Ruger SP101 Upgrades

[Mr. Mosin]

I intend to purchase a Ruger SP101 in the near future (Ruger Cat. # 5719). I will carry it to my trusted ‘smith; have him do an action job on it, shim the hammer/trigger, replace the front sight w/ a tritium sight, cerakote it SOCOM Blue (to resemble classic blueing), and put a set of walnut Eagle grips on it. Or I might leave it stock. Whatever tickles my fancy. Any advice on this line of guns ? Common issues, etc ?

 

[WheelGunMan]

I have an SP101 .357 model 5720... the spurless hammer model. The hammer...besides being a bit heavy, is also a bit gritty from left over debris during the manufacturing process. If you take it to a good Smith he can easily change the hammer spring to one of your liking and clean out the trigger spring channel and other areas of left over debris. Other than that, just take it out and shoot the living daylights out of it. Of the six revolvers that I own, my SP101 is by far my favorite to shoot. My new LCRx.357 3"h the close second.

 

[KevininPa]

I like Wolff springs in my Rugers. That and shooting the snot out of them to wear them in. Then decide if you want to do any more internal work. I love my Speed Six. Only thing I did on the outside was bead blast the top strap to make it glare less in brighter light.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

The only upgrade I think they need is a set of grips you like. That's all I did to mine over the past 20+ years other than sanding the carry scratches off a time or two and polishing the cylinder.

 

[reddog81]

Go with the Gemini Customs Ultimate Package for the SP101. For the low price of $2,599 they’ll get your new revolver up to snuff.

 

[Armored farmer]

Maybe upgrade the front sight if you want.
I happen to like the factory grips just fine, some dont.
Spend money on leather, and practice ammo.


I took me a while to get used to a snub.

 

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

I just put the rubber Hogue grip on mine---made a huge difference on shoot ability---my most accurate revolver now.

 

[TTv2]

My upgrade for the SP101 is to trade it in for two Charter Arms.

I mean it in all seriousness. The SP101 trigger is bad, the stock grip is not good, and you're just paying a smith to do work that shouldn't have to be done. The trigger on my Charter's is like a S&W trigger, the weight is low, the size is good, there's little to complain about especially if you're going to carry the revolver and shoot it a few times a year.

I will never buy another SP101, it's not worth the price and is the worst revolver Ruger makes.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

The only upgrade I think they need is a set of grips you like. That's all I did to mine over the past 20+ years other than sanding the carry scratches off a time or two and polishing the cylinder.

This^^^^^^^^^.

I recently came to the conclusion that I don't actually like small frame revolvers. The grip never fits me due to me having larger hands. So the guns beat me up. In order to shoot them well and comfortably, I need a larger grip, which is the part of the gun that prints most when concealing. The point of a small gun to me is that it conceals well, so I don't want a bigger grip on the gun. Same goes for small semiautos with magazine and grip extensions. They make no sense to me. If I'm going to make the grip bigger and make the gun harder to conceal, I might as well just carry a bigger gun that mitigates recoil better and holds more ammo.

All that being said, the SP101 is the one small frame revolver I WILL keep in my lineup, and it was the first handgun I ever bought. The weight mitigates recoil, and if you look around, there are bigger, minimalistic grips out there.

I tried Badgers, but they changed the grip angle.
View media item 94Then I tried some from Tim's Workshop. Too narrow.
View media item 100So now I've landed on Pachmayr grips. They work alright but I've thought about getting some Eagle grips.
View media item 1327
Then, just shoot the heck out of it.