry it great.
But still the 3inch 327 mag version just looks the part.
Click to expand...

As another .327 mag guy, I appreciate the velocity boost that extra 1.2" provides. I also think the longer barrel looks great and balances well with the full hardwood grips from Hogue. Yeah, it might not be the best CCW but is the 3" version? They make the LCR 327 for that. In any case, we've got six on the wheel where others have five. :cool:
 
The 3-incher is a beautiful gun. I have a 2.5-inch SP-101 and would love to read an article comparing the 2.5- and 3-inch guns in accuracy, velocity and comfort in shooting. (Gun magazines used to do articles like that back in the good old days in the 80s.) Years ago I bought a .38 Ruger Speed-Six, which I immediately converted to .357. I later got the 2.5-inch SP-101 and discovered that, yes, despite the spiffy looks of the smaller revolver, it definitely needs third party grips! I chose the Pachmayr Compacs.

I'm a great believer in the the .357 Mag when it comes to hiking in black bear country. Even a small pistol will do the job if a good, penetrating round is used. Speaking of the good old days of the 80s, there were gun writers back then who adamantly insisted that anything less than a 6-inch barrel in the .357 Magnum wasn't really "magnum." By this, they meant that in their view, velocities in .357 guns with short barrels had more in common with .38 Specials with 6-inch barrels than "true" .357 velocities. They fudged a bit with bullet weights, but in the years since, gun powders and bullet configurations have changed this, but even back then it was a bit of a stretch, all things considered.



Ruger SP-101 (top) 5-shot with 2.5-inch barrel
and Ruger Speed-Six 6-shot w/3-inch barrel.




SP-101 2.75-inch .357 with Pachmayr Compacs.
 
Great gun. In my opinion the only 5 shot 357 that A. the shooter can stand to shoot a decent number of 357's in and B. the gun can too hands down.

I second it as a great woods gun as it's they gun you will not mind carrying. I have owned a lot of "bigger guns" that get left behind as they are too dang much steel to lug around.

I really like the simply rugged holster for mine.

I do my own trigger jobs and it is much more than changing springs. In the rugers I have worked on it takes hours to put a nice finish on all of the inner cast parts to smooth things up. I also spend a ton of time with the hammer, trigger and trigger guard and strips of abrasive to smooth sharp corners, etc. Takes time but well worth it.
 
Back in the 80s, when I had more dollars than sense, I bought a .357 Mag Derringer. Shooting .38s out of it wasn't a problem, but shooting magnum rounds out of it, well, that was a problem! Worse, the over/under mechanism didn't work much of the time, and when it did I often wished it didn't! It was what I called a "knucklebuster" in .357 loads (125 grain JHP), but I should have carried 110 grain JHPs. (I used to carry it on the subway late at night.)

I can get off a few uncomfortable rounds if it's necessary to my survival, so I can see why people would carry them. Revolvers like the Ruger Security-Six with its small, skinny grips shoot .38 Spc rounds beautifully. But I finally determined to shoot some Magnus thru it one day after work. For such a robust gun, I was surprised at how uncomfortable it was to shoot with the magnum rounds.

For my shorter barrel Security-Six revolvers, I rounded the grips and wore Pachmayr Compacs. I thought the SP-101 would be great to shoot. Wrong! But they're still more comfortable than the skinny "Six" grips that Bill Ruger put on his early guns.




Despite their beauty, these grips hurt when firing full power
magnum loads! The joke was that Bill Ruger had only one tree
and he used it to make all the grips for his guns!


.
 
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