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Well, after hurting my arm and hand (and wallet) putting .44 Magnum rounds through my S&W Model 629, I decided I needed a smaller caliber revolver. The .357 Magnum was the obvious caliber, since you can use lighter, cheaper .38 Special in the same gun.
Since I already had a Smith & Wesson revolver, and in any case my father already had the S&W Model 586 .357 Magnum revolver, I went looking for another brand of revolver in .357 Magnum (you are now getting an idea of the bizarre reasoning behind my gun purchasing decisions). A friend who owns a number of Ruger revolvers and hates Smith & Wesson anyway recommended the GP-100. I handled one in the gun store, liked the feel (much nicer for my large hands than the Ruger single-action revolvers my friend has), and bought it. It has since become the primary gun I use in my monthly Bianchi-style competitions. I will say this: the factory trigger, fit and finish are not quite as nice as the S&W Model 629, but it is still a nice gun. One thing I like about it is how quickly you can break it down for cleaning. Here is a photo of the GP-100 field stripped down into its main component assemblies: 
It takes less than a minute for me to break it down to this point, which allows me easy access to the barrel and dirtier parts of the frame (around the cylinder) and also lets me soak the cylinder separately, if desired. I don't intend to get any trigger work done on this gun (I'll probably get an older Smith & Wesson revolver for competition), but I have reduced the trigger and hammer pull by installing a set of Wolff spings. I used the lightest springs they sell in a kit for GP-100s (8lb trigger return and 9lb mainspring), and I have not yet had any trouble setting off primers, even in reloads. |
Specifications
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