Ruger announces 9mm SP101

A few years ago I remember reading several articles about 9mm fired from revolvers. One was, I think, by Wiley Clapp. He published results that indicated 9mm revolvers benefited more from the added length of cylinder and barrel (compared to a chamber included barrel on a semi auto) than they were handicapped by the cylinder gap. Most of his published velocities showed 2-2 1/4 inch barrels getting velocities comparable to 3 1/2 inch semis and 3 inch revolvers running with 4-4 1/2 inch barrel autoloaders. I wish I had that chart to show here. Ammo capacity will never be comparable, lol.
 
I see. I would want to see gel tests before I carried a load, though. Even a subtle decrease in velocity can mean the difference in an expanded vs. non expanded hollow point cavity.
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Remember also that a 3" revolver barrel is 3" of barrel. This is not true in a semi that measures the chamber as part of the barrel.
 
Laz, My results in chronographing 9MM and 10MM ammunition in both revolvers and semi-auto pistols is consistent with what you report Mr. Clapp wrote.
 
I haven't made up my mind yet about a 9 mm revolver ,I think the SP 101 9mm could be in my collection one day in the future.
 
Super Sneaky Steve said:
Putting 9mm rounds in it gives you all the pressure of a .357 but without the performance.
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Except that 9mm is cheaper to buy—important for those who don't care to handload—and moon clips are kewl. :cool:
 
Given that it is heavier than the LCR, it will be much less likely to have bullets jump the crimp.

But then one could just buy the .357 and not have such an issue.

I think 9mm ballistics from a revolver, especially one with a barrel 3 inches or less, are pretty good. More power than a .38 +P and less recoil than .357. Pretty good for defense and hollow points will expand.

But a .38 wadcutter or semi-wadcutter wouldn't need to worry about if the hollow point gets clogged or fails to expand as they work better when they don't expand and penetrate deeper.

I also don't like relying on full moon clips. They're not easy to carry and when then get bent, they become worthless. I prefer something like the Charter Pitbulls that don't use moon clips, but then that ejection situation isn't ideal either.
 
TruthTellers said:
I also don't like relying on full moon clips. They're not easy to carry and when then get bent, they become worthless.
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I agree, especially with a SD gun. Revolvers are made for rimmed cartridges, and the ease of loading and unloading rimmed cartridges from their cylinder. While practice ammo is cheap for 9mm, good SD/HD ammo is just as expensive as most others when one doesn't reload. With modern HP ammo, I see no real advantage over .38+p. For a range gun, I could see why there would be an interest, but for SD/HD, if I wanted to shoot 9mm, I'd stick with the platform it was intended for.
 
buck460XVR said:
I agree, especially with a SD gun. Revolvers are made for rimmed cartridges, and the ease of loading and unloading rimmed cartridges from their cylinder. While practice ammo is cheap for 9mm, good SD/HD ammo is just as expensive as most others when one doesn't reload. With modern HP ammo, I see no real advantage over .38+p. For a range gun, I could see why there would be an interest, but for SD/HD, if I wanted to shoot 9mm, I'd stick with the platform it was intended for.
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I agree about the price of good/premium 9mm ammo compared to similar in .38/.357; the price is the same. It's practice ammo where the prices drop and the benefit to a 9mm revolver is one will practice more with it over .38/.357.

But for the distances that one will likely be using a 2 inch revolver, they don't need to practice with it much at all and if one had to use said revolver for defense... there's a lot more than can go wrong with 9mm than .38 or .357.
 
With an MSRP of $719, the street price is going to be close to that of a 686! I've owned both and the sp101 is not in the same league as the 686. Some may argue that's not a valid comparison as the 686 doesn't come in 9mm. But I'd have trouble paying that for an sp101. On the plus side, there are going to be some Ruger fans that are going to be very excited about this. Good for them!
 
I wouldn't obsess over whether the bore is .354", .355", .356", .357", etc. It is not unusual that bores are not exactly, to the thousandth, what might be assumed.
 
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