ruger sp101 (125 grain bullet only)

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Daniel BOON

New member
I just bought a ruger sp101 (125 gr bullet only) the word tight was invented when they made this revolver; on the first day, off I went to the local gravel pit, with a box of winchester 110 gr jhp+P of course it shot about 2 ft low,(shooting at about 10 yrds) about the 4th round, the cylinder got tied up; I figured the bullets were jumping the crimp. these were factory loads by the way. does anybody know of any factory ammo that will shoot good in in this piece?? I just ordered some buffalo bullet ammo, and if its anything like their 44 special ammo, it will have an excellent crimp. thanks for the help guys.. Daniel
 
Your subject line says it. It was designed for .357 Magnum 125-grain SJHPs by R-P or Federal--unfortunately, that's a long ways from a good carry load for two-inch snubs.
 
Of the bullets were jumping crimp enough to tie up the gun, you would be able to see it for sure. If that wasn't the case, you have something wrong, and need to contact ruger.

The reason your gun says 125grain only is due to the cylider length. The early ones were just bored out 38 or 9mm cylinders. So anything longer wouldn't fit. All current models have enough cylinder length to handle any SAMMI spec round.
 
Cylinder gap might be too tight. As the gun heats up the metal expands and the parts rub against each other. I saw this happen to a SW10 38. A gunsmith cured it. Have gunsmith check the gap on the cylinder.
 
The SP101 I had also would only shoot 158's to point of aim. But this particular revolver was troublesome so I sold it after 4 years. It was replaced by a Taurus 85 which groups everything but 148's but who cares.
 
Mine shoots everything accurately, including .38 loads that my .357 Smiths (4-inch Model 19, 6-inch 586) can't even put in the same zip code.
 
thanks for sp101 info.

the cylinder gap on this particular 125 only is extremely tight. after looking at it closer, the bullet seems to extend beyond the cylinder, after I shoot 1 maybe 2 rounds; buffalo bore loads have a heavy crimp, but still ties it up; I suppose the factory could open up the cylinder gap; or dare I say it? I could shoot 38's in it. oh well, live and learn.
 
When the SP101 came out in .38, everybody noticed it seemed pretty strong and started overloading for it. Dean Grennell said he had a load that was probably +P for .357 that worked real fine ( He wouldn't publish it.) It seems like Massad Ayoob was the one who had one bored out for 357/125 and took the idea to Bill Ruger. Ruger brought it out and then later lengthened the whole platform for general .357 loads.

These loads are from the full length one with corbon ammunition from a few years ago. Don't know how much difference the 110s and 125s would show in the shorter cylinder gun or yet how current lots of corbon would do but these seemed pretty energetic. Every SP101 load I've tried shoots low except for some 158s I've put up. they shoot only a little low at 25 yards.
Once you get used to your SP101, you'll probably find it shooting tighter groups standing unsupported than most snubs. Recoil doesn't get really osteperous until you reach the 180 grain hunting loads and they were the only ones that gave hard extraction in my revolver. The other cases almost fell free.
sp101corbon.jpg
 
The tightest revolver I have ever owned was my SP101, 3". I needed a claw hammer to cock the hammer. The gun locked up on every 4th and 5th round. I had it at the gunsmiths twice, I finally took it to the local dump :barf:

I have a terrific GP-101... :D
 
Bull that is really unforunate as you could of sent gun to ruger and they would of fixed for free. Anytime you have a problem with a ruger that isnt created by you sent back to ruger, they don,t want their guns out there not working.
 
shoots awe lots

The local dump is my phraseology for just getting rid of it, because I didn't want to mess with sending it back, with all of the other fine shootin irons around today... :)
 
SP-101 and 125 gr bullets

I think we both have the same BASIC problem.
I shot my SP-101 the other day with my reloads. The cylinder almost refused to rotate with 158 gr bullets. Everything was fine double action with 125's. I have had problems, in the past, with heat causing the stainless metal to expand. The gun was cold, so that wasn't the problem.
 
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