Henry Rifle Forums

Two months have passed since the last time I shot my Ruger .357 Magnum revolver. Had the day off, and with temps only in the mid-80s, I was determined to get to the range. Ended up at my friend's acreage on his shooting range....they call their place Poverty Knob. I have about 110 yard max distance I can shoot there. With the revolver, I had plenty of "unused" yardage today.

Again I had a specific goal today of shooting only .38 Special + "P" ammo. I decided to change out the EDC ammo in my revolver, as I have been carrying that ammo for quite a while. I didn't have any more Federal 129gr JHP to refresh the ammo, so just shot my remaining rounds of those.

Target
I used a standard Law Enforcement Training & Qual silhouette (3' X 2').
Shot four 5-round groups at 8 yards. Two groups at the bull (silhouette mid-section), and two groups at silhouette head.

Ammo
~~Hornady CD 110gr FTX. This is what I'll next carry in my revolver.
~~Federal 129gr JHP. My stock is now gone for this ammo.
~~Cor-Bon 110gr DPX. For future carry.
~~Black Hills Ammo 125gr JHP. Ditto on future carry.

Shooting Results
The Hornady and Federal results are seen in the silhouette mid-section.
My son-in-law is a former Marine, who early-on trained me in gun safety, and different aspects of shooting firearms. One thing I distinctly remember from those times was when he said "your first shot is the most important, and that POI has to be 100% accurate!" Well, I don't do that often enough, but I think about that each time I train with my revolver. I wish he was at the range with me today. Shot Number One was in the mid-section, only 1/2" to the left of the diamond in the bull!! I started with the Hornady CD ammo...it did well, and so did I.

10/10 in target from these two groups.
Now for the two groups aimed at the silhouette head.

The Cor-Bon and BHA results are in the silhouette head.
I don't quite know where the 10th round went. I didn't think I missed, but without the hole in paper as evidence, guess I need to say it ended up in the woods once again. So 9/10 in target from these two groups.

Overall .38 Special + "P" practice rounds were 19/20 at 8 yards. It was a good time and fun!


Clangs, twirls, and flying shotshells.
I then shot 35 more rounds at: 1) a reactive target hanging from a tree limb; 2) a black steel target hanging on the target board; and 3) 12-guage shotshells hanging on the end of some low tree branches.

Both the reactive and black steel targets are always fun because of the "actions" that come about. The reactive one rapidly twirls with each hit, and the black steel makes that wonderful bullet-hitting-steel-sound. No pictures, but my view was a blast!

I had quite a surprise today shooting at three 12-gauge shotshells on the tree branches. I shot from 8 yards, and hit 2/3 this time. Getting better at this, and I love the challenge -- especially whenever there is a wind and those shells move around. OK. In this photo, the first hit was the shotshell on the right.
The second hit was the surprise. All that was left of this shotshell was the crumpled base and no plastic case, and it flew about 15 feet or so off the branch. But as I aimed at this one, I noticed that the reactive target I had hung farther out (at 17 yards from where I was) perfectly aligned behind the shotshell on the branch. It flicked through my mind to change my position, but decided to just shoot. I would have liked to see my own reaction, and again wished that my son-in-law was there to see what happened. I took out the shotshell, and also spun the reactive target, too! That has maybe a 1 in 1000 (or more) chance of ever happening again!! I really wish I had a witness for that double hit!

The revolver shooting today was fun! Oh, almost forgot to mention that I was positioned on the range under some shady areas, so that made the hot afternoon a little better. That was a most welcome "extra" for my day at the PK range!

Great shooting again, PT7! That SP101 revolver in your hands is really accurate! Your son-in-law would certainly be proud of these targets. As always, your descriptive range report was a totally fun read! Thanks for sharing the pics and the story; especially of those shot shells! I'm impressed.

good fun indeed .... your targets prove what you are doing is working for you ..

PT7 - I've got a Ruger SP-101 that I use for concealed carry and that is some fine shooting from a snub nose revolver. Were you shooting DA or SA?

Appreciate your comments, tractortad...thanks.

tractortad wrote:PT7 - I've got a Ruger SP-101 that I use for concealed carry and that is some fine shooting from a snub nose revolver. Were you shooting DA or SA?

Like you, I use my SP101 for EDC. I only shoot DA, never SA. Good catch that I missed this in my Range Report...it is an important part of shooting a revolver. OK, shooting DA only has helped me to learn to handle the trigger very well. It took a long time, but I have it down now. And just a month or so ago I had a local gunsmith do a trigger job for me, and I reduced the DA trigger from 12.3 lbs. to a much smoother and easier 9 lbs. Big help!!

I don't have a snub nose SP101. Mine is the "kit" gun, model 5771 with a 4.2" barrel. My first SP101 had the fixed sights with the 3.02" barrel; I think this might have been closer to a snub nose. I had a gunsmith remove the dovetail front fiber optic sight from the 5771 model, and install a pinned black ramp. I have a dab of green polish on the front sight, and it is very easy to grab my target with these sights.

Here are a couple of pictures of my revolver. I really like this .357 Magnum, and hope you like yours, too!

PT7 - That is still some good shooting with 4" revolver in DA.
I've got a 2 1/2" version SP101 with a hogue grip - fun little gun. I've also got a 4.2" SS GP-100 Match Champion. Love those SS ruger revolvers - they feel like little tanks in your hand.

PT7, I have to agree with tractortad.

I have a 4" GP100 and I doubt if I could shoot that well from 8 yards in SA, much less DA.

Thanks for your range reports. They are always very informative.

Appreciate your encouraging words about my Range Report, WS & tractortad. Getting out to the range is the most fun part of having firearms, and I like writing about those experiences!

BTW, how do you two fellows like your GP100s? I've handled several in our LGS, and the DA trigger pull on the Match Champion is incredibly smooth. It's almost like the excellent trigger upgrades, which were done (stock) on my S&W Performance Center 637 .38 Special + "P" revolver. S&W did that very well, and it seems like Ruger has a nice trigger worked out on the Match Champion.

PT7 - I really like the Match Champion GP-100. I doubt the trigger is as good as a well tuned S&W, but it sure feels good to me. When I bought mine I was comparing it to a 4" S&W 686+. I had them both on the counter comparing them. Both great guns - couldn't go wrong with either one. In the end I chose the Ruger - just felt better in my hand and seemed more "heavy duty". I was also a little leery about that "safety lock" on the Smith. I shoot mostly SA at cans and water bottles at about 15 -20 yds. The GP-100 is also a great gun to teach a new shooter with - there's not much recoil when shooting 38 special out of a big heavy SS GP-100 - makes it pleasant and fun for a newbie. I used to plink with it about once a week, but since I got into Henrys it hasn't gotten a whole of use. Maybe it's time to get it out and blast some bottles...

I really like my GP100, PT7. Mine is not a Match Champion, just a plain vanilla run of the mill blued 4". I had a Dan Wesson .357 that belonged to my father-in-law. That was one sweet revolver. I loved that gun. He did not have the full set with all the different barrel lengths. He only had a 4" barrel, but he did have three different grips for it.

I ended up giving that to my daughter. She was living by herself in a not so great area and she really wanted something for home defense. Took her out and she shot that DW like a champ, so I gave it to her. She really loved her grandpa and I think it was really special for her to get that revolver in addition to giving her some security. I, on the other hand, was having serious anxiety at giving away my favorite firearm. So, I started looking around and the GP100 just seemed like a natural replacement for the Dan Wesson. As much as I like my GP100, there are still days I would like to have another DW .357!

I agree with tractortad, shooting .38s in the GP100 is about like shooting a .22 LR revolver. That big heavy gun just soaks up what little recoil there is.