Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns It really pains me to say this

Makes me wonder if they're letting the SP101 line slip while paying attention to others. My GP100 bought a year ago is just fine. Yeah, I'd say one of my best.

Good thing I hung onto this old SP101, I guess. As for Taurus - of the two I've had, one needed work. But I was not confident enough in their CS to test their warranty after the litany of reports of abyssimal service and slow delivery. My local gunsmith cleaned that up for a nominal fee. I still don't trust Taurus enough to send something back to them (not that I have any desire now to buy one in the first place).

Flaves mention of the 44 flattop reminded me of the one I have that's great. To Rugers credit, it proves that Ruger knows how to make a proper revolver, & is capable of doing so.

This makes it clear they need to work on consistency & get off of the Monday gun bad, Wednesday gun good, BS.

Seems like all the manufacturers have hits and misses.
I’ve had to send two S&W’s back for barrel alignments, a NIB 629 Classic 5” and a NIB 642.
Bought a NIB Ruger GP100 blued and I think they forgot to blue the inside of the crane or did some heavy file work after it was blued to fit it.. It shoots good so I never sent it back.
Also had to send a NIB Henry 45-70 back, the mag tube rod was almost impossible to remove.

Well, this one's going back to Ruger. I can't even sell it in good conscience to someone the way it is now.

Besides the barrel pointed to the right and the cylinder that comes off,the firing pin is way off center. It hits at the extreme edge of the primer, almost into the brass case. It doesn't shoot worth a damn, either - patterns, not groups - but I won't pile that on top of it too much since this morning was the very first outing and it really needs the chamber throats opened up at least a couple thousandths. I slugged one throat that was right at .356" and none of the other throats will accept that slug without some force so figure they are all very much undersized.

We'll see what Ruger does but with a record of 0 and 2 on these I'm a bit jaded in my expectations right now.

In other news, it has an excellent sight picture and handles and points very well. Trigger pull is a bit heavy at 4 1/4 lbs but breaks very cleanly, no problems there. Overall I really like this little thing except for the fact that, ya know, it's a piece of junk.

I'm sorry to hear about your struggle to find one decently made gun. That sucks.

LCR's are another new'ish Ruger that I have nothing but praise for.

Like I say, maybe I'm just lucky.

Other than a few GP100s that had very sharp corners on the trigger guard, I haven't noticed any with obvious external "mistakes".
That being said, guns nowadays aren't finished anywhere near as finely as they were 50 years ago. Of course, most don't care and even fewer would pay the extra money.

My recently purchased NMBH flattop 44 special bisley is really good. Even better is my AR 556 in 350 Legend I picked up last fall 😁.

Sorry to say the new S&Ws are no better. I bought a new model 629 this past summer that had to go back to the factory after the first time I shot it. The firing pin bushing was recessed and letting the primers back out enough to cause the cylinder to jam. They would have caught that if they had just test fired it once at the factory.

And speaking of Ruger I just bought a new Blackhawk in .45 Colt that shoots 300 grn bullets 12 inches high at 25 yards. The only way I can hit the bullseye is with the rear sight screwed all the way down and 185 grain bullets with a max load of Blue Dot. This one didn’t surprise me. I have a Super BH in .44 mag that has the same issue with heavy bullets. Before I bought this .45 I even started a thread here asking if other people had this issue and they didn’t. I guess it’s a crap shoot.

And now that you mention it none of my 45 Colt Blackhawks would zero with 300 or 325 grain bullets, even with the rear sight screwed all the way down. They were obviously set up for 255 way back and nobody made the change when heavy bullets became popular. Seems like I relieved the bottom of the rear sight body and filed the top of the blade down a little bit to make it work.

Strangely all my 45 Colt Vaqueros were pretty close with 300 grain bullets.

You’re a lucky SOB

I wouldn’t touch a newer production Smith with a 10 foot pole. Although I bet there are plenty of satisfied owners. The ones from 90s and before are typically very, very, good. (Maybe early 2000s are also plenty good)

I've still got more Rugers than I thought. Two 10-22 Takedowns, one of them is my son's. A Bisley Blackhawk .45. A Flattop 50th anniversary 44 Mag. A MkIII full bull .22. I think that's it. No issues with any of this stuff. My last GP-100 was a great gun too. Should've kept it. Had plenty of 357's though.

Buy a Taurus at least it’s honest s-hit for honest s-hit prices. Screw SW and their SH-tty quality

I'm not happy with the construction of my SP101 but geez louise, at least I didn't kill it with a big knife!

I figured Ethan was just using that pig sticker to bend those sights to his will.

Dammit Ethan, I've sworn off new Rugers- and then you go and post a pic of that FlatTop.

I have two Super BlackHawks-in 44 and 45 Colt. Both are well made and accurate.
Double action revolvers are best left to: old Colts and S&W. A 1970s 6 in M-28 357 and two 1920s Colt New Service DAs in 45 Colt.
Anyone in the way of these if it is a grizzly or a domestic terrerist is in deep buffalo chips.

I have purchased two Ruger revolvers in the past year, a Super Redhawk in .480 Ruger, and a Super Blackhawk Bisley, also in .480. Both are well-made, accurate, and so far, trouble-free. That said, it is possible to get a 'lemon' with anything mechanical, which makes it no less annoying and upsetting when it happens.

I have 7 Rugers. Two rifles and the rest hand guns. I've never had a problem with any of them. They are older guns. The newest is a New Vaquaro in .45 Colt purchased about 12 years ago. All have been great. I also have a few pre Hillary hole Smiths. They have also been trouble free. A few years ago they needed to go back to the factory for a slight tune up but that's normal wear and tear. I shoot them alot.Had a Taurus once but it would miss fire once about every 50 rnds. I'll never buy another.

My whole collection is older. I did most of my gun buying in the late 80s and early 90s.