Have been wanting to get back into revolvers for quite some time. I've owned quite a few through my years collecting, mainly S&W 442/642s and 586/686s. Never seems to fail that once I get the ones I like, some major life event comes along to kick me in the balls and make me sell stuff. Unfortunately, the items that sell the quickest are my S&W revolvers.

I decided recently I would own at least one revolver but in 357 Magnum so I could still shoot 38 Special since I had some left over. I wanted at least a 4" barrel, but wasn't planning on shying away from a snub nose 357 considering I had carried a 640-1 for awhile. My uncle has a snub nose Ruger Security Six which was the first revolver I ever shot that I had been trying to get for as long as I could remmeber. I almost had it, but it holds a sentimental attachment for him so he wants to keep it. Though he did say I could have it when he died.

Started browsing through my local gun shops, finding GP100s in the $500 range used. Armslist locally wasn't much better. Started kicking myself for being stupid and selling my S&W 686-4 but need a new roof and HVAC for my son over a revolver in the safe. Decided to hold off for awhile on getting a 357 until I could find one that spoke to me.

Fast forward to last week, was trying to work a trade with a gentleman for his Yugo SKS. Unfortunately someone else bested me, and made him an offer he couldn't refuss. He asked me if I had any interest in a Ruger SP101 snub nose cause he still wanted my Star BM with 5 magazines and 150 rounds of ammunition. We dickered on price, finally agreeing I'd kick in an extra $100 to make it fair trade. Considering I only had $325 in my deal cause ammo was a gift from a friend, I thought that was fair. Plus he threw in all the 38 and 357 ammo he had.

Got to shot it on Monday, considering I am not by any means a revolver guy, I was consistently ringing the gong in double action and a few single action shots. Recoil was nothing, 357s felt like 38s and 38s felt like 22s. This revolver is going to be with me for quite some time as I don't plan to ever list it.
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Mine, but the wife will say it's hers. Attached File

I have a Ruger sp101 ,3 inch. 357 great guns.

My wife’s is a pretty nice little shooter, had the hogue’s but she didn’t like them. Went back to the stock grip and did a spring kit.

Then sent it out for cerakote.



My ruger is a GP100

I love it so far, found a cheap Fobus holster in the holster rack for $8 at my local gun store

Need to find a good holster to OWB with, I'm planning on adding it to my carry rotation for this winter

I've got the DAO of your gun, OP. It's a freaking handful with full power 158 grain.

WAY back when, I used to carry .38/.357 snubs for backup and off duty carry for my PD job. I had a S&W M649, the "Bodyguard" variant. I can't remember the "dash" revision number but it was the first variant able to shoot .357 but before the infamous internal lock. Loved it but it was a little rough with .357. Not a real big deal, really, because the PD mandates no .357, we were only allowed to carry .38+P only. I liked shooting .357, though.

I bought a 2 1/4" SP101 to replace the S&W because the factory rubber and wood stocks fit my hand better than the S&W and, for me, mitigate recoil much better. When I bought it, the action was so full of dirt and metal chips that I thought Ruger was saving money on trash removal by dumping the floor sweepings into the guns before shipping them out. After a good, thorough cleaning, the trigger was decent. Not as good as my S&W, but decent. Detail stripping the whole gun and some judicious and careful stoning on the action parts to remove tons of burrs resulted in a wonderfully smooth trigger, Still a little heavier than my S&W because I left the factory springs in it for maximum reliability but was even smoother. Very accurate, too. The only trouble I ever had was getting the hammer spur caught on clothing once in a while when drawing from IWB. I bobbed it myself and no more trouble. I carried it for several years, till budget cuts at the PD mandated that, if you were off duty but still in town (for those that live in town), you were considered to be on call to back up the Officer working if needed. I didn't want to run towards the sound of the guns with just a snubbie .38, so I retired it and went with a compact 9mm auto for off duty carry. A few years ago, my mother was wanting her CCW. She has severe arthritis in her hands, so she can't grip a slide hard enough to operate it. She loved my SP101 and shot it well, so it went to her. I'll get it back, eventually, when something happens to her, but believe me, I'm in NO hurry to get it back!

SP101s are great guns. Find a load that you can shoot well to carry in it and shoot the crap out of it with anything you want. The gun should stand up beautifully to a steady diet of .357, if you want to do that, With .38, it should last pretty much forever.

And, because we all like pics, here is one of my SP with some aftermarket grip panels I bought from a member over at Rugerforum.com quite some time ago. Beautiful and works well! What's not to love?


Bub75

I don't buy guns very often. Never much money.  So I don't take it lightly.  And right before I bought that 442 from my Mom when my step Dad passed away, I nearly bought a new SP101 DAO.  With the hammer bobbed.  I have a feeling I would've liked it .  But I think the 442 is a better pocket gun.  And the SP101 might have been a little heavy at times.  But either way, I think they're solid guns.  IMHO, they are the best DA revolver offered at present by Ruger.  GP100's just seem too monstrous for anything I'd want them for.

Interesting finish.  Nice looking revolver.

She wanted one of those charter arms blue revolvers, this was my solution.

Mainly my whole life have been an automatic pistol follower. Have a few nice revolvers, sold a few that I kick myself for, and then about 1 1/2 years ago been picking them up again. Found this little gem here in equipment exchange that I have around $400 total invested. 2 1/4" barrel and custom grip panels. I carry it in a Garret Silent Thunder leather lined kydex OWB holster in the winter months and when bow hunting.

Just picked up a new SP today---this is my 3rd one

First one was a bobbed hammer DAO around 2003---I could never find a decent holster for it at the time because of the bobbed hammer, so off it went----second reason was it could never be fired single action but that wasn't as big of a deal as the holsters.

Second one was a 3in around 2008-2009---I could never get it to smooth up, even after 1000 dry fires---plus it had a bunch of sharp edges-----just wasn't working for me-- it shot ok but off it went.

The new one today is a 2in/hammered version----Ruger has cleaned up all sharp edges that were on the earlier one, maybe the hammer is MIM or something--I don't know but something is different. The double action is pretty good--I can even dry fire it left handed without it bouncing all over-----I'll go shoot it tomorrow if its not like -30 below outside or something.

Nice score. They are solid little guns. My wife's gun is amazingly accurate.