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Old 11-25-2011, 09:52 PM
stantheman86 stantheman86 is offline
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Ruger designed the Six series to compete with the S&W K-Frame .357's like the 19,66, 65 and 13.

Then, S&W brought out the L-frame in the early 80's to compete with the Ruger Six series and try to seize back some of the LE market.

The GP100 was not "designed" to compete with the L-frames, Ruger changed the way they cast the frames of the GP100 to save money.Bill Ruger claimed he made very little profit off the Six series, despite making over a million of them......... I don't know the exact method, I'm not a metallurgist but the cost-saving casting method resulted in a slightly beefier frame on the GP100. Most people think the GP100 is "stronger" than the Six series, but most of that is due to the crane lock on the GP, not frame size.

Overall, a GP100 is slightly thicker than an L-frame like a 686. A GP will fit in an L-frame holster but it will be just a little more snug. I have often carried one of my 6" GP100's in a holster made for a 586-686.
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