Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Ruger's Newest

A GP100 in .44 Special, MSRP is $829:


A snubbie Redhawk, .357, 8-shot:


The photos were lifted from gun forums

The .44 GP100 ships next week, the .357 Redhawk in January. I don't know the MSRP on the Redhawk.

I've always heard that the reason for fluting the cylinders was to reduce the rotational mass. When you work a revolver hard, the cylinder slams to a stop against the bolt. Maybe it's not that important a consideration.

A 3" GP100 in .357 weighs 36oz, the .44 should be around that range. That's doable for carrying on a sturdy belt. Purse-carry, not so much.

Anyway, I do like the .44 Special round. I carried a Smith 696 "no dash" for awhile, until the used value of those guns crossed into the low four-bill range. Carry guns, to my mind, are tools. They get used and somewhat abused. It makes little sense to carry a gun with any serious collector value. So I am interested in this new GP100, especially if/when the street price drops a bit below MSRP.

On the other hand... I'm not at all clear as to what the GP100-.44 will do that can't be done with a 2.75" Smith & Wesson Model 69. It'd be a no-brainer if S&W would only get rid of that stupid lock.

6 comments:

deadstick said...

I suspect fluting has more to do with gross weight than moment of inertia. Light weight is nice for carrying, but in a small, magnum caliber handgun the unfluted cylinder would decrease perceived recoil somewhat. OTOH, with prolonged firing, a fluted cylinder will cool better.

David said...

I think the lack of fluting comes down to a couple of reasons...

1) There's a misconception among the gun buying public an unfluted cylinder is stronger than a fluted one. Ruger is merely giving the customer what they want.
And
2) The cylinder is one of the few remaining parts (esp on a Ruger) on a modern revolver that requires extensive machining. Eliminating the flutes saves on tooling
and machine time. Save a dollar here and a dollar there, and pretty soon, somebody in accounting is getting a Christmas bonus.

Plus, five flutes just look funny, and eight looks awfully busy.

Sport Pilot said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluting_(firearms)

I'd always been told it was to enhance cylinder rotational speed in a skilled shooters hands. It was also a bit of machinist showmanship when labor costs were incredibly low in comparison to overhead.
As much as I like the .44 Special I'd sooner have a 3" .357 or .45ACP wheel gun.

Old NFO said...

You'll like the weight after a few cylinders of full up .357 :-)

Comrade Misfit said...

I'm a little leery of timing issues in 8-shot revolvers. Not a lot of rotation time to get things done.

3383 said...

I want Ruger to make a .327 carbine or rifle.

Yeah, I know.