Ruger GP-100 Over Haul

shooter_john

New member
I purchased a "Spanish Police" GP-100 in good condition for less than $150.00.
It is a great wheelgun, but it is double action only. Is there anyone or anyway that can economically but a regular hammer back on it and make it SA/DA again.
Thanks for any help.
 
Ruger won't sell the parts necessary, they are "factory install only".

If you can find them somewhere you can probably install them yourself with not much trouble, but they may need fitting which can be touchy and potentially result in a dangerous situation (which is why Ruger won't sell them.)

I think that Ruger will do the swap for you, but I suspect that they would charge since it's not really warranty work. On the other hand, they have a policy that they won't allow a gun to leave the factory in other than original factory condition (barring, of course, the addition of any safety upgrades.) They may take the line that the original factory condition of that revolver is DAO operation and say that they won't change it to DA/SA.

You'll have to call them and see what they say.
 
Ruger is going to say that it can't be done, etc etc, or send it in...there are alot of gp100 parts floating around and I suspect that you will need a hammer and a trigger, both of which are common on the net for 15-25 a pop. But like John said, it takes alot of fitting to get it right, and unless you are fairly skilled, or just plain mad (like me) you might have to get the parts and dump 'em on a reputable smith to get it done right. On top of that, used parts were once previously fitted on another gun, so it is a crap shoot whether or not there is enough material for proper fitting.

It can be done, I managed to get a regular redhawk trigger to fit in my SRH, but it took alot of work to get things to function right, and alot of time was spent with am emory board (I stole from my wife) removing microscopic amounts of material, and then alot of dryfiring. The trigger of the gp100 series is a truly fustrating mechanical device, and changes to one part result in the possibility of another part not functioning correctly. Then there is the whole issue of springs, and decreasing the strength of them can throw everything out of whack forcing you to have to start all over again, not to mention that when installed, the tolerances are a little different and the trigger does not move forward as far as it does when the trigger group is not installed, because the hammer and and and...well it can be a real pain.

Not to scare you off. I did it and I am just an average gadget junkie, but I wish I had known what I was getting into when I first started.
 
I'm just curious about the "Spanish Police" part. I've been back and forth from Miami to Madrid over 10 times in the past two years and spent a total of about 16 months over there. Most of the cops carry Astras which are made in Spain. I did see a few cops carrying the Walther P99's.

If you are going to carry the gun for self defense, I would reccomend sending it in or getting a qualified gunsmith to work on it. If it is just for kicks at the range, tinker away. It's not that expensive just in case you make it FUBAR. (Fudged Up Beyond Any Repairs)

Just as a side note, if you are going to tinker with guns, tinker with cheap guns. My bone head cousin bought a Colt Gold Cup and started swapping out parts because he wanted to tinker. I shot it and the back sight went flying off and nailed me in the forehead. Don't ruin a perfectly good gun. He could have bought a basic 1911 and played with it till his hearts content. It is like someone getting a Mustang and souping it up versus buying a Ferrari and enjoying factory built perfection!
 
why?

why do you want a hammer? is better to learn to shoot double action...
cocking a hammer, especially in self-defense or duty related situations is DANGEROUS...fear, stress, tension make go bang much too easy from full cock...and most
double action only revolvers set up by a competent gunsmith are nice, slick pieces. of course, it's entirely up to you...but you may discover with a little practice you prefer it the way it is.
 
For that inexpensive price, just keep it for talk around the pot bellied stove and then get an American GP-100 and use that for comparison.

Having guns that were built especially for other countries (by an American company) is great conversation pieces. Just MHO anyway.

Wayne
 
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